<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am a senior, majoring in Pharmaceutical Sciences. I have a midterm tomorrow but I am burned out from studying for the past 4 days so I thought why not help some incoming freshman. I am writing this post solely based on my experiences at this University, you can take my advice or not, it does not benefit me in any way.</p>
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<li><p>One of the most COMMON misconceptions for incoming freshman is that you have to attend a top-notch undergraduate school to be accepted into a top-notch health graduate school. This is not true. Yes, I will say UCI ranks lower than UCSD, UCB, and UCLA. So what I will say is don't take everything you read off the damn internet. Did someone go to every school in CA, take classes for four years, and then rank them one by one? Props to them if they did.</p></li>
<li><p>Do well in your classes from day one. If you don't understand something and are too shy to ask in a 400-person lecture hall, then go to your professor's office hours. Let me put this into perspective for you. In high school your teacher most likely has a Bachelor's degree and answers your questions based of the tax dollars that your parents pay. Well in college, your paying 25K/year for tuition/living expenses AND your professor has a Ph.D on the material that he is teaching you. Please utilize your education because if you are alike some of my friends that turn around and say that did not learn ****, realize it is your own fault.</p></li>
<li><p>No one is going to hold your hand. If you didn't turn in an assignment, you get a zero. The professor is not going to ask why you didn't turn it in. If you didn't attend class, your professor will not ask why. If you failed a midterm, the professor will not come to you. It is your job to keep on task with assignments, exams, and midterms. Really it isn't hard, but if your busy getting drunk or high every day it may be. In a quarter system this can be overwhelming, because midterms come fast.</p></li>
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<p>Ok, I know this sounds intimidating so I am going to pause here and say it really isn't. Just be a big boy/girl and realize it's time to grow up.</p>
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<li><p>Whether you want to go to Pharmacy, Dentistry, or Medical school start shadowing early on. It really is nice to have volunteer/paid experience in the graduate school that you want to apply for. It shows that you are serious and committed to the profession that you want to do.</p></li>
<li><p>In your second year you will take a series of classes called Organic Chemistry. You may have heard horror stories about this class, but it really isn't too difficult if you are managing your time correctly. It's pretty crucial to do well in all your classes, but specifically THIS class. Organic Chemistry is a nice way for graduate schools to gauge how much stuff you can memorize.</p></li>
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<p>5b. If you have two midterms to study for and they are on the same week/day, place priority on your major classes. </p>
<p>5c. You will realize that many classes are statistically curved. Most professors follow the standard scale of 17% A's, 33% B's, 33% C's, an 17% D's and F's. The first two years of your biological science/pharmaceutical science/nursing major is called "weeding" people out. It is sad to see a lot of people getting kicked out of their major and dreams crushed. But hey, you are now informed that many professors like to screw you over because it looks bad for them to give out too many A's.</p>
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<li><p>Leadership positions. Self-explanatory</p></li>
<li><p>Research. At UCI, you are able to participate in actual hands on research where you work under a Principal Investigator (P.I.). What does this mean? Well working under a PI means you help them with their research. They will teach you, and you also get an A for every quarter that you work under them. Most research labs have minimum requirements of 3.0 GPA+ and a 2-year commitment. They will also write you a letter of recommendation.</p></li>
<li><p>Letter of Recommendations (LOR). You will need 3-4 from health professionals.</p></li>
<li><p>Standardized Exams. MCAT, DATs. These are hard exams, dedicate a summer to studying this stuff. Fortunately, CA schools do not require PCAT scores as of right now.</p></li>
<li><p>Adjusting to college. So you did bad your first fall quarter and you think the world is over. It isn't. Graduate schools recognize that the adjustment of college can be difficult to some students. However, if you are doing poorly in subsequent quarters it can be a result of poor studying habits.</p></li>
<li><p>Social Life. Have fun in college it is a great experience. But don't get too absorbed in the social aspect of college. Yes it is nice to have fun. But, remember you are here for a college education. If all you want is to party, why are you paying 25k/year to party? I have experienced the social life of college and it is fun, but you are here for school, not parties. Once you are done with your exams, papers, and are free that is when you party and go hard. Not two nights before your have critical assignments due.</p></li>
<li><p>Set goals. Set your dream graduate school, don't give up, and be aware of deadlines. If you honestly thought applying to UCI was hard, you are in for a nice little surprise.</p></li>
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<p>This isn't comprehensive, my best advice is to not start too late. If you start your freshman year you can pace yourself so you're not overwhelming yourself right away. Ever have regrets in High School that "you wish this" or "you wish that"? Well... start early and don't have regrets.</p>
I’m going in as a Pharm-Sci major and can’t wait! :D</p>