4p 0 - 9 U U 0 0 -w_ The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 05,2 008 ALCOHOL FLUSH From Page 4B "It's not something that typi- cally pops out of nowhere unless your family members had never consumed alcohol before, but that's kind of a stretch," Desprez said. That wasn't the case, though, for LSA sophomore April, who would only give her first name because she is under 21 years old. She was adopted. The first time she drank her sophomore year of high school, she experienced the reaction. She said that when she drinks, it makes her so red that it's physically uncom- fortable. "Most Asian people get it, but not as bad as I do," said April,_ who is Korean. But April has figured out a par- tial remedy to the flush: Pepcid AC, 30 minutes before her first drink. She said the over-the-counter heartburn medication has reduced her outward symptoms from red I So. You want one good reason to earn a pharmacy degree from the University of ich igan ? Here are 12 good reasons, for starters: 1. Respect: 50 percent of the students admitted to our professional degree (PharmD) program are cross-campus transfers - many from LSA 2. Unparalleled career choices 3. Financial support unequalled by any other U.S. pharmacy school 4. Continuous growth potential 5. Outstanding pay 6. Job security in economically uncertain times 7. The power to apply medical knowledge at the forefront of technological innovation 8. Life and career mobility 9. Membership in an influential alumni network spanning the globe 10. The prestige of owning a degree from one of US News & World Report's top-ranked pharmacy schools 11. Unlimited opportunities to improve people's lives 12. One-to-one learning with world-renowned faculty If you've had health-care patient experience, and if you've taken Chemistry 130, 210, 215, or 260; Biology 171, 172, 173, or 305; Physics 125, 126, 140, or 240; or Calculus 115 or 116, you're already on your way to a pharmacy degree at U-M. To learn more about the PharmD program at the University of Michigan, visit the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy Web site at www.umich.edu/-pharmacy. Or contact Assistant Dean Valener Perry at 734-764-5550 or by e-mail at vlperry@umich.edu. four future never looked brighter. blotches on her face, neck and chest to a pleasant, slightly pink glow. Rackham graduate student J.C., who's 28 years old, takes a much dif- ferent approach to her alcohol flush syndrome than most people with the condition. While a bad experi- ence the first time she drank made her swear off alcohol completely, she'd never admit it. J.C. only agreed to give her initials because she thinks future employers and colleagues in her native South Korea might think less of her for not drinking. "What's really interesting in those societies is that people over- come their limitations by putting a lot of pressure on themselves," J.C. said. In Korean society, she said there is often heavy social pressure in work environments to demon- stratesuperior drinking abilities. "They would probably regard my explanation as a kind of excuse," she said. In South Korea, about five col- lege students die each year after being pressured by older students to binge drink, J.C. said. "They don't take the symptoms seriously so they usually don't take them to the ER or get them medi- cal help," .C.. said. That pressure landed J.C.in the hospital when she was 19. At an initiation party for new students at her university in South Korea, two professors and 10 to 15 upper- classmen forced SO underclassmen to take turns chugging buckets of alcohol. "We did not have any right to say no," she said. s.c. doesn't know for sure how much she consumed, but estimates that it was about the same quantity as two standard bottles of beer. "There was a really huge social pressure that I felt," she said. "Because of that I just plugged my nose and finished it." That night, J.C. spent the night in the emergency room. Because of her body's genetic inability to process alcohol, she ended up with severe hemorrhaging in her stom- ach lining. While J.C.'s experience was extreme, conflict also exists at the University between the com- mon alcohol flush syndrome and social expectations for drinking in college. For many students, abstaining from alcohol - no mat- ter what it does to their bodies - doesn't seem like an option. But with friends who respect limits and understand the issue, college night-life can still be an option, with or without the booze. And as long as it doesn't put people in the hospital, there's nothing wrong with a few blushing beauties in the kegline.