My top three favorite classes

Happy March! The worst of winter is finally over, and spring blossoms are just around the corner! Co-op has been an incredible experience so far and it’s crazy to think that I’m already halfway done. As much as I love working, it makes me miss classes and seeing my friends just a little bit.

Looking back at all the courses I’ve taken so far, I was able to narrow down and share three of my favorite classes: Healthcare Systems, Building a Better Book, and Developmental Psychology.

I took Healthcare Systems during the fall semester of my P1 year. The course focuses on a variety of topics that stems from healthcare insurance plans to the role of pharmacy in population health. This class was extremely helpful when I began my second Co-op because a responsibility I hold at the pharmacy is making sure patients’ medications go through insurance and resolving any issues regarding their Medicare or Medicaid. The course unravels the complicated issues and concerns around our current U.S healthcare system and brings awareness to current disparities and quality of care.

Building a Better Book was an honors seminar that I took during the summer of 2020. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, this course was fully virtual. The course name slightly intimidated me at first and I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, it turned out to possibly be my favorite course, and I got to meet so many ambitious and inspiring students along with such a passionate and motivating professor. The course begins with the codex—the historical ancestor of the modern book which was first discovered in the 4th century. We then explored different types of books such as magazines and e-books. The more discussions I participated in with my classmates, the more I realized that I didn’t know what is truly considered a book. Our final project was to create our own creation of a book based on the definition we developed and simplified over the course of 6 weeks. The creative energy was so inspiring from my classmates coding their own ebook to hand making a scrapbook using bamboo from their backyard.

Developmental psychology was a course that though I did not find challenging, was very eye-opening and quite honestly therapeutic. Because I’m minoring in psychology, I’ve taken four psychology courses so far. Developmental psychology was my favorite for good reasons. The class focuses on changes throughout the life span in social relationships, cognition, and emotional functioning. What stood out to me the most about this course was how relatable it was to my own development and how my personal experiences align with the theories and topics throughout the course.

I find that the PharmD plan of study to be really beneficial, especially for those who can sometimes get overwhelmed with the amount of options and classes to choose from. I like that the classes that I get to take are very niche and specific while still giving me the options to take certain electives outside of pharmacy!