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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.