taking a year off?

[twins143]

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Hi i am having some serious health issues (not cancer but does involve major surgery) and thinking of taking a year off in pharmacy school; I am a first year (of 4 years) and I regret not having done this BEFORE arriving in pharmacy school. Currently, I am quite distracted that it is hard to focus in school. However, knowing that I plan to use summer of 2007 to take care of these 'issues' motivates me to work hard in my second year so that I can exit school strong and return strong; I would like to return in Fall 2007 after the surgery, but there is a very likely possibility that I may not be able to recover in time and unfortunately, it's not like I can take the fall term off since it's all (year long) or none.

While not having the sugery will not kill me physically, it will tear me up inside emotionally and further distract me from my studies and thus, I would really not prefer to wait until having graduated from pharmacy school. I used to be really on top of school but in light of recent events, I have been going down and down (I am hoping to pass all of my classes this term) and postponing this surgery will not do any good for me. Like I said, I can yank out that old motivated me for another academic year if I know for certain I will be having the surgery next summer and with the option of taking the third year off.

So my questions are 1) how common is it for pharmacy students to take a year off? 2) because I would like to keep this surgery on the low down (it is very personal and I do not wish to share this with the administrators), am I able to use 'exhaustion' from scoliosis (which is one of hte many things I suffer from) and 'depression' (another thing I suffer from) as an excuse? 3) how will this affect my loan status? what if I enroll in a class at a community college (for pass no pass) just for financial aid reasons--even though that is only part-time status, will that cut me some slack in the loan dept?

Pharmacy has always been my dream but lately with the plethora of health issues I am going thru, I wonder why I am spending so much time helping others when I really need to take care of myself first (sorry if this sounds selfish). thank you.

 

[pinkyrx]

I think you really need to go sit down with your dean or whoever else is in charge of your program and tell him/her everything you just told us. Your situation is really going to depend on where you go to school. I have heard of students getting to sit out a year for personal reasons, but I would think the school would probably want to know details. You could try to just tell them that you have "personal stuff" going on and they may accept that, but they might also need doctors notes etc.

If your health is bothering you this much, I definitely think you should get it taken care of. You are not being selfish by wanting to take care of yourself first. I'm sure you will get much more out of your education once you are feeling better.

I have no idea how it will affect your loan status, but I think you should call the lender directly to find out if there are any consequences to sitting out a year. You'd definitely need to see if they could defer your loan for that year so that you wouldn't go into repayment.

Good luck with this and please go and talk to the people at your school. If they are anything like the administration at my school they will be more than willing to help you get through this.

 

[RxRob]

This one is killing me... in a trivia sort of way, very sorry!

Now WHAT surgeory is optional, not life threatening, yet despite these facts still causes emotional damage, and when performed requires a year of recovery?

Gastric bypass? I'm coming up dry here...Is it in your brain?

This is probably why I prefer House to Grey's Anatomy....

Please don't answer! But I want to see some more guesses...

ANYWAY, if you are genuninely sick, then you are completely bulletproof. No one is getting sued by kicking you out. The other thing though is about those faux excuses you are considering, I'm sure you signed something to the effect that you didn't have any special needs or conditions that would prevent you from completing the program in the usual manner. I'm thinking you'll have to go with the truth and find out objectively if ANYONE else in the world agrees this should rightfully be tearing you up... of course as a person with superior moral character and work ethic as you interviewed...

ok..done now.

 

[twins143]

I'm coming up dry here...

I always look at the nosier people more carefully when they are more interested in the superficial details as opposed to answering the question.

Please don't answer! But I want to see some more guesses...

I guess people's (or my) health must be joke to you. It's nice to know we are in good hands in the future.

Please don't answer!

 

[storyhill2]

I guess people's (or my) health must be joke to you. It's nice to know we are in good hands in the future.

I think RxBob gave pretty good advice myself. I would think depression and the scoliosis reasons would not warrant the granting of your request. If I was in charge I would want the real reason. I don't mean to make light of your health problem but I never have understood why some people are so uptight and secretive about those things. Maybe if you were open about it and didn't keep it to yourself it wouldn't tear you up so emotionally. Sometimes it is good to joke about stuff. You may need to be more detailed in you question if you want a better answer. I also am clueless on the loan Q.