-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
How many time did it take?
Started by ForumHangout
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Agreed. Techs are a pharmacist's right hand. It would be good to know what they do everyday. Plus, the techs appreciate some help when things get crazy and it's really annoying when a pharmacist doesn't even know how to compound or use Pyxis. Just sayin'.
To The person posting earlier, I never focus or mention the negative aspects of any job during any interview. I always talk about how I learned to adapt to different and fast paced environments. I am thankful for the job experience I had back then, even though I didn't like it, because I know how hard it is to find work.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
???
English accents generally aren't considered a negative in the US, and are sometimes even looked at positively.
The rest of your posts lead me to believe you're joking around...you can't really be serious, right?
And, to answer the topic...applied to one school, once, and got in.
If you become a pharmacist you will quickly realize those techs are the backbone in this business. What do you think you'll be doing if you get an internship? Most of your job duties will be those of a technician. I am not here to put you down or say you'll never make it, but it all starts with attitude and perception. If you really want this you will do whatever it takes to get there and do not blame anyone for where you in life but yourself. Once you accept responsibility for yourself, dust yourself off and move forward.
What you don't realize is, how much of the pharmacy curriculum will require you to know the basic science classes and will build on them. You will be taking upper level chemistry & biology classes in pharmacy. When you get an average passing grade in the general chemistry & biology, pharmacy schools are correct to be concerned that you will be in over your head with the more advanced chemistry & biology courses. Knowing these basic science classes WILL most certainly help you get a job, because you won't be able to pass pharmacy school and get licensed without them. Once you are in pharmacy school, you will see how & why these basic science courses are essential to progressing in your pharmacy courses.
Considering how pharmacy is heavy on biology & chemistry, I question why you decided to pick pharmacy for a career? If you are capable of doing this work, then you need to repeat the classes and go for an A.
I already envision myself working in like a hospital setting. Are there tech there? if not then it's all fine... if so then whatever. I mean if they tell me in Pharmacy school I NEED to know what tech know then I'll pick up a coop or something and learn everything they learn... otherwise I'm not gonna waste my time to be a tech when I aim to be something else.
What do you mean by lolz? are you saying at the naiveeness of the OT is funny? or something?
What do you mean "???" omg... if you have an English accent, this mean English is not your first language, this mean your grammar and stuff sucks when you speak in lecture... this mean someone like YOU have to raise his or her hand hand and ask the lecturer if English is their first language.
Tech, tech, tech... prolly just another unofficial PCAT component of the application then.
The idea that you learn proper insurance billing in pharmacy school almost had me in tears. Most of the things that have been said about pharmacy school in this thread I find comical.
Whatever you think pharmacy school is, that's what its not.
No, that is not what it means. If someone has an English accent, at least in the US, it means they come from England, hence their English has an English accent.
If someone's first language is Spanish, and English is their 2nd language, then you would say they have a Spanish accent.
What's with "heh"? you know something I don't?
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Well I can assure you, the main point all along is the idea that a person is willing to give themselves over completely to learning things when those things are heavy responsibility to ensure the well being of another person.
It doesn't really matter if you don't do any insurance billing at all in Pharmacy school or I have a wrong idea of what is taught in Pharmacy school.
I decided on pharmacy school a little late in the game so scrambled to get application in. Didn't get in the first time. Went back and retook classes that I had low grades in, worked in a pharmacy the time I was off, then reapplied. Applied to 4 places, got interviews at 3, accepted to 2. 🙂
Y'all are weird 
Your situation sounds EXACTLY like mine, thank you.
...It's just my situation is a bit different because our motivation is different. I went back and retook some classes and will finish the rest of my prereq with higher grade now that I know I want to do Pharm... but I don't want to become a tech.
I think you should tell all your interviewers that you think Tech work is a waste of your time. That way they can go ahead and tell you to leave and stop wasting everyone's time.
Yeah, and also make sure to tell the interviewers that bit about how the basic science classes aren't important.
Okay then he should tell me. If you do you should tell me.
Otherwise none of what he or you know is really useful to me.
What I'll tell the interviewer is "I want to become a Pharmacist, not a technician".
Hint: it's what everyone has been trying to tell you in this thread.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using SDN Mobile
Why don't you tell me how Physics, Organic Chemistry, especially general Biology helps to learn thing taught in Pharmacy and how they'll be used on dailey basis by a person who did not get a PhD in those respected field to serve people.
Noo... I'm not seeing anyone mentioning anything about Pharmacists who work in hospitals... so you're wrong?
Dude..if you had ANY IDEA what pharmacist learn about and what we do, you would know the answer to that question.
At the risk of feeding the troll...
Pharmacy is the study of drugs. This includes drug structure, activity, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and other properties. These all require a strong basis in the above classes.
Okay, I concede. You're absolutely right in that you're there to do pharmacist work, and tech work is a waste of time and below you. Employers and schools like that you focus on pharmacist work instead of tech work. Saying that in an interview can get you really far. I would also start focusing on your pharmacy classes (if you get into a program) since chem, bio, and physics are all a waste of time.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Organic Chemist [PhD] synthesize the drugs, Biochemist [PhD] study drugs developed by the Organic Chemist reaction with a biological system. I'm pretty sure Molecular Biologist play some roll here or some other field like Bioganic Chemistry.
Pharmacist are neither Organic Chemist or Biochemist so where are they in this picture... I was CONFUSED... especially when they made me learn taxonomy in Biology and about Photosynthesis and Glycogen Cycles and about Bases and Acid... and momentum, and electrical system, and optics in physics... and about how to oxidize an alcohol all the way to a Carboxylic acid.
I picture me serving people... and I try to reason how, on the spot, or at work, I'm going to use any of this to serve the person infront of me.
It seems to me like Pre-Pharm prerequisite set me up to do basic research rather than application.
I know your sentences were RIGGED with sarcasm explosive... but the ironic thing is... that's how exactly my mind work and how I picture thing... and that's why I don't want to become a pharm tech.
It seems to me the most reasonable respond I got was someone saying "You need to learn the Pharm Tech stuff to help out the tech when work is busy" I guess I can do that... but just something to do WHILE in pharmacy school IMO.
I'm still not sure if they have pharm tech in a hospital setting.
Have you shadowed or spoken with a pharmacist about his/her daily tasks? I think you might find that they say it requires quite a bit of knowledge about the basic sciences (biochemistry, molecular biology, chemistry, etc.) to understand basic pharmacological concepts. As just a couple examples, these basic sciences will be critical to your comprehension of pharmacy literature and to your decision-making skills. I would strongly urge you to do this before forking over money to apply to schools next year and committing to a 4+ year program.
Guys, rest safely knowing this clown has such a low GPA he shouldn't be getting in to any pharmacy school (if he isn't a troll). I doubt he'll be able to do well on the PCAT since the basic sciences are stupid. Also, there's a writing component. That should be good for him.
It's okay, I know my OC nomenclature. That's all that's needed. LULZ.
The fact that you don't understand why you learn things is kind of sad. No one really cares if you can do calculus or know the presidents. No one really cares if you can write out the mechanism of an SN2 reaction. What people do care about is the fact you have the ability to learn processes, memorize facts, and synthesize information and apply in novel settings. These are things I don't think you can do very well from your previous posts. The vehicles through which our educational system does this is classes like bio, physics, chem, ochem. Additionally, that information does come back in healthcare fields. It may not in as full depth as the original class, but enough that having a foundation in it is necessary to be a pharmacist.
You know what? to rub salt in ya'll people faces... after I get my bachelor degree, I'm going to go find a job as a research technician at Genzyme or Merck or Novartis growing cells and making chemical medium... then I'll apply to Pharmacy school again.
I sure won't have pharm tech on my resume, but I'll be satisfied that I screw you ppl over.
I sure won't have pharm tech on my resume, but I'll be satisfied that I screw you ppl over.
The phrase is "to rub salt in a wound". Good luck in the job search.
They should have scrapped everything and put JUST the 2 general chemistry classes and the two Organic Chemistry classes in there if they wanted to test me. Infact, make this 4 class the ONLY prerequisite. If I get A's in them then I surely possess the "ability to learn processes, memorize facts, and synthesize information and apply in novel settings".
...why are they wasting my time with Physics, Economic, Biology, History, Psychology and stuff like that?
Isn't it better to test my abilities with 2 general Chem and 2 Orgo chem? these other thing are just unecessary IMO.
Well whatever you think, I'm gonna end up growing cells and and making gels for a good 1 year or two and apply to Pharmacy again.
Just to troll those applicants with a pharm tech certificate.
"HMMM SHOULD WE TAKE THIS GUY WITH A PHARM TECH LICENSE?! OR THAT GUY WHO GREW CELL FOR 2 YEARS!?!?!"
lolololol.
You clearly just don't get why the basic sciences are necessary. They are. Just accept that they are and you can't understand why. I left out the point about it being a kind of audition for grad school because I figured you already realized that. They also want to make sure you can do it repeatedly. Anyone can get an A in one class. Now do it in 20 and we'll see how smart you really are.
Your argument is that if you do well in a small sample of classes, then you're set for pharm school? That's like running 3 miles and then saying you're ready for a marathon.
FYI, they'll take the guy with the pharm license and pharm experience since he knows what being a pharmacist is about.
Geeze, repeatedly? 4 time aint enough? damn. 4 is more than 1 that is for sure.
No you're wrong. They're gonna take the guy who grew cell over the guy with the pharm tech certificate.
No, it's not. You're trying to argue that if you pull A's for the equivalent of ONE SEMESTER of college, then you're prepared to be a pharmacist. Do you even understand what you're advocating? Maybe the application should just be a one question survey that asks "Do you want to be a pharmacist?" and anyone that makes a check mark close enough to the yes box is accepted.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I must have been mistaken. You do grow so many cells and cultures and run gels in pharmacy. In fact, when I worked at CVS or rotated in the hospital that's all the Pharm.D.'s did. Lab experience will totally trump actual work experience. Thanks for correcting me.
Actually, they're going to take the person with the GPA above a 3 before looking at anything else. If you really want to get in, bring up the GPA. Working any job (pharmacy included) won't help you with a GPA that just gets filtered out. This is serious advice.
Okay this is going no where. Enjoy being a doctor. I ma graduate with a 2.63-2.73 PharmCAS GPA, grow cells for 2 years, and get into my Pharmacy school.
I'll send you a hate email when I get in. Gluck graduating & finding a specialty.
Actually as an individual who was a research assistant in a molecular lab at a very good medical school studying innate immunity where I grew liters of cell cultures a week, all the interviewers I spoke with at the pharmacy schools were skeptical as to why I wanted to pursue pharmacy with a lab background. I had to convince them that my time volunteering at a university hospital pharmacy was enough to show me what a career in pharmacy is about. They asked me why I didn't just work as a pharm tech, and my answer was that I had trouble finding a tech job that paid the bills. They understood, but it is incredibly clear having spoken to them that they care about pharmacy practice not cell culture skills.
Growing up 293T, BCBL, and HeLa cells didn't help me get where I am today. The analytical skills and biochemical pathways I learned certainly helped, but cell culture just gets you a $12/hr lab tech job.
I wonder what'd say if they ask me the same question. I'd prolly just get angry IMO.
...Maybe say learning how to grow cell prove that I can work as a pharm tech prove that I'm smart enough to be a Pharmacist.
There is a lot of societal pressure to conform to an idealized body image/type. (Psychology)
In the 1930's 2,4-Dinitrophenol was used as a weight-loss drug. (History)
It interferes with ATP synthesis in the mitochondria. (Biology)
Instead of producing ATP, the energy is lost to heat. (Physics)
Companies halted production by 1938 and lost revenue. (Economics)
All of that is pharmacy.
Similar threads
- Question
