Unsolicited Advice For Incoming Students

[Redheadedpharm]

The harder you work, the luckier you will be.

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[Indypharm]

Thanks for the thread! I'm starting this fall and can't wait. I'd like to hear tips from the students with kids and a spouse. I already feel like the world's best juggler, but I'm sure my time management skills could be improved even more. My tentative plan is to put my youngest in daycare and treat school like a 9-5 job. I'll study for a few hours everyday and hopefully be able to at least keep up. Butler has a block exam schedule so I'll have all my exams every three weeks. That's what I'm most scared about. I have a feeling I'll be having a nervous breakdown every three weeks and then slacking the other two.

 

[smithek]

I just read through the entire thread...thanks everyone for the advice.
A few things though:
How exactly do you go about acquiring an internship for the following summer?
Where do you search for who to contact (I can find info on chain stores, but what about hospitals)?
When is it acceptable to start contacting places you're interested in?

 

[PharmD for Me]

I just read through the entire thread...thanks everyone for the advice.
A few things though:
How exactly do you go about acquiring an internship for the following summer?
Where do you search for who to contact (I can find info on chain stores, but what about hospitals)?
When is it acceptable to start contacting places you're interested in?

Apply, and apply broadly and early. Peter Haeg in the TC gets emails for local internship opportunities and passes them on to the class via email as well. It seems like the majority of interviews around here were in February or March, but we are still getting a few emails regarding job openings. You can generally apply to hospital positions online through the employment page. Otherwise try to find a contact for the director of pharmacy or whoever else does the hiring. I would say that it is never too early to let places know that you are interested in their internships. Volunteer or find a tech position somewhere you are interested in. If you find a tech position at a location that does not have a preceptor, then you can ask one of that pharmacists if they would be willing to register as a preceptor.

 

[chemnerd99]

Thanks for the thread! I'm starting this fall and can't wait. I'd like to hear tips from the students with kids and a spouse. I already feel like the world's best juggler, but I'm sure my time management skills could be improved even more. My tentative plan is to put my youngest in daycare and treat school like a 9-5 job. I'll study for a few hours everyday and hopefully be able to at least keep up

Well it depends if you are happy to get a C and have a life or strive for the A. Even more important is how supportive is the spouse. To get the As even treating school 9-5 with kids in daycare probably need 3 hr after kids get down and one entire weekend day for studying with more for test weeks. Saturdays are for laundry, groceries and cleaning the house, and your cleanliness standards will probably drop a lot. Let your spouse know now, he's going to pretty much be a single father for 3 yrs. You can do it, but I have days where I never see my kids awake

 

[owlegrad]

I bet some people will be starting pharmacy school soon , any advice for them?

Mine is still pretty much the same. Take it seriously, but remember to have fun. Get as much work experience as possible and network.

 

[joetrisman]

Its cheesy and my dean talks about it too much, but really, keeping your dreams alive is important as they will carry you through your tough times. Its easy to get so caught up in the work that you forget your goals and therefore your motivation.

 

[IndustryPharmD]

Its cheesy and my dean talks about it too much, but really, keeping your dreams alive is important as they will carry you through your tough times. Its easy to get so caught up in the work that you forget your goals and therefore your motivation.

I would add two important amendments to the whole "dreams" spiel:
- Sometimes dreams hurt as much by coming true as by not coming true.
- Dreams (and goals) can change over time, and it is perfectly normal.

 

[sde780]

I read every single post in this thread: great advice everyone!

I am a P1 in the fall, have 300+ hrs volunteer experience in a retail pharmacy and am doing a 3 year hospital internship, working full time in the summers. Glad I got an internship early!

I need to make it a goal to be more social once school starts...work and classes are going to kill what free time I have left

 

[AlPacino]

Just some friendly advice from your neighborhood owle. Also, tl;dr.

It's a roller-coaster. The trick is to enjoy the highs and get through the lows. Adjusting to grad school is ridiculous. Humbling to say the least. What you (generic you) need to remember is that you are not alone. Most people put on a brave face because really who wants to admit how hard it is or how badly they are doing? So don't get down just because you seem to be having a worse time at it than others. Others are suffering at least as much as you. Make friends in your class, they are the only ones who really know what you are going through.

Some things that I find helpful:

Stop comparing yourself to your classmates. Nothing good will come of this. Everyone is unique, so don't think about how so-and-so is better than you (or does better than you) at such-and-such. Just focus on doing the best you can.

Don't tie your sense of self-worth into your academic performance. I had no idea what a large percent of my identity was tied to my grades until I started really struggling. Learn to separate yourself from your grades or make them a small part of your overall self-esteem.

Aim high, but don't let it get to you when you fail to live up to your expectations. I might be getting repetitive here, but it is important to not let it get to you when are struggling more than you ever have before. It is quite an adjustment to go from being at the top to struggling to swim. Which leads me to my next point:

Speaking for myself, I never thought that I had an attitude or anything like that, but damn once I started failing behind I learned how I viewed myself. I never really struggled before in work or school and did not appreciate what that experience would be like. You learn a lot about yourself and get a better sense of your own attitudes when you stop being at the top of the pack for the first time. I realized that I really did have an attitude that was tied directly to owning at school and work (unrelated to pharmacy). I think I have done a pretty good job reining it in now (because I am so awesome like that), but that was a very hard thing to go through. You learn to adjust to the new curve and perhaps grow as a person.

I am not sure if I typed this up for anyone reading or for myself. It was therapeutic typing all that out. Sorry I made it so long, but you were warned at the top!

Anyone else want to share some advice to the incoming class? Also, if you are an incoming student, feel free to ask me/us anything!

Thank you, that is great advice.

 

[ManUnderFire]

I stumbled upon this thread through owle, and I'm glad I did. Although many of the points are pharm specific, there are still universal principles applicable to any health profession school (as was mentioned by others in this thread).

 

[Billy Madison]

I am also really enjoying this thread


"Back to school, back to school... To prove to dad I'm not a fool. Got my backpack on, my shoes tied tight, hope I don't get in a fight."

 

[pharmerbird]

Thanks for the thread! I'm starting this fall and can't wait. I'd like to hear tips from the students with kids and a spouse. :

I would love to hear from people with children also! My daughter will be four when I start pharmacy school next year and everyone I speak to (who hasn't ever been to pharmacy or grad school) are like "how the hell are you going to be able to do both??!?"

I know it's possible just wondering how everyone manages...

 

[joetrisman]

I would love to hear from people with children also! My daughter will be four when I start pharmacy school next year and everyone I speak to (who hasn't ever been to pharmacy or grad school) are like "how the hell are you going to be able to do both??!?"

I know it's possible just wondering how everyone manages...

I know a single mom with twins who did it. If she can do it, nobody has an excuse imo.

 

[crazybob]

I would love to hear from people with children also! My daughter will be four when I start pharmacy school next year and everyone I speak to (who hasn't ever been to pharmacy or grad school) are like "how the hell are you going to be able to do both??!?"

I know it's possible just wondering how everyone manages...

I knew three guys who came to school 3 hours away from their home with wives and children. They constantly kept in touch using their cell phones while studying, and they went home every weekend to do chores around the house and to spend time with their families.

I did hear from them that they studied all the time during the week so they could go home on Friday.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

I am a single mother, I adopted my child so there is no child support or alimony or anything like that. I work nearly 25 hours a week at a pharmacy a few minutes away from my home. I am a non traditional student that had a successful career before starting pharmacy school. My daughter is 8 1/2 and I am in my third year. This is how I have done it.

After a full day of classes I come home and help my daughter with her homework. Then I make dinner, we eat, she plays for a little while, and then she goes to sleep at 8:00pm. I sleep no later than 9:00pm. Truth be told I am exhausted at this point and any attempt to actually study would result in very little information being retained. How long I sleep depends on what my schedule is like. If there is a test in the near future but still at least two weeks away I sleep from 9:00pm until 4am. I get up at 4am and study until 6am and then get my daughter up and off to school for her and me. If the test is closer, say a week away, I get up at 2am and study until 6am. If the test is one to two days away I get up at midnight and study until 6am. This is a pretty regular schedule for me and is why by the time the semester is over I am pretty wiped out.

It most certainly can be done but the more support you have the better.

 

[Rx by mail]

When I started pharmacy school, my youngest was starting 1st grade (and my older child was starting HS).

Managing your time... and priorities, is the key to being a non-trad pharmacy student with a family. I didn't work my P1 year, which was easier (of course that year was easier too) but felt like I was missing out on the experience (and draining our savings more than I wanted to), so started an intern position the summer before P2 year.

My average schedule was a bit different than the prior post. I'm more of a night owl.

I would study at night, around (and often during) the kids extra activities. Heck, the other parents at gymnastics / soccer / swimming mostly sit around and read magazines or chit-chat, so bringing my school bag for an hour of review time wasn't an issue. Flash cards went with me everywhere - 10 minutes of waiting for an appointment or in traffic couldn't be wasted.

I would study with the kids while they did their homework, think of it as family bonding time... in a twisted kind of way.

I would study while they were they were watching TV or playing with friends (two magic words... "play date").

I would study mostly after they went to bed. My normal bed time during the semester was about 1 AM, which meant I could get a solid 4-5 hours in just after bedtime. I needed to get up by 6 to get everyone ready in the morning, but if there was a test I was worried about, I would get up at 4 to study for a couple more quiet hours.

I would study at school - no brainer, but time between or after class and during lunch is child free - don't waste it!

I never pulled an all-nighter, I needed at least a little sleep to function.

I also had to accept that I may not get as good grades as I had hoped, it was a trade off. To balance school, family, work and sleep - sometimes family time had to bow to school demands and when needed, study time took second place to the people I was studying so hard for.

I recooped by using the perks of being a student (hello - 3 weeks for Christmas break and summer vacation!) to spend special time with my family.

Thankfully, I didn't need to do it all - my husband pulled his share X about 1000%. He was on call if someone was sick, or forgot their homework/lunch money/shoes/whatever. He made sure everyone was in bed at night and up in the morning. My friends, family, co-workers, and even my children's friends' parents went out of their way to support my study time, and family time, in ways that I never would have expected. I did also volunteer with some of my kids activities - but I'm not sure I would recommend a regular commitment like that to anyone else... in hind site, that was pretty crazy!