Choosing classes for next Spring

[ICA]

I will officially be done with all my pharmacy prerequisites this semester. I wanted to take an extra 3 unit class to fill up my schedule for next spring...

Abnormal Psychology - Types and patterns of abnormal behavior; major theories regarding its causes, clinical assessment and modes of treatment.

Nutrition - Basic concepts of nutrition; role of nutrients in maintenance of life processes, utilization of food by body, personal nutrition evaluation, community nutrition education.

Medical Terminology - Students develop a basic background in medical terminology as used by medical transcriptionists, court reporters, law-related occupations, and allied health occupations.

Dealing with Difficult People - (1.0 unit only) Provides development of skills needed by students to deal effectively with difficult people and angry or upset clients, customers, coworkers, or significant others. The course will provide an introduction to conflict resolution.

These are the ones that seem to interest me the most. Which one do you think will be most useful for pharmacy school and why?

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[crossjb]

Congrats!

I am taking human nutrition right now. Fun course, but really you can self teach yourself the majority of this material. If you are going to take an additional course, I've heard medical terminology is an excellent course to have on hand.

 

[Moxxie]

Hmm... It depends on the school you're attending, I guess. I've taken both Medical Terminology and Nutrition (actually several nutrition courses), and I have to say that the medical terminology course that I took was terrible. I didn't learn anything new that hadn't been covered in anatomy & physiology. Some of it even went back to high school biology. I just finished this class at a community college in Texas. The course was part of their pharmacy technician/medical technician program - not intended as part of a B.S. I only took the course because it cost the same to take 6 credits as to take 3 credits, and I needed to take economics as my last pre-req for pharmacy school. I thought that this course would look good on my transcript, but I didn't get anything out of it.

Nutrition, on the other hand, was a class I loved - it was one of the first classes I took that used biochemistry in a logical way. It helped that my professor was absolutely great. It wasn't difficult material, but I learned a lot. I took this course at the University of Idaho. This was actually one of the first courses that got me interested in going to pharmacy school. Later on I got to be the TA for this class - it really helped drive all the concepts home. Because of this nutrition course (and others I took, like food toxicology), I'm much more interested in how what people eat interacts with the drugs that they take. Nutrition might be a good class on your transcript to make you more "well-rounded."

The "dealing with difficult people" class sounds great too - I'm considering taking a course like it as well next semester (even though I'm done with my pre-reqs). I'm not sure how much this class would help your application, but if anything, it would help you for real life after pharmacy school! If you took med term. or nutrition, could you fit this one into your schedule too?

Just my 2 cents (or 2.37 cents CAD)

~Moxxie

 

[dpari]

I know in the academic world everyone pretty much is happier than those working in the real world....

The pursuit of a goal generally brings out optimism and enables an individual to feel good about themselves. If you know you are going somewhere, it obviously is much easier to respect yourself, in addition; earn the repsect of others.

I feel that the world in which we live today, absolutely mandates that we know how to "Deal with Difficult People", don't you?

The big challenge in the world today from my perspective regarding difficult people is how we choose to react to the injustice...

Choice #1 PC (Politically Correct, Let's Taaaaaaalk about it)

Choice #2 PI (Politically Incorrect, Defend yourself)

Either way, the class should be a blast!!!!

Have Fun and I wish you the very best going forward.....

I will officially be done with all my pharmacy prerequisites this semester. I wanted to take an extra 3 unit class to fill up my schedule for next spring...

Abnormal Psychology - Types and patterns of abnormal behavior; major theories regarding its causes, clinical assessment and modes of treatment.

Nutrition - Basic concepts of nutrition; role of nutrients in maintenance of life processes, utilization of food by body, personal nutrition evaluation, community nutrition education.

Medical Terminology - Students develop a basic background in medical terminology as used by medical transcriptionists, court reporters, law-related occupations, and allied health occupations.

Dealing with Difficult People - (1.0 unit only) Provides development of skills needed by students to deal effectively with difficult people and angry or upset clients, customers, coworkers, or significant others. The course will provide an introduction to conflict resolution.

These are the ones that seem to interest me the most. Which one do you think will be most useful for pharmacy school and why?

 

[bananaface]

If the place you are going to offers medical terminology as an elective or core course, hold off and take it later. Otherwise, I'd recommend that.

 

[ICA]

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, these classes will be taken at a community college so they probably won't be comparable to the classes you would find at University level.

I'm surprised no one said Abnormal Psych. Don't pharmacy students study brain/chemical disorders and what drugs treat them? I know tons of people pick up things like lorazepam, prozac and such at my pharmacy.

I will definately squeeze in the "Dealing with Difficul People" course. It's a short course (only 4 classes) and a small time commitment. Definitely doable.

So, it looks like a toss-up between Nutrition and Medical Terminology. If any current pharm students have any suggestions on which class would be most beneficial in pharm school, reply away.

 

[ICA]

If the place you are going to offers medical terminology as an elective or core course, hold off and take it later. Otherwise, I'd recommend that.

I wish I knew where I was going bananaface. Still waiting on those letters.

 

[doubleup144]

The classes that you'll find most beneficial are any biochemistry related courses. I know it's a community college, but sometimes, courses like that are offered. You will use the material you obtain in all of your pre-reqs in pharm school. Bio, Chem, Biochem, Stats, Pharmacology are all a good start.

Pete