Undergraduate Admissions

This journal is an archive of the experiences of a UB student in the 2006-2007 school year; it’s no longer being updated.  If you’d like to read about some current UB students, please check out this year’s bloggers.

Hey everyone - the blog is back!

For those of you have been following my blog, thanks for reading!  I will be continuing on (unexpectedly) through the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences to share my experiences with all of you again!

For any of you who were just dying to know what I’ve been up to, I’ve been enjoying my time off this summer!  I’m working full-time at Buffalo General Hospital and it has been a great experience!  I’ve learned how to make IV’s which has been really cool and I’ve also had some off-service days where I get paid to do some clinical work with the pharmacists at our hospital.  I feel like I’ve learned so much!

On the fun side, I went camping at Stony Brook State Park for a weekend - it was so nice to get outside!  I’m hoping to get to the beach a few more times before the summer ends (I’m so pale!) and I have another camping trip coming up in a few weeks.  I’m hoping to get home to see my family for a few days but it looks like that might not happen until August - it’s been so long since I’ve been home.  One of the highlights of my summer was the Goo Goo Dolls concert in Darien Lake, they’re my absolute favorite so that was great.  I also will be going on the Niagara Wine Trail the day before school starts for my friend’s birthday.  There is just so much going on - I love Buffalo in the summer!!  I’m so bummed that school is approaching so quickly!

Well that’s my summer in a nutshell - see you all in a few weeks!  I’ll be at orientation so maybe I’ll see some of you new students there!

I am so happy this day has finally arrived!!  I had a great semester and it’s sad that it will be my last with many of my friends graduating this year!!  I would just like to say best of luck to everyone in the future!!

As for my final week as an undergraduate, I have an exam today and 3 finals.  I will know in the next few days if I got the position I interviewed for which will decide if I’m staying in Buffalo for the summer.  I am crossing my fingers because I love Buffalo in the summer - there is so much to do!!

Tomorrow is the UBStars end of the year banquet which is always so much fun.  It’s going to be so sad to say goodbye to everyone!!  Tomorrow we also have our Evening of Thanks which Mortar Board sponsors where we get to personally thank people who have made a difference in our undergraduate careers.  I think it is such a nice idea and I’m excited to be able to formally thank people that have helped me along the way.

It has been quite a year for me in transitioning from undergrad to a professional program.  I had a great time and although it was really busy, it has also been such a wonderful experience.  I would like to take a moment to thank everyone in the admissions office for their help and support over the past 3 years and also all of my family and friends!!  Goodbye and good luck!

These past few weeks have been crazy!!  Nothing exciting really is going on - just lots of homework and exams!

 Today I have a presentation on Major Depressive Disorder.  I am so ready to have it done - words cannot express!!  Later this week I have my final counseling exercise this week and then I am done with all of my practical work for the school year.  It feels nice, it really does.

 School will be over in just 2 weeks now!!  I have a job interview at Buffalo General Hospital next week and I’m really hoping it works out!  If so, I will be here in Buffalo for the summer.  I love Buffalo in the summer, there is so much to do, and even better is that I won’t have any homework. 

Catch ya later!

Sorry for the delay in update!!  This has been a really fun week - there is so much going on!  I always love the end of spring semester - it’s getting so nice out!  I haven’t had to wear a coat all week!!  There are so many events coming up between now and the end of the school year - it’s exciting.  It’s sad to think that everyone will be leaving soon - graduation is going to be so sad!

This past week we welcomed our new members for the 2007-2008 academic year to Mortar Board.  Since I am a membership co-chair, I was responsible for organizing the event (along with my favorite Fara <3) and making sure everything went smoothly.  It was a ton of fun!!  We surprised them with a trust exercise which landed them at Baird Point Thursday night for a nice ceremony.   When we finally announced they were selected as our new members, you could just see the excitement on everyone’s faces!!  It was a great feeling to pull off something so big - I’m hoping it will be a tradition for years to come!   Congratulations to everyone!!

The next day we had Relay for Life which was a blast as always.  They transform Alumni Arena into the track and build the campsites around it.  It’s such a nice event - they started Relay on campus when I was a sophomore and it has grown tremendously every year.  My team, Phi Delta Chi, raised over $1200 for the event which was outstanding!!  I think that the total amount raised was over $50,000 which is outstanding!!  I think it’s such a great night because everyone is united for one cause and most campus organizations are represented so it’s all of your friends in one place, just having fun and raising money for a good cause.  I can’t wait until next year already!

Tuesday I was in Albany for the Day for what the pharmacy school calls “Albany Day.”  Basically, student representatives from all of the schools of pharmacy in New York State go to Albany, the state capital, to lobby and support legislation that is important to the practice of pharmacy.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect in all honesty, and I wasn’t really super excited beforehand, but after spending the day there, it really made you understand why it is important to talk to your government representatives.  We lobbied against huge budget cuts in health care, and for 2 bills - one which would allow pharmacists to administer vaccinations (since we’re already trained in school to do so!!) and the second, CDTM,  which would allow pharmacists to enter into a collaborative agreement with a physician to alter dosing and order lab values for patients on medications that must be carefully monitored.  We were teamed up with professors for the day, and we went in groups.  I was with Dr. Prescott and Dr. Zurick who were a ton of fun and had experience with the issues we were lobbying, so it was a good opportunity to learn and observe.  We had appointments set up with legislators representing the Western NY area and they seemed really receptive and interested in what we were presenting. All of them were very respectful and took the time to greet each and every student.  While some of them may still be on the fence about supporting our cause, they were very attentive.  I would definitely go again and I’m hoping next year I’ll have more knowledge to join in and support the arguments.

So!! Quite the week huh? That’s the life of a pharmacy student.

I think the last time I officially went on a field trip was in junior high - for real!  Yesterday for my radiopharmacy class we went on a field trip to a nuclear pharmacy here in Buffalo.  It was pretty cool actually - definetly a nice break from our usual 4 - 6pm class.  It was cool to see since most of the things we’re learning in class are very conceptual and hard to apply.  Being there made it a little easier to understand what is going on.  It’s cool that even when you’re in college you sometimes get a break to do something different than just sitting in a classroom. 

On that note, we also did our Poison Prevention presentations at Theodore Roosevelt elementary this week.  We talked to 5 different classrooms of kindergarten and first grade students.  It was really fun!  Again, it was just nice to kind of get away from being in a classroom and spend some time doing something a little more hands on.  Even better the kids were sooo cute and I think they had fun too!!

School is definetly at full force again.  Tomorrow we’re holding interviews for Mortar Board candidates.   There’s just a lot going on.  It shouldn’t be too stressful, just another thing to add to the list.  We’re having our induction next weekend so we’re also trying to plan for that as well.  I’m really looking forward to Relay for Life this weekend.  Last year was so much fun because all of my best friends were there and it was just a nice night to bond with everyone while supporting a good cause.  It definetly will put a damper on my weekend studying, but hey - you have to have a little fun sometimes right?

Sorry for any of you who have been anxiously awaiting another post!!  I’ve been having some technical difficulties in posting the past few weeks!

 Currently I am on spring break!!  Whoever thought of spring break might just be my hero.  The first 3 days of break over the weekend, all I did was sleep!!  It was glorious!  Unfortunately I’m not in an exotic location - I decided to stick around in Buffalo.  I’ve found that by the time you travel somewhere you never really get that time to sit and relax, so that’s what I’m doing!!  The next few weeks look exhausting already - it looks like a pen exploded all over my planner, seriously.  

Last night I spent some time with my friends from undergrad who are scattered all over the campus in various different majors and complexes.  Now that my schedule has become so hectic, and theirs too, it’s hard to get us all in one place anymore.   Now we have the whole week to sleep and go do things that we never get time to do while school’s in session.   It’s such a nice feeling!

I’ve been working a little over break in the good old admissions office gearing up for Preview Day.  For any of you who aren’t familiar, Preview Day is our open house for accepted students.  In years past I’ve helped coordinate volunteers so there’s quite a bit of work that goes into finding students to help out in addition to odds and ends that need to be finished.   Maybe I’ll see some of you there!

Time to do something fun that does not even slightly pertain to school!

It’s so nice to know we’re almost through February.  Is it bad that I’m already thinking about summer vacation?  I think it’s a sign that I need a break!

Last week we went through our first round of major exams - and we’re all still alive!  I had 2 on friday and I think I did pretty well.  It’s nice that our exams are a little more spread out this semester.  It feels like I’m always studying for something, but at least it’s nice to know you can spend a few days focusing on each individually.  I have an exam coming up on Tuesday in my Radiopharmacy class.   I think it’s going to be pretty hard, but at least after that one is over I get almost an entire week before I have another.    That really makes me happy.

All of our Mortar Board applications are in!  We’re gearing up for selection this coming Saturday so I’m really crossing my fingers that things will pull through.  It’s times like this that I start to really stress out!!  Hopefully we’ll get everyone there on time, in and out, and then have plenty our our day left to relax.  The weekends are just going by too fast these days.

In other news, this week I will start to actually do real work on our research project down at ECMC.  I’m really excited - I feel like it’s a really good chance to learn and apply a few things that we touched on this year that will get more important next year.  I’m just hoping I don’t mess anything up too much - cross your fingers for me!

Tomorrow is Discovery Day too!  Maybe I’ll see some of you there!!

I think that Friday should be included as a day of the weekend.  Seriously, they go by so fast!  This past Friday was probably one of the longest days of my life and I’m totally not exaggerating. 

So yesterday was the big day - the halfway dance.  I had a blast - and I have some pictures to share - yay!  A shout out to my friend for Krystina who did a fabulous job on my hair!

  Me and my date for the evening.

  Just a few of my favorites.

 We have a ton of tests/work coming up this week, but it was so nice to be able to get everyone together and dressed up for a night out.  Even our professors came!  It was really fun to see them outside of school, and let me tell you - some of them really know how to dance.  We had the dance downtown at Statler Towers and it was beautiful.  It was funny to see everyone look so nice since usually we all come to school in our jeans and sweatshirts.  It was the perfect end to a stressful week!

It’s amazing how fast everything has picked up at school!!  I feel like I say that all the time, but it really is the truth. 

 Today I had my first meeting with Dr. Schroeder, the professor I am working on a research project with this semester.  It was really exciting!  This is really my first encounterworking one-on-one with a professor since I’ve been at UB.  Not for lack of opportunity, but for lack of time in my schedule.  This semester I’m getting 2 credits for about 6 hours of work a week which is pretty cool.  I’ll be spending my Tuesday and Thursday mornings down at ECMC.  Today we went over what my role would be in the study and I’m super excited to get started.  Not only is he really cool, but the work is very interesting to me.  It’s fun to be doing something in real life - it’s something I could really see myself doing as a career.  It’s nice to have that motivation to keep me going. 

 In even more exciting news, the halfway dance is coming up this weekend.  Basically, the second year pharmacy class puts on a charity gala (this year to benefit the Children’s Heart Fund).  This will obviously be my first, but from what I hear it’s a ton of fun and even the professors come!!  Things have been really stressful these first few weeks getting back into the routine, so it will be a nice break from the misery to come. 

 And of course, in other news, Mortar Board is gearing up for our membership selection in the coming weeks.  I’m excited to see who applies!!  Things seem to be looking up - we have some great ideas for the semester.  The one I’m most excited about is Buffalo’s Best.  We’re picking a list of about 10 of the hot spots in Buffalo (according to our members) and organizing our social events to try and do all of them before graduation.    It’s nice to have “just for fun” goals for a change.

 Alright, enough fun.  Back to studying.