Are you CC to DoP?

[Travisgee]

This is the path i am on right now. I have an undergrad in something unrelated to science. I am in a pre pharmacy program at a CC while working full time. I will be applying to universities when i have accomplished the pre req work. I'm curious who else is on a similiar path, and if you could share a little of your expierences, or any particular hardship that I should consider.

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[FireyDragon]

I'm on a similar path except I have a Bachelor's in science. I am currently working full-time at about 50+hrs/wk and I am taking classes at a CC. It's completely doable. The only hardship I run into is being so tired lol. Then I remember that my PharmD is the ultimate goal and I'd rather be tired but succeed.

Finding balance is the most important thing. Many professors that I have spoken with notice that students who work full time & take classes tend to perform better than others. They know how to allocate their time efficiently which is an important trait to have in pharmacy school.

Just my $0.02 Good Luck!

 

[UNMorBUST]

I'm on a similar path except I have a Bachelor's in science. I am currently working full-time at about 50+hrs/wk and I am taking classes at a CC. It's completely doable. The only hardship I run into is being so tired lol. Then I remember that my PharmD is the ultimate goal and I'd rather be tired but succeed.

Finding balance is the most important thing. Many professors that I have spoken with notice that students who work full time & take classes tend to perform better than others. They know how to allocate their time efficiently which is an important trait to have in pharmacy school.

Just my $0.02 Good Luck!

Totally agree.

 

[Travisgee]

I certainly feel that way as well. Amongst my peers in these classes, I seem much more organized and focused. I'm not sure if that's a product of already having a degree, working in the "real" world for some time, or both.

 

[triumphbr]

Ditto to what has been said. Full-time workers/students/family people are focusing on what needs to be done and when to get it done. The kids are goofing off with their cell phones and wondering if sally left a little bunny graphic on their myspace page.

 

[UNMorBUST]

The kids are goofing off with their cell phones and wondering if sally left a little bunny graphic on their myspace page.

I can't help but notice all of this in some of my classes.

 

[mrblah]

It is not a good idea to be working full time and going to school fulltime. There is no guarantee that pharmd adcom will look at you any different than anyone else. While professors think that students who do this are more proficient students, many students end up burning out or end up with less than competitive grades, and end up remediating.

In the end, working full time isn't going to help you get into pharmd school.

 

[Transformer]

It is not a good idea to be working full time and going to school fulltime. There is no guarantee that pharmd adcom will look at you any different than anyone else. While professors think that students who do this are more proficient students, many students end up burning out or end up with less than competitive grades, and end up remediating.

In the end, working full time isn't going to help you get into pharmd school.

I agree with mrblah. You will shoot yourself in the foot if you want to work full time and go to school full time. I know everyone's situation is different and some people like myself have to work to pay for rent and survive. If you absolutely need money, work part time and nothing more.

 

[UNMorBUST]

It is not a good idea to be working full time and going to school fulltime. There is no guarantee that pharmd adcom will look at you any different than anyone else. While professors think that students who do this are more proficient students, many students end up burning out or end up with less than competitive grades, and end up remediating.

In the end, working full time isn't going to help you get into pharmd school.

Well i have to work to pay for everything. Granted im tired quite often, im actually quite happy. I would also hope adcoms don't give me a pass for working full time i actually want to earn my spot. On the burning out part, I am sure i will be fine. People with children have it much worse, so im content.

 

[YiYaoYue]

I'm on a similar path except I have a Bachelor's in science. I am currently working full-time at about 50+hrs/wk and I am taking classes at a CC. It's completely doable. The only hardship I run into is being so tired lol. Then I remember that my PharmD is the ultimate goal and I'd rather be tired but succeed.

Finding balance is the most important thing. Many professors that I have spoken with notice that students who work full time & take classes tend to perform better than others. They know how to allocate their time efficiently which is an important trait to have in pharmacy school.

Just my $0.02 Good Luck!

How many classes do you take? I think most who work full time take fewer classes than those who work part time or don't work.

 

[triumphbr]

It is not a good idea to be working full time and going to school fulltime. There is no guarantee that pharmd adcom will look at you any different than anyone else. While professors think that students who do this are more proficient students, many students end up burning out or end up with less than competitive grades, and end up remediating.

In the end, working full time isn't going to help you get into pharmd school.

Actually I think it did in my experience. During my interview we talked at length about the career I was leaving and why I had decided to leave it. That lead into talking about how I managed my time to get everything done and so forth.

I did mention working full time/chief bread winner in the family and all in my PS so that may have been why it was brought up.... or it could also have been that the person interviewing just had a general curiosity about my job. Either way it put me on familiar ground during the interview so I could really be myself and they could get to know me beyond all the test scores, grades, and etc.

I feel that if you can afford to live and whatnot without working then I would probably go that direction.. and if you can't well.... use it to your advantage where possible.

Ad coms may not make a fuss over it but I am fairly certain that a person who just concentrated on school isn't getting extra marks beyond their grades either.

 

[mrblah]

Ad coms may not make a fuss over it but I am fairly certain that a person who just concentrated on school isn't getting extra marks beyond their grades either.

Your grades pretty much guarantee a interview, whereas a outstanding PS/life experience will not. I'm not sure if you are currently a p1 or just got accepted, but if your school allows p1's to sit on the interview panel, do it. You will be suprised as to how much emphasis your school will put on grades.

At USN, during the first interview date this year, everyone and their mom's had 3.9+, so we all knew what got them their interview. I have two more dates (february and march) I get to sit on too, i'm sure as the gpa average falls, adcom will be forced to put more weight on the PS in granting interviews. To me, getting a early interview date is an advantage (more spots, more opportunities).

Like i said it depends on the adcom. I just don't want people who think they can pull off what you did, only to find out when its too late that they can't pull it off ( I know alot of people who couldn't get into pharmacy school because they underestimated the difficulty of the pre-req or underestimated the amount of work they had to do working fulltime).

 

[xscpx]

I agree with mrblah. You will shoot yourself in the foot if you want to work full time and go to school full time. I know everyone's situation is different and some people like myself have to work to pay for rent and survive. If you absolutely need money, work part time and nothing more.

That's quite silly. Working part time is simply not enough income to survive for most people. Anyone working full time and going to school full time (like myself and Travisgee) don't do so by choice. We do it out of necessity. Things are expensive. So unless you or someone else if offering to pay our mortgages, car payments, student loans, etc, some of us have no choice but to work full time while doing the full time school thing.

As for your question Travis, many of us take different paths to get to pharm school. I personally am finishing up two bachelors degrees and will begin working on my masters in the Fall. Currently I'm working two jobs and let me say I understand how you feel! We just need to keep on going and we will accomplish our goals in due time.

As far as adcoms go, working fulltime has to count for something. Not for nothing, it's pretty damn easy to get straight A's when mommy and daddy do everything for you and you don't have anything to worry about. Being adults in the adult world and still keeping up with the kids speaks highly I think. Working full time also has a huge impact on who you are and how you handle things. It must mean something to the adcoms because it has a profound affect on your life.

Yiyao - As for course loads everyone should take when they are comfortable with and what they find manageable. Taking 21 credit hours and failing 3 classes is obviously not as good as taking 12 credit hours and getting A's. However, some students just happen to be able to handle high course loads. Myself, with the lower level classes and my majors' prereqs I took between 18 and 21 credit hours a term. They were easier classes. Now near the end with my senior seminars and thesis I have only taken between 12 and 15 credits. Everyone should just cater it to what they can handle. I'll admit, even with easy classes, I was totally burnt out from taking so many classes.

 

[triumphbr]

Your grades pretty much guarantee a interview, whereas a outstanding PS/life experience will not. I'm not sure if you are currently a p1 or just got accepted, but if your school allows p1's to sit on the interview panel, do it. You will be suprised as to how much emphasis your school will put on grades.

At USN, during the first interview date this year, everyone and their mom's had 3.9+, so we all knew what got them their interview. I have two more dates (february and march) I get to sit on too, i'm sure as the gpa average falls, adcom will be forced to put more weight on the PS in granting interviews. To me, getting a early interview date is an advantage (more spots, more opportunities).

Like i said it depends on the adcom. I just don't want people who think they can pull off what you did, only to find out when its too late that they can't pull it off ( I know alot of people who couldn't get into pharmacy school because they underestimated the difficulty of the pre-req or underestimated the amount of work they had to do working fulltime).

Oh I didn't pull anything off. I had excellent GPA and etc. I am not naive enough to think my PS got me an interview or got me accepted. At best it was a feather in my cap at the end.

I'm looking more at what happens when you have 5 applicants with excellent GPA's and 1 of the 5 did it while working. Which one do you choose?

 

[AsianGuy26]

Oh I didn't pull anything off. I had excellent GPA and etc. I am not naive enough to think my PS got me an interview or got me accepted. At best it was a feather in my cap at the end.

I'm looking more at what happens when you have 5 applicants with excellent GPA's and 1 of the 5 did it while working. Which one do you choose?

I think there is far more factors in play than everyone willing to admit. I work/volunteer about 20 hours/week to pull about a 3.4 GPA at my college. I would not say that I am less focused than people with 4.0s for working less or that my time management skills are subpar.

It's all relative, at my current college... I know of a few students whom worked full time while in CC and pulled 4.0s, but once they came here... they did considerably worse. (I go to ACPHS) They actually transferred into 2nd year (which is prepharm year 2 - taking courses they've already taken). I'm not saying this is the case with all students, but alot of them who did this and transferred to the college have flunked out.

However, with this said... I do believe people that work full-time and pull great grades are probably better off than their respective peers in time management. But remember, a CC is a small pond compared to the ocean that where bigger fishes dwell.

 

[PharMed2016]

I think there is far more factors in play than everyone willing to admit. I work/volunteer about 20 hours/week to pull about a 3.4 GPA at my college. I would not say that I am less focused than people with 4.0s for working less or that my time management skills are subpar.

It's all relative, at my current college... I know of a few students whom worked full time while in CC and pulled 4.0s, but once they came here... they did considerably worse. (I go to ACPHS) They actually transferred into 2nd year (which is prepharm year 2 - taking courses they've already taken). I'm not saying this is the case with all students, but alot of them who did this and transferred to the college have flunked out.

However, with this said... I do believe people that work full-time and pull great grades are probably better off than their respective peers in time management. But remember, a CC is a small pond compared to the ocean that where bigger fishes dwell.

Well said.

LECOM-Erie too huh? Look forward to meeting you.

 

[mrblah]

However, with this said... I do believe people that work full-time and pull great grades are probably better off than their respective peers in time management. But remember, a CC is a small pond compared to the ocean that where bigger fishes dwell.

Well said, People may have different ways of getting into pharmacy school, but we all have the same goal. People who get into pharmacy school and excel are those with very good time management skills, and it doesn't matter if they worked fulltime, had a family, or had financial support from other sources.

At my program's interview panel: We are told to grade people on whether or not they can communicate effectively, whether or not they can handle a rigorous courseload, their ethical values and beliefs, and whether or not they will fit into our program as a whole. We don't compare applicants in order to score them. We don't dwell on specifics, because everyone is different, we can't verify what they are saying, and lastly, when we tally up their score, we don't discuss it with other panel members. All 3 panel members score each applicant individually by the closing of their interview. (obviously, this will differ with other programs).

If a applicant got a interview, it means they deserve to be here. It was now up to the applicant to sell themselves and close the deal. Their history is pretty much irrelevent at this point in the application cycle.

 

[ILoveOrange]

I am on the same path as you. I had to do some major time management and some strategic planning to work around my schedule but I will get it done.