<p>What were your original goals, and did you accomplish them? </p>
<p>Like Jenonymous, I tried the 6 year PharmD program at Northeastern and MCPHS (also at Rutgers, St. John’s, U Rhode Island, University of Sciences in Philadelphia, University of Pacific, and University of Pittsburgh). I also applied to UCB for the fun of it. But basically, I was set on being a pharmacist, and intend to come out of college with a Doctor of Pharmacy. Originally, I had only wanted to go to University of Pacific for their pharmacy program because it was the closest to home. Many of my friends had gone to UOP, and I’ve heard good things about it. Although my stats were somewhat above the average (of the accepted students), I was still apprehensive and tried to cram in as many ECs and volunteer activities in my junior year, to make up for my lack of them (my GPA and SAT were good, but I had no ECs whatsoever). I visited some of the schools over the summer, and was impressed with a lot of them. I was really undecisive, and settled on aiming for Rutgers, which supposedly had the best pharmacy program out of all of them. If I made it into Rutgers, then I was pretty sure I’ll get accepted by the rest. As for UCB, I wanted to apply because everyone in our school applied to Berkeley. I still wanted the bragging right, although I was aiming for a different college career than most of my peers. </p>
<p>What was the biggest challenge you faced while applying to your schools?</p>
<p>Since most of these programs had early deadlines, me, being the procrasinator I am, didn’t decide to start my apps until September, although most of them were due November. I remember having to cram in my essay writing everyday after school, writing various drafts, sitting in front of my laptop watching my cursor blink, because I was braindead every single day. I would work on my college essays until 12 midnight, then start my homework. I would usually crash around 3 or 4 AM every single day, and feel depressed and lethargic at school. Although I found my parents really annoying for reminding me to do my college applications every single day, I managed to finish my final drafts a week before the deadlines. I was a perfectionist, and still found my essays lacking something, but I was much too tired out to do anything more to them. Now, as I go back and read them, I thought they were pretty good…</p>
<p>Did things turn out okay? Are you happy?</p>
<p>Well, I would say that I was overconfident, but with good reason. I got into all my schools, all with plentiful scholarship (rutgers was the cheapest, with only 3.5k a year, to st. John’s, which gave me full tuition). I got into UCB, so I was satisfied with that too. However, I felt like there was no surprise or challenge in this admissions process. I wish I applied to more reaches. </p>
<p>Which schools were you admitted to? To which school did you commit? Is it where you expected/hoped you’d be?</p>
<p>I am going to St. John’s next school year. Their scholarship offer isn’t something I can pass up and not regret later. I really wanted to go to Northeastern because of its location, but decided to be practical. Money isn’t something we can easily throw away now, even with college educations. I take comfort in the fact that although I may not have fun in college and live the life up to its fullest in those 6 years, at least I can graduate college debt free.</p>
Keep 'em coming!</p>
Plus, it didn’t hurt that they were SAT optional ;)</p>