Any Regrets?

[PrePharm]

Hello all!

I was wondering, what are some things you wish you had done to prepare for Pharmacy school (that you didn't do)? And, what do you wish you hadn't done while preparing for Pharmacy school that hindered your application process? Any regrets?

We live and we learn!

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[collegegirl247]

I wish that I would have only taken the pre-pharm classes necessary to apply instead of getting a 4 year+ degree.

Apply to a few carefully researched pharm schools...2-4 is better than applying to as many as possible

LEARN HOW TO INTERVIEW WELL, VERY WELL!

 

[AbsoluteEthanol]

i wish i had gone to a community college for 2 years. received all A's and attended an in-state pharmacy school.

don't be an overachiever, you don't need to go to a great school and have a difficult major. to the bare minimum and do GREAT at it!

 

[jonnyboi303]

maybe i would've like to have done another year of research and maybe published another paper or something

 

[nerv12345]

i wish i'd scheduled my classes better so that my last 2 years in college wouldn't be ALL upper division bio classes, etc..

also, i wish i'd gotten a job at a pharmacy earlier and gotten my tech license

 

[Pharmpills]

I wish i had saved all the hard classes till the end like fall or better yet spring and summer for the year u plan to attend so that way it wouldn't show in ur gpa when u get an interview until u submit a final transcript and have taken easier science classes to raise my gpa .

I also wish i had taken orgo and physics at a cc in the summer . oh well u live u learn right. The end result is that i did get a degree and I am accepted to a pharm D program but not my top pick but the end result again will be the same but a little bit more loans. Sometimes u need to find the strength to look past mistakes and try to continue.

 

[inquirer89]

I wish that I had done my research into pharmacy schools while I was in high school! I had no idea about the 0-6 programs and would have applied if I knew about them.

I also would not have gone to the college I am at now. I was told by several people that I would not like my experience here, and they were right. I was accepted to a "better" school, but I chose here instead. This summer, I am transferring to a college closer to home to finish my remaining prereqs. I would've also looked into CC.

 

[kismet]

I wish it didn't take me two years to figure out that it was a lot easier to do well in a class if you went to lecture and did the homework.

I also wish I hadn't waited until November to submit my applications.

 

[AggiePharmer]

i wish i had gone to a community college for 2 years. received all A's and attended an in-state pharmacy school.

don't be an overachiever, you don't need to go to a great school and have a difficult major. to the bare minimum and do GREAT at it!

Absolute, you sound kind of down about Maryland. Heck, they're a darned good school and group of students, so look on the brightside! Besides, you're right next to Hopkins! If it's any consolation, I'd hate to let this IV of phosphate-buffered Jose Cuervo go to waste from cinco de mayo... when we could be celebrating our Pharm-School admissions!

On topic: In retrospect I wish that I would've taken 3 quarters of regular O-chem lab in undergrad, instead of taking my major's equivalent for graduation. This left me high, dry, and a whole O-chem unit short that I have had to make up!

 

[medicalCPA]

Absolute, you sound kind of down about Maryland. Heck, they're a darned good school and group of students, so look on the brightside! Besides, you're right next to Hopkins! If it's any consolation, I'd hate to let this IV of phosphate-buffered Jose Cuervo go to waste from cinco de mayo... I'd hate to let it go to waste over celebrating Pharm-School admissions!

I don't think he was referring to the pharmacy school he got into. I believe he's referring to his undergrad school, which was UCSD.

 

[scavok]

I lucked out. I really had no idea what I was doing when I started my prereqs but all went well.

I scheduled my classes from beginning to end, balancing easy and hard and taking summer classes as well. I posted them on my bedroom wall. Crossed them out over the 3 years it took me to do them.

I did all my prereqs at the local CC, slowly and surely to get great grades and kept my job as a CPhT through it all. I'll be going in to Pharm School with 6 years of pharmacy experience on top of genuine knowledge this way.

One thing that seems odd but looking back is vitally important were my english and speech classes. My application essays "rocked and were full of genuine energy" as one of my interviewers told me and I really enjoyed my interviews, both of them went waaay over the time alotted because they went so well.

 

[PearLBenzene]

I wish I had gotten more experience in the pharmacy. Be more familiar with the drugs.

 

[AbsoluteEthanol]

Absolute, you sound kind of down about Maryland. Heck, they're a darned good school and group of students, so look on the brightside! Besides, you're right next to Hopkins! If it's any consolation, I'd hate to let this IV of phosphate-buffered Jose Cuervo go to waste from cinco de mayo... I'd hate to let it go to waste over celebrating Pharm-School admissions!

On topic: In retrospect I wish that I would've taken 3 quarters of regular O-chem lab in undergrad, instead of taking my major's equivalent for graduation. This left me high, dry, and a whole O-chem unit short that I have had to make up!

Aggie, I'm not at all down about going to Univ. of Maryland, I really liked it in baltimore and the school has an outstanding, top 5-10 reputation.

My concern is that I'll be living across the entire nation away from home (southern california), school is going to be astronomically expensive and I have no experience living on my own. it's going to be a great challenge!

 

[AggiePharmer]

Aggie, I'm not at all down about going to Univ. of Maryland, I really liked it in baltimore and the school has an outstanding, top 5-10 reputation.

My concern is that I'll be living across the entire nation away from home (southern california), school is going to be astronomically expensive and I have no experience living on my own. it's going to be a great challenge!

True that and I guess I misinterpretted you above, too. Perhaps I shouldn't be posting responses on these forums when I'm exhausted and half incoherant from my benchwork...

I don't suppose you've come up with any crazy/cool financial tidbits to make it work? Just last week, I realized I'm going to be ~$150K+ in debt, but the irony is that I'm slowly coming to terms with that this is the norm, and that's OK.

 

[DoctorRx1986]

Aggie, I'm not at all down about going to Univ. of Maryland, I really liked it in baltimore and the school has an outstanding, top 5-10 reputation.

My concern is that I'll be living across the entire nation away from home (southern california), school is going to be astronomically expensive and I have no experience living on my own. it's going to be a great challenge!

I have the same concerns, especially about a lack of experience living on my own. I've always lived with my parents, turned 22 on Friday, and in about 3 months, I will be leaving the nest and relocating from NYC to FL. But think about it this way...four years from now, after all these experiences, we'll truly be full fledged adults (not young adults in the extended adolescence phase by living at home), be members of a top profession, and make a six figure income while at it. Here's to success!

 

[BlueCrayon]

i wish i had gone to a community college for 2 years. received all A's and attended an in-state pharmacy school.

don't be an overachiever, you don't need to go to a great school and have a difficult major. to the bare minimum and do GREAT at it!

I wish that I would have only taken the pre-pharm classes necessary to apply instead of getting a 4 year+ degree.

Apply to a few carefully researched pharm schools...2-4 is better than applying to as many as possible

LEARN HOW TO INTERVIEW WELL, VERY WELL!

Hmmmm....I'm actually really glad I got a B.S. and did research for a while...although I wish I would've applied to PharmD 3 or 4 years ago while I was still in my 20s.

 

[b*rizzle]

I wish that I would have only taken the pre-pharm classes necessary to apply instead of getting a 4 year+ degree.

Apply to a few carefully researched pharm schools...2-4 is better than applying to as many as possible

LEARN HOW TO INTERVIEW WELL, VERY WELL

Why do you regret it? I think it's one of the smarter things that I've done...

 

[Jimminator21]

Wish I had applied to more schools the first two times I applied to pharmacy school. I started applying to out of state schools my third year and was accepted to two while the pharmacy schools in my home state continued to reject me for the third time. F*ckers! My advice....apply everywhere. I missed a lot of my classes flying out for interviews (it seemed like I had an interview every week for about two months), but I did get accepted.

 

[Farcus]

Wish I taken the all AP science classes thats about it

 

[evilolive]

I wish I had taken more pictures.

 

[dann]

i wish i went into the arts

 

[Drug Doc]

I would've taken care of my pre-reqs while I was working on my B.S. Second, I wish I would've known that I wanted to do pharmacy before I graduated, this way I wouldn't have sat out on the sidelines for two years before finally applying and starting pharm school. Thirdly, I wouldn't have waited until the last week of October to do all my pharmcas and supplemental applications for california schools...bad times.

oh yeah and in case you haven't started pre-pharm yet, don't skip out on getting a b.s. cause college is seriously fun as hell. just my two cents.

 

[choylifut]

I regret the money I spent applying and interviewing at Touro. Despite my acceptance, my instincts tell me I wouldn't be happy there.

 

[DoctorRx1986]

I would've taken care of my pre-reqs while I was working on my B.S. Second, I wish I would've known that I wanted to do pharmacy before I graduated, this way I wouldn't have sat out on the sidelines for two years before finally applying and starting pharm school. Thirdly, I wouldn't have waited until the last week of October to do all my pharmcas and supplemental applications for california schools...bad times.

oh yeah and in case you haven't started pre-pharm yet, don't skip out on getting a b.s. cause college is seriously fun as hell. just my two cents.

I seriously doubt and don't understand how college is fun. Being a workaholic and perfectionist myself, I was never able to understand the concept of college "being fun". With pre-requisities being completed, entrance exams to be taken, volunteer opportunities to be taken advantage of, etc... I found college offered little to no fun at all. How could it be fun when you're a pre-professional student trying to attain an acceptance letter into a program? I would say students in relatively easier majors such as business, psychology, art, sociology, etc... had way more fun because they actually didn't have to put in as much studying and worry about maintaining an unblemished records in all courses. The pre-meds, pharmacy, pre-dent, etc... were just machines. So, if anyone can get into pharmacy school without finishing your pre-requisites, I'd say go ahead and don't worry...you're not missing out on much except for paying additional college tuition and spending an extra year or two before pharm school. Save yourself the hassle and go directly to pharmacy school rather than engage in the type of fun most college students consider as "getting wasted".

 

[andrewattheU]

I wish I hadn't lost sleep about my gpa last year before I applied as it didn't affect my admissions one bit

 

[evilolive]

I seriously doubt and don't understand how college is fun. Being a workaholic and perfectionist myself, I was never able to understand the concept of college "being fun". With pre-requisities being completed, entrance exams to be taken, volunteer opportunities to be taken advantage of, etc... I found college offered little to no fun at all. How could it be fun when you're a pre-professional student trying to attain an acceptance letter into a program? I would say students in relatively easier majors such as business, psychology, art, sociology, etc... had way more fun because they actually didn't have to put in as much studying and worry about maintaining an unblemished records in all courses. The pre-meds, pharmacy, pre-dent, etc... were just machines. So, if anyone can get into pharmacy school without finishing your pre-requisites, I'd say go ahead and don't worry...you're not missing out on much except for paying additional college tuition and spending an extra year or two before pharm school. Save yourself the hassle and go directly to pharmacy school rather than engage in the type of fun most college students consider as "getting wasted".

Not every college requires you to lose your fun experiences as an undergrad. I received a very strong liberal arts background, studied aboad, did research and also completed my prerequisites with a ~B average. I also managed to have a lot of free time in college for fun and sleep . APs do help, as does summer school.

 

[Jimminator21]

I seriously doubt and don't understand how college is fun. Being a workaholic and perfectionist myself, I was never able to understand the concept of college "being fun". With pre-requisities being completed, entrance exams to be taken, volunteer opportunities to be taken advantage of, etc... I found college offered little to no fun at all. How could it be fun when you're a pre-professional student trying to attain an acceptance letter into a program? I would say students in relatively easier majors such as business, psychology, art, sociology, etc... had way more fun because they actually didn't have to put in as much studying and worry about maintaining an unblemished records in all courses. The pre-meds, pharmacy, pre-dent, etc... were just machines. So, if anyone can get into pharmacy school without finishing your pre-requisites, I'd say go ahead and don't worry...you're not missing out on much except for paying additional college tuition and spending an extra year or two before pharm school. Save yourself the hassle and go directly to pharmacy school rather than engage in the type of fun most college students consider as "getting wasted".

It's not all about getting wasted. Some, yes, but definitely not all. Sounds like you were a social recluse and missed out on a lot of fun stuff. The other poster is correct. College is fun as hell! All work and no play makes DoctorRx1986 a boring individual.

 

[Drug Doc]

I seriously doubt and don't understand how college is fun. Being a workaholic and perfectionist myself, I was never able to understand the concept of college "being fun". With pre-requisities being completed, entrance exams to be taken, volunteer opportunities to be taken advantage of, etc... I found college offered little to no fun at all. How could it be fun when you're a pre-professional student trying to attain an acceptance letter into a program? I would say students in relatively easier majors such as business, psychology, art, sociology, etc... had way more fun because they actually didn't have to put in as much studying and worry about maintaining an unblemished records in all courses. The pre-meds, pharmacy, pre-dent, etc... were just machines. So, if anyone can get into pharmacy school without finishing your pre-requisites, I'd say go ahead and don't worry...you're not missing out on much except for paying additional college tuition and spending an extra year or two before pharm school. Save yourself the hassle and go directly to pharmacy school rather than engage in the type of fun most college students consider as "getting wasted".

the first thing i want to tackle here is your stereotype of "college fun". although the option of getting wasted everyday is available, the word "fun" actually encompasses a lot of things. i could make at list that goes on forever but basically what i am trying to say is that u don't have to live and breath your professional goal every second of your undergrad life. obviously you are going to have to buckle down and take care of business when necessary but i want to stress that there is more than enough time to do good in school and be happy doing things you enjoy. i myself was a biology major, participated in research, worked, played on a sports team, was an active member in a couple of cultural clubs, enjoyed the nightlife, still got good grades and most importantly still got into pharm school (in cali) my first time around. also, this isn't even a rare "profile" of successful applicants. i know a number of people like me that didn't kill themselves to get straight A's and they still got into med, dental, grad, and pharm schools.

people come from different backgrounds, have different goals in life, different levels of ambition, and sometimes are in circumstances that really grant someone no time to enjoy the college years. with that said i can't bash on doctorrx's opinion cause everyone dances to their own beat.

there are ups and downs to either route you decide to take so just make sure u choose what suites you best.

but seriouly, college is fun!!!

 

[WeirdPharm]

I regret taking a physics II class with a senile old man who changes the answer he gives each student when asking for help. >_> Because now I have to retake it!!! *shakes fist*

I regret not being prepared for the PCAT because I was too confident, and now I'm on the waiting list instead of the accepted list. >_<

*sigh* It's a good thing for hobbies. *depression**gloom**depression*

 

[farmerjon]

i regret not marrying my gf when i had some time off

o well, there is always 4 years from now