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.
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