Dear prospectiv
e students,
Hi and welcome to our blog! We are Jade and John, two sophomore (second-year) students here at Northeastern studying pharmaceutical sciences. We were placed into the same residence hall freshman year, and soon discovered that we were one of the few other students we knew in our major (we have a grand total of 9 in our year). After many hours making orgo flashcards, memorizing where the olecranon process is, and digesting the meaning of scientific papers together, we count ourselves lucky that we became fast friends.
John: Just a little bit about me: I am from New Jersey, and some of my hobbies include playing the drums and snowboarding. When I was touring colleges, Northeastern really caught my eye because of its location in the city (while still having a campus) as well as
the pharmaceutical sciences major that Northeastern offers at the undergraduate level. What pulled me to this program was my interest in chemistry and the inner
workings of the human body as well as my desire to do research. This program really stresses research and provides you with the opportunities to do so, especially during the introduction to pharmaceutical sciences class taken in the spring of freshman year.
So far, I have enjoyed the classes I have taken, although they do keep me busy. I am also currently in a pharmacology lab classifying compounds with respect to how they work with the dopamine receptors in the brain. I will talk more about this in my future posts, but thank you for allowing me to introduce myself to you!
Jade: Hi everyone! I grew up in Connecticut, fortunate enough to have the beach a
quick drive away. I love running (distance only; I cannot sprint for my life), reading, playing the flute (fingers crossed for concert band coming back soon!), baking, and skiing.
My dog, Coco.
An early morning run in Boston with my roommates Anna and Umang!
Junior year, my friends and I piled into a huge rented van and spent the weekend looking at schools in Boston. I felt a good vibe from campus after visiting, but came to realize that co-op, proximity to pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, and a really strong research program would best help me further my education.
I was not a pharmaceutical sciences major at first; I applied as a chemistry major, switched to behavioral neuroscience, and finally settled in pharmsci. I knew I wanted science, but was not sure what discipline. Pharmsci is the perfect interdisciplinary mix that I was looking for, and heavily emphasizes research. I currently do research in a microbiology and molecular biology lab that works with the antibiotic resistant bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii and its genome.
A good looking plate of Acinetobacter baumannii:
In the future, I am torn between pursuing medicine or academia, but my experiences at Northeastern are making this choice clearer: I volunteer at Massachusetts General Hospital and hope to do one of my co-ops in a clinical setting. I am looking forward to telling you more about all of this in future posts!