Older students and pharmacy school ...m

[muttmommy]

Hi everyone,

I usually live over on the veterinary forum, but thought I'd venture over here because I'm still exploring different avenues in the medical field.

I was just wondering if anyone had any info on older students w/kids etc., and their experiences on gaining admission into pharmacy school? Anyone know how Creighton's distance based Pharm.D. program is? Is that the only online program available? I lean towards that one because I am very location bound and am limited in where I can go.

Thanks everyone - I appreciate any and all information!

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[dgroulx]

Hi muttmommy,

I'm 47 and in my second year of pharmacy school. I am not the oldest person in my class, either. Lots of students are married with families.

Pharmacy is a good choice for an older student. Upon graduation, you can go straight to work. You don't have to build up a clientele and wait to earn decent money. I'm planning on working 15 years, socking away the money and then retiring.

I'm a student at UF's distance program. Distance learning is a little more difficult than being on campus for lectures. We have to be on campus, too. Unfortunately, they schedule our campus time during the day, so we miss all the lectures. You have to watch them at night or early in the morning. Plus, you have to plan for commute time. Mine is 3 hours round trip. There tends to be a few more older students during distance learning. We all seem to make time for school and still refrain from neglecting our families. It's hard, but it will be worth it.

I believe that you go to campus in the summer with Creighton's program. Someone here posted about it. Try doing a search on Creighton.

 

[Glycerin]

Anyone know how Creighton's distance based Pharm.D. program is? Is that the only online program available?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=143784&highlight=creighton

There ya go. Lots of useful info there, especially from a P1 who is going through the online program (page 3 of the thread).

 

[2DEG]

Thanks to the OP for the info on the web-based program. I had no idea that they offered such program. My wife is a forieng medical graduate but she is very interested to become a pharmacist instead of going thru physician path. We have a 3 year old and I myself plan to apply to med schools next year, I was overjoyed to learn about this web based program. Now, only if she could get in..

I am keeping my options open for Pharmacy as well. I will do the research on google, but can someone tell me if there are other web based /distance education program ? I know many if not most schools offer distance based program for people who are already pharmacists. But I am looking for programs that are like Creighton's.

Thanks in advance.
shahab

 

[Glycerin]

but can someone tell me if there are other web based /distance education program ?

Creighton's web-based Pharm.D. program is unique. No other school has a program such as this. As far as distance learning, UF has three satellites (Jacksonville, Orlando, and St. Petersburg) where you have to go to these campuses a couple of times per week, but most of the lectures are viewed online at the convenience of the students. There are several UF distance learners on this forum if you have any questions about that.

Nova also has two satellites - one in West Palm Beach and the other in Ponce, Puerto Rico - but I believe you actually go to campus at certain times and everyone watches lectures together.

 

[usi]

Hello dgroulx,
I am 36 years old and I would like to go back to school in Pharmacy; I have been looking into UF because I am originally from Fl.
I have an 11-year old daughter, and I wonder about moving to Gainesville.
I am a chemist with a BS, and have been working in drug discovery for 8 years.
I am very concerned about leaving my full-time job to go to school full time, but I really think I would make a great pharmacist, with my background and all.
Do you have any advise?
Thank you

 

[dgroulx]

Hello dgroulx,
I am 36 years old and I would like to go back to school in Pharmacy; I have been looking into UF because I am originally from Fl.
I have an 11-year old daughter, and I wonder about moving to Gainesville.
I am a chemist with a BS, and have been working in drug discovery for 8 years.
I am very concerned about leaving my full-time job to go to school full time, but I really think I would make a great pharmacist, with my background and all.
Do you have any advise?
Thank you

I'd recommend that you move back to Florida, if you want to go to UF. They take very few out of state applicants. Even if you are originally from FL, you need to live here for a year to regain residency. You also want the better tuition rates. Right now, it is about 7K per year for residents and double that for non-residents.

Instead of Gainesville, I think you'd be better off at a distance campus. There are other older students with kids. You'd also be able to work part time. It's hard to find a part time job in Gainesville.

 

[LBS615]

Hi everyone,

I usually live over on the veterinary forum, but thought I'd venture over here because I'm still exploring different avenues in the medical field.

I was just wondering if anyone had any info on older students w/kids etc., and their experiences on gaining admission into pharmacy school? Anyone know how Creighton's distance based Pharm.D. program is? Is that the only online program available? I lean towards that one because I am very location bound and am limited in where I can go.

Thanks everyone - I appreciate any and all information!

There is a 25 and older thread you could check out- there are quite a few people on it with families

 

[Tuck]

I recently spoke to some faculty about Creighton's on-line program. Apparantly, it did not exactly work out as well as they planned, but they are going to keep it going since it is in place. One of the major factors that makes a program like this difficult is that there is very little interaction with other pharmacy students and it is difficult to be isolated. They indicated that in the future they are most likely going to try and admit students so that there are at least 3 or 4 in a general area so that the isolation factor is not so huge.