Personal statement.

English is not my primary language and I need all the help I can get. Please help me change career. Thank you in advance.





I immigrated to the United States in 1994. Since then, I had the opportunity to work in several of fields as a computer engineer, real estate appraiser, and even as a Transportation Security Officer.

Two humanitarian trips to Viet Nam in 2005 and 2007 really changed and set my goal in life. I was with a group of thirty people from France and US composed of several doctors, a pharmacist, a dentist and many volunteers. We traveled from South to North Vietnam, visiting the country and providing free medical consultations to roughly 3,000 low income Vietnamese over a period of four weeks. For some patients, it was their first visit to a doctor or dentist. Yet they walked miles and waited hours to be consulted. Because of my lack in the medical background, I was assigned to prepare prescriptions under the supervision of a pharmacist. At the beginning, it was difficult. I was lost and kept asking for help each time a prescription came up. But the joyful face of patients encouraged me to learn faster the name of the drugs and their purpose. As time went by, I felt more comfortable helping the pharmacist to prepare the medication, and speaking French, English and Vietnamese really helped communicate.

One of the unexpected highlight of the trip happened at Saigon in 2005. I still remember the desperation of an 8 years old girl with a failure heart valve. Our humanitarian group quickly decided to bring her to a hospital and paid for the expenses of her surgical operation. A few days later, we were cheerful to know how well and fast she recovered. She went back to school a few days later.

Back on the US soil, I volunteered at the Bascom pharmacy to get a better sense what a pharmacist does, and thoroughly enjoy being able to assist indirectly the patients. Like a pharmacy technician, I handle a lot of routine clerking such as maintaining patient records in computerized systems, record newly received prescriptions, fill prescription orders, and take care of any mailing order.

I was strongly advised by University Of Pacific in Stockton that I need straight A in all subjects. That’s the reason I study very hard to ensure I get good grades. This was particularly difficult since this is a new field. I used to study long hours on computer topics, and now my focus has change to chemistry and biology. In order to study more efficiently, I came up with some new strategies: Since I took Chem1A in Mission College, I write everything on a laptop. I would type my own notes, and print them out when I need them. I would update the teacher Powerpoint slides. I would use a software timer (called cool timer) to better balance my study time. My cell phone would keep track of the schedule, and remind me when I have to wake up, eat, go to school, and even sleep. Using add-on for Firefox (ScrapBook), I would save all interesting online homework on my computer, and redo them before midterms and finals. I skipped sleep many times to guarantee better grades if needed. Every day, I would send emails to the teacher and see them to make sure I understand the topic very well. As a result of all these changes, I went from a C student to straight A student in Chemistry and Biology. My classmates rely on me when asking question, because they know I could search the answer very fast on my notes.

Therefore, I am excited and look forward to be considered in your program of pharmacy.