Three year pharmacy school

[Mur7ay]

For those of you in three year programs, what is your study habits like? At one school I heard its about eight hours in class everyday followed by varying study hours outside of class.

Also, how much does it differ from an undergrad taking 18 credit hours?

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[Mur7ay]

Is it the material that makes it difficult or the course load?

 

[nervoushabits]

I attended a 3 year PharmD program. It was intense, I had no social life outside of pharmacy for 3 years, but I got out of school in record time with a great education and the opportunity to pursue a residency. If you can handle the fast pace and the self-study time that you'll need to commit to, you should be just fine in a 3 year program. I wouldn't say it is any more difficult or any less difficult than a regular 4 year PharmD program, but it has challenges that those in a 4 year program wouldn't face. Your breaks are essentially nonexistent, and you will most likely either have to find some of your experience hours or have it built into the program like mine was. Studying outside of school wasn't necessarily a daily thing, but I also didn't have a 4.0 GPA. You will have to study most days of the week, and a lot of times, my weekends were spent studying as well. Some of my friends didn't need that extra time and took the weekends off. Your study habits are going to be unique to your needs, so please keep that in mind when you're asking people about their study habits. Pharmacists and pharmacy students don't always fit the stereotype of the bookworm who does nothing but study.

 

[useruseruser]

I go to a 3 year school. You're not in class for that long (usually). If there's lab/workshop, then maybe it will reach 7-8 hours. This quarter for me is like ~4 hours of lecture a day. not bad.

some people procrastinate and are social the first few weeks then cram and forego sleep once midterms start (which is like 1-2 midterms a week until the quarter ends, basically). if you take advantage of those first few weeks and study ahead, then you won't need to study much once exams come around and can have better weekends.

my undergrad was both easier/harder in different ways. It was easier in that the exams were usually more spaced out so I had more cram time between each subject. The exams were much harder though in undergrad. At my pharmacy school, the material is easier and the exams are easier (than undergrad). It's just that there's a LOT of information so it's really just lack of time that makes things difficult. Like I said earlier, exams are scheduled one right after the other once/twice every week until finals basically so it can be really exhausting.

 

[Mur7ay]

I go to a 3 year school. You're not in class for that long (usually). If there's lab/workshop, then maybe it will reach 7-8 hours. This quarter for me is like ~4 hours of lecture a day. not bad.

some people procrastinate and are social the first few weeks then cram and forego sleep once midterms start (which is like 1-2 midterms a week until the quarter ends, basically). if you take advantage of those first few weeks and study ahead, then you won't need to study much once exams come around and can have better weekends.

my undergrad was both easier/harder in different ways. It was easier in that the exams were usually more spaced out so I had more cram time between each subject. The exams were much harder though in undergrad. At my pharmacy school, the material is easier and the exams are easier (than undergrad). It's just that there's a LOT of information so it's really just lack of time that makes things difficult. Like I said earlier, exams are scheduled one right after the other once/twice every week until finals basically so it can be really exhausting.

Thanks for the info! I was planning, if I went to the three year school, to start studying from the get go.

 

[trailerpark]

I go to a 3 year school. Class was about 8-12 year 1 and 12-4 year 2. About 4 hours per day, but occasionally there's a lab or some other BS thing that keeps you a lot longer, but then there's also shorter days so it all balances out. Our quarters are 10 weeks long plus a week of finals. I always told myself I would study a lot the first week, but never did. At 10 weeks though, quarters seem to go by so fast and then you get a week off every 10 weeks and if you don't have a lot of finals it always feels like a 2 week break (a lot less finals in year 2) plus there's an additional 2 weeks off at Christmas time and new years. About 4-5 weeks off in the summer. Not bad at all when you add up all the holidays that give you 3 day weekends or even 4 days (Thanksgiving) during a quarter. Way easier than undergrad since the material is easier. Yes you have to cram, but at least at my school if you get a hold of last years test, they use the same questions! For example I got a 100 and a 95 on the 2 oncology tests that everyone was freaking about, but average test scores are always in the 80s, many times high 80s, and I think it's because people with last years test questions have extremely inflated grades and then everyone who doesn't have old tests gets Cs. 2 people in my class got held back a year, but no one ever flunks out because the remediation policies are crazy lenient. 70 is passing, but if your final average is 60-69 you have the option to take a test, basically a cumulative final exam, and if you get at least a 70, you pass the class. Most people don't fail by more than 10 points and you have a whole week off to study so most people never have to repeat the course in the summer. You can do that 4 times per year. People that get held back it's always over something weird like one girl skipped all her finals and another never went to class. If you have decent time management skills you definitely have time to workout everyday and go out at night whenever.

 

[radio frequency]

@trailerpark, that sounds a heck of a lot easier than at my four year school!