College Planning
By: Kate Sosland
Professors, lectures, papers, dorms, studying, motivation...that's what college seems
to be like. Many things need to be done in order to enjoy your college years, so starting
as early as possible we have to come up with lists of majors and colleges offering
those programs. Choosing the best college is finding a school that best fits your
academics, interests, living and financial conditions, in other words, the place where
the student will be comfortable and be able to create his own studying atmosphere.
As Lisa Fraser states in her book Making Your Mark, "College is an opportunity to
make a fresh start, an opportunity to pursue the goals that are important..."
I see myself in the future as a professional in the pharmaceutical field, incorporating
with public health. So pharmacy will become my major in college, giving me a chance
to open doors to the pharmaceutical industry, research, clinical, law and many others.
I started my search of schools by getting a list of colleges that offer pharmacy programs
as one of the best in the northeastern part of the United States. The five schools
that I came up with are: St. Johns University, Long Island University, Rutgers, SUNY
University at Buffalo and Northeastern University.
At this point, I am interested in getting accepted to St. Johns University for many
reasons. This school is in Queens, NY, so I will live at home and will have to make
a 30 minute ride every morning. That's an important factor and will make my college
experience easier. Also, from visiting St. Johns, I saw how beautiful the campus is
and I had an opportunity to actually see the technology used, libraries, labs and
other facilities.
I'm looking forward to be accepted to College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions,
which is one of the best Pharm D programs, and is a total of six years. I know that
the first year of college will be completely different from high school, so obtaining
good studying and organization skills will be a key to success. I think the most important
thing is to manage the time between studying, writing term papers, work, and of course,
leisure time. In Making Your Mark, Lisa Fraser suggests: "Make sure that your studies
don't take over your whole life. It's import to balance a variety of leisure activities
with college work." I'm planning to continue working in the community pharmacy during
college years, so organization will play a big role.
From the statistics, about 35 percent of classes in St. Johns have fewer than twenty
students and around 56 percent have between 20 and 50. It perfectly satisfied me because
I don't prefer very small classes, and also don't feel comfortable in huge auditoriums.
That way I will be able to take good notes, participate and perform a group work.
Another point is the ethnic affiliation that plays an important role for me. St. Johns
is a Roman Catholic school, where students are required to take few religious courses.
However, there is a large diversity of students: high percentage of whites, about
the same percentage of Blacks, Hispanic and Asian. The student body varies in backgrounds,
interests and majors, making my college experience fascinating and memorable.
I would want to look back in 20 years and say: "Wow! Those were the greatest days
of my growing up!" College is hard work, but an idea of achieving your goals and being
very successful in the future career should follow along with college years. Habits
and skills abound in previous education will become very helpful in the organization
of work.
Anyway, college is the pathway into adult life, so that should be the time young people
learn. Learn not just how to handle studying, but also they are introduced into the
whole world, where life is only a moment and the goal is to accomplish as much as
they can in order to reach the zenith of success.
