White Coat Radio

Episode 1 - Preparing for Your First Year with Michele Graybeal and Regan Bell

Our inaugural episode of “White Coat Radio” welcomes the Class of 2026 to ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy with advice, encouragement, and inside info.
 
Transcript:
Michele WilliamsWelcome to White Coat Radio.
Michele WilliamsYour resource for all things related to the pharmacy school experience. Where your. Michelle Williams, academic success specialist for the College of Pharmacy at East Tennessee State University.
Dan VanzantAnd I'm Dan Vance, instructional design and technology manager.
Michele WilliamsSo this is our first episode of White Coat Radio. And we thought it would be great to begin again with the show for our incoming P1s, also known as the class of 2026. So with us today, we have Michelle Gray Graybeal, the student life coordinator here again, and Reagan Bell, a student in the class of 2023 and former president of the student Wellbeing Committee.
Michele WilliamsSo Reagan and Michelle, welcome.
Michele GraybealThank you. Thanks for having us.
Michele WilliamsWell, thanks for being here. So we'll start with you, Michelle Graybill. There's so many things that students need to know before they start pharmacy school. If there were one thing that you could tell them, what would that be?
Michele GraybealI actually have two things.
Michele WilliamsOkay.
Michele GraybealSo the first one is, just we are here for you. So at any point, if you feel like you don't know what you're doing or supposed to do, please reach out, because we truly are here for you and we will help you through the process. No matter where you are in pharmacy school. And the second thing would be something that my, one of my professors at Etsu said when I was in college, he would always tell us, be responsible for what you're responsible for, which is pretty simple if you think about it.
So, that would break down to read your emails, follow instructions. Keep us updated if any changes, and if something isn't clear, please reach out to us. Because while we try to make everything clear, sometimes it doesn't come through that way to a student. So, please don't be shy about reaching out and asking a question.
Michele WilliamsGreat. Thank you so much for that. Raegan, it's been a while since you were an incoming P1. It probably feels like a very long time ago at this point. But what do you wish someone had told you before you started pharmacy school?
Reagan BellI got a lot of really great advice coming in to pharmacy school. I had the fortunate opportunity, to get to speak to some students before I came. But the two pieces of advice that I gave students coming in whenever I get the chance to talk to them is one. Get involved. I've probably been way over involved in my time here.
But then my other piece of advice would be, just give yourself some grace. This is a big learning adjustment for everyone. It's an adjustment for our faculty and staff to get to know you. And as adjustment for you just learning how to be a graduate student. There's going to be more material. There's going to be more obstacles and give yourself some grace.
If you get that one bad test grade or something just doesn't work the way you think, that it should. So that has to be my two pieces of advice.
Michele WilliamsWhen? When you started pharmacy school. Outside of. Of course, the academic coursework is rigorous. It's it's not not easy. But what what did you find most challenging about the transition between being an undergrad and being a pharmacy student?
Reagan BellI think for me, the most challenging thing was just the material that we were learning. And I always tell people this too it's not necessarily any harder than what I was learning in undergrad. It's just a lot more material in a shorter amount of time. And so for me, up until I got to pharmacy school, I truly don't think I've ever had to study a lot.
Which sounds crazy, but it's true. I just I would study the day before, and I would be fine. And so when I got here, I had to really adjust the way that I learned and the way that I studied. And so I had a few bad exam scores. And honestly, that's why I say, like, it's important to give yourself some grace because I was so stressed out about it, so nervous about it.
I think I met with you about it. But my professors were reaching out to make sure that I was okay if something was out of the ordinary. And I think that helped a lot to, just kind of ace that stress. To allow me to take the time to study is because I knew that my professors knew what I was struggling with and, like, wanted to give me time to fix it.
So yeah, I think that was my biggest adjustment.
Michele WilliamsThat that's so important I think to, to talk about with students because you don't get into pharmacy school by being a bad undergraduate student. Right. By being a poor student. And so you have this image of yourself, as always, doing well. And then you get to pharmacy school and I think one of the reasons we reach out so frequently is because it happens so frequently, because the courses are, you know, the level of material and the courses are challenging.
And so, can you talk a little bit about how you sort of regain that sense of yourself as a student, and what did you do to to sort of feel like I'm okay? I, you know, I had this problem. You said something about giving yourself a bit of grace, but what does that look like?
Reagan BellFor me, I've always been somewhat of a perfectionist. And so when I say giving myself grace, I mean truly anything less than a it was a struggle for me. So the first time I truly did poorly on an exam, was like, I'm never going to make it. I don't know what I'm going to do. And so I have gotten my fair share of poor grades over my time here.
But for me, Grace just looks like, you know, stepping back and saying. What happened in the time that I studied. Was there something else going on during that time? Did I just not study like I should? And so one year I sat down and studied, differently for the first few exams just to see which one stuck better for me.
I figured out that if I wrote steps down several times, that was important that I knew I needed to remember. That helped. I started studying with a group after I would study about myself. And it took a little bit of time before I truly started to see my grades reflecting what, what I would envision for myself to be acceptable.
And even though that might not be a true reality. But yeah, for me, Grace is just giving myself time to figure out what happened when something doesn't go the way that I wanted it to. And the same has gone for organizations that I've been in leadership roles in. When something doesn't work out, just stepping back and figuring out what happened and asking for help if you need it.
I think that's one of the things that as a pharmacy student, you know, up until this point, you've never really had to ask for help as often as you probably should now. And so I encourage everyone, like if you need help, there's someone who can help you. So just like reach out and they'll connect you with whoever it is, that you need help with or that can help you with the thing that you need help with.
Michele WilliamsSo that's great. And and there that that sounds like great advice. And, considering the fact that that you are just a year away from being finished with pharmacy school, I would say that's a pretty good formula for kind of getting back on track when you need to. That's great. Thank you so much for sharing that.
And Michelle, what advice do you have for students when they, when they get here in terms of, getting connected and getting involved and, managing all the different things that you want to do along with responsibilities and school.
Michele GraybealWell, I would say to definitely take advantage of a lot of the, organization meetings that will be happening during the first month of, classes. The student organizations here are amazing. They do wonderful things, and they connect you, to your profession in a way that, I don't think you fully get without them. They're obviously not required participation, but we've heard from students throughout the years that the more involved you get, the more you actually see what is going to interest you in the profession.
The more connected you you get with professionals and other student pharmacists around the country. And, it actually helps kind of codify what you're doing in the classroom, what you're learning in the classroom with the reality of what pharmacy is. So I highly encourage students to get involved in at least one organization. And you can kind of get your feet wet with one, you know, when you first get here and if that's not the one for you, it's okay.
You can always switch to a different one or you can add one the next year. Our student organization leaders are really good about, reaching out on a regular basis and giving those opportunities for involvement. Plus, you get to go out into the community and, do some good things in the community.
Michele WilliamsYeah, I'm always hearing about the terrific things student hearts do. It makes me really proud to to work again when I read about this. It does.
Michele GraybealAnd a lot of times they will feed you. So just got some meetings and I end up with some free food.
Michele WilliamsSo there's an event that's going to be happening during getting ready. That's kind of an interesting way to learn more about the student organizations. Can you tell us a little bit about that what that's going to be like?
Michele GraybealSo we call it the Student Organizations Fair, where we invite, representatives from each of our pharmacy student organizations to come and meet with you.
So, we're going to split up the P1 class into small groups, and you get to travel around the building and actually visit with those leaders, kind of more of a one on one situation where you really get the to know what each organization is about and what might interest you.
You're not making any kind of commitment at that point. It's really just, kind of speed dating for student organizations. And it's nice because the upperclassmen who are here get to know some of the new students, too, and I think they enjoy doing that as well.
Michele WilliamsThat's terrific. Sounds like a good way to sort of get get to know people who are not in your particular class and get some advice from upperclassmen and, maybe even find a friend or study buddy or something like that.
Michele GraybealYeah, I think it's key to have some connections with some of the upperclassmen as well. That's great.
Michele WilliamsThe incoming students web page that we have is really, really useful, but there are a lot of items on there and it can be a little bit overwhelming. What what is your suggestion for how students might prioritize the items on that page?
Michele GraybealYes. I think the overwhelming part is mostly when you see all the deadlines on there. And as we're recording this, the June 5th deadline for most of those requirements has passed. But I don't want anybody to panic. If there's some reason that you weren't able to submit something, then we will work with you on a timeline.
As long as you're making reasonable progress on those things. So I don't want you to give up on that. Or we will work with you. But beyond the immunizations, basically, you just need to read through the instructions. And if you have trouble again, like we keep saying, reach out. If you go beyond that, it just talk about getting ready and your white coat ceremony, which is kind of your welcome to the profession of pharmacy, the official welcome.
And getting ready is considered the start of the semester. So you will actually be starting courses as well as some kind of more traditional orientation type activities. So that's August 1st. Your semester starts on August 1st, and then, at the end of that first two weeks is your white coat ceremony, which is very exciting. You get to invite your loved ones to that.
There's no limit to how many you invite. Although I would say if you're planning to invite 50, maybe give us a heads up. But the venue, the Martin Center for the Arts, it's a really beautiful new venue at Etsu and, its capacity is quite large, so I don't think we'll have any issues with that. And then, beyond that, there's some opportunities to connect with your classmates, either through social media.
And then, there is some financial aid information on there. So I would say make sure that you have your budget kind of set for the year. There are resources on the financial aid page that's linked there. And just kind of make sure that you've gone through the six steps that Angel, our financial aid director, has laid out for you there.
It's pretty easy if you just follow her six steps. Make sure you have somewhere to live, that fits within your budget. And if you haven't done that yet, I would suggest you get on it today. And if you have trouble with that, just reach out. But we we do have resources on the web page that will help you figure out some good places to live with recommendations, even from current and former pharmacy students.
Great. And that's nice. We do add academic information to that page as it's available. So like your academic calendar for the year is out there. And later on we'll send you your, fall exam schedule so that you'll know when your exams will be scheduled. Terrific. Yeah. So also on that page are your computer and technology requirements so that you'll know what to look for as you're purchasing those.
Michele WilliamsSo it sounds like a great resource.
Michele GraybealYes. We want it to be helpful and not totally overwhelming.
Michele WilliamsAll right. So as we wrap this up, are there are there any things that, sort of parting words that you, you think our incoming P1s should know or that you'd like to say to our incoming P1s? You're going to get lots of opportunities to talk to them during getting ready as well.
Michele GraybealAll right. So we like to talk about ourselves as a family or a family.
Michele WilliamsI guess some people call it
Michele GraybealAnd it's not just, recruitment tactics. It is real. I've worked here for 14 years and I've seen it throughout my tenure here. We support each other, faculty, staff and students. And so, whether you're struggling or not, just know that we're here for you. And, we truly want you to come and and and seek us out.
If you're having any issues or have a question that you think is a dumb question that nobody else has, most likely everybody else is thinking the same thing. But we we just want you to know that you're we we're glad that you're here.
Michele WilliamsYeah. Great. What about you, Reagan?
Reagan BellI would just say, first of all, congratulations. You've made it. I think I told you that if I saw you at Farmer Connect day. But I would kind of echo what Michelle said. You know, without the family atmosphere, the last three years would have been so hard, to make it through, to be successful, and to truly, like, come to school, excited to be here.
I know I asked Michelle all kinds of those dumb questions that she was talking about. But truly, without building those connections with the other students in my class. Or with the faculty and staff here. My experience wouldn't have been the same. So I would encourage you just to really reach out and find someone that you connect with right off the bat.
To make you feel at home here again. But congratulations.
Michele WilliamsWell, thank you both so much for for participating in our first podcast or inaugural podcast. And, we'll hopefully have many more after this. And, Dan, do you have any parting words for us?
Dan VanzantI do not, but thank you for the opportunity.
Michele WilliamsSo with that, until next time.