PharmD Parents

[beachsaki101]

I am curious to know whether anyone in this forum has young kids while attending school. If so, any advice on how to manage school and family? Do you move to be close to the school or do you commute to stay close to home.

My kid is a little over 1 year old. I will start pharmacy school next fall. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Beachsaki101

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[DownonthePharm]

Because your free time will be precious, if you can I think that living closer to the school will allow you to spend the hours you would be wasting communiting with your child. Moving shouldnt be too tough on a child so young as they arent in school yet.

Are you married? There would of course be other things to consider then, like where they can work. But as a whole, even 45 minutes twice a day, five times a week for four years is a lot of driving.

 

[GravyRPH]

Because your free time will be precious, if you can I think that living closer to the school will allow you to spend the hours you would be wasting communiting with your child. Moving shouldnt be too tough on a child so young as they arent in school yet.

Are you married? There would of course be other things to consider then, like where they can work. But as a whole, even 45 minutes twice a day, five times a week for four years is a lot of driving.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=130081&highlight=kids+pharmacy+school

 

[beachsaki101]

Thanks, GravyRPH.

Yes, I am married. I intend to live near campus but don't have a solution about whether my child should stay with me or my husband during school time.

 

[PMart]

I am a P1 who is married with two daughters. My children are 3 and 6. When I started Pharmacy school this past August, it was extremely difficult juggling everything at once. The hardest thing for me was managing my time. However, after about six weeks, (LOL) things started to fall into place. A few things I realized, are that I can't get straight A's and I do have a family that needs me. I can tell you after I realized these important things, life became much easier. i also met other students that are in the same boat, and it really helps when we all get together and just talk. I commute to school, it takes me a good 45 minutes to an hour. At first I really thought this would be difficult, but I am so used to it now, it is not that big of a deal. Good Luck! and believe me you can do it, it may be a little harder at first but once you get adjusted things will go smoothly.

 

[shal]

I am a P1 and have a 1 year old. In fact, she just turned 1 a few days ago!

I didn't find last quarter to be too difficult although it was definately challenging. This quarter however is a different story. It is just the second week of classes and I already feel overwhelmed with the amount of material we have to cover. We do have more units and greater number of classes this quarter. But, I am sure that I'll survive. I think the important thing to keep in mind is take one day at a time.

In regards to school distance, I would say its better to be close. Right now I am commuting and it takes me 3 hours in total. Its really tough to come back home so late and worry about exams and not having enough time to spend with your family. Also, its more difficult to become involved in school activities.

There are a quite a few parents in my class and I know of students that have even had/are having babies in pharm school.

 

[beachsaki101]

I am a P1 and have a 1 year old. In fact, she just turned 1 a few days ago!

I didn't find last quarter to be too difficult although it was definately challenging. This quarter however is a different story. It is just the second week of classes and I already feel overwhelmed with the amount of material we have to cover. We do have more units and greater number of classes this quarter. But, I am sure that I'll survive. I think the important thing to keep in mind is take one day at a time.

In regards to school distance, I would say its better to be close. Right now I am commuting and it takes me 3 hours in total. Its really tough to come back home so late and worry about exams and not having enough time to spend with your family. Also, its more difficult to become involved in school activities.

There are a quite a few parents in my class and I know of students that have even had/are having babies in pharm school.

Do the parents in your class get together to form support group? How do you manage to have enough time to study and spend time with your family? How many units are you taking now? Any labs?

My child is sick for the very first time and is very cranky. She wants my attention 24 hours a day. I wonder how my husband will be able to manage if she gets sick when I am away for school.

 

[shal]

Do the parents in your class get together to form support group? How do you manage to have enough time to study and spend time with your family? How many units are you taking now? Any labs?

My child is sick for the very first time and is very cranky. She wants my attention 24 hours a day. I wonder how my husband will be able to manage if she gets sick when I am away for school.

We don't really have a support group as such but we talk to each other about our experiences. We get motivation through sharing. As far as managing time, you just have to realize that you can't do everything.

I feel that one is able to handle a situation once they face it. You may feel the same way. When I was taking just one class and my daughter 3 months, I felt I could never do full-time but now I am. Right now I am taking 18 units and have a chem lab along with 2 conference sections.

Don't worry about your husband taking care of your child alone. I was worried about the same thing and the good thing is that you have a chance to prepare yourself. I had only a weekend to get used to the fact that I was going back to school since I was accepted into the program late. It was really tough the first couple of weeks when my parents watched her but now she is so used to them. She loves them!

 

[Jeddevil]

I am new to the site, it seems like a nice forum.

I am a first year pharm student at MWU-glendale. I have three boys, ages 5, 3, and almost 6 months. Pharmacy school can be done with children.

I feel it is important to live near school if you can get away with it. If your kids are young this shouldn't be a problem. We lived in the east valley and MWU is in the far northwest valley, so I would have had to commute at least 2 hours roundtrip. We moved within 10 min. of school and now that commute time can be spent studying instead of driving. There are many students in my class with children, many who are driving far to get to school. I have found that for me, I stay about each night at school and study. By the time many of my classmates are finally home from their commute, I am done or close to being done studying for the evening. I can then take the 10 min drive and spend 3-4 hours a night with my family. The classmates driving have to then shuffle some family time with studying.

Something that works for me, get all your studying done at school. That means staying late and getting familiar with the library. But if I go home, I will not study because my wife and boys need and deserve some attention. Living close to school allows me to get there quick to spend time studying on Sunday nights also, but I don't study at home at all. This way, when I am at home, it is quality time instead of "good to see you, but I have to trap myself in the office and cram, see you tomorrow."

If you are married, you need the supportive spouse that understands where and why you are spending extra time out of the house. Also, make sure that once you are home, you give your family their quality time.

I am lucky and have the supportive spouse. She is a RN and works weekend nights so we don't have to pass our kids off on anybody. I thought this would really suck, since weekends looked like the only time I would get to see her, but as long as I stick to my plan above, we still get plenty of time together. She actually says she sees me more now than when I was doing my preregs.

Good luck parents, it can be done.

 

[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

hi,
I am new at sdn, since yesterday i have been accepted to Ut memphis pharmacy school for this coming fall. I have a 2 weeks son and of course i am wondering if i am going to be able to make it thru the school with such a young kid. I was thinking about sending the baby in august to my family in Africa, the time for me to see how am i coping with my course load.
The stories i read here make me feel like i can do it. i can keep the baby with me and still have decent grades. I have a fiance who is really there for me and the baby, he has even apply to the same university for his phD so that so we stay together.
We have not got any answer for him yet...i was wondering if you think that calling his department to let them now that his fiancee has been accepted into the pharmacy school and that we have a baby will incline them to want to keep the family together by admitting him in the program..or do yu think that it is not a good idea? should we do nothing and just wait and pray for a miracle?

thank you for any input.