If I could change anything in the world, I would change the process for people who are already in the health care field to become doctors. There are nurses, nurse assistants, physician assistants that have been in the health care field for many years. Through these year they have acquired a certain level of skills and experience. Many of them have the ability to actually be doctors but cannot because they do not have certifications to be a doctor or the time and expenses to go to medical school.

 For example, a middle aged woman works in a hospital as a physician's assistant. She has been a faithful worker, working very hard for about 15 years. Since she is a physicians assistant, she must work under a doctor. However, the doctor that she has been working under is going to be transferred to another hospital. When the new doctor arrives at the hospital, he is younger, has less experience and does not know the regular routine of the hospital as well as the physician assistant. Now she will have to take orders and refer to this new, in-coming doctor. 

To some this would not be a problem and they would not mind, but to others they see this as a very frustrating and unfair situation; some may even feel as if their work ethic and experience is being belittled. Now, one can say that the solution to this problem would be to just go to medical school and become a doctor. However, for a physician's assistant to do this they still need to go to medical school and start from the beginning and be on the same caliber as students who have just finished their undergraduate.

Not only that, they will have to be in school for another six to eight years depending on what they want to specialize in. For a middle aged person who probably has a family and their life established this option would seem unreasonable and even unfair that they would have to do this whole tedious process. Therefore, that is why if I could change something in the world, I would allow there to be a short-cut for the health care providers that have been serving our communities for years to be given the option doctors without the overwhelming process of medical school.  

Why I choose Suny Albany for my undergrad?

Going to UAlbany was personal choice for me. It was beneficial to both my parents and to myself. UAlbany was affordable for me because it was cheaper than private schools and I did not get enough grant money for the private colleges. 

I also wanted to go to UA because it was convenient for my parents because they were familiar with the school and knew where the school was. They were also familiar with the structure of the academics and social life there due to the fact that both my brother and my sister had attended the school.

Some people might consider me a legacy student in a sense. Also I choose this school because I visited the school several times to visit my brother and sister. UAlbany had a few programs that I was interested in, mainly the Nanoscale Engineering Program. Though I’m not in it now, I hope to be in it later during graduate school. 

I chose UAlbany for a couple of reasons.  It was right where I wanted to be.  It's about 2 hours away from my hometown; that's just far enough away that my parents wouldn't want me to come home every week or two but close enough that I could still justify going home when I really wanted to.  Plus there's the city of Albany itself.  I had never really lived in a big city and wanted that experience.  Plus with all of the schools in the area, I knew that I would be able to do student teaching and find other opportunities working in a school (just like STEP).  

Of course what finally sealed me on it was the visit.  I came here in tenth grade and I fell in love with the campus.  I thought that the podium with all of its pillars and concrete was just the coolest thing.  And the towers were awesome.

Finally, but certainly not least important was that we have a pretty solid math department.  I knew long before I began college that I wanted to be a Math major, and the department here is stellar.  Plus the education minor (and eventually grad school, which I intend to attend here as well) are very good programs.

So basically it had great programs for me, great opportunities for my future, a great location, and a beautiful campus.  I think I did alright.

The biggest fads that were around when I was in high school was unfortunately the soulja boy dance, the chicken noodle soup dance, the dances were incredibly ridiculous. Yeah, I know those dances by heart. I deny and regret NOTHING! Not the point though. At the time everyone was like really these are our dances? But eventually people went with them and made fools of themselves.

 The dance scene and pop culture scene was wild. Speaking of the pop culture scene, high school was when Lil Jon became famous for...well being him. Just imagine in every classroom one or two high school students yelling "WHAT", "YEAH" or "OKAAAAYY." Was I one of those kids? Also, not the point. That type of culture blew UP during my high school year and I'm not even sure if I am proud of that ahah. A lot of people in my school tried to show their dance skills by dancing the complete random dances of the time and looking back at that I feel awful that those were our songs.

 I remember 50 cent being big with In Da Club, Linkin Park with their second album and the song I ain't Neva Scared. Amazing songs! Proud to say I still have most of that music on my ipod. Speaking of which, Ipods became huge around that time too. You're welcome world!

When I graduated from high school, I was so confused. At that time I had no concrete plan regarding what I wanted to do in my life. I was so focused on actually graduating from high school that I never really took much interest on what would happen after.

I decided to attend Dutchess Community College because I did not know how I was going to financially support myself. Throughout my two years there, I began to figure out what I wanted to do in my life. As the graduation date from community college approached, I yet again did not know where I was going to go next. 

 My counselor advised me to apply to different colleges. I had applied to SUNY Oswego, Purchase, Plattsburgh and UAlbany. I was accepted into all except UA. They told me they wanted to see my final grades from community college in order to decide if I would be accepted, but at that moment I was denied.

 At first I was upset because my counselor had spoken highly of UA. Since I had been denied, I had accepted the offer from Purchase. Luckily a few days before school started, I received a phone call from admissions, indicating that I had been accepted to UAlbany. So, I cancelled my acceptance to Purchase and headed to UA. I love the choice I made; I have learned so much from UA and have met the most amazing people. UA has given me an amazing experience that I’ll never forget.

There are a lot of factors that go into deciding which college to attend. The factors that immediately come to mind are:  the ratio of colleges applied to those that have accepted you, tuition/room and board costs, amount of financial aid offered, location, size, and specific programs/specializations of that college, and parental influences. In varying degrees, these all influenced my ultimate choice.

One of the bigger factors that affected my decision was the fact that I wasn’t sure what I would pursue in college. I was interested in a lot of things and to pick one out of the many seemed like a difficult choice at the time, so I put myself in the ‘undecided’ major in most of my applications. Obviously, not knowing what exactly you want to study will affect your application process a little bit.

Most of the colleges I applied to accepted me but that’s because I didn’t apply to many overly prestigious schools. I didn’t think they would be a good fit if I did manage to get in and I also didn’t like the idea of paying a fortune to get an education if I was unsure of what I wanted to study.

After seeing the list of colleges that accepted me, it was time to really make the decision. SUNY Albany became one of my preferred choices in part because it was cost effective. They offered me a small scholarship and a spot in the Honors College, which definitely made me happy. Also, it was far from home but not so far, that returning home would be a nuisance. What eventually won me over was the reception I received when visiting the campus. I remember the tour guide was so enthusiastic and I left with a really good feeling – such a good feeling in fact that I was confident I didn’t need to visit other campuses.

I’m glad I made the choice and I consider myself lucky that I unknowingly applied to a school that’s turned out to be a great fit – a liberal arts experience (through the Honors College), with the benefits of grad school and research opportunities, all at a fair price.

Some of the fads during my high school years were simple and not too outrageous. One thing I remember most was everyone always getting light in the hallways between classes. There was only about 2 1/2 - 3 min between classes, but every single time the bell rang, a group of kids would always find each other to huddle together to get light. I thought that was so pointless! 

Another popular fad was sneakers. Everyone had the newest nikes or the newest jordans. At one point, it felt like the whole school wore the same pair of red, black and white nikes. It didn't stop at sneakers either. If your sneakers had 3 colors in them, you had to wear something with all 3 colors in your outfit. Sometimes people wore orange, yellow and red, just to match with their sneakers. I thought that was pointless too. 

During the winter, the beef and brocoli (brown and green) timbs were in. I thought those timbs were the worst color combination. There were a lot of really nice timbs out at the time too like the blue and white ones or the red and white ones. Either way, chances were there would be tons of people wearing the same pair! 

Although I had a few fresh pairs of sneakers, I stuck to the simple colors like black, white, blue or gray. Other than nikes and jordans, I loved my converse! They were so simple and they went with all the dark clothes I wore. I listened to a lot of rock music, so it was necessary to have band shirts and cargo pants to go with them. 

Some of the music I listened to was Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, 30 Seconds to Mars and my favorite at the time, Avril Lavigne. In high school, no one really listened to what I listened to. The music that was most popular was rap music and music that had dance moves related to them. Overall, as time passed, I'm glad the fads passed too! 

My High School's Fad Experience

I’ve been having a difficult time remembering the fads that I experienced when I was in high school on Long Island but I chose this subject because I feel it is more interesting to discuss than writing about my reasons for choosing UAlbany. Why did I choose UAlbany? Well, why not?! It’s a great school and there are a lot of opportunities available. (:

While trying to remember what was trendy in my high school, I realized an interesting parallel in the music industry. I scanned the Billboard’s Hot 100 list for this week and Ne-Yo’s “Let Me Love You” is on the chart and then, when I looked for a random week in one of the years that I attended high school, Mario’s “Let Me Love You” topped that week’s chart! What a crazy co-incidence!

The fads from my high school are now considered so outdated and artificial… I’m kind of embarrassed of thinking about their impact on my life. I think, two fads that I remember clearly would be: wearing pajamas to school and wearing Uggsor another brand of fur-insulated boots. In my high school, some students made fun of the boots and called them “Boots with the fur”. I think wearing these boots as a trendy statement has lasted longer in Upstate New York than on Long Island and it’s probably based on how they can keep one’s feet pretty warm and that’s great for Upstate’s weather.

Fads are an ephemeral aspect of your life. They are enjoyable and the silly ways to connect with people because they become the common factor in our social connection. I think, a great analogy to a fad is to relate it to cotton candy. Cotton candy is light, quickly dissolves, fun while it lasted, in contemplation of the cotton candy you wondered why you ate it and you may not be satisfied with it especially if you are not full from it but then you say to yourself, “…I had cotton candy”. I think, that’s exactly what fads are. Now replace “cotton candy”, with a fad of today that you are experiencing and you will see this is an ideal formula to understanding how silly yet satisfying a fad can be.

You may think the fad is “cool” because being “in the moment” is the “cool experience”. Something that lasts long tends to be “warm” but something “cool” tends to have a short shelf-life. Ironically, when I was in high school, Paris Hilton was today's Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton had a catch-phrase of “That’s hot.”

You see, fads do not have to make sense! Just like cotton candy!!

Another fad that I just remembered is when guys wore two polo shirts and matched the colors to their sneaker's color theme. And yes, they “popped” their collar.

That was my high school. Those were our fads.  Oh, and MySpace was growing to be popular amongst some students.

Fads can be fun but as you can see, the memory of them can be quite embarrassing.

 In my high school there were many fads and trends that grouped us together by nationality, gender, or just personal interests. I remember when you walked out of class the Jamaican crew would always be posted up against the walls, talking their lingo with their tight pants and hair braided up into a ponytail. 

Then on your way to class you would be stopped by a crowd with someone getting light and the crowd clapping saying ahh ah ah ahh and then everybody would scream heyy when the dancer did something big.  Soon enough, someone would come in the circle with the chicken noodle soup, and if they didn’t do anything special by the first two rounds, everyone would just walk away. 

 For fashion, there were so much more fads for the guys than the girls.  For guys they had this whole new fad of the nerd look.  They started wearing thick rimmed glasses, tight pants, and plaid shirts, with a Mohawk haircut.  The fly guys would have on Pradas, Maurys, and maybe Nike boots in the winter; either way it was important to have on expensive shoes. Girls did share some of these trends like the plaid shirts and the switch from wide leg to straight jeans with the newest Jordans.  We did have the Uggs fad, which everyone hated but eventually everyone wore.  

In summertime, it would switch up to tights and long shirts with sandals shoes similar to Toms. Most of our trends were not originals, but things we saw growing up as 90’s babies.  I remember a day could not pass by without a freestyle battle.  Guys would come up with flows like LL (LL Cool J), and even DMX.  Sometimes they would talk about someone clothes when they just weren’t keeping up.  Or a guy would try to sweet talk a girl whose attention he’s been trying to get all semester, and then someone silly would have nothing else to say and start rapping about living environment class and make the teacher feel cool.  

There were a lot of fun times in high school, especially with the smaller classes, where we really got to know each other after sticking together as freshman.  There was always laughter and so many great memories.