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SynapseNewspaper
The UCSF Student
synapse.ucsf.edu | Thursday, May 28, 2015 | Volume 59, Number 16
ASSN Spring Social Ashley King Contributing Writer
T he Associated Students of the School of Nursing (ASSN) hosted the Spring Social
on May 13, and it was a huge success! Over 50 people attended the catered dinner from Carmelina’s and enjoyed drinks in the Nursing Mezzanine. After the raffle, a few lucky students walked away with gift certificates for Starbucks, Jamba Juice,
and Amazon.com. Nursing students were able to catch up with each other, as well as guests Pam Bellefeuille and Dean Vlahov. It was a wonderful way to wrap up the school year. Thank you to everyone who attended. Ashley King is a first-year nursing student.
UCSF Joins Forces with Dental Students Across the Nation Anna Nonaka Staff Writer
“I f not you, then who? If not now, then when?” This April, seven UCSF Dental Students had the opportunity to attend the largest ASDA Lobby Day ever in Washington, DC. Lobby Day is an annual event hosted by the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) where dental schools from all over the United States send representatives to lobby for legislation in favor of enhancing dentistry, protecting students, aiding patients, and much more. Our goal is to meet with members of Congress in order to obtain votes or co-sponsorships
on legislation with a positive impact on dentistry. The event is also hosted by the American Dental Association (ADA), ASDA’s parent professional organization. The ADA selects 2-3 bills for the agenda each year, and representatives can decide which bills to advocate. This year, the ADA selected the Action for Dental Health Act 2015 HR539 and the Student Loan Refinancing Act HR649. Here is a brief breakdown of the major talking points we referred to during our appointments.
ASDA LOBBY DAY » PAGE 6
Photo by Diana Teng
Spring Social. Nursing Students and Dean Vlahov enjoy a catered dinner, drinks, and a raffle during
theMay 13 ASSN spring social (from left to right).Eli Fox, Cate Flannagen, Audrey Combs, Dean Vlahov, Mike Sweeney, Ameera Snell Marge Suda, Charlie DeVries.
Career Advice
What is Your Weakness Naledi Saul Contributing Writer
Ipostdocs t’s the time of year that students and ask about the most frustrating
interview question: “What’s your weakness?” This seems to be the most misunderstood interview question, by candidates and interviewers alike. What’s the purpose of this question, and what’s an appropriate response? The goal of any effective interview question is to gain some insight on your knowledge, skill level and work style. The “weakness” question was to be asked, by your direct supervisor, after they told you about the job responsibilities. Your answer gave them information about your learning curve, and how to support you as a supervisor. It also gave them insight about your ability to assess, manage, and
communicate potential problems and to problem solve, if you were the selected candidate. But at some point, everyone - not just a supervisor - started asking candidates about their weaknesses. In some cases, the question came before even hearing about the scope of responsibilities. Why is that? We in the OCPD think that it’s because most staff who are part of a hiring process are not experienced interviewers, and tend to just ask questions they themselves were asked in their interviews. Students and postdocs frequently struggle with the question, “What’s your weakness?”
CAREER ADVICE » PAGE 7
UCSF Representatives.
Courtesy of Anna Nonaka
From left to right, Cassie Truong (2014-2015 ASDA Legislative Liaison), Dr. Prerna Vijan, Anna Nonaka (2015-2016 ASDA Legislative Liaison), Patrick Wolfgram, Yoomin Ahn, Argina Kudaverdian, and Eliza Tran. Post-Lobby Day appointments.
Action for Dental Health Act
•• Allows more organizations to qualify for CDC oral health grants in order to improve oral health education and dental disease prevention. •• No additional burden to taxpayers (grant money is not being increased) •• Allow initiatives with the greatest impact in communities with dental access disparities to receive support. These include: Give Kids A Smile, Missions of Mercy (both treat hundreds of thousands of patients in tens of millions of dollars in free care that they would not have received otherwise, both currently privately funded). •• Reduce the number of emergency visits and burden on the health system (these visits also do nothing to treat dental disease and patients will continue to cycle back to the ER). •• Still a competitive grant – not reallocating money. •• Improves quality of care by opening competition to more efficiently functioning organizations (statistics included)
Student Loan Refinancing Act
•• Allows students to refinance federal loans as many times as they wish. •• Allows new dentists (actually all students) to refinance federal Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Direct Consolidation Loans anytime (this means you can pay back your loans at lower interests rates if available). •• Dental students have an average of $247,437 in debt from dental school alone (for those with debt) – the highest of any professional school, and most students receive loans. •• Dental students have the lowest rate of default on their loans. •• Reduced student loan burden allows the opportunity for a greater diversity of students to attend dental school which statistics have proven results in increased access to care. This lessened burden also allows students to accept positions in those communities versus higher paying corporate positions. •• Refinancing is only used when the economy is doing well and interest rates lower, so should not have a significant detriment to national finances.