Pardon my slacking on the blogging y'all.  It has been by no means because my life has been uneventful or that I've been a couch potato.  It's just really been quite hectic around here in Carolina.  With the semester winding down (trust me, that I can't even fathom how quickly this school year has gone!), I've just been swamped with my daily to-do lists.

So, in thinking of what's relevant to all of you prospective students and what I can possibly write about, I got to thinking...Besides "You're not going to graduate" there is perhaps only one other five-word sentence combination that most students would not like to hear from their guidance counsilor, and that is: "You have to take Chemistry."

What is it with Chemistry that threatens most of us and just scares us all to death?  I know that I was freaked out about taking Chemistry because both of my two older sisters used to tell me horrifying stories about their experiences with the class--concepts to boggle your mind, equations that don't make sense, and a mean-spirited teacher who enjoyed failing students.  Going into my first Chemistry class, I was just praying that I would have a really nice teacher.  The subject may be difficult, but I knew that if I had a supporting teacher that I would make it out fine of the course.  Fortunately, good ol' Mr. Vanzura from sophomore year of '03-'04 was my most favorite teacher of my high school years.  He was a great teacher, and I had a blast in my Chemistry class.  For example, we celebrated Mole Day on October 23 of that year to enjoy National Mole Day in honor of the Avogadro's number, 6.022 x 10^23.  He brought in some chips and guacaMOLE and his wife baked the class some MOLE-asses cookies!

Well, looking back on it and where I am right now, I can tell you that definitely is hope for all of you students who are probably just like I was before: a freaked-out-student-because-of-Chemistry!  I proudly now have 2 semesters of General Chemistry and a semester of Organic Chemistry with flying colors of a big great A.  I am currently in the second semester of Orgo, and I remain hopeful to have that final A, so long as I don't bomb the final.  Lastly, as y'all may remember from previous entries, I have been working as a Supplemental Instructor in the Success Center for the General Chemistry courses of CHEM 111 and 112.  There truly is hope for y'all if I can do all of this!

For all of you Pharmacy, Nursing, Scientists, and Pre-Med hopefuls, I suggest  you get right on that Chemistry class.  Best to get exposed now before getting into it in college.  If it weren't for good ol' Mr. Vanzura giving me such a great experience with Chemistry, I probably would have still been freakin' when I started Chem here at Carolina....so long 4.0!  Hehehe!

And well, speaking of Chemistry, I have an Organic Chemistry Lab exam tomorrow.  I will once again have to bid  y'all adieu!  Here's to hoping for another blog entry soon!

Catch y'all later on the flipside, Gamecocks!

Posted by Kriska at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As un-superstitious as I am, I have been withholding blogging about this for fear that I'd be jinxing myself, but the results are in and I can now confidently speak about the process of applying to Pharmacy School because I'M IN!  Y'all are officially reading the blog of a member of the South Carolina College of Pharmacy Class of 2012.

In the past two weeks, I have had two interviews with the College of Pharmacy, and I have been anxiously awaiting to hear from the Dean if I made it or not.  Although my family and friends constantly boosted my confidence by reminding me that my resume is rather scholarly and that I most likely had nothing to worry about, the fact that my application was still in the hands of the admissions office and that no official answer was still given made me really worry.

Actually, if I'm going to tell you the full story of how this whole application process for me was like, it would consist of a lot of me worrying and freaking out.  People said I was crazy and way too pessimistic, but until I heard it straight from the Dean's mouth, I could not be any more concerned about the direction of my future...oh what would I have done had I not gotten in?!? Hehehe!

So...what about the application for pharmacy school?  Let me take you back to several months ago, back to the fall semester...

I had taken the PCAT for the first time in late August and boy, was that experience something!  The only exposure I had to the test was a Kaplan prep book and another PCAT practice book that I had purchased on Amazon.com.  I had intended to really focus and devote a good amount of time to prepare for the exam, but as always with so many things going on, I could only do so much to get cracking on the books.  So, as my boyfriend took me to the good ol' small town of Orangeburg, SC and he aimlessly drove around the pretty bare town, I spent my Saturday morning into the afternoon taking the much dreaded PCAT exam.  I felt so overwhelmed by the material, and I didn't feel all that comfortable about the test.  The next available time to take the exam again, however, was going to fall on my birthday in October and I wasn't really looking forward to spending it by taking another 5-hr exam and cashing in $105 for the exam fee.  I knew my future lied in the hands of that one decision, but I weighed out the pros and cons and just crossed my fingers, hoping for the best score possible.

And so the process continued...

The application was on-line, and I began to fill it out sometime in mid-October.  Fall break was towards the end of October, and again I intended on finishing the application by then.  But as things would have it, the list of things to do kept growing and it just took me some time to get the ball rolling on my application.  I did manage to get my recommendation forms out to my references some time around early November.  The application required three references, and I really tried to choose wisely of the people who I felt knew me not only in the academic field but also with my extracurricular and work experiences and personal background.  I chose one of my mentors from the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs.  I felt that she knew me well not only as a Carolina Scholar but also as an Honors student as I have spent countless hours in her office seeking her advice for the many options available here in Carolina.  The second person I chose is my "boss" for this blogging job who is an assistant director in the Undergraduate Admissions office.  Not only has she followed my blogging and knows about the kind of things I've gotten into here these past couple of years, but she was actually also one of the people who read my Honors and Scholarships application when I was applying to come here, so she really has gotten to know me from the very start of my career here in Carolina.  The third person I chose is my pharmacy supervisor that I worked with during my summer work experience in CVS back home.  I felt that she would give a good perspective of my work ethics as well as my background in pharmacy that I picked up from working with her.

Eventually, I got my application finished and sent it in some time early December.  From then on, it was just a waiting game until the school finally called me for my interview.  I was a lil bit of a worry wart about this process because many of my pre-pharmacy friends were getting interview appointments set and I hadn't even gotten my phone call yet.  It was probably 3 weeks later until I finally heard from them.

My first interview was very casual.  My interviewer is one of the professors of the college whose main expertise is in clinical pharmacy.  He was very nice and very reassuring about my application.  He also shared with me great insight about other programs beyond the Pharm.D.  A week after that interview was my second one with one of the deans of the college.  This interview was a bit more formal than the first, but nevertheless, it went smoothly.  The interviews were not so dreadful and scary as most students probably anticipate and get all worked up about.  They were very pleasant, and truly they just wanted to get to know you far beyond what your answers on a piece of paper may look like.

And so now we are back to here.  Several months after my first and only PCAT.  A couple of months after my application was sent in.  And a week after my second interview.  I am going to be officially a Pharmacy student.  Well, I'll be officially one provided I finish the rest of the two courses I need for my prerequisites, send in the acceptance packet, and pay my $300 fees.  I am really excited!

So...now that I have gone through this experience, any of you who may be considering Pharmacy school can ask me questions, and I can share with you even further how my experience has been like so far.  I may be no expert, but I can definitely share with you guys what wealth of knowledge I may have!  Hehe!

Catch y'all later on the flipside, Gamecocks!

Posted by Kriska at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"I am nobody.  Nobody is perfect.  Therefore, I am perfect."

My roommie was looking up quotes on bored.com, I believe, and she came upon that one above.  She immediately fell in love with it and shared it with me...and well I thought it was...BRILLIANT!  Talk about logical correctness or what!  (Furthermore, it is an Affirming the Antecedent for all of you Phil 110 Logic students.  Oh, Dr. J would be so proud of me!  Oh, yes he would be.)

My Phil 110 class has actually started to grow on me--as can be seen in my dorky references above.  This is a feeling all too different than say a couple of days ago when I was actually pretty worried about the class.  Last Tuesday, we got back our first exam, and overall, grades reflected the fact that we have lost two class sessions due to wintry weather in the past month.  The range of grades was pretty huge, and some grades were just lousy.  I made a decent 85%, which is a B.  I'm fully aware that that means I'm still above average in the class, but it just bites to get such a grade.  (I'm slightly an overachiever, guys.  In case, y'all still haven't caught on yet.)  So, well I was worried that I might not be getting all this "logic" afterall, which kind of sucks because I've always thought of myself as pretty logical.  On top of that, I didn't really need to take Logic.  I was just trying to avoid taking a hard Honors class under the mathematical discipline, and immediately assumed that anything without the word Calculus, Linear, or Differentiation would be my best bet.  Logic was the only course that met that description.  So, Logic it was...and an 85% on my first exam it was as well.  I'm not really sure what to do, but I know I have to kill in the next exams to boost my grade up as close to an A as possible. 

Today, however, I realized that Logic is actually growing on me.  We're getting into some pretty cool stuff now that I'm actually enjoying, but more importantly, I am also understanding the concepts.  Truth-tables and the Fell Swoop technique...oh beauty and joy of logic!  I've finally focused on the class, and I'm actually ahead by about a week on the homework--something I can truly say hasn't happened in probably my lifetime!  I'm usually procrastinating, but this time for some reason, I'm actually liking it that I'm not and that I am keeping on track.

So, what was my entire point for this blog:  Give classes a fair shot and don't let a lousy B bog you down.  Get interested in it and find cool quotes that will make you realize that some things that you do learn in class can be applied in real life!

Well, hope y'alls week has been going well so far.  Before you know it, the weekend will be here...oh what joy will that be!  Catch y'all later on the flipside, future Gamecocks. 

Posted by Kriska at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's time to catch y'all up on my first few days back here at....COLA!  It's been nice getting back in the groove of things.  Here at MaxcyPad, the gang is back, and best of all...we've got a Wii!  Yes, you read it right.  We've got a Wii!  It's really funny watching the guys play boxing and such...if only we can get ourselves another controller.  Anyone care to hook me up with one?  ^_^ hehe!

Well...on to more important things...Classes have officially begun.  Well, a couple of days ago they have.  After about 10-15 times that I revised my schedule over the break, I'm pretty satisfied with how my classes have turned out, all five Honors classes.  Everyday is pretty much a different schedule due to science labs and such, but it's pretty doable.  For the most part, I get all my classes done early.  Like for Thursdays and Fridays, I'm pretty much done by 11AM, and that is certainly nice!

So, I guess this is where I start talking about my classes and professors and such...I just better watch what I say, or else I might dig myself a grave with professors.  Nah, just kidding!  None of them were bad at all.

PHIL 110: Intro to Logic - Dr. J is how he likes to be called.  Dr. Stiver is pretty funny.  He digresses a lot, but then again he admits to it and says that it is just a part of his teaching style.  I've heard some seriously scary stories about Logic that made me think twice about taking the class, but Dr. J looks like a man who not only knows his stuff (he co-wrote our textbooks) but also is a very interesting prof.

PSYC 470: Survey of Languages - Professor Disterheft is...interesting!  She showed up about 20 minutes to class because she thought that the class was in HUM 201 when it was actually at HM 201.  But nevertheless, the class sounds interesting, and she seems like a very nice woman!

SCCC 360P: Prosem: Science & Spirituality - I have to wake up at 7:40 every TTH for this class because I have to make it to  Gambrell by 8, but there is Starbucks on the way...so it's totally fine!  Professor Buxhoeveden (I don't know how to pronounce his name) sounds like a very reasonable man.  The class material sounds very very very interesting.  I'm pretty excited about this class!

SCCC 104: Principles of Chem II - I'm back in Chemistry again with MURPHY!  I thought that I wanted to get out of Pre-Pharm because of Chemistry, but I'm actually pretty psyched about being back in Dr. Murphy's class.  I definitely LOVVVE her point system (I exempted the final exam..woot!), and I look forward to furthering my Chemistry knowledge...hahaha!

PHYS 202: Man do I wish I had paid much greater attention to my high school physics class.  I could have exempted this course had I just gotten one more point on the AP!!  Dr. Jones is no match to my old Physics teacher, and although, I didn't think that I would ever say it...I MISS MY OLD MR. ROGERS!  Dr. Jones isn't bad at all though...it's just I guess I got used to Mr. Rogers's way of teaching Physics.  I hope I don't blow this class.  It's more or less a review.  I better do well in it!

Aight, well that's all for now folks.  It's time to get back to the Wii!  Good ol' MaxcyPad is packed with about 7 people, and although it's been freezing cold all day due to the weather...I'm burning up with all the body heat!  Catch y'all later on the flipside, future Gamecocks!

Posted by Kriska at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)