Research Topic

I want to write about the new methods of contraception that are being developed for men. So far, I know that there is something called a "dry orgasm pill" and also a shot that work to prevent pregnancy in different stages of the sperm cycle. I plan on centering my paper around the pill but will introduce the shot, probably in the comparison section. Here is how I plan to organize my paper thus far:

Possible title: Sexual Revolution: The Male Birth Control Pill

Research question: How does the male birth control pill compare to other forms of contraception and how will it impact society's views on sexual responsibility?

Hypothesis: The introduction and utilization of the male birth control pill will further help prevent unwanted pregnancies and balance the paradigm of contraception responsibility between the sexes.

Honestly Helping

2012, the year I was supposed to finish pharmacy school. I was going to be a 24 year-old “doctor” with a six-figure annual salary and the white coat to go with it. I started college at Northeastern University in Boston in the six-year, only get one summer off, alternate between class and work, drowning in debt by the end of it, PharmD program. Not many of those exist anymore. Pharmacy school has become just like medical school, four years of school after your bachelor’s, leading to a professional degree. So when I found out I could shave two years off of school, I went for it, pretentiously. For the entire first semester, I was sure this was what I wanted to do. I even joined the professional pharmacy fraternity to start my networking. I liked being in the major that everyone thought was the school’s pride and joy; it did a lot for my ego. But the motivation behind wanting to be a pharmacist was hurting my conscience.

During the second semester of your first year, you're required to take this one-unit class called Profession of Pharmacy. Everyone from your class level in Pharmacy is in it with you. All I remember about it is working too hard for only one hour credit. It made me miserable, but it also became my turning point. At the beginning of the semester, the professor randomly asks students, "Why do you want to be a pharmacist?" and the generic answer was, of course, "I want to help people." That would have been my answer too, had I been called on, but I knew I was just like everyone else once I stepped out of the classroom, talking about how much money I was going to make. There's nothing wrong with being motivated by money, I just began to feel it wasn't right to hide behind more admirable ambitions. A few weeks later, my doubts about the motives behind going into pharmacy were virtually confirmed. The professor gave a lecture on the benefits of pharmacy practice with two keys points: a competitive salary right after graduation and no direct patient contact. There was the money again, and it would have bothered me more if I wasn't so taken aback by the second "benefit." Even though helping people had become the secondary motive, it was still important to me. No amount of money can justify a career with no personal fulfillment. Were we really going to able to help people without direct contact? No, not in my eyes. What made it even worse was that this distance should have been seen as an obstacle, one needing to be overcome, but instead was considered a perk. The more I learned about pharmacy, the more I felt that that white coat wasn't going to fit.

Sometime during the school year, my West Coast residing parents insisted that I submit a transfer application to the University of Southern California. I had begun the application but put it off for the entire first semester, when I was sure Northeastern Pharmacy was where I wanted to be. After the Profession of Pharmacy epiphany, I made it my goal to finish the application and hope for the best. Over the summer of 2007, I received that big, white envelope with the cardinal folder holding the much anticipated acceptance letter. I had been accepted into the Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies program. After figuring out that all those words basically meant the same as public health, I decided to take it, timidly. I wasn’t yet convinced that I was meant for a career in public health.

I came to USC in the fall of 2008 as an HP major but with an emphasis on Pre-Pharmacy. I couldn't let go of the idea of becoming a pharmacist. But this was my sophomore year, the year you're supposed to take the heart breaker of all classes, the killer of Pre-Med dreams, Organic Chemistry. And this was what finally killed my pharmacy dream. I painfully survived half the semester before dropping out. It really is one of those classes where, in order to get through it, you really have to want what's at the end of the road. I didn't want it. I couldn't bring myself to put in all of that work into a course I wasn't sure I would really need. This is when I knew that the white coat, with the PharmD stitched after my last name, wasn't meant to be. It didn't take long for me to get over this realization. It wasn’t even heart breaking, because I had faith in something else. Both my head and my heart knew that my back-up plan of concentrating on my major could actually work out quite nicely. Public health is by no means glamorous, and the paycheck is nowhere near that of a pharmacist's, but these are the attributes that finally eased my conscience. By the end of my education, I could really be in a position to help people, and that is now my foremost motivation for my future career. It is perfect, because I believe if your goal is to help people, then you must try to help the greatest number of people possible; and I cannot think of any other health field that embraces that ideal more than public health.

It's my third year of college and I'm' more than halfway done with my bachelor's degree. Back at Northeastern, the Pharmacy class of 2012 is only one-third of the way through, but in a few months they'll have their white coat ceremony. They'll have an entire, grand event dedicated to them. They'll finally be able to say that they are done with the prerequisites and are taking actual pharmacy classes. I know when I see those pictures on Facebook, I'll rattle off all of the "What if" questions in my head. But the pondering won't last long, because I have much more on my mind. I'm still figuring out exactly which track within public health I'll pursue. I definitely plan on getting my Master's of Public Health degree, but even then, there are so many career paths. Just a few years ago, this uncertainty would have been unnerving, but now, it's exhilarating; and I will continue exploring possible career paths, wholeheartedly. I have no regrets about trading in that white coat for public health, because I believe I'm in a better position to make a difference and be honestly helping.