How competitive is the school you went to? Perhaps your classmates are competitive in that they didn’t struggle too much. I read threads on Roseman’s students and they don’t regret their decisions to go there but said that a lot of people definitely did need to retake some of those exams a third time over the summer and didn’t get summer break. Would you be able to list me the pros and cons of the program you went to vs traditional school and things you liked better also the things you wished you knew about when you started this program? I’ve decided I am going to apply, but want to know what Im getting myself into a little more than I already know. Thank you so much!
The year that I started pharm school, 2010, there were about 1000 applicants and 100 accepted. I don't think we had any "geniuses" persay though. Everyone was pretty comparable. It comes down more to experience, attitude, and personality that gets you your residencies from what I've seen though...everyone is usually on the same playing field grade wise. Also, if you're looking at a 3 year school, don't even worry about a summer break...it's pathetic...I still won't forget that we went to school on MLK day and our Spring Break consisted of a 3 day weekend. So, if someone has to retake an exam in the summer, it ain't no biggie cuz you likely won't get much of a summer anyways. Also, they usually give you one week to study after school lets out, and you take your re-exam at the end of that week so you will have chewed up one week of your already seemingly non-existent summer break anyways. You won't have any summer extended learning re-exams to worry about though so long as you study...I still think pre-pharm courses were more difficult than pharm school, itself. My interest in pharmacy was much more so than say for English 101 or Calc...it'll come easier when you have genuine interest in what you're learning. While I sound disgruntled about how pathetic the breaks were, I still would do it all over again to knock off one year of schooling. The sacrifices were worth the reward. No regrets.
Pros:
1) you'll save one year of tuition
2) you'll profit one year of income from getting out earlier
3) your class becomes more like a family...we attended class 8a-3p every day M-F (this could be a con for some I guess?).
4) we finished each course in a 2 week period since we spent all day every day talking about a particular subject, so every other Friday was exam day. We would show up to class every other Friday, take the exam, and then peace out. It was an awesome feeling to have the rest of your Friday freed up every other Friday and then have no stress for the weekend. I loved the setup of the program. I heard of other pharm students at other schools stressing about finals or "clusters" every now and again that we never had to stress about.
5) by focusing on one subject for 2 weeks I feel like I always came out of a subject being a friggin expert on it because you didn't have any unanswered questions after being so thorough and involved in a subject like that for 2 straight weeks. I wasn't trying to skim through a book because I had a test in a different class the next day, etc. like you may find yourself trying to balance in a traditional program with multiple subjects being taught simultaneously with exams all scattered on different days. I used every day for focus on only one subject.
6) if you hate a particular teacher's style of teaching, you only have to put up with them for 2 weeks before your instructor will change (on rare occasion the same professor may end up teaching your next course, but the school didn't usually try to arrange it like that...they usually tried to give instructors a break to prep for whatever course they may be teaching 2-3 months later).
Cons:
1) if you're wanting to work 40 hrs/week & go to a 3 yr pharm school, forget about it...you spend too much time in the classroom to do so (I still worked Fri-Sun at Target pharmacy and avg'd 20 hours/wk tho...that would be as much as I would push it though)
2) Umm...I loved it...that's all
🙂...I may be slightly biased. I never heard anyone griping and regretting that they had ever applied to a 3 year program though. Everyone knew what they were signing up for (shortened breaks, classes one at a time, earlier graduation, etc).
I don't think there was anything that I wished I had known before getting into the program. At interview day, most schools will have a student panel that you can pester the heck out of with your questions and they will tell you their own feelings on their school's program. You'll have a good idea of life as a student there at that point.
