Hello everyone. I was just recently accepted into Wayne State University's (Detroit, MI) PharmD program and I am very ecstatic about it. However, now I am wondering about what my next step should be. I've heard some of the P1 and P2 students at my interview day mention something about applying for an internship right after you get accepted. Should I go through with this? Or would it be better to wait until after my P2 year to get an internship since the P1 year is just essentially a review of the pre-requisite courses from undergrad? P2 is the year where students start learning the technicalities of pharmacy as well as the drugs/medications in general. I hear a lot of people say not to wait too long to get an internship because it gets progressively more difficult the longer you wait. However, it doesn't make sense to make to get an internship in pharmacy without evening learning anything about the medications prior (P1). What do you guys think? Should I go for an internship or would going for a pharmacy technician job be a better option? For those of you who may have had the same situation as the one I described, what did you guys do? I am just stuck on trying to figure out what to do so that I can make my decision as early as possible.
One of my best teammates who is now Hospital Director with residency PGY2. She failed two exams because the intern job was so stressful that they forced her to work the nights before the exams. She failed that exam and quit her job. We were shocked about her failures in those exams because she was the bright star had solid records of year 1 and 2 until the intern job. We were glad she recovered and moved on. (She eventually passed all make-up exams, graduated, went to do residency and now is working.)
The one realization that I want to point out is:
Many current pharmacists often advise you to work during school time because they passed and
they made it through.
You want to consider advises from both sides: the ones that passed and the ones that failed. My school had a rate of 1 out of 5 failed and did not graduate.
So, consider this approach: pass many exams during first year to the point where you know:
your solid studying pattern,
your solid secret of passing the exams of your specific school,
your ability to handle the intense study load,
your ability to handle the stress,
after each exam, find the students that failed and and passed ask them both if they would like to work,
then, figure out the your available time,
then, find a job.
You will have plenty of chances to work. You only have a few chances to fail exam and avoid academic probation or academic disqualification from school.
Each of us is different. Most posters here are pharmacists who graduated. Where are the ones that did not graduate from pharmacy school?
Ultimately, the decision depends a lot on your background and studying skills. Consider your
test scores of the first six months as the solid answer of your own ability, then, you decide.
