How hard is it to be in the top 10% of your class once you're IN pharmacy school

[jackal head]

I would hate to have grades anywhere close to average but I realize most of my classmates won't be stupid.

What do?

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[Liberty2010]

Do your best and stop worrying about measuring yourself against others.....

 

[rxlea]

Do your best and stop worrying about measuring yourself against others.....

Competition can be fierce depending on the school you attend and depending upon your desired career track post graduation. If you want a residency, you better be getting good grades and be involved. The "measuring yourself against others" doesn't necessarily stop with residency either. In any career field with promotion potential, you need to strive to be the best or at least be extremely good at networking and make a lot of contacts. "Doing your best" isn't necessarily enough if your best doesn't match up to others.

 

[Liberty2010]

Competition can be fierce depending on the school you attend and depending upon your desired career track post graduation. If you want a residency, you better be getting good grades and be involved. The "measuring yourself against others" doesn't necessarily stop with residency either. In any career field with promotion potential, you need to strive to be the best or at least be extremely good at networking and make a lot of contacts. "Doing your best" isn't necessarily enough if your best doesn't match up to others.

I understand what you're getting at (especially if you want a residency), but my personal outlook has always been to try to avoid measuring against others and I believe it has saved me alot of stress. I'm just not sure what is accomplished by worring about being in the top 10%. Just do what you can to the best of your ability and let the cards fall where they may.

 

[Praziquantel86]

Well, you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting there.

 

[pharm B]

I understand what you're getting at (especially if you want a residency), but my personal outlook has always been to try to avoid measuring against others and I believe it has saved me alot of stress. I'm just not sure what is accomplished by worring about being in the top 10%. Just do what you can to the best of your ability and let the cards fall where they may.

If I remember right, top 10% are usually the ones invited to Rho Chi.

It can be difficult to do. More importantly, just do your best not to be in the bottom 10%.

 

[R2pharmD2]

Competition can be fierce depending on the school you attend and depending upon your desired career track post graduation. If you want a residency, you better be getting good grades and be involved. The "measuring yourself against others" doesn't necessarily stop with residency either. In any career field with promotion potential, you need to strive to be the best or at least be extremely good at networking and make a lot of contacts. "Doing your best" isn't necessarily enough if your best doesn't match up to others.

Is it possible to do better than one's best? Other people are often a useful measuring stick, but if you're already busting your *** and doing everything you can to make good grades, be involved, etc. then what good does it do to say "aww shucks, I'm only in the top 11% of my class... I suck at life"?

I know what I'm capable of, and if I come up short of that it doesn't matter if I'm in the top 1% of my class, I'd still be disappointed. I think meeting one's own standards is more important than just comparing yourself to your peers. I know that if I set ambitious goals for myself, then I can shoot for those and the rest should follow.

 

[rxlea]

Is it possible to do better than one's best? Other people are often a useful measuring stick, but if you're already busting your *** and doing everything you can to make good grades, be involved, etc. then what good does it do to say "aww shucks, I'm only in the top 11% of my class... I suck at life"?

I know what I'm capable of, and if I come up short of that it doesn't matter if I'm in the top 1% of my class, I'd still be disappointed. I think meeting one's own standards is more important than just comparing yourself to your peers. I know that if I set ambitious goals for myself, then I can shoot for those and the rest should follow.

Set goals and shoot for them. There is always room for improvement. Your best now might not be your best later. The point is, is that in school/life, it can/does matter how well you do against others.

As for the OP's question... Depends on the makeup of your class, obviously. There are a lot of smart people in pharm school and most of those people are used to getting A's and B's. They will most likely shoot for those grades and so should you. It might not be easy but it's certainly not impossible.

 

[SHC1984]

I would hate to have grades anywhere close to average but I realize most of my classmates won't be stupid.

What do?

Study smart, not hard. Good luck! 🙂

If I remember right, top 10% are usually the ones invited to Rho Chi.

It can be difficult to do. More importantly, just do your best not to be in the bottom 10%.

Yeah, it's top 10%. I just got invited into Rho Chi last month. I am most likely top 1% of my class. 😀

 

[johnnytinx]

SHC1984: Awesome, do you attend Mercer?

 

[UNMorBUST]

Yeah, it's top 10%. I just got invited into Rho Chi last month. I am most likely top 1% of my class. 😀

Oh good for you.😛
Oops meant that to be a clap on the back again.

 

[Project2015]

Oh good for you.😛
Oops meant that to be a clap on the back again.

Hot and smart stuff. Someone is ... 😛

 

[SHC1984]

Oh good for you.😛
Oops meant that to be a clap on the back again.

Don't be a hater! 😉

SHC1984: Awesome, do you attend Mercer?

Yep!

 

[SHC1984]

Hot and smart stuff. Someone is ... 😛

Yeah, pretty much! It's the only way to live! 😉

 

[crazybob]

Hot and smart stuff. Someone is ... 😛

Maybe... But I wouldn't date someone like her. No oFfense SHC

Even if I did, I'd be worried about her dumping me for a billionaire

 

[type b pharmD]

incredibly hard.

two main parts:

1. motivating yourself to achieve something completely overblown and meaningless.. (EXTREMELY hard)

2. actually doing it.. (easy)

You can probably guess where most people fail in this particular endeavor.

Seriously.. learn what you need to know for the job (hint, a lot of pharmacy school is not this), be a hard worker at your job (key), and network. It will get you a lot farther and a lot more satisfaction in life

.


Basically: It's a lot of work (that's why it's the top 10%.... its not the smartest 10%, btw), but it isnt impossible by any means.

 

[bacillus1]

Yeah, it's top 10%. I just got invited into Rho Chi last month. I am most likely top 1% of my class. 😀

Thought it was top 20%,as I'm pretty sure it is that at my school. Does it vary by school?

 

[veyep]

Thought it was top 20%,as I'm pretty sure it is that at my school. Does it vary by school?

at my school is top %0.001 and I got invited!

 

[dtran01]

Our curriculum has a foundations course that has many guest speakers. From two different "lofty" sources that are decision makers for the residency process, we were basically told that GPA is important to show you weren't stupid and just barely passing all your courses, but that it is oftentimes more important from what school you come from that is considered during residency applications. This is considered in addition to your other skillsets you may have already under your repetoire.

in short, go for rho chi, but its more important to expand your resume than bookworm your gpa to be high for residency.

 

[SHC1984]

Thought it was top 20%,as I'm pretty sure it is that at my school. Does it vary by school?

I look it up. At my school the top 10% gets invited into Rho Chi P2 year. Then the other 10% get invited into Rho Chi P3 year. So yes, techinically it's top 20%. But if you are not top 10% you have to wait till you are a P3 to get invited.

 

[SHC1984]

incredibly hard.

two main parts:

1. motivating yourself to achieve something completely overblown and meaningless.. (EXTREMELY hard)

2. actually doing it.. (easy)

You can probably guess where most people fail in this particular endeavor.

Seriously.. learn what you need to know for the job (hint, a lot of pharmacy school is not this), be a hard worker at your job (key), and network. It will get you a lot farther and a lot more satisfaction in life

.


Basically: It's a lot of work (that's why it's the top 10%.... its not the smartest 10%, btw), but it isnt impossible by any means.

What we are learning in school is actually interesting to me and I think as a pharmacist you need to know that stuff. Yes, it is tiring to study and it is much more fun to party...that's obvious, but if you absolutely HATE what you are learning in school then pharmacy isn't for you. You definetly aren't interested in it.

While not all 10% of us are the smartest, there are definetly some people in Rho Chi that are the SMARTEST. They have a 4.0, a job and a social life...much smarter than your average 3.0 student.

 

[wmw]

What is the med school equivalent to rho chi?

 

[ucrx]

I look it up. At my school the top 10% gets invited into Rho Chi P2 year. Then the other 10% get invited into Rho Chi P3 year. So yes, techinically it's top 20%. But if you are not top 10% you have to wait till you are a P3 to get invited.

At UConn, the top 10% get in P2 year. The next 5% get in P3, and the next 5% get in P4. It ends up being top 20% by graduation.

What we are learning in school is actually interesting to me and I think as a pharmacist you need to know that stuff. Yes, it is tiring to study and it is much more fun to party...that's obvious, but if you absolutely HATE what you are learning in school then pharmacy isn't for you. You definetly aren't interested in it.

While not all 10% of us are the smartest, there are definetly some people in Rho Chi that are the SMARTEST. They have a 4.0, a job and a social life...much smarter than your average 3.0 student.

I'd say more than half of the students in rho chi from my class went out regularly. We used to joke about the high amount of students in rho chi who sat in the back two rows (and often came in hungover). There were also students who worked full time jobs and had families who were in rho chi. Maybe it was people who were naturally smart, took tests well, knew how to manage their time, or whatever, but we loved it. If you're spending your whole life studying and working something isn't going right. Partly because you need social skills to network and communicate with patients/colleagues when you work.

 

[SHC1984]

I'd say more than half of the students in rho chi from my class went out regularly. We used to joke about the high amount of students in rho chi who sat in the back two rows (and often came in hungover). There were also students who worked full time jobs and had families who were in rho chi. Maybe it was people who were naturally smart, took tests well, knew how to manage their time, or whatever, but we loved it. If you're spending your whole life studying and working something isn't going right. Partly because you need social skills to network and communicate with patients/colleagues when you work.

Yeah, I can think of a few people like that too. One girl in my class is like 21 or 22 years old. She sits in the VERY last row in the class...by the look of her facebook profile she goes out TONS...and she has a 4.0!!! She properly never studies and she is so laid back! I don't know how she does it...but GOOD JOB!!!

I sit near the front, but I didn't study a lot my P1 year. P2 year I am studying much MORE, but I still have a little bit of time to spare. I am not a big party person b/c I am no longer 21 or 22 anymore 🙁, but I do like to go out shopping or watch movies etc. Yeah, I don't think there are anyone in Rho Chi that studies 24/7...but P2 year is much more diffcult for ME anyways! lol....

 

[Tinkerbell22]

Yeah, I can think of a few people like that too. One girl in my class is like 21 or 22 years old. She sits in the VERY last row in the class...by the look of her facebook profile she goes out TONS...and she has a 4.0!!! She properly never studies and she is so laid back! I don't know how she does it...but GOOD JOB!!!

I sit near the front, but I didn't study a lot my P1 year. P2 year I am studying much MORE, but I still have a little bit of time to spare. I am not a big party person b/c I am no longer 21 or 22 anymore 🙁, but I do like to go out shopping or watch movies etc. Yeah, I don't think there are anyone in Rho Chi that studies 24/7...but P2 year is much more diffcult for ME anyways! lol....

i probably study hard core maybe once a week, but that's probably because i took a lot of these classes in undergrad and i try to actually attend class and go over stuff while i'm there. i try and only go out on fridays so i feel good enough on sundays to study, unless something special is going on. next year i will probably only go out once or twice a month... good for saving more money though.

 

[type b pharmD]

I would say, if you are in the top 10% of the class, you probably have a lower chance of maximizing your pharmacy school experience than someone who is not.

Statistically speaking. Its much more likely that you are spending time on a diminishing marginal returns scale that would be better allocated to other activities to enhance your personal and professional life to make you extra competent in other areas .

Look at SHC, she refuses to work during the school year to protect her grades, and yet complains when companies arent interested in hiring her for 10 weeks during the summer. A true pharmacy baller would accept lower grades in order to become known as a great worker, which will help lock in a great job much more so than being known as a "great studier"


Im not advocating for being A-okay flunking out or being a straight C student.. while my gpa is pretty low compared to a lot of you guys', I feel confident in my chances post graduation having worked some extremely competitive internships and getting props on being a hard worker and team player. So you dont necessarily have to take school super casually (like i said, learn what you need to learn, which i would say is about 60% of the material), but, its much more likely that you will feel like you have enough energy to put your 200% into the workplace if you havent spent 25 hours a week on class and studying etc.

At the end of the day, people who are known as hard workers and team players and are well rounded outside of school are going to be the ones who get hired. I've had multiple bosses at non-retail internships tell me that the people they hire are the people with lower GPAs and more reputation for being a great worker , through word of mouth from other employers, WORK HISTORY on your resume, and being able to relate clinical information to real life (ie , not how much you know, but what you can communicate in a real world situation.. hint: its easily possible for some people to have too much knowledge and not know how to distill it down for real life.. not saying knowing things is always bad, but knowing how to apply and relate to the workplace is what gets you hired).

Of course, when i'm talking about hiring practices, i'm referring to the business world and for-profit organizations. If you would like to participate in the ruse that is academia or some type of "prestigious" pat-each-other-on-the-back clinical type job, you may have to spend more time buying into the hoax that is academic pharmacy (ie grades).

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I got ZERO questions about my grades or classes during my residency interviews (so far). I have several Cs and one D and no one asked me about them. What people were interested in discussing was my work experience (Did you do this at your job? Have you ever done that? How did you handle this situation at work? How would you deal with this if it happened at work?) and my activities/community service.

This is consistent with what I've heard from faculty, which is that grades are important to demonstrate reasonable mastery/competency with the material, but a 4.0 is not essential and not that much more highly regarded than something in the mid to high 3s.

GPA is probably used to screen applicants, so I'd aim to keep the GPA over 3.0 but beyond that screening step, it's not that important. But if you get to an interview and don't have anything to say because you've never really worked and you don't have any interesting activities, leadership or service projects to talk about, it's going to be awkward and you probably won't get the residency or job.

And people who join every club available just to pad their CV but don't have anything they are TRULY involved in/passionate about won't do well either. I was asked indepth questions about my activities and service stuff. At my last interview, I met with four different groups of people and 3/4 groups asked about my involvement with SDN. Luckily, I've been involved with this site for six years and have a lot of meaningful leadership activities and project management to discuss. I think it really helped me differentiate myself from the others.

Work on your writing skills too. A strong LOI can help your application make the cut if you are borderline. I also got questions about things I'd written and how I researched and went about putting various pieces together. I really felt like ALL my interviewers had perused my CV extensively.

So...that was a long answer. But the bottomline is do well in class but don't neglect other stuff. A 4.0 student with no work or life experience is going to get passed over every time in favor of someone who has lower grades but is well rounded and experienced.

 

[type b pharmD]

I got ZERO questions about my grades or classes during my residency interviews (so far). I have several Cs and one D and no one asked me about them. What people were interested in discussing was my work experience (Did you do this at your job? Have you ever done that? How did you handle this situation at work? How would you deal with this if it happened at work?) and my activities/community service.

This is consistent with what I've heard from faculty, which is that grades are important to demonstrate reasonable mastery/competency with the material, but a 4.0 is not essential and not that much more highly regarded than something in the mid to high 3s.

GPA is probably used to screen applicants, so I'd aim to keep the GPA over 3.0 but beyond that screening step, it's not that important. But if you get to an interview and don't have anything to say because you've never really worked and you don't have any interesting activities, leadership or service projects to talk about, it's going to be awkward and you probably won't get the residency or job.

And people who join every club available just to pad their CV but don't have anything they are TRULY involved in/passionate about won't do well either. I was asked indepth questions about my activities and service stuff. At my last interview, I met with four different groups of people and 3/4 groups asked about my involvement with SDN. Luckily, I've been involved with this site for six years and have a lot of meaningful leadership activities and project management to discuss. I think it really helped me differentiate myself from the others.

Work on your writing skills too. A strong LOI can help your application make the cut if you are borderline. I also got questions about things I'd written and how I researched and went about putting various pieces together. I really felt like ALL my interviewers had perused my CV extensively.

So...that was a long answer. But the bottomline is do well in class but don't neglect other stuff. A 4.0 student with no work or life experience is going to get passed over every time in favor of someone who has lower grades but is well rounded and experienced.

This ^^^

I just had a hospital job interview the other day and I was asked "what has been your biggest accomplishment in pharmacy school so far". If all I was able to say was "well I got all these great grades on these exams" , I would have expected them to laugh in my face. Being able to relate real world achievements such as , hey, i was regarded as a great team player and people knew that I put the extra time in to go the extra mile in the workplace (or research or outreach or whatever particular thing relates to the subspecialty you are gunning for), that is what's gonna get you the job.

If you talk to any successful real world pharmacist in settings outside of academia and the small minority of pharmacy jobs that constitute academic clinical practice, they will tell you that there is a LOT of information in pharmacy school that is irrelevant to the real world (i have been quoted figures by employers of anywhere from 40%-80% , but then again I tend to work for very laid back companies and more 'practical' type workplaces).

The key is spending your thinking and studying time figuring out which material this is , and studying and focusing on how to relate it to real people in a real environment. Of course, you have to have a general grasp of all the material to pass the classes, but a large percentage of it isnt worth stressing over..

 

[type b pharmD]

I got ZERO questions about my grades or classes during my residency interviews (so far). I have several Cs and one D and no one asked me about them. What people were interested in discussing was my work experience (Did you do this at your job? Have you ever done that? How did you handle this situation at work? How would you deal with this if it happened at work?) and my activities/community service.

So...that was a long answer. But the bottomline is do well in class but don't neglect other stuff. A 4.0 student with no work or life experience is going to get passed over every time in favor of someone who has lower grades but is well rounded and experienced.

And see, this pleasantly surprises me, cause here you have someone like All4mydaughter who is known to be a level headed practical person... EVEN RESIDENCIES, commonly thought by pharmacy students to be stuck up and grade-obsessed, are not asking her about her grades.. This is a breath of fresh air. (although i'm not interested in residency, it is nice to know residency directors have a good head on their shoulders).

I mean most people should realize that pharmacy jobs in the business world or staff at hospitals , etc, should probably not focus too much on grades. But now we can see that even residencies will probably turn up their nose at someone who the only thing they can brag about is their grades.

Pharmacy is NOT an 'academic' profession (for 90% of people). It's not about knowing the most, like say, maybe being a phd scientist is or an engineer or physicist. It's about knowing ENOUGH , to help people the most while simultaneously making the most profit for your company. (or get the best outcomes , if you work for a non profit). Knowing this it should be clear to people that being a great pharmacist is not in the books and the lectures. If you wanted to win life by studying, you should have become a PhD person

 

[ucrx]

I got ZERO questions about my grades or classes during my residency interviews (so far). I have several Cs and one D and no one asked me about them. What people were interested in discussing was my work experience (Did you do this at your job? Have you ever done that? How did you handle this situation at work? How would you deal with this if it happened at work?) and my activities/community service.

This is consistent with what I've heard from faculty, which is that grades are important to demonstrate reasonable mastery/competency with the material, but a 4.0 is not essential and not that much more highly regarded than something in the mid to high 3s.

GPA is probably used to screen applicants, so I'd aim to keep the GPA over 3.0 but beyond that screening step, it's not that important. But if you get to an interview and don't have anything to say because you've never really worked and you don't have any interesting activities, leadership or service projects to talk about, it's going to be awkward and you probably won't get the residency or job.

This is how I would handle a residency program if I was picking candidates to interview. It seems that my program picked candidates mainly on grades (although I'm not entirely sure, I haven't seen the applications of students who were denied interviews). Several of the interviews went poorly because the candidates had little to talk about or just didn't seem to care about anything beyond learning. (Reminder- residency isn't just about learning!) I look at all of the CVs before the interviews and there are major mistakes. It was so bad that some I just wanted to fix and give back to the student! These are candidates that I probably wouldn't have offered an interview to start with.

Of course, there have been GREAT and good interviews. There are well qualified applicants who get amazing grades. But grades aren't enough.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I thought of something else. There are some people in my class who have very high grades but cannot apply what they have learned to save their lives. They can memorize every exquisite detail for the exam and then regurgitate it and earn that 4.0 but then they forget it all. Being able to use and apply information in real life is a FAR cry from being able to ace a multiple choice exam.

I was on rotation with one such student during my IPPE. It was sad to see this 4.0 student look like a deer in the headlights when asked to recommend an H2 blocker for a patient with no insurance because she 1) couldn't name any H2 blockers on her own 2) when prompted with the brand names couldn't relate them to the generic names we learned in class and 3) had no idea which agents even had generics available and might therefore be cheaper. This was after our OTC therapeutics class and lab with weekly case studies so there was no excuse. PS: this student also had very very limited work experience...

Another student was asked to leave an APPE hospital rotation the first day because she couldn't describe the MOA of coumadin, give any reasons a patient might be taking the drug and didn't know how we monitored it. Hmmm. Wierd. Because we had a very good therapeutics module on anti-coagulation. And this is a another Dean's List student.

Just to be equal opportunity, I will tell the story of a student from another school in my state who was asked the first day of our rotation together to make a recommendation for a patient who needed an ACE inhibitor. He couldn't tell the preceptor why the patient needed the ACEI and he had to go look up a list of ACEI on Wikipedia. She also made him do a topic discussion on the thyroid and the role of TSH and T3/T4 and how they affect each other + differentiate between hyper and hypo thyroidism. Because he had no clue how to interpret thyroid labs or treat hypothyroidism.

My theory is that we are getting so idealized in terms of what is taught in pharmacy school that we are neglecting the basics. That or we are admitting too many people who don't have a lick of common sense.

 

[2411t]

I thought of something else. There are some people in my class who have very high grades but cannot apply what they have learned to save their lives. They can memorize every exquisite detail for the exam and then regurgitate it and earn that 4.0 but then they forget it all. Being able to use and apply information in real life is a FAR cry from being able to ace a multiple choice exam.

I was on rotation with one such student during my IPPE. It was sad to see this 4.0 student look like a deer in the headlights when asked to recommend an H2 blocker for a patient with no insurance because she 1) couldn't name any H2 blockers on her own 2) when prompted with the brand names couldn't relate them to the generic names we learned in class and 3) had no idea which agents even had generics available and might therefore be cheaper. This was after our OTC therapeutics class and lab with weekly case studies so there was no excuse. PS: this student also had very very limited work experience...

Another student was asked to leave an APPE hospital rotation the first day because she couldn't describe the MOA of coumadin, give any reasons a patient might be taking the drug and didn't know how we monitored it. Hmmm. Wierd. Because we had a very good therapeutics module on anti-coagulation. And this is a another Dean's List student.

Just to be equal opportunity, I will tell the story of a student from another school in my state who was asked the first day of our rotation together to make a recommendation for a patient who needed an ACE inhibitor. He couldn't tell the preceptor why the patient needed the ACEI and he had to go look up a list of ACEI on Wikipedia. She also made him do a topic discussion on the thyroid and the role of TSH and T3/T4 and how they affect each other + differentiate between hyper and hypo thyroidism. Because he had no clue how to interpret thyroid labs or treat hypothyroidism.

My theory is that we are getting so idealized in terms of what is taught in pharmacy school that we are neglecting the basics. That or we are admitting too many people who don't have a lick of common sense.

It's really a different kind of knowledge. I remember the first time I started doing labwork, my PI told me to make a 10 mM solution. My brain froze.

 

[owlegrad]

I was on rotation with one such student during my IPPE. It was sad to see this 4.0 student look like a deer in the headlights when asked to recommend an H2 blocker for a patient with no insurance because she 1) couldn't name any H2 blockers on her own 2) when prompted with the brand names couldn't relate them to the generic names we learned in class and 3) had no idea which agents even had generics available and might therefore be cheaper. This was after our OTC therapeutics class and lab with weekly case studies so there was no excuse. PS: this student also had very very limited work experience...

Pepcid/famotidine - Bam!

Another student was asked to leave an APPE hospital rotation the first day because she couldn't describe the MOA of coumadin, give any reasons a patient might be taking the drug and didn't know how we monitored it. Hmmm. Wierd. Because we had a very good therapeutics module on anti-coagulation. And this is a another Dean's List student.

Inhibits vitamin K epoxide reductase, all kinds of information about the clotting cascade. Anticoagulant, soooo many reasons a patient would be on it, monitored by INR. Boom!

Just to be equal opportunity, I will tell the story of a student from another school in my state who was asked the first day of our rotation together to make a recommendation for a patient who needed an ACE inhibitor. He couldn't tell the preceptor why the patient needed the ACEI and he had to go look up a list of ACEI on Wikipedia.

Anything that ends in pril (I like lisinopril). Kapow!

She also made him do a topic discussion on the thyroid and the role of TSH and T3/T4 and how they affect each other + differentiate between hyper and hypo thyroidism. Because he had no clue how to interpret thyroid labs or treat hypothyroidism.

This I would need to look up. There goes my winning streak. 3/4 is pretty good I think?

 

[2411t]

As a prepharm student matriculating this Fall, the breadth of knowledge pharmacists are required to know in regards to drug therapy is astounding. When do you, as pharmacy students, really start to feel like pharmacists? I heard it's during P3. Anyone care to elaborate?

 

[SHC1984]

Not all 4.0 students memorize things and forget everything. Just like not all 3.0 students are able to apply information to real life situations. Some 3.0 students memorize things, but not very well, so they still can't do very well on exams and then forget things afterwards anyways. Some 4.0 students can apply information to real life and do retain all the information they learn. So it really just depends on the individual in that respect.

 

[SHC1984]

Look at SHC, she refuses to work during the school year to protect her grades, and yet complains when companies arent interested in hiring her for 10 weeks during the summer. A true pharmacy baller would accept lower grades in order to become known as a great worker, which will help lock in a great job much more so than being known as a "great studier"

If Cardinal Health wants to hire me I would work there during the school year...I really really realllllllllllllllllllllllllly want to work for them. I'll take a 3.8 GPA if I get to work for Cardinal!!! 😀

 

[type b pharmD]

If Cardinal Health wants to hire me I would work there during the school year...I really really realllllllllllllllllllllllllly want to work for them. I'll take a 3.8 GPA if I get to work for Cardinal!!! 😀

good luck with that 3.8 gpa working 1am-6am before school. It's really hard to study after a 16 hour day of class and work on only a few hours of sleep.

everyone I knew from nuclear took a gpa hit to work there, you gotta ask yourself tho, is it worth the job after graduation? I thought so but ymmv. After 9 months I felt like a burnt out shell of a human, and now I see my friend who works nuke experiencing the same thing, it's not pretty. That said, cardinal offers 4 weeks + as starting vacation for new graduates and most people there are also taking 1-2 hours of break during each shift

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Pepcid/famotidine - Bam!

Inhibits vitamin K epoxide reductase, all kinds of information about the clotting cascade. Anticoagulant, soooo many reasons a patient would be on it, monitored by INR. Boom!

Anything that ends in pril (I like lisinopril). Kapow!

This I would need to look up. There goes my winning streak. 3/4 is pretty good I think?

Show off alert! 😛😀

 

[SHC1984]

good luck with that 3.8 gpa working 1am-6am before school. It's really hard to study after a 16 hour day of class and work on only a few hours of sleep.

everyone I knew from nuclear took a gpa hit to work there, you gotta ask yourself tho, is it worth the job after graduation? I thought so but ymmv. After 9 months I felt like a burnt out shell of a human, and now I see my friend who works nuke experiencing the same thing, it's not pretty. That said, cardinal offers 4 weeks + as starting vacation for new graduates and most people there are also taking 1-2 hours of break during each shift

Honestly, if working at Cardinal almost guarantee me a position there when I graduate (meaning I won't be left jobless upon graduation) I will work there during school and take a GPA hit. I have pretty much a 4.0 right now (I only made one B+ in pharmacy school) so even if I made all C(s) my P3 year, my GPA will still end up being around the 3.5 area (actually higher since I have 2 years of A(s) balancing out my 1 year of C(s) lol..). I'll take a 3.5 if it means I get to become a nuclear pharmacist.

Cardinal Health in my location might be hiring this summer. One P4 is about to graduate and leave for sure...but they told me they are under a hiring freeze right now so they are not 100% sure if they can hire another person....but if they can they would interview me for the position. If I can get that job I will be MORE than happy. The problem is will they be hiring? 🙁

 

[Argentium]

Residency director is my faculty adviser and he has said over and over again that anything above a 3.0 GPA is good enough for residency. After that, it is about interview skills, extracurricular involvement, etc.

Also would like to point out that the internship I did over the summer, I didn't list my GPA on my resume and I wasn't asked for it during the interview. The internship is extremely competitive ... 3/60+ (if not more) accepted probably.

 

[spacecowgirl]

As a prepharm student matriculating this Fall, the breadth of knowledge pharmacists are required to know in regards to drug therapy is astounding. When do you, as pharmacy students, really start to feel like pharmacists? I heard it's during P3. Anyone care to elaborate?

I never felt like a pharmacist in school. I didn't really feel like one until after residency and still am humbled on a daily basis. Medicine is never a field where one feels completely comfortable in their knowledge - so much to learn, so much changes. That's why I love it 🙂

 

[veyep]

I would hate to have grades anywhere close to average but I realize most of my classmates won't be stupid.

What do?

In professional schools it is important to do well but if you wanna be successful you have to have the whole package! You can sit and memorize as much as you can and get 100% on every exam but if you can't apply the knowledge to your patient or have the social skills to interact with people or not having any leadership positions your high grades are not valuable!

 

[type b pharmD]

Honestly, if working at Cardinal almost guarantee me a position there when I graduate (meaning I won't be left jobless upon graduation) I will work there during school and take a GPA hit. I have pretty much a 4.0 right now (I only made one B+ in pharmacy school) so even if I made all C(s) my P3 year, my GPA will still end up being around the 3.5 area (actually higher since I have 2 years of A(s) balancing out my 1 year of C(s) lol..). I'll take a 3.5 if it means I get to become a nuclear pharmacist.

Cardinal Health in my location might be hiring this summer. One P4 is about to graduate and leave for sure...but they told me they are under a hiring freeze right now so they are not 100% sure if they can hire another person....but if they can they would interview me for the position. If I can get that job I will be MORE than happy. The problem is will they be hiring? 🙁

It may be worth it. It would be if you want to work nuclear. But you also gotta remember there are only a literal handful of nuke jobs open in the us at a given time, and not many of them are conducive to having a family. Are you ready to move out of california ?. But also the fact that there are only a few students in the US who work nuke means your chances are not as bad as it would seem if you have a good work experience.

 

[SHC1984]

It may be worth it. It would be if you want to work nuclear. But you also gotta remember there are only a literal handful of nuke jobs open in the us at a given time, and not many of them are conducive to having a family. Are you ready to move out of california ?. But also the fact that there are only a few students in the US who work nuke means your chances are not as bad as it would seem if you have a good work experience.

I am not 100% sure that I want to work nuclear. I know I prefer it over retail!!! But I am not 100% sure that I want nuclear. I would like to experience it though b/c I have no idea what they actually do. I just know they work alone in a quiet environment, no patient interaction. That works well for me. I don't live in CA and I don't have a family, but I would like to have one someday. I will take any job that isn't retail.

I will tell you, you are right about one thing. Having a job really INCREASES your chances of getting hired at that place after graduation. That is better than having a 4.0 for sure...but you still need to do your best of course. I would say anything 3.5 and above is good enough.

 

[Sparda29]

Pepcid/famotidine - Bam!



Inhibits vitamin K epoxide reductase, all kinds of information about the clotting cascade. Anticoagulant, soooo many reasons a patient would be on it, monitored by INR. Boom!



Anything that ends in pril (I like lisinopril). Kapow!



This I would need to look up. There goes my winning streak. 3/4 is pretty good I think?

High TSH = hypothyroidism because its decreasing your levels of T3/T4
Low TSH = hyperthyroidism because its not inhibiting T3/T4

I'm on my Internal Med rotation right now and it's going pretty good. The attending has me giving lectures to the residents and med students 1-2 times a week, and these are additional projects on top of the journal clubs, literature evaluations, vanco/anticoag monitoring, following patients. My preceptor was surprised when I told him my GPA was in the low 2s.

 

[Sparda29]

good luck with that 3.8 gpa working 1am-6am before school. It's really hard to study after a 16 hour day of class and work on only a few hours of sleep.

everyone I knew from nuclear took a gpa hit to work there, you gotta ask yourself tho, is it worth the job after graduation? I thought so but ymmv. After 9 months I felt like a burnt out shell of a human, and now I see my friend who works nuke experiencing the same thing, it's not pretty. That said, cardinal offers 4 weeks + as starting vacation for new graduates and most people there are also taking 1-2 hours of break during each shift

Yep, I did an interview to be a tech at a nuclear pharmacy back in 2008. And at the end of the interview the guy was like, "You do know that the hours for this position are 2AM-10AM?"

That pretty much killed it. They have 3 different shifts there but most of the work is done from 2AM-10AM.

 

[type b pharmD]

I am not 100% sure that I want to work nuclear. I know I prefer it over retail!!! But I am not 100% sure that I want nuclear. I would like to experience it though b/c I have no idea what they actually do. I just know they work alone in a quiet environment, no patient interaction. That works well for me. I don't live in CA and I don't have a family, but I would like to have one someday. I will take any job that isn't retail.

I will tell you, you are right about one thing. Having a job really INCREASES your chances of getting hired at that place after graduation. That is better than having a 4.0 for sure...but you still need to do your best of course. I would say anything 3.5 and above is good enough.

I would say anything 2.5 or above is good enough, if you have good connections that you made at your workplaces. Grades are important for one thing, impressing academic people. Knowing the material, is great, but that doesnt necessarily relate to grades either.

 

[Tinkerbell22]

Yep, I did an interview to be a tech at a nuclear pharmacy back in 2008. And at the end of the interview the guy was like, "You do know that the hours for this position are 2AM-10AM?"

That pretty much killed it. They have 3 different shifts there but most of the work is done from 2AM-10AM.

my circadian rhythm is too picky... i'd rather listen to grown women hysterically crying at my counter because their adderall requires a PA

 

[Praziquantel86]

High TSH = hypothyroidism because its decreasing your levels of T3/T4
Low TSH = hyperthyroidism because its not inhibiting T3/T4

I'm on my Internal Med rotation right now and it's going pretty good. The attending has me giving lectures to the residents and med students 1-2 times a week, and these are additional projects on top of the journal clubs, literature evaluations, vanco/anticoag monitoring, following patients. My preceptor was surprised when I told him my GPA was in the low 2s.

Dude, your pathophysiology is completely ass backwards. I hope you're not bringing that out to the medical team.

 

[type b pharmD]

Dude, your pathophysiology is completely ass backwards. I hope you're not bringing that out to the medical team.

i was very confused by the post as well

high tsh inhibiting stuff?

I would think... hypothyroid = high tsh cause the pituitary is wondering wtf is going on down in the thyroid and telling it to "get going" over and over again without success