Kruti Shah

Before getting into pharmacy school, I thought the hardest thing would be getting in. I never really realized how rigorous the curriculum would be. Without the support of my parents and sister, I would not have made it this far!

On working and volunteering in a pharmacy

I volunteered at a clinic pharmacy which was a great experience because I was able to experience a little bit of all the different health fields. It was especially helpful to me because I didn't work in a pharmacy before pharmacy school.

On volunteering in your community

Once I started pharmacy school, I found it difficult to balance my extracurricular activities from undergrad with extracurricular activities from pharmacy school.That's why I was so excited to work on DanceBlue because I thought it was a great way to get the pharmacy school involved with a campus event. What is DanceBlue? It's a 24-hour, no sitting, no sleeping, University of Kentucky Dance Marathon to raise money for the UK Pediatric Oncology Clinic!

Organizing the UK College of Pharmacy Lambda Kappa Sigma (LKS) DanceBlue team was not an easy task but with the help of all the new members it did not seem that time consuming. This was an event that pharmacy students could easily relate to. I love kids and I love to dance so I knew this was something I wanted to do. With the support of LKS, we raised over $1,400 and won a spirit award and fundraising award. The actual 24-hour dance marathon was not an easy experience! It was no sitting or sleeping for 24 hours. Every hour had a different theme and at the top of every hour we did a little dance routine. The last three hours of the dance marathon were actually dedicated to the kids. They put on a little talent show which included singing and dancing and brought tears to many peoples' eyes. Those last three hours made everything worth it in the end. I carry on my day-to-day life thinking about myself. I never thought about those kids and those families that have to go through so much suffering from day to day. I know that pharmacy school can be challenging but ultimately I want to be here to serve the community.

What do you love most about UK?

Basketball!

What's the one thing you wish you had known in undergrad?

College is not as easy as it was in high school. And even though 8 am classes didn't seem early in high school, it is definitely really early when it comes to college!

Kruti's advice

Get your foot in the door. Start talking to people in the professions you're interested in because time will go by quickly and you may not be prepared. Pursue your career based on ambition and never be scared of rejection!

Plans following graduation

Not yet. I hope to have a better idea once I start my rotations my fourth year!