Plan for Creighton's distance program

[HoosierPharmD]

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I am applying to Creighton for fall 2008 admission, and trying to create a plan incorporating my studies, work, and husband.

Throughout undergrad, I performed research, served as a TA, was involved in a few ECs, and worked two jobs (btwn 35-50 hours per week). I completed two B.S. in Biochemistry and Chemistry in five and a half years. 167 credit hours with cum gpa of 3.32. PCAT 83 So I am used to working a lot while in school. I adapt well to the varying requirements of study time needed through out the week and semester. The main reason is that I plan ahead.

Is it possible to plan the week ahead of time in order to successfully complete assignments? (How are assignments given and are they daily, weekly, in the form of quizzes/essays?) Do you receive a detailed syllabus for each course?

I plan on working every other day to stay on top of coursework. On days that I work from 9am to 530pm, would I have enough time to complete the assignments assigned on the same day they are due?

Since I work at 9am, and I am usually up a 5am, I take care of errands and housework during this time.

How early are lectures posted? If the earliest I can access them is in the afternoon, will I have enough time to complete them when I return from work?

On days that I am off, I want to complete my coursework while my husband is at work. He is a teacher and is sometimes home at 4pm sometimes he stays later. Would this be a good time to complete larger assignments and leave the evening to spend watching a movie or having dinner with friends/husband once a week?

I know that there are several distance Creighton students on SDN, and you always do such a great job answering questions. THANK YOU😍!!

 

[tckc]

I think everyone works differently but I usually try to stick to the lecture schedule of the campus students since that is the order in which lectures are posted. Lectures are posted very quickly with some exceptions. It can range from an hour to several hours but they allow themselves 12 hours or so (I can't even remember because they never take that long!) to get the lecture posted.

At most (this semester), there are 4 lectures to watch in a day and range from 50 minutes to 1hr20min each. It is possible to make a plan ahead of time as we do receive the exact same syllabus as our campus counterparts (it lists duedates for all assignments, readings and posts) along with an exam schedule for the whole term (includes the exam windows, whether they are proctored or not, time allowed, format (pencil/computer), etc.). We have had, so far, exams, quizzes (both proctored and self administered), weekly posts, discussion submissions, group projects, papers, and presentations assigned.

That being said, my actual schedule usually ALWAYS deviates from my plan. I have two children, volunteer (1 day) and work part time (2 days out of the week), and my husband's a teacher (like yours!) who is also doing his masters and coaches afterschool. My daughter has many after-school activities so my afternoon/early evenings are usually devoted to running her around. Additionally, when exams roll around (and believe me, they come quick!) I find myself neglecting the other courses in order to fully prepare for the exam. It's a habit that I'm trying really hard to break but have been unsuccessful thus far.

I think it's important to plan your day, week, etc. but equally important to be flexible. Since you know your assignments well in advance you will be able to work ahead on the weekends if you anticipate a busy week or catch up on things you didn't get to in the first place. The only time we received a "pop-quiz" we were given a 12 hour time window to submit the problem back to the instructor.

I think it's a great idea to leave some family/friend time in your schedule as you don't want to burn yourself out. I allow myself dinners out with my girlfriends or nights just hanging out with my family but I always know that I have to work extra hard in order to afford that. Having a balance keeps me sane (and happy!) which makes me a better student all around.

Sorry for the long post!

 

[HoosierPharmD]

Thanks tckc!

I feel that I am a little closer to being on track 😳. Minus kids, this is the exact same situation that I am in. I feel a lot less stressed about the program now. Thanks again for a great response.

 

[ajh88]

First - good luck in your endeavor! I can give you my perspective, but I'm only in the 2nd semester. I assume things will change next year, as the 2nd year is supposed to be more difficult.

I'll just go in order of your questions:

1. Yes, you can typically plan ahead. We get a detailed syllabus and schedule at the beginning of the semester for each class. Some professors are better than others about getting their material posted in a timely fashion, but I typically go through all the course websites on Sunday evening and print out my materials for the week. Assignments vary from course to course - some classes have weekly tasks, while others have no extra work (aside from exams). So far, we haven't had anything that is due more often than weekly for any one class.

2. For your first semester, I would say yes, you would be able to do the assignments on the day they are due - just be mindful of the deadline. For example, last semester we had a weekly web posting due by Thursday at noon (for a class that met on Tuesday). I don't work at all on Thursdays, so I always did it that morning. This semester, we seem to have many more writing assignments - I don't believe it would work well at all to depend on doing them the day they are due, especially because several are group assignments that depend on 2 or 3 other people and they are not simple one paragraph answers.

3. The schedule for classes in actually accessible on the Creighton website (somewhere - I think it's on the Office of Student Affairs website). You can see how the schedules are kind of set up. As tckc said, we usually have access to the lectures within a couple of hours, but it sometimes takes longer. This semester, we have about 5 1/2 hours of lectures on Mon. and Wed., 3 hours on Tue, and 2 on Thursday, plus elective courses that vary.

Again, I'm with tckc - I plan out my week trying to do every class on the day it is presented on campus, but it never really seems to work out that way. I too end up spending more time on courses with exams or assignments coming due, then playing catch up in other classes. I always end up with task lists for Mon through Fri, plus a miscellaneous bucket of stuff that needs to get done that week - it hardly ever all gets done (thus lopping over onto the next week!).

4. I think trying to do the bulk of work on days you are off is a good strategy. Personally, I work Mon-Wed every week and every other weekend. That gives me all day Thur and Fri to play catch up if necessary.

I suppose this implies I never study on the weekends - not true, especially as exams approach. This is really long - sorry! 😳 Anyway, I think the most important thing is to make a schedule that works for you - and it may take some trial and error. I think it is possible (and necessary) to make "you" time a part of your schedule too - but recognize that you will probably never really be caught up. This was a hard concept for me to grasp - I still have trouble shutting the laptop and relaxing for an hour when I know I have work to do.

OK - now that you've read my novel - good luck!

 

[HoosierPharmD]

I found the course info and it helped a lot 👍. Thanks for a great reply ajh88!

 

[drugdoc]

Excellent job explaining things as the two above did. Me, similar:

I try watch the lectures the day they are posted, but sometimes it gets a day later, which is no big deal.

I work only casually - 16 hours a month. I went down from 32 a month last week, bc I was feeling stressed out with the amount of work versus last semester (I have one more class and 3 more credits this semester). I'm the type of person who doesn't want to get C's and pass. I do really want to KNOW the material, bc I realize that it might need to some day make a life and death decision. I'm considering Emergency Pharmacy, so I'm really trying to learn as much as possible.

It's doable to work more, but you HAVE to be that anal type of person that just is constantly going. Lots of energy. That's where I lack - I'm low energy, so I can't have as much on my plate. Hence, my schedule:

Start lectures at noon. Shower around 3 pm. Finish lectures. Do whatever for an hour. Then study / take notes / do assignments, quizzes, papers, etc until 3 am. Probably a good 4 days a week. The other days I may peek at school things or may not.

You DEFINATELY NEED TO TAKE A DAY OFF EACH WEEK and do NOTHING SCHOOL RELATED!!!!! Or can we say....burnout???

 

[HoosierPharmD]

Thanks drugdoc👍!

From everyone's info it seems like I could view a lecture for a class early in the day, say 11:00ish if the prof posts it right after class. Then another posted lecture may not be available until a few hours after the next class. This would leave some downtime to complete assignments, go to the store, soak in a bath😉, ect. (This on the day off work of course.)

How often will a prof give you an assignment the same day the lecture is posted?

Also, how involved is Creighton with research? Would they value that I did research during school?

I am only asking because it was frowned upon and resulted in a rejection letter from a school last year. I have spent over three years in research, have presented my work nationally, and have a publication. The school mentioned that I was too research oriented versus pharmacy oriented. The only time I mentioned research in my whole application process and interview was under employment history, and an answer to what is the most academically successful thing you have accomplished? I answered that I am the primary author for an insilico (on computer) analysis of phosphorylase kinase subunits, and supported this data with molecular techniques. This manuscript is published in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism. I told them that I also presented this data in support of continuing funding of a NIH program called IdEA on the national level in Washington, D.C.

They also asked if I was interested in performing research after pharmacy school. I told them that I thought innovative research will always be intellectually stimulating, However, for a career choice I was more interested in hospital pharmacy because x, y, and z.

Sorry, I know my second question is not exactly what this thread is about, but I am seriously worried about this. Creighton has such a great program, I truly want to join you ladies/guys in the online PharmD.

I can be really nervous and concerned about what they are looking for in their candidates because like everyone I wonder . . . "are my stats good enough?". I know I need to be myself and let what happens happens, but this is my second time applying, although first to Creighton.

I know I have what it takes to get through the program, I just really need to drop SDN for a while and practice for my interview😉, so I wont be so nervous.

Sorry for a long post.