Originally posted by kelly1180
Hi I'd like to ask those who are attending UCSF about the PharmD program there. Is it easy/hard to find internships? What do you like or dislike about curriculum or experience you have? What kind of opportunities are out there for UCSF graduates: industry, clinical, retail, etc.? Any comments are welcome. Thank you!
Hey, I am not a UCSF student yet, but will matriculate in the fall. Don't want to leave you hanging, but if you do have these questions I highly recommend private messaging neonam and UCSFpharmacygirl. They are very helpful and can answer many of these questions. I know the internship thing is competitive, but neonam told me if you start early, it won't be such a huge problem. You just need to weigh the value of the education and the enviornment fostered to things like that, from my experience thus far. At the end of the day, if you want to have an internship, you'll get it. Stay positive.
I talked with numerous people and various prof's about the curriculum, and the pathways you can choose. Essentially, there are three patheways that focus on certain areas of pharmacy, that will all help in your quest for opportunities in clinical, industry, and retail.
The clinical pharmacy pathway, I believe, focuses on patient care, with a rotation in the last years of school in other areas of California. I would assume this gives you great experience and opportunity in hospitals. The retail experience comes from the internship.
The Health Mgmt and Policy & Research Pathways, give you the tools to work industry, allowing you to create a research project in your last year for both. In HM, you go through a series of seminars, and I believe work towards publishing a paper in a journal. The researh pathway is the same, except you work on a research project (while able to work in other labs etc before then). Also, Genetech is nearby, and the Mission Bay facilities have top of the line researchers working on things such as stem cell research etc. It's pretty amazing the things the faculty are up to at those facilities (visit the website for more detailed info). I emailed a professor for the Center of Pharmacogenomics, and she was very helpful and gave tremendous advice. Needless to say, I was excited. Working with many researchers will give you the opportunity and experience to work well at any pharmaceutical company. To be the best, it helps to work with the best.
Anyways, those are the incites I gathered, and many of the reasons I chose to go there. Great school, faculty, environment, and my adviceto you is don't let the whole internship be such a negative factor, there are many other great opp's at UCSF and benefits. Things will work out, just go to the school who will give you the tools to tackle future developments in pharmacy. UCSF definitely seems committed to such philosophy.
Good luck.
