Is pharmacy school hard?

[Liberty1776]

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I'm sure we've heard all of the horror stories about medical school being like hell on Earth. Is pharmacy school as hard as that? I really hope not. What's hard and not-so-hard about it?
I'm planning to go to USN, if it matters, which is now Roseman. How many hours do all you pharmacy students spend on average studying and stuff?

As a junior in high school, I'm 2nd in class rank with 3 honors and an AP class, all with A's. Relatively speaking, does that make me a good enough student for pharmacy school? My only weakness is studying would be time management (procrastination). 🙂

 

[crazybob]

I'm sure we've heard all of the horror stories about medical school being like hell on Earth. Is pharmacy school as hard as that? I really hope not. What's hard and not-so-hard about it?

I'm planning to go to USN, if it matters, which is now Roseman.

difficulty compared to med school depends on the type of student you are.

 

[owlegrad]

difficulty compared to med school depends on the type of student you are.

And would require you to be intimately familiar with both. I suspect med school is harder though. More debt almost certainly.

 

[amd123]

I'm sure we've heard all of the horror stories about medical school being like hell on Earth. Is pharmacy school as hard as that? I really hope not. What's hard and not-so-hard about it?

I'm planning to go to USN, if it matters, which is now Roseman.

nah man who told you its hard.

sheeeeeeeeet, its easier than preschool

 

[crazybob]

do you like studying? do you like staying up late preparing for an exam early in the morning? do you like taking lots of notes in lectures and reviewing them regularly?

if you hate studying and think that school is stupid, it will be more difficult than it needs to be,

 

[klj5269]

If you're only a junior in high school currently it may be hard to compare. Once you're an undergrad in college, if you can still make good grades and don't hate it too much and your procrastination doesn't kill you first, then you will know if you would be willing to do that plus more for another 4 years in pharmacy school.

 

[rxlea]

It's all relative. People on this forum will tell you it is a breeze and that they never went to class. I think it depends on your curriculum (specifically, how the courses are laid out) and depends on your professors. I find it overwhelming and stressful.

Next semester I will be taking:

therapeutics
pharmacology II
med chem II
quality improvement
drug lit II
OTC
health disparities class (for my rural health disparities certificate)

elective:

advanced infectious disease or advanced patient care
(haven't decided)

Personally, I find pharmacy school hard. I am putting in a lot of time for pharmacology and med chem. I don't have a life during school.

I hope that gives you an idea. USN does the block system though so I have no idea how it would be for you.

 

[EBT12]

I did very well in high school, (started college as a junior in high school), graduate in the top 5% of my class. I am now in my last year of pharmacy school. Honestly, I found pharmacy school really difficult at times. It wasn't the difficulty of the topics, it was the amount of material. For example, I took 2 semesters of biochemistry in undergrad as a summer course (i.e. a 30 week course taught in 10 weeks). In pharmacy school, I had biochemistry again. Everything we covered in 2 semesters of undergrad was covered in about 7 academic days. We had blocks of classes in pharmacy school. We might have 4 hours of biochemistry every day for 6 weeks, then 5 hours of infectious disease every day for 8 weeks, etc etc.

Definitely work on your time management skills now. Mine were pretty good going into pharmacy school. The people who had a hard time in that area did not make it past their first professional year.

 

[SHC1984]

It's easier than medical school but it's very time consuming and full of busy work! 🙄 IPPE is one of the many examples of the busy work involved. lol...

 

[Hello2011]

It's easier than medical school but it's very time consuming and full of busy work! 🙄 IPPE is one of the many examples of the busy work involved. lol...

What kind of busy work is IPPE?

 

[thecoolpharmboi]

I'm sure we've heard all of the horror stories about medical school being like hell on Earth. Is pharmacy school as hard as that? I really hope not. What's hard and not-so-hard about it?
I'm planning to go to USN, if it matters, which is now Roseman. How many hours do all you pharmacy students spend on average studying and stuff?

As a junior in high school, I'm 2nd in class rank with 3 honors and an AP class, all with A's. Relatively speaking, does that make me a good enough student for pharmacy school? My only weakness is studying would be time management (procrastination). 🙂

What kind of school are you attending? That is great that you are second rank in class, good work! Honestly, I would say (just from my first few weeks here) that you have to study every day. Basically, Mon to Fri you are in school for at least 5 hours a day (usually more, like 8 hours) then you have to study at least 5 more hours after that....so that's like 10 hours a day (at the very least)?

It really depends on each person though, I'm the type that studies everything and review a lot. Some people get the stuff almost right away, so it really depends. Then again you are in high school right? I believe pharmacy school will be a MUCH MUCH different experience than high school, in terms of workload. So just keep that in mind! But it's nothing that will kill you.

Hope this helps, good luck in your endeavors!

 

[thecoolpharmboi]

What kind of busy work is IPPE?

It's an Intro to Pharmacy Practice Experience class. Basically, you are introduced to pharmacy practice, etc. You will be required to attend a lot of seminars, meetings, training sessions, workshops, and stuff like PCA, volunteering, and rotations are also involved.

 

[owlegrad]

What kind of busy work is IPPE?

The worst kind.

Also, what azn said. Introduction to Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE). It is a way for pharmacy students to get some exposure to pharmacy early in our education. This often amounts to us staying out of the way of people who actually have work to do. Experiences vary widely depending on sites, preceptors, etc, of course.

 

[crazybob]

IPPEs vary depending on the school, the site, the preceptor, and the student (you and what you can do).

 

[Rx MPLS]

Yes...it's hard.

I have no idea how it compares with medicine or dentistry, but it's not a cake walk. Stress management and time management seem to be key, so far as I can tell from my first month or so in. At least it's interesting, but sleep deprivation from poor time management will really kill you if you aren't careful.

 

[crazybob]

Yes...it's hard.

I have no idea how it compares with medicine or dentistry, but it's not a cake walk. Stress management and time management seem to be key, so far as I can tell from my first month or so in. At least it's interesting, but sleep deprivation from poor time management will really kill you if you aren't careful.

Yeah, and you have to remember to ask for help - of any kind - when you need it and not wait.

 

[type b pharmD]

Is the material and school itself hard? No

Learning how to best manage your time and scheduling and organizing commitments is hard. You eventually adapt and get used to it.

Pharmacy school requires a good amount of time, i'd say around 20-35 hrs/week on average (all told). But it is not "hard". It's just mind numbingly repetitive, and the organizing portion takes a big toll on my brain, personally, moreso than anything else.

Figure out how to budget your time and how to study appropriately, and you'll be golden. Fail to do this, and you will struggle the entire time.

Some people do well attending class, some people do better skipping class. Find out quickly which category you belong in and maximize whatever strategy you decide to employ, and you will be good.

If you're taking advantage of all your resources and spending a good amount of effort learning how to maximize your returns, you will be fine.

If you're trying the same old same old, and not seeking help when you need it, you will fail out.

Many statements can be made about the difficulty of pharmacy school, but ultimately it comes down to individual cases. Remember the adage, "work smart, not hard" , and it will only be a matter of "putting in the hours".

 

[Golden Bear]

I'm sure we've heard all of the horror stories about medical school being like hell on Earth. Is pharmacy school as hard as that? I really hope not. What's hard and not-so-hard about it?
I'm planning to go to USN, if it matters, which is now Roseman. How many hours do all you pharmacy students spend on average studying and stuff?

As a junior in high school, I'm 2nd in class rank with 3 honors and an AP class, all with A's. Relatively speaking, does that make me a good enough student for pharmacy school? My only weakness is studying would be time management (procrastination). 🙂

Nice. You're way ahead in your plans than I was back in high school. You probably have the academic pedigree or will build it as long as you keep doing well in undergrad.

I happen to be a P1 (first-year student) at this institution. It's working out so far, but know for sure that procrastinating is not going to fly here (and will probably not fly before you get here). I try to pay attention during class. Unless I need a nap due to my poor sleeping habits, I usually stay after class a few hours to study. This usually involves chatting w/ friends and doing some minor procrastinating on the laptop, plus some actual studying. When it gets closer to a test, I'll ramp it up even more, and do a ton of studying on the day just before. I'll also study at home as needed.

Word is that the second year is more difficult and time-consuming, but I do plan to adjust as I feel it out. And you're going to have to make a commitment at some point to figuring out how you can study without the procrastination. It is difficult, and I know because I was once a huge procrastinator. Now, I am more of a light to moderate procrastinator.

I don't know where I was going with this since I was watching a bunch of TV, so I guess I'll let people reply and play it by ear. By the way, I do have tomorrow off since that's how it goes here if you pass on Fridays.

 

[Liberty1776]

Is there anything different about the block system from the regular system? Would you say that it's better, or is it more time-consuming?

 

[Notecard]

I'm only in semester 1 but so far it's not hard. It's just a lot. None of the material is really that difficult but when there's 3-4 tests in a week it can be overwhelming. I've heard it doesn't get actually hard until you take therapeutics.

 

[clockwork247]

I'm sure we've heard all of the horror stories about medical school being like hell on Earth. Is pharmacy school as hard as that? I really hope not. What's hard and not-so-hard about it?
I'm planning to go to USN, if it matters, which is now Roseman. How many hours do all you pharmacy students spend on average studying and stuff?

As a junior in high school, I'm 2nd in class rank with 3 honors and an AP class, all with A's. Relatively speaking, does that make me a good enough student for pharmacy school? My only weakness is studying would be time management (procrastination). 🙂

for a geek like you, probably not. I mean most people go to these school far away from home, there's not a dam thing to do besides eat sleep and study, compare to when you're at home and there's a million different things you can do to waste time...

Trust me on this, i went to college staying at home, never got a dam thing done. Get away from home and you'll find more time to do school work.

 

[balsam88]

I think that studying ANY healthcare profession is hard! I graduated from the medical laboratory science program which first seemed to be easy, but boy it was hell of a program! Believe me it's all hard wheather it's medicine or nursing!

 

[rjiang1]

This makes no sense to me. EVERY pharmacist that I have worked with tells me that pharmacy school was not as difficult and just a tad harder than undergrad. However the pharm students Ive spoken to say its a pain in the ass. Im sure pharm school isnt going to be a breeze but how are the opinions so divided??

 

[owlegrad]

This makes no sense to me. EVERY pharmacist that I have worked with tells me that pharmacy school was not as difficult and just a tad harder than undergrad. However the pharm students Ive spoken to say its a pain in the ass. Im sure pharm school isnt going to be a breeze but how are the opinions so divided??

How long ago were the pharmacists in school? It has not always been a doctoral degree. Plus, do you think grade school is hard now? I bet at the time you did though. Perception bias my friend. 👍

 

[DH1987]

Perception bias my friend. 👍

Indeed, I have observed this in myself. In fact, it was last semester when I last observed it. I remember thinking to myself while in class that Physics and Biology was damned difficult, and how I couldn't wait to get it over with. Oddly enough, however, when all was said and done, I looked back on it and said "That really wasn't all that bad."

The human mind is a very strange thing.

 

[xNeenax]

So I was talking with some pre-med students and basically they were saying how in med school you spend 16 weeks on one class (I think it's 16) and then after 16 weeks you go to the next course in the semester and work on that for 16 weeks. Basically, you're able to focus on one class. Is this the same for pharmacy school?

 

[owlegrad]

So I was talking with some pre-med students and basically they were saying how in med school you spend 16 weeks on one class (I think it's 16) and then after 16 weeks you go to the next course in the semester and work on that for 16 weeks. Basically, you're able to focus on one class. Is this the same for pharmacy school?

Very few schools, pharmacy or medical, use that sort of system. In fact, I don't know of any.

 

[chemguy79]

So I was talking with some pre-med students and basically they were saying how in med school you spend 16 weeks on one class (I think it's 16) and then after 16 weeks you go to the next course in the semester and work on that for 16 weeks. Basically, you're able to focus on one class. Is this the same for pharmacy school?

Are you saying that you spend 16 weeks on one class TOTAL or 16 weeks on a series of classes (6 courses, for example) before you move onto the next semester?

16 week is basically an entire semester, so I don't see how you could ever finish medical/pharmacy school spending a semester on just one class.

 

[xtsukiyox]

16 week is basically an entire semester, so I don't see how you could ever finish medical/pharmacy school spending a semester on just one class.

I don't know so much about it yet, but I think what she's describing sounds something like what they call "integrated series." I don't recall what all's lumped into that category, but I think it's a different way of approaching the material for multiple classes where the profs teach their own discipline but coordinate with the other profs.

 

[xNeenax]

Are you saying that you spend 16 weeks on one class TOTAL or 16 weeks on a series of classes (6 courses, for example) before you move onto the next semester?

16 week is basically an entire semester, so I don't see how you could ever finish medical/pharmacy school spending a semester on just one class.

I don't remember the exact number of weeks, but it's like you spend a certain number of weeks just on one class and then after that number of weeks you go on to the next class for a certain number of weeks like in a series I guess.
You take one class at a time within a semester, so you're focusing just on one class during those few weeks.

I'm probably not making any sense, maybe Owle can explain it better since he knows my weird language.😎

 

[owlegrad]

I don't remember the exact number of weeks, but it's like you spend a certain number of weeks just on one class and then after that number of weeks you go on to the next class for a certain number of weeks like in a series I guess.
You take one class at a time within a semester, so you're focusing just on one class during those few weeks.

I'm probably not making any sense, maybe Owle can explain it better since he knows my weird language.😎

Yeah, I know exactly what you are talking about. It is very unusual though, I remember one undergrad college I researched used that process. Kiyo sounds like she knows what you are talking about as well. I haven't seen any pharmacy schools that do it that way.

 

[kmapes]

Well, I just finished my first major hell week. After five exams in the span of one week, I'm exhausted. I guess that's what makes pharmacy school difficult. A lot of information to process in a very short amount of time kinda makes for tired brain. So far, that's just about the most difficult thing for me. The overall depth of the information isn't too terrible, there's just a lot to process.

 

[Digsbe]

I guess it depends on who you are as a person and what you find personally to be hard.

Some of my pre-med friends tell me that class attendance is not compulsory at some med schools and that many classes are simply pass/fail. Although, the sheer volume of material you need to memorize in medical school is daunting from what I hear.

I'm not a pharmacy student yet, but I have several friends who are and they've told me P1 year isn't so bad, but that P2 and P3 years are both pretty extreme. Every med school is different, every pharmacy school is different. Each person is different, so I don't think it's subjective as to which is harder.

 

[R2pharmD2]

Well, I just finished my first major hell week. After five exams in the span of one week, I'm exhausted. I guess that's what makes pharmacy school difficult. A lot of information to process in a very short amount of time kinda makes for tired brain. So far, that's just about the most difficult thing for me. The overall depth of the information isn't too terrible, there's just a lot to process.

Do you have block exams, or is that just how your schedule worked out? My school has blocks, and it's definitely an adjustment. We end up having 7 exams over a 4 day period, but then we get 3-4 weeks in between. It absolutely forces you to not procrastinate and you're miserable from start to finish but then you don't have to worry about any exams for a relatively long time after. I hated it at first but I do feel like it helps me to learn the material better. Now that I'm getting used to it, I'm actually starting to like it.

 

[kmapes]

Do you have block exams, or is that just how your schedule worked out? My school has blocks, and it's definitely an adjustment. We end up having 7 exams over a 4 day period, but then we get 3-4 weeks in between. It absolutely forces you to not procrastinate and you're miserable from start to finish but then you don't have to worry about any exams for a relatively long time after. I hated it at first but I do feel like it helps me to learn the material better. Now that I'm getting used to it, I'm actually starting to like it.

No block exams, that's just how it worked out. Each class was given a day to have exams, so none would be on the same day...but they all scheduled them for the same week. And we still have another exam next week (it was supposed to be this week as well, but it got pushed back because it was simply too much). We finally have a week off after that, but then the next round starts up all over again.

 

[delano2000]

My school does not use a block system, but I can tell you that it definitely is hard. The material itself is not entirely difficult to comprehend (P1 here), but it's a lot of material. We had our first midterms last week and after the 3rd day I was already brain dead. I was able to pass all my classes but that came with a sacrifice. I was usually up till 4am studying. I pretty much procrastinated up until the weekend before the midterms and got a big wake up call when I had my Biochem midterm (the first one last week).

I don't know the difficulty in comparison to med or dent and it definitely is relative (like someone said up-thread). Procrastination has no place in professional school.

 

[xtsukiyox]

I don't know so much about it yet, but I think what she's describing sounds something like what they call "integrated series." I don't recall what all's lumped into that category, but I think it's a different way of approaching the material for multiple classes where the profs teach their own discipline but coordinate with the other profs.

More about Integrated Series at MWU - CPG:

Further, the Integrated Sequence is a series of courses designed in an organ systems approach to stress the interdependence of pathophysiology, pharmacology and medicinal chemistry with pharmacotherapeutics.

So they teach you about one "subject" from the perspective of pathophysiology, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry, then move to the next subject, instead of breaking those courses out. I think the current student I talked to said something about being in the class for like 4 hours a day, but I don't know what other classes (if any) are taken alongside it.

 

[headortail]

Like most people said, the materials are not necessarily hard (especially if you had a good foundation in chem/biochem), but there are just so many classes, and you basically have school from 8-4 easily every day (granted with gaps in between, but still). There are weeks where I have 3-4 tests, and on average there's a test every week so I'm always studying for something. I agree that time management is the most important thing, because there are events that you have to go to besides class as well. I can't imagine not having a planner now (vs. undergrad).

As for advice: do well & try to retain info. from undergrad. Those organic chem and biochem stuff will not go away 🙂

 

[dblock05]

Just spent about around 20 hours studying for a biochem exam and probably got a low B. FML

 

[Hello2011]

Just spent about around 20 hours studying for a biochem exam and probably got a low B. FML

A low B? Where are your Asian values?

 

[Kansas Pharmer]

Just spent about around 20 hours studying for a biochem exam and probably got a low B. FML

Lawrence or Wichita? Same class of course, just curious if the distance thing had anything to do with it...

 

[xNeenax]

A low B? Where are your Asian values?

Asian values don't work in pharmacy school, hun.

 

[owlegrad]

A low B? Where are your Asian values?

An Asian F!

 

[dblock05]

Lawrence or Wichita? Same class of course, just curious if the distance thing had anything to do with it...

Lawrence.

I don't think the distance is a factor unless theres an issue with hearing her speak.

 

[Kansas Pharmer]

Lawrence.

I don't think the distance is a factor unless theres an issue with hearing her speak.

Was just curious. Havent heard from any of the Wichita people if it seems hard to sit in a class with the live link instead of the teacher being right in front of you...

 

[xtsukiyox]

Is pharmacy school hard?

Not yet, but it wants to know what you're wearing. 😱

 

[Golden Bear]

Was just curious. Havent heard from any of the Wichita people if it seems hard to sit in a class with the live link instead of the teacher being right in front of you...

Live link? Wait, you guys go to a classroom and then watch your professor on a screen or something?

 

[delano2000]

A low B? Where are your Asian values?

Is that what you call a Bsian?😕

 

[Kansas Pharmer]

Live link? Wait, you guys go to a classroom and then watch your professor on a screen or something?

University of Kansas opened a satellite classroom at their satellite med school. Some of the classes are taught by the profs at the main campus and viewed over a live link kinda like that sysco commercial with the kids in grade school interacting with the kids from Japan... (Campuses are about 175 miles apart).

 

[Golden Bear]

University of Kansas opened a satellite classroom at their satellite med school. Some of the classes are taught by the profs at the main campus and viewed over a live link kinda like that sysco commercial with the kids in grade school interacting with the kids from Japan... (Campuses are about 175 miles apart).

Oh, I see... how many students does the satellite classroom usually have compared to the main classroom?