Is USC REALLY REALLY hard??

[shimmeringstar]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone,
I have heard USC (university of southern california) pharmacy school is REALLY REALLY hard...i have also heard that its harder then the med school! also, the pharmacy students there study ALL the time and have no time to relax while the medical students at USC do have time to play sports! i really want to know from the current students, is this true? i mean i dont want to be at a school where the students have absolutely no life at all (this is what i've heard of USC).also what is their failure rate? (i'm assuming its really high) please give me some information about this thank you

 

[pharmgrl5]

I don't know the answers to really any of your questions except that if you mean the NAPLEX failure rate. In the FAQ at the top of the page is a link to the failure rates for the schools, it says USC has a rate of 98.5% which seems really excellent to me. Here is the link if you want to look to compares schools.

http://www.nabp.net/ftpfiles/bulletins/schoolpassrates.pdf

Hope this helps at least a little! 😀

BTW, that rate I gave is the pass rate, not failure, missworded that!

 

[Boop2002]

Hard, one of the richest university in the US and you think its going to be hard!! Now getting in might be HARD but once your in dont give them a reason to send you off. They WANT your money, not to say you wont get a decent education!!

 

[Toomeke]

Hard, one of the richest university in the US and you think its going to be hard!! Now getting in might be HARD but once your in dont give them a reason to send you off. They WANT your money, not to say you wont get a decent education!!

I agree...getting in is unbelievably hard...but once you get in, how much harder can the material be??? You still have to pass the same national exam everyone else has to and you'll still be getting paid the same as everyone else entering the workforce that year (and trust me...$5K here and there = same avg pay).

USC's a great school, but in the end, you'll only learn as much as you put in to your education. Regardless of the school, you'll need to study your butt off!

 

[nerv12345]

well i guess the only "hard" part that would make them distinct from other school is their policy that you must maintain a 3.0

 

[Scrubs Fan]

I agree...getting in is unbelievably hard...but once you get in, how much harder can the material be??? You still have to pass the same national exam everyone else has to and you'll still be getting paid the same as everyone else entering the workforce that year (and trust me...$5K here and there = same avg pay).

USC's a great school, but in the end, you'll only learn as much as you put in to your education. Regardless of the school, you'll need to study your butt off!

amen brotha! i wish people would realize this

 

[BruTroj2012]

I know two people who are first year students at USC and they both graduated from UCLA. From what I hear, the curriculum doesn't sound TOO hard. Only about 6 students (out of a class of like 190) failed a class in the Fall and they have to wait till next year to retake the class before moving on. I actually know someone who got a 4.0 GPA his first semester there. I think it just depends on how much effort you are willing to put in.

 

[koercive]

I heard it's not that bad compared to undergrad classes at a UC. My friend still has time to have fun on the weekends here and there.

Regarding acceptance, USC isn't all that hard to get into relatively speaking (compared to UCSD, UCSF). Personally, I think USC offers great networking, strong sports teams (which my school is currently lacking), and more opportunities for dual degrees (Such as MBA/PharmD).

"Impossible is nothing" if you really want it.

 

[Farmercyst]

I got 4 B's and a B+ in the first semester (3.08+/-). I'd have done better but I slacked off more than I should have *shrug*. We had 2 mid-terms and a final in BioSystems, a midterm and final in BioChem, HealthCareDelivery (class on US healthcare system and where pharmacists fit in), Pharmaceutics (medicinal chemistry), and Pharmacy Practice. There was also the top 100 drugs test (25 random drugs tested out of the 100). Overall Probably ~100 hours of study in 18 weeks so ~ 6 hours/week on average. I probably put the most time in Biochemistry. You figure we've got an average of 20 hours of instruction per week. Now that's not to say they don't keep you busy. Case study for pharmaceutics is certainly time consuming and this doesn't include IPPE, but for the most part those are cake compared to the exams.

As for the rest of the class 33 people received letters of academic deficiency. (I think that's <2.5, it may be <2.8) So it's certainly more difficult for some than others. It also depends on what else is going on in the backgroundBut I wouldn't think it's any harder than any other pharmacy school, and probably easier than others I've heard about. It's really more about knowing your abilities and not slacking off more than you can get away with.

 

[psychowu]

USC isn't so hard, it really depends on how much time you put into studying. I think flying by with Bs is easy, but if u want that A.... be ready to work for it =) It's all about Playing Hard and Studying Hard. Know your limits.

 

[SaveThisLabRat]

I WOULD apply to USC, but from now on they won't accept Speech 101. They want some special speech class, and I don't feel like taking it.