So much for the back-to-school blues.

Chandra Smallwood was prepared to find it tough going as she started her first year at the USC School of Pharmacy. After all, she had completed her undergraduate degree at USC back in 2004 and had been working to save money for graduate school. "I was living at home, watching all my friends go on to start their careers. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back into the full-time studying mode."

Then she came on campus and found "an amazing network that helps you feel at home. I've met a lot of students and we've all gotten really close." In addition to study guides and test packets from upper classmen, Smallwood says, "the professors are very accessible. It all helps you succeed."

Smallwood, who grew up with a nurse mother who worked at a pharmaceutical company, has wanted to be a pharmacist since childhood when "I would see the pharmacist give the patient medicine and the patient would quickly feel better. As a child, I just thought that would be a great job."

In the meantime, she's “making the most "of her first year. She's joining a fraternity, and signed up to run for class president. "It was a long haul to get here," she says. "I'm determined to make the most of it."