I hate Inorg/Org Chem...NO PHARM??

[Decisions08]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi! I'm new to the forum so, hello!

I've been wrestling w/ this issue so I figured that practicing pharmacists could help me. Would it be stupid of me to go to pharmacy school if I hated (and wasn't very good at) Inorganic and Organic Chemistry? This may be a stupid question but I figured I'd throw it out there anyway. I'm a "biology" person and I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy being a physician; minus 7-10 more years of school (thought about a surg resid), internship/residency hell, malpractice insurance, ungrateful patients, being "on-call" and working 70-80hrs/wk. Hhhmmm, maybe I wouldn't enjoy being a physician??

Anyway, one of my really good friends just graduated from pharmacy school and she said, "I hate chemistry too. As a matter of fact, I'm not very good at math and science. I'm an arts person but if you study hard, you can make it through! If I can make it through, anyone can make it through! (<--I guess that was just emphasizing how much of a non-science person she is) Pharmacists are in demand...4 more years (I already have my B.S.) and you're done. Just suck it up! lol"

So, my question to you is, would I be setting myself up for failure? I'm somewhat interested in inpatient pediatric (infectious disease caught my eye too) pharmacy b/c:
1. I'm easily bored (<--she said pharm is too hard to get boring)
2. I'm interested in diseases (<--she said, all she deals w/ is diseases)
3. I want a challenging career
4. I like solving problems

Would my hate for inorg/org chem override all of the above or would I get used to it? Maybe I'll get used to it if I can actually apply it to something???Thanks for the advice! 😀

**I didn't post in the pre-pharm forum because I wanted advice from practicing pharmacists

 

[Decisions08]

22 views and no love?? 🙁 I'll take a short answer:

1. Yes, you're wasting your time.
2. No, you're not wasting your time.

*I don't know any pharmacists besides my friend who just graduated. She went into it for the $$$ so I need other opinions b/c if you're eye is on the $$$ (unlike mine), you can put up w/ all sorts of craziness. Thanks...

 

[117296]

22 views and no love?? 🙁 I'll take a short answer:

1. Yes, you're wasting your time.
2. No, you're not wasting your time.

*I don't know any pharmacists besides my friend who just graduated. She went into it for the $$$ so I need other opinions b/c if you're eye is on the $$$ (unlike mine), you can put up w/ all sorts of craziness. Thanks...

A lot of us are still students, there's only a handful of us in this forum that are practicing pharmacists.

Here's what I think: Organic and Inorganic will come up but not heavily. From what I hear, you don't have to love chemistry, but you will have biochem and some sort of medicinal chemistry.

I think that you'll get ungrateful patients wherever you go. I also think you need to find out more about the niche of pharmacy you mentioned to make sure it is for you, because it sounds like you are against other areas of pharmacy (retail, hospital inpatient, etc.)

I'm not going into it for the $$$, but there's a few areas of pharmacy I know I'd enjoy working in. Nobody can tell you what you will like except yourself.

Hope this helps..at least it's a response!

Oh and BTW...allow at least a day to get some meaningful responses!

 

[Decisions08]

A lot of us are still students, there's only a handful of us in this forum that are practicing pharmacists.

Here's what I think: Organic and Inorganic will come up but not heavily. From what I hear, you don't have to love chemistry, but you will have biochem and some sort of medicinal chemistry.

I think that you'll get ungrateful patients wherever you go. I also think you need to find out more about the niche of pharmacy you mentioned to make sure it is for you, because it sounds like you are against other areas of pharmacy (retail, hospital inpatient, etc.)

I'm not going into it for the $$$, but there's a few areas of pharmacy I know I'd enjoy working in. Nobody can tell you what you will like except yourself.

Hope this helps..at least it's a response!

Oh and BTW...allow at least a day to get some meaningful responses!

Ok. I'm supposed to be working on my "patience"; I forgot. Oooppss. Thanks for the response, though. Yeah, I talked w/ my friend and I'd only be interested in inpatient pharmacy. And, I'm normally only a fan of kid-patients so that's why I'm leaning towards peds (in whichever field I decide to pursue). I agree with you, you'll always have "ungrateful" patients but it's ok if it's kids. I don't know, there is something about kids...they never annoy me; no matter what they do (not even their crazy parents lol) 😍

But, most importantly, I don't like ANY type of chemistry; is that bad? 🙁 I hope not. Eeeekkk. I'll just tell myself it'll "grow on me" if I decide to pursue pharm Geez...

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

I wrote a very similar post a few years back when I was in pre-pharmacy (under a different screen name). Basically, it said, "I'm a bio person but I hate chemistry. Can I do pharmacy and be interested in it?"

I took orgo I and II in college, but never took inorganic. Although I was good at chemistry, I just hated learning about it. Now I've finished my first year of pharmacy school and I have to say there is more pure biology than chemistry. The only major chem-related course I took the first year was Med Chem. It was almost exactly like Orgo. Biochem utilized some chemistry but it was health-related so it wasn't boring. Physio and Anat was mostly biology. So take care in knowing that there is not as much boring chem in pharm school as you may think.

I also never understood why people ask me, "You're going into pharmacy? How do you draw this chemical structure . . ."

 

[rxlynn]

I think it's only a problem if you think that it would adversely affect your grades and PCAT enough to keep you out of pharmacy school. Have you already taken the gen chem and org series as pre-reqs?? Yes, there's going to be a certain amount of it in pharmacy school (probably varies some with the school), but as the other poster mentioned, there's a lot more bio and pathophysiology. You've got to be able to suck it up and do ok with chemistry, but I don't think you have to like it to do pharmacy.

As I mentioned above, how much chem will vary with curriculum. My school does not teach a separate medicinal chemistry course - they lecture the basics of med chem with each specific drug class/disease state (we are on a block schedule). So, we do not do quite as much med chem as some of the other schools - something for you to consider when looking at pharmacy schools to apply to.

 

[Decisions08]

...So take care in knowing that there is not as much boring chem in pharm school as you may think.

I also never understood why people ask me, "You're going into pharmacy? How do you draw this chemical structure . . ."

By the way, I'm glad to hear you were in a similar situation and like pharm. Well, I'm assuming you like it, correct?

I think it's only a problem if you think that it would adversely affect your grades and PCAT enough to keep you out of pharmacy school. Have you already taken the gen chem and org series as pre-reqs?? Yes, there's going to be a certain amount of it in pharmacy school (probably varies some with the school), but as the other poster mentioned, there's a lot more bio and pathophysiology. You've got to be able to suck it up and do ok with chemistry, but I don't think you have to like it to do pharmacy.

Yes, I've finished my inorg/org chem prereq's; I'm just not a fan of it and didn't want my entire career based on it. But, according to these responses (and my friend who graduated), "...it's not that bad." Basically, I'm finished with all of my classes...I just need to figure out which grad school I want to attend Thanks for the help!

 

[Pharmavixen]

You don't use much chemistry as a pharmacist. But I'd say, keep an open mind; if you're determined to loathe your courses, it'll be a long haul.

(What the hell...I sucked at Org Chem.)

 

[Decisions08]

You don't use much chemistry as a pharmacist. But I'd say, keep an open mind; if you're determined to loathe your courses, it'll be a long haul.

(What the hell...I sucked at Org Chem.)

What subject would you say you should "enjoy" if I wanted to be a pharmacist? What do your days consist of? (i.e. optometry is physics related...medicine is physiology related, etc). Originally, I never considered pharmacy b/c pharmacology "ate...me...alive!" It just didn't click w/ me. But, my friend said most people don't like/get pharmacology so I shouldn't base my decision on that. She said, "...pharmacists don't do a lot of pharmacology either." So, as you can see, I'm pretty confused when it comes to pharmacy as a career. I want to make an informed choice b/c I'm already a career-changer. Time is ticking away lol. I'm definitely going to shadow an inpatient pharmacist but shadowing only shows you the "surface". I want to be well-informed.

 

[PhatPharm2012]

I had the same issue when I decided to pursue pharmacy as a career. Luckily, one of my cousin graduated from NSU Pharm School and he's a practicing pharmacist for 3 years. I asked him for advice because I hated Org Chem and barely passed it with a C. He told me that they don't use Org Chem much at all in Pharmacy school. He said that knowing basic general chemistry priciples are sufficient for pharmacy school.

 

[Farmercyst]

What subject would you say you should "enjoy" if I wanted to be a pharmacist? What do your days consist of? (i.e. optometry is physics related...medicine is physiology related, etc). Originally, I never considered pharmacy b/c pharmacology "ate...me...alive!" It just didn't click w/ me. But, my friend said most people don't like/get pharmacology so I shouldn't base my decision on that. She said, "...pharmacists don't do a lot of pharmacology either." So, as you can see, I'm pretty confused when it comes to pharmacy as a career. I want to make an informed choice b/c I'm already a career-changer. Time is ticking away lol. I'm definitely going to shadow an inpatient pharmacist but shadowing only shows you the "surface". I want to be well-informed.

I'd say math. And I don't mean just 5's and 0's.

 

[hye345]

I'd say math. And I don't mean just 5's and 0's.

Really?

 

[Decisions08]

I'd say math. And I don't mean just 5's and 0's.

Really?

Did I miss something? lol 😕