Month: June 2016

Top Summer Festivals in July, August, and September 2016

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  1. Celebrate Independence Day at Red White & Boom or BoomFest on July 1, 2016!
  2. The Moonlight Market on Gay Street always has plenty of shopping, dining, and entertainment on July 9, August 13, September 10, and Oct 8, 2016 from 6-11pm.  There is also the Sunlight Market on Gay Street every third Sunday from April through October from 10am – 3pm.
  3. Try some hot ribs and listen to some cool jazz at the Jazz and Rib Fest (free admission!) on July 22, 23, 24.
  4. The Ohio State Fair simply can’t be missed on July 27 – August 7, 2016!  There are concerts, rides and attractions, shopping, free live music, and all of your favorite fair foods.
  5. Try the best local craft beer at the Columbus Summer Beerfest on August 5-6.
  6. Join in on the best of Irish art and culture at the Dublin Irish Festival on August 5, 6, 7.
  7. Eat your heart out at the Columbus Food Truck Fest on August 12 – 13.
  8. Experience traditional and contemporary Latin American culture at the Festival Latino on  August 13 –  14.
  9. Enjoy amazing Greek food and culture at the Greek Festival on September 2 – 5.
  10. The Independents’ Day Festival is truly for the most hip and artsy!  This festival is located in the vibrant East Franklinton neighborhood on September 17 – 18.
  11. Oktoberfest is a Columbus tradition with food, dancing, and fall fun on September 23, 24, 25!

For an extended list of Columbus festivals this year, visit Columbus Underground!  See ya there! 🙂

Joyce Zhang is currently a third-year PharmD student at The Ohio State University. She enjoys volunteering at local free clinics, providing healthcare to underserved populations on medical brigades to Nicaragua and Honduras, photography, running and hiking, and drinking tea. She is currently president of Buckeyes Without Borders, president of the PharmD Class of 2018, a Student Ambassador Coordinator, and a member of Phi Lambda Sigma (PLS) leadership society, American Pharmacists Association (APhA), Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA), and Kappa Psi.

Volunteer Opportunities as a Pharmacy Student: Helping Hands

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As a student pharmacist at Ohio State University, you are required to complete a certain number of community health service hours. Each year in professional school, this number increases by 10 hours. As a first year pharmacy student you will be required to complete 10 hours throughout the year. There are multiple sites throughout Columbus that welcome Ohio State students so the opportunities to volunteer are endless!

Throughout my past three years at Ohio State, one of my favorite places to volunteer as a pharmacy student is Helping Hands. Helping Hands is a free clinic in Columbus that provides medical care and social services to un-insured or under-insured adults who meet certain federal poverty guidelines. The clinic is open on Thursday and Friday nights throughout the year.

At this clinic, pharmacy students have many opportunities to impact a patient’s health. Pharmacy students are able to do medication reconciliations with patients to get an updated list of their medications, allergies, and how they are taking their medicines. Pharmacy students also help in the dispensing process of prescriptions and then counsel the patients as needed under the supervision of a pharmacist. At this site, you are able to see the patient all the way through the entire process from signing in, seeing the doctor, and then giving the patient their prescription. Working alongside a pharmacist you are guaranteed to learn many different things throughout this process! In my first year I learned counseling points on common medications and also how to counsel patients properly. I am so grateful that Columbus has such an amazing site for pharmacy students to learn and volunteer at! So when you’re looking for your first volunteering site make sure you check out Helping Hands 🙂

As always please feel free to email me with any questions at Johnson.4816@osu.edu.

 

Go Bucks!

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Preparing for the PCAT

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Hello!

I’m sure many of you have questions as to how to start preparing for the PCAT. I’m here to help guide you and give you some advice.

  1. Take a practice test. Find out what areas you are weak in, and what areas you are strong in.
  2. Create a study plan, and make sure you are spending time on each section (even if it’s a strong section).
    • I took the PCAT on the first test date in July, and so I started studying in June. But I did enjoy my summer, and I would suggest you make sure you are still doing fun things! I actually went to California for a week, and brought my study materials.
    • Set specific goals for each week and for each day. Link these goals to each subject. How much time do you want to spend on Chemistry vs Biology vs Verbal?
  3. Carve out a specific time of your day to study.
    • I personally studied from 4-6pm Monday through Friday. Sometimes more and sometimes less depending on what kind of groove I was in. Of course life happens, but always try to dedicate time to the PCAT studying each week!
  4. Find the resources that you want to use.
    • I personally used the Kaplan PCAT Prep Book. It should come with one online practice test and one practice test in the book. Definitely utilize those. The book is listed as $55, but on Amazon you can find it for cheaper!
    • If you are able to spend more money, I would recommend the PCAT Prep Course by Dr. Collins. It is a looooot more money than the Kaplan book, but I know people who have taken it, and it increased their PCAT score significantly. Like from the 60th percentile to the 90th!
    • Another source that I personally used was this man named Chad. He is (potentially was now) an instructor at Arizona State University. He would create review videos for chemistry that was one of the reasons I did very well in Gen Chem and O Chem. When I was preparing for the PCAT, I was able to utilize the videos he had. Now he and some other gentlemen have a website called CourseSaver! You can gain access to all videos and quizzes for $50 for 30 days. The chemistry may be very helpful to you, I definitely thought it did. It has 14.5 hours of gen chem, 14 hours of ochem, 5.5 hours of quantitative and 7.5 hours of biology. Currently the biology videos are free of charge because they are incomplete! I have met a dental student that studied for the DAT using Chad’s videos from CourseSaver, and he only says amazing things 🙂
  5. Use the resource!!
    • I tried to review the material then answer/solve questions.
  6. Try to find a study buddy.
    • I was fortunate enough to have a friend that was studying for the MCAT at the same time I was studying for the PCAT. It was nice having someone to meet at the library and to hold me accountable!
  7. Ask pharmacy students.
    • You will find a wide range of answers as to how they studied. But pick what method is good for you!

As always, if you have any questions at all please email me at sakai.22@osu.edu! Enjoy your summer 🙂

Sarah Pic