Sombody please answer

[chitowngyrl]

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Hey everybody!

I am new to this forum. And I love it! 😍 And I would like to say that I find it very informative. Everyones questions and answers were so helpful. Well, I have a question that is directed towards those who are already students in a phar. school or graduated:

How heavy is the course load? How many hours do you study on average per week? How much free time do you have? I know it is going to be a lot of hjard work, I just want to know what to expect. Any information that any one can give me would be very appreciated!

Also, I plan to attend phar. school in Chicago, either Midwestern or UIC, does anyone have any info on those schools? Which is better?

 

[jdpharmd?]

Originally posted by chitowngyrl
Hey everybody!

I am new to this forum. And I love it! 😍 And I would like to say that I find it very informative. Everyones questions and answers were so helpful. Well, I have a question that is directed towards those who are already students in a phar. school or graduated:

How heavy is the course load? How many hours do you study on average per week? How much free time do you have? I know it is going to be a lot of hjard work, I just want to know what to expect. Any information that any one can give me would be very appreciated!

Also, I plan to attend phar. school in Chicago, either Midwestern or UIC, does anyone have any info on those schools? Which is better?

I can answer most of your questions, but from a slightly different perspective. I am currently (one more day) a 5th year undergrad student at Ferris State. We have a pharmacy school and I moved up here with several friends who attend it. I only had 2 pre-reqs left to take for the entire year, so I got an override and slipped into pharmacy biochemistry my first semester. It was 5 semester credits and didn't have a lab. My classmates were all first year pharmacy students and I used those contacts to meet some 2nd year students as well. Esentially, yes, it's hard but it just depends on what you're willing to put into it. I know people who are repeating classes this summer because they failed, but they were also at the bar 3+ nights/week. I also know people with a 3.8+/4.0 GPA who still can manage to make it out every weekend or at least every other. I ended up with a C+ in pharmacy biochem, and here it's considered the most difficult 1st semester course. I was very close to a B, but we all know how finals have that nice tendency to destroy a decent GPA. My friends who are in their 3rd year claim that it's like the world has opened up. They have MUCH more free time this year, and then they go on to do rotations next year, so we'll just have to see how that goes. It's not uncommon for me to call my pharmacy school friends in the middle of the day and find them sleeping from exhaustion one week and then see them at the bar the next. Again, it just depends on what you put into it. Once you're accepted it's pretty hard to fail out or even fail a class if you're doing the work in my opinion, but we did have repeat students in our class.
As far as UIC vs. Midwestern, I'll let you know in a few months when I start pharm school at Midwestern. I loved the area and the campus. I DON'T love the price but I'm very excited to go. I was going to apply to UIC but the people that answer the phones there were SO rude that I was just completely turned off. They wouldn't tell me the average GPA or PCAT of the previous year's class or any info about the admission process. UIC is public and rated very highly in most pharmacy school polls. It's also a huge university and research institution. Midwestern is a private health campus only, with only a couple thousand students at best. They only have DO, PharmD, PT, OT, PA, etc. UIC does not have the option to accelerate (9 months) and MWU does, and that was a nice perk. I have friends in IL who were accepted to both schools (the only two in IL) and most that I know ultimately chose UIC but I know that cost was a major player for most of them. UIC is public and MWU is private. The difference in tuition for in-state is something like $12,000+/year for 4 years! What is the "better" pharmacy school? Probably UIC, but what is the better school for me? MWU.

How does the old saying go? "What do you call the student who graduated last in his class from the worst med/pharmacy school in the country?"

"Doctor"

Good luck and get your apps in early!!

Jd

 

[LVPharm]

I am finishing up my first year at NVCP in Las Vegas, and although I study about 3 hours per evening (on average), it's not as hard as I thought it was going to be....until these last two weeks when we started on pharmacokinetics...hard stuff 😱 We are on the block system, so my experience is VERY different from everybody else from other pharm schools. The first 1/3 of the year was mostly biochemistry related, and since I had that as an undergrad, I had an easy time of it. It got a little harder with pharmacology, pharmaceutics, medicinal chem...but all in all, it's been alright. The second year is practically all pharmacotherapy, therapeutic disease state management....very clinical, and also (from what the second years tell me) very hard. On top of that, we'll have to learn our top 200 drugs....trade/generic, manufacturer, dosage, dosage forms, indications, contraindications, adverse drug reactions, black box warnings...we will be quizzed on a bi-monthly basis on about 20 of them....and for every quiz, they will put 5 from the previous quiz on it just to make sure you don't forget...sounds like fun!

Free time? We seem to make time for anything around here, after all, this is Vegas! I won't count the number of times I've seen fellow classmates show up the next morning obviously hung-over from an evening at Rain at the Palms! Or the number of times faculty members have been spotted having a good time at the Hard Rock! No, pharm school isn't all study no play.