Question 4 Current and Soon-To-Be UCSFers!

[withoutadoubt5]

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Hello!
I'm new to this forum, but it seems really great and helpful. =)
I've been accepted to UCSF for Fall 04, but I'm really struggling to decide if I really want to go there (UOPs my other option). I know both are really great schools with pros and cons at each, so I want to hear your own personal experiences w/ UCSF.
I just would like to know why you chose UCSF and if you are really enjoying it there. Here are a few questions that have been on my mind:

1. I'm interested in working in community or hospital pharmacy, and it that UCSF is very research oriented/theoretical, so I'm afraid that I wouldn't be prepared practically. Also, there seems to be a heavy focus on basic sciences the 1st 2 years. Are all those classes like advanced ochem etc. very necessary and is the material of your classes pretty applicable to the practice of pharmacy?
2. How do the classes compare to undergrad- way more intense and time consuming?
3. Is there a lot of comraderie among your class? Do you all study and hang out together? Do most of the students hang around campus to eat/study or mostly go off campus and do their own thing?

You can add anything else to sway me to UCSF... =)
Thanks ahead of time for your help!
Jen

 

[ucdbiochem]

congrats to your acceptance to SF and UOP! they're both great schools.
to me, all the CA pharm schools are good. it doesn't really matter which one you graduate from as long as you get your license.
to answer your questions, yes, SF is a research-oriented school, but that doesn't mean our pharm school is research-oriented. i'm sure you already know the pharm school here offers 3 different pathways. if you like working in community/clinic environment after you graduate, you can choose the pharm care pathway.
as far as the classes here (especially in the 1st year), there may be a few that don't really have direct application to pharmacy, like p.chem.

the classes here are pretty intense. and i can assure you the same thing everywhere in other pharm schools. my friends at uop and western u study hard and play hard.
it's kinda hard to compare pharm school with undergrad depending on what course load you have in undergrad. if you took 12 units/quarter in undergrad, you may have to spend more time studying in pharm school.

yes, the students here are cool. we do study and hang out together. whenever we're done with midterms, we have parties and other social events.

as for UOP, it's a great school. i know a few UOP-grad pharmacists and they're great pharmacists and doing well in their career. the thing i like about them is their accelerated program, so you can get out in 3 yrs.

anyway, you're gonna be fine whichever school you choose. good luck.

 

[player0917]

1. While UCSF is "very research oriented/theoretical," it's clinical emphasis prepares you well for the hospital setting. It will surely overprepare you for the community/retail setting if that is what you are interested in.

The basic sciences the 1st 2 years really serves to reinforce your foundation to make sure it's ready to have pharmacology and therepeutics be built on it. They ARE all necessary to the practice of pharmacy because they afford you the knowledge and analytical skills necessary to understand the drugs themselves and the disease states they treat. A pharmacist is a health care professional in his/her own right, whose decisions for drug recommendations are based not on their memorization of therapeutics, but their dynamic analysis of all the patient's medical and medication history. Only with the FULL curriculum of the PharmD degree would we be able to accomplish this responsibility. You are getting a "doctorate" because you will have this specialized ability to synthesize information into useful application, similar to a physician or dentist, who both, by the way, must similarly take basic sciences their first two years.

2. The classes are upper division undergraduate level perhaps the first 3 mths. As you progress, the material itself brings the course difficulty up a notch since it is all brand new stuff. Having compared our curriculum at UCSF with friends from other schools in CA, we agree that UCSF is a little more demanding of their students, but no matter where you go, you still have to put in some serious studying time.

3. We do have class comraderie and spirit, but more of the type to be expected in a professional school. Unlike the class before us, I believe that we are much more mature and have very few cliques (they still DO exist like in high school). We party as hard as we study (Classof'07 are known as da nerds to the School). Many of us hang out and study together. Eating and socializing usually takes place off-campus. Friends are very easy to make because people on the whole here are friendly and nice.

I hope these thoughts and experiences of UCSF will help you. Good luck whereever you may go.

 

[jason UCSD2000]

3. We do have class comraderie and spirit, but more of the type to be expected in a professional school. Unlike the class before us, I believe that we are much more mature and have very few cliques (they still DO exist like in high school). We party as hard as we study (Classof'07 are known as da nerds to the School). Many of us hang out and study together. Eating and socializing usually takes place off-campus. Friends are very easy to make because people on the whole here are friendly and nice.

Hmm... this doesn't sound like the player0917 that I know...

-jason

 

[ucdbiochem]

oops.... someone is busted. haha....

 

[player0917]

Hmm... this doesn't sound like the player0917 that I know...

-jason

You KNOW I speak the truth... ;-)