COSAM News Articles 2019 February Hard Work Pays Off for COSAM Senior

Hard Work Pays Off for COSAM Senior

Published: 02/19/2019

By: Carla Nelson

Auburn University senior Will Cordell has put in hard work during his time as a student of the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM), and it has paid off. Will was named “Outstanding Freshman,” “Outstanding Sophomore,” and “Outstanding Junior” for COSAM, maintained a 4.0 grade point average, was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society, and was recently accepted into the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy.

Will said he has learned throughout his time at Auburn, that his journey through college was just as important as the destination.

“When I first came in to Auburn and COSAM, I had this mindset that I had to keep a 4.0 or I wasn’t going to get in to the program I was applying to,” Will said. “That was a lot of motivation for me at first. And then as I went through my classes, it was like I really am enjoying learning this stuff. It became less about getting the grade and more about enjoying what I was learning and that just carried on for the next three years.”

Will is earning a degree in Biomedical Sciences/Pre-Pharmacy, but studied Pre-Med his first three years at Auburn. When it came time to shadow a doctor, Will said he wasn’t as excited about doing so as he was working his summer job at a pharmacy in his home town of Section, Alabama.

“I thought, ‘maybe that should be a red flag,’” he said. “I was filling out my application to med school and I thought ‘I don’t think this is for me,’ and pharmacy was something I had always done and I really enjoyed it. So, I switched my major to pharmacy.”

Will has worked part-time in his hometown pharmacy since 2014 and said he likes how accessible pharmacists are to the public.

“Our patients will come in and talk to all of us like we’re their family,” he said. “A lot of them don’t really have any family so they see us as their friends and family. I like how they can come in and get the help they need without an appointment.”

Will, who also serves as a supplemental instructor for organic chemistry, said he has enjoyed his time as a COSAM student.

“Of course COSAM has a reputation for being so hard but, especially in my upper level classes, the professors place more emphasis on actually learning the material, not because you have to but because you should want to learn it so that you can use it in your future to actually help people,” Will said. “COSAM has done a good job in fostering that environment of learning rather than just having to make the grade.”

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