Extremely Thankful This Thanksgiving

One of the biggest things I am thankful for this year is getting my first choice for P4 year rotation cluster of Baltimore! On Tuesday right before we all headed off in our separate ways to enjoy Thanksgiving with our families and friends, e-mails were sent out to all P3 students notifying us of where we would spend our last year in pharmacy school. As I had mentioned in my earlier posting I was very anxious to see where I would end up, especially since there were rumors going around that some people would not get any of their top 3 choices. So when the e-mails were sent out on Tuesday lots of drama was to be seen. Some like me were ecstatic to get their rotation assignments, while others were caught by surprise due to their unexpected assignments. A quick peek at Facebook revealed who was sticking around in Winchester and who would have to move out come May. In a few weeks we will be deciding on the exact sites we want to go to within our rotation clusters.

But before I can get too excited about this upcoming May, there are a couple of weeks left in this semester and there is still all of spring semester too. When we return from Thanksgiving break we will have one more week of classes that will involve papers and presentations but thankfully no more tests (the university has a policy that professors are not allowed to give us tests the week before final exams). Some final exams will be cumulative and some will not be. Whenever I sit down to study for my cumulative finals it amazes me how much we covered in a semester and how quickly we have reached the end of the semester.

As always many, if not all, of our final exams will be on Perception, a computer program that locks you out of all other programs while it is in use. Since most of the exams are multiple choice, Perception can tell you what your grade is as soon as you submit your answers. I have mixed feelings about this. Sometimes I like having a period of not knowing how I did because the exam was hard and I have the mentality of "ignorance is bliss". But then again many other times knowing how I did instantaneously makes me feel like I can move on, past how I did (good or bad). Another good point of Perception is that it allows professors to see how students do statistically on exams. For example they can look at one specific question and see that only 25% of students selected the correct answer. This causes professors to evaluate whether or not the question was fair or not and if they deem it to be an unfair question then they may toss the question out. In this case I would say technology can be a student's friend.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

More P1 Updates

It is time for another quick update before I resume studying for our 2^nd exam next week in Integrated Basic Health Sciences (IBHS). For those of you who are not familiar with the course at the school, IBHS is a condensed course series in anatomy and physiology. It is divided into 3 modules and each of them lasts about 4 weeks. Each module is a 2-unit course and the exams are usually given every other week. At first, the pacing of the exams might be overwhelming for some, but I think it is beneficial in the end. This allows you to focus on a specific subject for each exam.

However, studying isn’t the only thing that we do. Last night, our student officers hosted a Thanksgiving potluck in the cafeteria at the Winchester campus. This was a big opportunity for the Ashburn students and the Winchester students to intermingle and show off our cooking skills. We had the opportunity to taste the various unique dishes of casseroles and 3 styles of turkey. Family members as well as some of our professors had even joined in the festivities.

Things have been quiet over here in Ashburn as all the professors have relocated to the new building. However, it would not be too long before we will be moving in as well. The students will be moving into the new building, which is two blocks down the road, for next semester. I still have not visited the building yet, but I heard it is still under construction. With the movement of the professor’s office, we have to bear another month of driving back and forth between the 2 buildings to speak with professors and retrieve our paperwork.

It’s is time for me to return to my studies on the central nervous system. Stay tuned for the next update on the life of a BJD P1.

Study Break

Not writing much - just some updates. I am in the midst of studying for a pharmacology exam that we have on Tuesday.

This exam was supposed to be last Thursday, but sometimes if the professor feels that we are moving too quickly or the material was not explained clearly enough by a week before test time, they will consider pushing the exam back. In this case, we were not able to finish the material for the exam in time so we moved the exam from Thursday to Tuesday. It is nice that professors are conscious of the amount of time we have to learn such a large volume of material and that they do all they can to make sure you can cram it all in there in time.

After this exam on Tuesday, I have a presentation and paper due on Wednesday. My group in Biostats got picked to go for our end of the semester presentation on the first day available (that day being Wednesday). Our assignment was to write a research study as if you conducted it, minus the results section. The purpose is for us to use what we learned in class about statistics and research. In addition to the paper itself, we have to do a 15 minute presentation to the class about our study. Since we have this big exam on Tuesday, I am thinking Tuesday night will be devoted to presentation practice for this project. Once our presentation is over on Wednesday - I am in the clear until finals. That doesn't really mean much, but I will at least be able to enjoy Thanksgiving break a little bit. We have off from Wednesday the 25th to Friday the 27th for Thanksgiving break. Students who live close enough to home usually head there to have the big meal with their families (which is what I do). However, those that live flying distance away usually get together and have a big meal of their own - so either way, it is a nice holiday.

Ok - study break is over - more updates after this storm has passed.

Looking towards next semester

It's hard to believe that this semester is coming to an end. I only have 2 more large exams before finals week and the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be growing. That said, it is already time to start looking towards next semester. This past week, our class schedules were posted for next semester. Then today, online registration for classes opened and we scheduled our regular classes which are pre-chosen for us, plus our elective choices. I decided to choose an elective called Drug and Relationship abuse because that kind of material seemed interesting to me.

Tomorrow, we have one of the last 2 big exams in nonprescription products (OTC). Writing this is actually my study break because there's definitely a lot of material that I need to cram in my head for this exam! It is not that the material is difficult, but the sheer volume of it and the number of drug names we have to remember is quite overwhelming.

Another thing that has been going on is that my husband and I decided we were ready for a dog and have decided to get a pup in January of 2010. The whole process has been very exciting and we can't wait to get her.

Speaking of looking forward to next semester...it is definitely going to be a busy one. With getting a puppy, co-organizing rush week and pledge events for new members of KE, and starting I-CARE, I am hoping I will have time to breathe! As a new member coordinator for KE, a lot of work is required between January and March to help teach the pledges about the organization and have them complete the required work for membership. It consists of creating a pledge book, being available for weekly meetings, organizing the rush night, getting together bids, matching bigs with littles, ordering their shirts and pins, having various social events, and coordinating the rest of the fraternity with their iniation and induction. YEAH. Lots of work! But I know it will be lots of fun because I have a great co-new member coordinator to help me. We are really looking forward to working more with the other fraternities as well to promote comradery among us all.

Ok - now time to focus on the more immediate future - OTC study time.

On pins and needles

This past week many P3s were meeting with the experiential learning coordinator to discuss their P4 year of rotations. I personally started thinking about rotations from the beginning of pharmacy school but especially since the first day of our P3 year. Rotations are where we get practical experience in the pharmacy world. We start to apply and utilize all the pharmacy education we have had for the past 3 years. It’s also the year where many people firmly decide what they want to do with their pharmacy careers. Experiences in the community setting may lead one to pursue a career as a retail pharmacist, while others may have wonderful experiences working in the hospital setting. The first step of planning for our P4 year rotations is deciding where we want to do our rotations based on geography. The school has 6 geographical clusters to choose from. Some are more competitive than others, so waiting to hear where one will be located is a tense process. Hopefully by Thanksgiving break geographical assignments will be posted and the next phase of planning for rotations can start. I myself have this constantly in the back of my mind and I need to remind myself to focus on my current courses instead of worrying about rotations.

Speaking of future steps to becoming a pharmacist, a major one is taking the NAPLEX. The NAPLEX is taken after graduating from pharmacy school and is an absolute necessary requirement to being a licensed pharmacist. Recently the school announced that recent the 2009 graduates had a 100% pass rate in taking the NAPLEX exam. It is now two years in a row that all Shenandoah pharmacy graduates have passed the NAPLEX during the May to August testing window! It’s always good to know that our education here at Shenandoah has fully prepared us for standardized exams like the NAPLEX.

P1 Student Introduction

Greetings Everyone!

My name is David Ngo and I am a first year pharmacy student at BJD. I graduated from the University of California of San Diego (UCSD) with a degree in Pharmacological Chemistry. After graduation, I was working as a pharmacy clerk for two years at the UCSD Medical Center. So far, I have been generally pleased with the course work and the social atmosphere at the school.

I was attracted to this school because of its small size and its embracement of technology. For instance, lectures are telecasted from the main campus in Winchester to the satellite site in Ashburn and vice versa. Sixteen classmates and I are located in the Ashburn facility owned by George Washington University. Major advantages of being on the satellite campus are 24 hour access to the facility and the opportunity to visit Washington DC by the free GWU shuttles with out charge. Unfortunately, the satellite class is only for the first year and I’ll be joining the rest of my colleagues of about 60 at the main campus for my remaining years.

Stay tuned for future posts on the life of a first year pharmacy student at BJD.