Repeating

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52PharmD

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So I mess up
I failed 2 classes, and have to repeat the whole year

how that gonna affect me to find intern job, apply residency and future career?:scared:😕😱

anyone here in the same boat
 
shouldnt be a huge deal. just up your game, get some marketable skills, specialize, and form a good resume. employers in my experience dont care about grades much as long as you are reliable, smart, and can do the job. personally i may be facing being forced to take a year off due to issues outside of school.. but Im hoping not to..

look at it this way.. 2nd time around will be a LOT easier.. you'll be able to focus more on work and improving your rep as an intern
 
Same story, details differ slightly. Came back slowly, rocked rotations, graduated and got a job like everyone else. It's a roadblock. Don't think about climbing over it, just take it slow and walk around it. If I can make it, you'll be just fine.
 
I was held back (I didn't really "repeat", per se.) My problem is that I repeatedly grasp defeat from the jaws of victory. I figured out a way to fail a class about a week before rotations with a 78% average when 70% was the cutoff for a "C"...and I failed a rotation because I told my preceptor it was useless to me when I stood around and put pills in boxes all day, every day for 10 hours at a time. You'd think they'd reward honesty.

Anyway, I'm currently unemployed. A few days ago several posters told me that I was a loser that offers nothing to anybody and will never be a success in life. I'm living in a house with no front door lock, no air conditioning, and a cable subscription that includes 6 channels. One of which is Al Jazeera. It looks like its going to collapse and crush me to death. I also drive a Ford Taurus.

That's the extent of your future. Sorry. Just accepting being a failure as your divine destiny and its all good. I have. I think I'm going to start delivering pizzas and give up on this pharmacy thing.
 
In comes WVU to restore balance. Thanks for completing the yin/yang. And the wheel keeps on spinning.

Your options are limited in BFE. You need to get out of that damn shanty.
 
The shack is only until July 2nd. Thankfully. It's like playing Russian Roulette...with houses that collapse and crush the inhabitants. It's sort of thrilling in a way.
 
The shack is only until July 2nd. Thankfully. It's like playing Russian Roulette...with houses that collapse and crush the inhabitants. It's sort of thrilling in a way.

I've seen some hardcore shacks in the Appalachians, and the dilapidation of yours is respectable.

And your Taurus is too nice. You need a 1987 Ford Escort in rusted baby blue to match your shack.
 
So I mess up
I failed 2 classes, and have to repeat the whole year

how that gonna affect me to find intern job, apply residency and future career?:scared:😕😱

anyone here in the same boat


While employers largely won't care about grades, residencies might. Unless you have a good explanation and come back with great grades, networking skills, and other things to set yourself apart, you'll probably have difficulty landing a residency. I say this because residencies are very competitive, and sometimes they won't look at an applicant because of something on paper (including grades). Also, if you can't handle classes, how are you going to handle the hours and work required of residency? If you can prove to them you can handle it and make an impression on them, you can possibly overcome that.

I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, but you need to work hard to overcome the extra year. Also remember that no candidate is perfect. Everyone has some disadvantage/weakness to overcome. If residency is what you want, work hard to get there.
 
and I failed a rotation because I told my preceptor it was useless to me when I stood around and put pills in boxes all day, every day for 10 hours at a time.

Oh jeez...

I remember interning for a hospital a long time ago and my duties were: unloading stock, putting drugs on shelves, taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, and bring IV bags to rooms. This was on pharmacy intern pay as well even though I got limited pharmacy experience. I felt very odd getting paid more than the techs that worked there inside the pharmacy so I quit.
 
Oh jeez...

I remember interning for a hospital a long time ago and my duties were: unloading stock, putting drugs on shelves, taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, and bring IV bags to rooms. This was on pharmacy intern pay as well even though I got limited pharmacy experience. I felt very odd getting paid more than the techs that worked there inside the pharmacy so I quit.

Dude, you were getting paid...that is the difference. This was WVU's actual PharmD rotation... If they want to pay me intern pay to empty garbage, all the more power to them.
 
Dude, you were getting paid...that is the difference. This was WVU's actual PharmD rotation... If they want to pay me intern pay to empty garbage, all the more power to them.

He should have contacted his school about that, no need to be rude to the preceptor. I would have failed him too, if there's a legitimate problem then bring it to me.
 
My IPPE summer I'm in a pharmacy that serves hospices. They have me filling all day. But it isn't even normal filling. They make individual dose packs so I have to take each individual tablet and put it each individual hole. It is a pain in the @ss. The worst part is when the script is for a half of tablet because I have to cut each individual tablet in half and then put it in each hole. Methadone is such a pain to cut because if you do it wrong, you crush it. Somebody please shoot me. I don't want to burn bridges here because I might need a reference but I'm not sure I can do this for four more weeks.
 
He should have contacted his school about that, no need to be rude to the preceptor. I would have failed him too, if there's a legitimate problem then bring it to me.

Yeah, the school hates me. If I told them, they would have figured out some legal loophole and deported me to Zimbabwe somehow.

The funny thing is that he made up a bunch of **** about me when he called the school and dropped me because he didn't want to risk losing his gravy train of free labor by telling them the real reason.

I'm glad I did it. Because of that, it delayed my graduation just enough that I wound up at the place that gave me my first job when nobody else in town was hiring. Again, falling ass backwards into success.
 
My IPPE summer I'm in a pharmacy that serves hospices. They have me filling all day. But it isn't even normal filling. They make individual dose packs so I have to take each individual tablet and put it each individual hole. It is a pain in the @ss. The worst part is when the script is for a half of tablet because I have to cut each individual tablet in half and then put it in each hole. Methadone is such a pain to cut because if you do it wrong, you crush it. Somebody please shoot me. I don't want to burn bridges here because I might need a reference but I'm not sure I can do this for four more weeks.

I worked at a pharmacy that did those as a tech. It was pretty boring. I remember getting quite skilled at pill-splitting. I wore headphones and listened to a lost of public radio (this was in the pre-iPod era).


And I love my Ford Taurus. Compared to the Neon with a holey radiator that preceded it, the Taurus is a luxury vehicle with sleek beige upholstery and dashboard lights that work most of the time. Also three car seats and crackers ground into the carpet, but that speaks more to the number of anklebiters that I haul around versus the quality of the ride.
 
He should have contacted his school about that, no need to be rude to the preceptor. I would have failed him too, if there's a legitimate problem then bring it to me.
How is that grounds for termination? Subjective impressions are worthless and bear no weight, so change your justification for firing someone or go home. 🙄
 
So, do more established schools have better rotations/IPPE?

Yes UofA is the best school ever. There are no crappy students, even though they accept mostly only students from UofA and pima community college, even when there are many other applicants with much better statitistics. They play favorites to people that join their prepharm club and kiss up to the professors. The also have a backlog of crappy students they promised they will get in if they reapply next year. It is a public school so they also have to make sure they fill certain quotas. But it is a well established school so therefore all the students are awesome and cream of the crop. They have no rotation sites at community pharmacies where they make you work like a tech. Its unbelievable. All students that went to Midwestern are ******s and there is no way they can be better than even the worse student at UofA.
So no need to keep bringing the subject up to make you feel better about your choice or for whatever reason you keep bringing up UofA is awesome.
 
So, do more established schools have better rotations/IPPE?

In this case, I don't think the quality of the rotation is a reflection on my school. This is supposed to be a retail IPPE. How hard is it to send someone out to CVS or Walgreens? The quality of a retail rotation is dependent on how much time or interest the staff has in teaching you. In my case, I don't think the school is aware of what is happening. I have a month to go so it is possible that they will teach me more things but when the actual pharm tech who is employed there commented about how long it has been since he had to fill, I had my suspicions that they use my school and the pharm tech schools for free labor. If this were happening in one of my clinical rotations, I'd be a lot more upset.
 
How is that grounds for termination? Subjective impressions are worthless and bear no weight, so change your justification for firing someone or go home. 🙄

Did you not read his post? It seemed as if he didn't want to do the work and if that's so, that is grounds for termination. His comment only added to it.

Subjective impressions are all you need to fire someone, especially if they go against your work flow.
 
Did you not read his post? It seemed as if he didn't want to do the work and if that's so, that is grounds for termination. His comment only added to it.

Subjective impressions are all you need to fire someone, especially if they go against your work flow.

I did whatever they told me to. It's not a "refuse to do work" issue. And I didn't get fired. I wasn't working for them. The dude just couldn't handle the fact that his rotation was useless. I take offense to being used as nothing but a laborer. I wasn't overtly offensive. I told the guy, "I'm not getting anything out of this. I feel like I'm just being used as labor." And it clearly pissed the dude off.

So strictly speaking, I was in the right as I am allowed to question the utility of the rotation. Of course, in reality, it doesn't work that way. He didn't tell the school I complained about the rotation...oh no, that would put his little system of getting free laborers 2 at a time at risk...he made a bunch of **** up. I couldn't do anything about it...his word against my already tainted (in their eyes) word. I didn't even waste my breath. I just rolled my eyes, took the lumps, sat on my ass for a few months, and that was that. The world runs off of bull****. Is what it is.

So technically, they were in the wrong...in reality, I'm just a *****.
 
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I did whatever they told me to. It's not a "refuse to do work" issue. And I didn't get fired. I wasn't working for them. The dude just couldn't handle the fact that his rotation was useless. I take offense to being used as nothing but a laborer. I wasn't overtly offensive. I told the guy, "I'm not getting anything out of this. I feel like I'm just being used as labor." And it clearly pissed the dude off.

So strictly speaking, I was in the right as I am allowed to question the utility of the rotation. Of course, in reality, it doesn't work that way. He didn't tell the school I complained about the rotation...oh no, that would put his little system of getting free laborers 2 at a time at risk...he made a bunch of **** up. I couldn't do anything about it...his word against my already tainted (in their eyes) word. I didn't even waste my breath. I just rolled my eyes, took the lumps, sat on my ass for a few months, and that was that. The world runs off of bull****. Is what it is.

So technically, they were in the wrong...in reality, I'm just a *****.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying what you did was wrong just the way you went about it. What exactly did this guy say about you that wasn't true?
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying what you did was wrong just the way you went about it. What exactly did this guy say about you that wasn't true?

The big thing was that he said I was annoying the pharmacists - impossible being as though I went the entire time without even saying a word to a pharmacist outside of asking where I should put the boxes I filled with pills.

He added some stupid stuff, too. He said I rolled my eyes at him once. Which I don't recall doing. I might have being as I have problems with my eyes getting dry when wearing contacts.

He didn't like the message on my novelty answering machine at home. (I laughed at this one.)

At the time I wanted to be a prison pharmacist (and I still would if I could get a job close to a major town and the opportunity presented itself) - he somehow took offense to the fact that I had decided that either hospital or PHS was the path I'd like to take even though I hadn't completed his rotation yet. He claimed I was being "foolish" to want to pursue prison pharmacy without knowing about it. Even though I shadowed a dude earlier in my academic career. I'm being serious...he actually said all this. Apparently knowing what you want to do weeks before you graduate is a character flaw.

In reality, I was a perfect little worker bee until I told him I thought his rotation was useless.
 
Did you not read his post? It seemed as if he didn't want to do the work and if that's so, that is grounds for termination. His comment only added to it.

Subjective impressions are all you need to fire someone, especially if they go against your work flow.
I don't need to read his post. I've been a member for 3 years, so I know the story.

You have to have "objective" grounds for termination, otherwise, you'll get sued for being a bias prick.
I've been in a situation like that, and my accuser lost.
 
The big thing was that he said I was annoying the pharmacists - impossible being as though I went the entire time without even saying a word to a pharmacist outside of asking where I should put the boxes I filled with pills.

He added some stupid stuff, too. He said I rolled my eyes at him once. Which I don't recall doing. I might have being as I have problems with my eyes getting dry when wearing contacts.

He didn't like the message on my novelty answering machine at home. (I laughed at this one.)

At the time I wanted to be a prison pharmacist (and I still would if I could get a job close to a major town and the opportunity presented itself) - he somehow took offense to the fact that I had decided that either hospital or PHS was the path I'd like to take even though I hadn't completed his rotation yet. He claimed I was being "foolish" to want to pursue prison pharmacy without knowing about it. Even though I shadowed a dude earlier in my academic career. I'm being serious...he actually said all this. Apparently knowing what you want to do weeks before you graduate is a character flaw.

In reality, I was a perfect little worker bee until I told him I thought his rotation was useless.

It sounds like your situation was similar to mine except mine is just an IPPE summer. If you had to do it again, would you do the same thing or keep your mouth shut and just get through the rotation?
 
I was held back (I didn't really "repeat", per se.) My problem is that I repeatedly grasp defeat from the jaws of victory. I figured out a way to fail a class about a week before rotations with a 78% average when 70% was the cutoff for a "C"...and I failed a rotation because I told my preceptor it was useless to me when I stood around and put pills in boxes all day, every day for 10 hours at a time. You'd think they'd reward honesty.

Anyway, I'm currently unemployed. A few days ago several posters told me that I was a loser that offers nothing to anybody and will never be a success in life. I'm living in a house with no front door lock, no air conditioning, and a cable subscription that includes 6 channels. One of which is Al Jazeera. It looks like its going to collapse and crush me to death. I also drive a Ford Taurus.

That's the extent of your future. Sorry. Just accepting being a failure as your divine destiny and its all good. I have. I think I'm going to start delivering pizzas and give up on this pharmacy thing.

Dammit - I love these posts... What happened with the JOB though? I was under the impression you enjoyed your job. Did I miss something?
 
Dammit - I love these posts... What happened with the JOB though? I was under the impression you enjoyed your job. Did I miss something?

The school sent my wife on rotations in Kentucky for 3 months, so I had to quit. A fiery, death explosion of a "quit." Now they've sent her to outside of Washington, DC for 5 weeks and I'M DONE with it. Woo!
 
Yes UofA is the best school ever. There are no crappy students, even though they accept mostly only students from UofA and pima community college, even when there are many other applicants with much better statitistics. They play favorites to people that join their prepharm club and kiss up to the professors. The also have a backlog of crappy students they promised they will get in if they reapply next year. It is a public school so they also have to make sure they fill certain quotas. But it is a well established school so therefore all the students are awesome and cream of the crop. They have no rotation sites at community pharmacies where they make you work like a tech. Its unbelievable. All students that went to Midwestern are ******s and there is no way they can be better than even the worse student at UofA.
So no need to keep bringing the subject up to make you feel better about your choice or for whatever reason you keep bringing up UofA is awesome.

Uhm, I didn't bring up UofA. It was a genuine question because, well, I am not a pharmacy student yet. I am talking about rotation sites which are, IMO, where you learn to be a pharmacist. If you have good preceptors, your rotation will be a good learning experience. If you have a ****ty preceptor, then you probably won't learn a damn thing...kinda like the poster that said he was putting pills into packages all day. I didn't say the Midwestern students were ******s either so I don't know what your issue is. If it bothers you that much, just PM me so we can discuss it.

And BTW, the reason most of the incoming students are from UofA and Pima is because that is the majority of the applicant pool. If UofA ever started using PharmCAS, that might change.

And I don't need to feel "better" about my choice. I made the right one.
 
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In this case, I don't think the quality of the rotation is a reflection on my school. This is supposed to be a retail IPPE. How hard is it to send someone out to CVS or Walgreens? The quality of a retail rotation is dependent on how much time or interest the staff has in teaching you. In my case, I don't think the school is aware of what is happening. I have a month to go so it is possible that they will teach me more things but when the actual pharm tech who is employed there commented about how long it has been since he had to fill, I had my suspicions that they use my school and the pharm tech schools for free labor. If this were happening in one of my clinical rotations, I'd be a lot more upset.

What if you informed your school of what they are making you do? Would they change the site or just discuss it with the preceptor?
 
The school sent my wife on rotations in Kentucky for 3 months, so I had to quit. A fiery, death explosion of a "quit." Now they've sent her to outside of Washington, DC for 5 weeks and I'M DONE with it. Woo!


Does that mean you're moving out of the shack?
 
What if you informed your school of what they are making you do? Would they change the site or just discuss it with the preceptor?

I'm not sure what would happen. I wouldn't want to take that step without talking to the preceptor first. I wasn't ready to go there yet because they did tell me on the first day that I would be learning other things later. And today they said that they would teach me how to input orders later in the week. I suppose that is a improvement. Unfortunately, the things I'm supposed to be concentrating on this summer (practicing OTC consults, counseling patients on their medications), I can't do at this site because they don't deal with patients. That doesn't mean I can't make the best of it though. When I fill something I'm unfamiliar with, I try to look it up and see what it is for and how it works. I figure by the end, I'll still be a complete idiot when it comes to handling insurance issues, but I will be pretty familiar with the drugs in the pharmacy. That's something I guess.
 
Crappy rotation sites will continue if no one ever reports back to the school. Please people, tell your experiential coordinators! Then I don't get students who have major deficits in their experience and knowledge on their last APPE! I beg of you, give that feedback.

I forgot the original question. Oh yeah. I think the OP will be able to get a job, a residency might be a problem, however.
 
The school sent my wife on rotations in Kentucky for 3 months, so I had to quit. A fiery, death explosion of a "quit." Now they've sent her to outside of Washington, DC for 5 weeks and I'M DONE with it. Woo!

Sucks donkey *ick... Well, there is always a job for the both of you in rural texas (or maybe one of the dakotas).

Let me know what you learn about DC - I'm moving there for residency later this year (with the poor wife in tow).
 
Sucks donkey *ick... Well, there is always a job for the both of you in rural texas (or maybe one of the dakotas).

Let me know what you learn about DC - I'm moving there for residency later this year (with the poor wife in tow).

What area of pharmacy is the focus of your residency, aboveliquidice?
 
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