What would a Pharmacy Student need in his backpack?

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Sheneman

Sheneman

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Hello Pharmacy Students,

I am starting to formulate a list of things I would need in my backpack for Pharmacy School.

What are some items that you would say came in handy? I already have a nice Swiss Gear backpack. I was thinking maybe getting another Expanding File (came in handy for my undergrad) and a smart watch, but what else would you say was useful?

Thank you!
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a laptop, a few writing utensils of your choice. some snacks. your school will probably give you a list of required materials during orientation, such as a specific calculator that you'll use during exams. they will probably require you buy a stethoscope at some point which you will use once to demonstrate your ability to measure blood pressure with it and then it will collect dust somewhere for the next several years until you decide to finally throw it away. honestly, you don't really need anything special compared to undergrad unless instructed differently during your school-specific orientation, so just do what you did back then. if you like to print out slides and highlight the **** out of them, get some highlighters.
 
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giga said:
a laptop, a few writing utensils of your choice. some snacks. your school will probably give you a list of required materials during orientation, such as a specific calculator that you'll use during exams. they will probably require you buy a stethoscope at some point which you will use once to demonstrate your ability to measure blood pressure with it and then it will collect dust somewhere for the next several years until you decide to finally throw it away. honestly, you don't really need anything special compared to undergrad unless instructed differently during your school-specific orientation, so just do what you did back then. if you like to print out slides and highlight the **** out of them, get some highlighters.
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Hold off on buying a laptop until it gets closer to the start of school because the school may want you to have a specific type. Other than that, I recommend all of this plus caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine.
 
Sheneman said:
I don't plan on posting any bad posts though!
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My dear sweet summer child, complaining is what pharmacy students do.

Edited to add that you never know what the deans of your school might get upset about, and it really is a bad idea for you to have your full name and photo on this site. People can and do get expelled from pharmacy school for what they post online. Do yourself a favor and create a new account here and make sure your social media accounts are locked down before school starts.
 
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I think a smart watch would be useless for school. I also think a laptop/tablet is a waste of money if solely purchased for school. Just use the computer lab for internet and printing. A notebook or 3-ring binder for printed powerpoints is all I needed for notes and studying. Don't go overboard.
 
Smart watch could come in handy!
I use mine solely for reading texts and checking my calendar periodically.
I wouldn't get an apple watch, there are cheaper alternatives for it.
 
In terms of whether or not to purchase a laptop, find out first from the school if they will supply your class with any electronic device like a laptop or tablet. My school recently started dishing out iPads to all incoming P1 students. I've heard rumors of other schools that actually supply laptops to their students.

For school supplies, those largely depend on your learning and/or study habits & style. The visual learners in my class seem to have abundance of colorful markers, different colored pens, color-coded binders, etc. Pretty stuff. The audio learners show up with a recorder and AA batteries. The school library "residents" show up with intimidating, bulging back packs, housing nearly all the--required & non-required--textbooks.

Nonetheless, by mid-term or towards the end of your fist semester, you will figure out what works best for you; supplies, study habits, e.t.c.

Good luck!
 
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Niosh said:
I think a smart watch would be useless for school. I also think a laptop/tablet is a waste of money if solely purchased for school. Just use the computer lab for internet and printing. A notebook or 3-ring binder for printed powerpoints is all I needed for notes and studying. Don't go overboard.
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How long have you been out of school? **** goes sideways when the wifi so much as slows down at my school.
 
A lightweight laptop with a super long battery life and a student copy of Adobe Acrobat (for taking notes on PDFs for lecture) and Dropbox (for storing all those lecture notes anywhere and everywhere) and a long power cord. A portable mouse might be nice, too. Throw in a pair of headphones and you have everything you need.
 
Niosh said:
I think a smart watch would be useless for school. I also think a laptop/tablet is a waste of money if solely purchased for school. Just use the computer lab for internet and printing. A notebook or 3-ring binder for printed powerpoints is all I needed for notes and studying. Don't go overboard.
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If your school is anything like mine was, the laptop is practically mandatory. So many random guest lectures where there was no posting of lecture notes in advance and none printed for students. The lecturer would post right at the start of class, so it couldn't have been printed in advance.

Annoying to sit there for a wasted hour and feel like you will have to go back and rewatch the lecture just to take your notes. The laptop is definitely easier (I tried valiantly to stick with printed paper).
 
Leper Messiah said:
How long have you been out of school? **** goes sideways when the wifi so much as slows down at my school.
Click to expand...

Not that long. I mean, other students were SOL if the wifi dropped, that's why I was pro-paper. The battery never died in my paper either.

radio frequency said:
If your school is anything like mine was, the laptop is practically mandatory. So many random guest lectures where there was no posting of lecture notes in advance and none printed for students. The lecturer would post right at the start of class, so it couldn't have been printed in advance.
Annoying to sit there for a wasted hour and feel like you will have to go back and rewatch the lecture just to take your notes. The laptop is definitely easier (I tried valiantly to stick with printed paper).
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We had few guest lecturers, so it wasn't a problem at my school. But even when I forgot to print notes or whatever I would just take notes on a blank sheet or the back of the previous day's slides.

A lot of things/tech might be nice to have, but not needed. The only things mandatory for me was something to write on and something to write with. When you're already spending 100k+ on tuition do you really need to spend a few thousand more on other crap? Then again, whats a few more thousand when you're already 100k in the hole.
 
If you went through pharmacy school without any mobile device (at least a tablet) of your own, you're most likely a decade away or less from applying for your 401K disbursements (free of penalty). Otherwise, you deserve a medal!

Even with a very capable tablet, laptop is a must for pharmacy school, in my own opinion. A reliable desktop at home is a viable alternative too.
 
Whatever you need to take notes and your work badge/ID because you should be going to work at your intern/tech job right after class.
 
CYP-0 said:
If you went through pharmacy school without any mobile device (at least a tablet) of your own, you're most likely a decade away or less from applying for your 401K disbursements (free of penalty). Otherwise, you deserve a medal!

Even with a very capable tablet, laptop is a must for pharmacy school, in my own opinion. A reliable desktop at home is a viable alternative too.
Click to expand...
I had a palm pilot - and I am 2 decades from retirement if I am lucky
 
I graduated in 2009 and I never used a mobile device in pharmacy school. I had a laptop. We would get print outs of the PowerPoint presentations and most would just take notes on that. Almost nobody brought their computer to lecture.
 
In undergrad I never, ever brought my laptop to class. I always printed free from the library and brought the power points to class, or was given handouts or something.

Now, I do nothing BUT rely on my laptop and I never thought I would do that. Some professors talk so fast that writing out what they're saying is just impractical for me personally. I type way faster than I can write, too, which is an advantage. For you, I would definitely have a laptop and charger in your backpack. Its good to have to take notes, or even troll around the internet if you zone out lol. I'm surprised some schools supply laptops. Mine doesn't care what you have, so long as you have something to take exams on at the very least.
 
For me it's...

-Laptop
-A pen
-Blank notebook that I rarely need
-Clicker for clicker questions that I rarely need
-A calculator that I am yet to use (they always provide their own that they make us use on tests)

Trying to take notes is nearly pointless. All the testable information has usually been in the slides and since lectures are video recorded you can always review them anyways. I skip all classes that aren't mandatory but when I am in class I usually just pull up the Powerpoint and follow along. I've been in the top 10% in most classes. In terms of studying I usually make an outline of the Powerpoint (usually take 1-2 hours per lecture hour for the tough classes) or if I get too far behind I just print the Powerpoint and read along; highlighting what's important for quick review.

In undergrad you HAD to take notes because some professors didn't even use Powerpoints and the lectures weren't video recorded. I remember in biochemistry the professor would just put some random picture on the slide and talk for 15 minutes explaining it. In pharmacy school it's totally different; easier material but it comes at you 3x faster. Seems like the people who are taking extensive notes and attending every class are actually the ones who are overwhelmed and doing poorly; it's not an efficient use of time.

I have a cell phone with Lexi-comp on it but haven't really had to use it. In terms of school the only other thing I really use it for it to filter emails. I also have my schedule synced on my phone but haven't really needed it.
 
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Niosh said:
I think a smart watch would be useless for school. I also think a laptop/tablet is a waste of money if solely purchased for school. Just use the computer lab for internet and printing. A notebook or 3-ring binder for printed powerpoints is all I needed for notes and studying. Don't go overboard.
Click to expand...

A laptop is mandatory. All assignments are accessed and submitted online, every single lecture is online, video recording of lectures are online, your course schedule is online and updated online, you get 10 emails every day from the school/classmates/organizations, your test scores are accessed online, you pick rotations online, literally everything you do is on your computer. In fact some lectures required a laptop to submit stuff during in-class assignments and register our clickers.

Smartwatch is probably pointless but I have seen people using the surface pro to write notes on the screen. I don't do that though, lol.
 
ldiot said:
Seems like the people who are taking extensive notes and attending every class are actually the ones who are overwhelmed and doing poorly; it's not an efficient use of time.
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Not true, I always have professor who would have some notes pop up in their power point only in lecture and they do ask question from them. Some would only put images and no text but would talk about them and have question on it. I have seen people getting killed by missing classes. Back in undergraduate, I hardly attended class unless there was attendance taken but pharmacy school definately changed that for me. Of course, there will be people like you who won't need to go to class but we don't know how OP is in school. Anyways, you are paying $$$, why not just attend? Also, you retain better if you have exposure to material several times.
 
CMUchicka said:
Not true, I always have professor who would have some notes pop up in their power point only in lecture and they do ask question from them. Some would only put images and no text but would talk about them and have question on it. I have seen people getting killed by missing classes. Back in undergraduate, I hardly attended class unless there was attendance taken but pharmacy school definately changed that for me. Of course, there will be people like you who won't need to go to class but we don't know how OP is in school. Anyways, you are paying $$$, why not just attend? Also, you retain better if you have exposure to material several times.
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Yeah I guess it just depends on the professor and school. After a few weeks you'll have an idea of what will work best for you. Like for me personally I would catch those extra things when watching the lecture at home and add them in red to my handwritten outline and my friends and I would also be alerting each other on that kind of stuff.
 
ldiot said:
Yeah I guess it just depends on the professor and school. After a few weeks you'll have an idea of what will work best for you. Like for me personally I would catch those extra things when watching the lecture at home and add them in red to my handwritten outline and my friends and I would also be alerting each other on that kind of stuff.
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Yeah, for us though those tiny details are not available on student version of power point so either you have to attend or ask friends.. Electives have pop up quizzes which forces people to go.
 
Backpack (large purse): have a surface pro(+ surface pen) so all my notes are saved in Onedrive and I use the pen and Drawboard program to take handwritten notes on the pdf files. Printed notes didn't work well for me because of my struggle with organizing and remembering which classes I had to print the notes for the next day and compound the frustration when you do remember, but the professor didn't post early enough. Digital is also awesome because it is much easier to search through past semester notes; I regret not going all digital sooner. Of course, it sucks when a computer crashes, but as long as everything is in OneDrive or similar you can just use another computer (rent from library, the old one that you keep in the bottom of your desk, your roommate's) to access the information.

Also: Multi-pocket (6 pocket) folder for returned exams, a few sheets of note paper, and the hand-written study notes I take from the digital copy. Comfortable headphones, some writing utensils, a mini stapler, a standard calculator and a packet of tea because I need caffeine and can get free hot water from the main office's Keurig. Really my bag is not very full.
 
CYP-0 said:
If you went through pharmacy school without any mobile device (at least a tablet) of your own, you're most likely a decade away or less from applying for your 401K disbursements (free of penalty). Otherwise, you deserve a medal!

Even with a very capable tablet, laptop is a must for pharmacy school, in my own opinion. A reliable desktop at home is a viable alternative too.
Click to expand...

I stuck with my smart phone and home PC. Which were things I already owned.

ldiot said:
A laptop is mandatory. All assignments are accessed and submitted online, every single lecture is online, video recording of lectures are online, your course schedule is online and updated online, you get 10 emails every day from the school/classmates/organizations, your test scores are accessed online, you pick rotations online, literally everything you do is on your computer. In fact some lectures required a laptop to submit stuff during in-class assignments and register our clickers.
Click to expand...
I would kind of agree. I would say access to a computer is mandatory. I'm taking the, maybe large, assumption that the school will have a PC lab. Maybe even with laptop rental/checkouts. All the things you mentioned are true, and I did most all on the school's PCs or my smartphone.
 
A selfie stick. If you take multiple selfies 0f yourself your professors will notice you are technologically advanced and you will stand out in the crowd. It will assure you of a high paying job upon graduation.
Also, a box of twinkies. they never go out of date and should last your entire college career.
 
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the mindset necessary to make the OP.
LOL.

This is like carefully planning out which toothpaste to use before a marathon run.
 
CMUchicka said:
Not true, I always have professor who would have some notes pop up in their power point only in lecture and they do ask question from them. Some would only put images and no text but would talk about them and have question on it. I have seen people getting killed by missing classes. Back in undergraduate, I hardly attended class unless there was attendance taken but pharmacy school definately changed that for me. Of course, there will be people like you who won't need to go to class but we don't know how OP is in school. Anyways, you are paying $$$, why not just attend? Also, you retain better if you have exposure to material several times.
Click to expand...

Tell me that after you've been through four or five of Rowles's lectures. The CVS RxS one day literally set up shop in front of Cholla and was handing out coffee, donuts, caffeine tabs, and Monster ahead of her lecture to meet and recruit one day (it was really effective). There was actually a posted rule from the division chair about not laughing at Melanie (Lysik) Jordan's inevitable math screw-ups (the pharmacokinetics professor), who you specifically ditched as she would confuse the hell out of you.

To the OP, it'll be obvious when you arrive what you'll need. I'd personally carry whatever I'd use for my drug reference (Lexi in my case on my phone), earplugs/headphones for the really boring lectures or library work, and if UT, the roster of which bar's happy hour is the best that evening, and if at UH, the UTHealth schedule for pharmaceutical rep pageants (free food, drink, and eye candy).
 
lord999 said:
Tell me that after you've been through four or five of Rowles's lectures. The CVS RxS one day literally set up shop in front of Cholla and was handing out coffee, donuts, caffeine tabs, and Monster ahead of her lecture to meet and recruit one day (it was really effective). There was actually a posted rule from the division chair about not laughing at Melanie (Lysik) Jordan's inevitable math screw-ups (the pharmacokinetics professor), who you specifically ditched as she would confuse the hell out of you.
Click to expand...
Lol, yeah I have heard that.. I will let you know when I attend that. And about Jordon's lecture, 50 % of our class stopped going after second exam knowing the amount of mistakes she made in lecture. I am sure people won't go to her pharmacokinetics class. Unlike others, I did attend all of her lectures despite of the fact that she confuses people. The guit of missing classes kills me so I would rather sit there and do my other homework or mindlessly copy what she is teaching.. But I like her because her exams are very straightforward but that may change next quarter.
 
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CetiAlphaFive said:
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the mindset necessary to make the OP.
LOL.

This is like carefully planning out which toothpaste to use before a marathon run.
Click to expand...


You are being to harsh. What is placed in his backpack will be what he has for his entire academic career. It is very important. He may want to stop all of his classmates and ask them what they have in their backpacks. Next week we will be picking clothes that he should wear to class and lab. I am hoping for pictures of choices will be available so we can help decide. This is another very important issue that needs to be addressed to ensure his success. After that, maybe "what should I have for lunch"?
 
As someone who types faster than I handwrite: a laptop (my item I use the most)
Others that I use PRN: pen/pencil, calculator, scratch paper, caffeine tablets, earbuds, my phone, phone charger (if you study at your school too), and Tylenol.
 
Old said:
You are being to harsh. What is placed in his backpack will be what he has for his entire academic career. It is very important. He may want to stop all of his classmates and ask them what they have in their backpacks. Next week we will be picking clothes that he should wear to class and lab. I am hoping for pictures of choices will be available so we can help decide. This is another very important issue that needs to be addressed to ensure his success. After that, maybe "what should I have for lunch"?
Click to expand...
Could you PM me what you would wear? Like the OP I am also preparing for Pharmacy School, and would like to know. I was planning on working this summer to get the items that will be needed (school supplies and clothes mostly)
 
FuturePharmerOfAmerica said:
Could you PM me what you would wear? Like the OP I am also preparing for Pharmacy School, and would like to know. I was planning on working this summer to get the items that will be needed (school supplies and clothes mostly)
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http://www.uh.edu/pharmacy/_documents/students/pharmd/UHCOP_Professional_Dress_Code_2010.pdf

Assuming that you are a guy, business casual with the possibility of a tie or scrubs if warranted. Basically, if you worked as a tech, what a tech wears. Assuming you are a lady, then what you would wear to church (but pumps not heels) as business casual standards for women have a wider line of interpretation.

(*Disgusted*, there really has to be a dress code policy in a pharmacy school?! At least it isn't the old days where you actually had to wear exactly a white shirt, black tie, and black slacks with black or brown shoes. Such a legal and political environment we work in now.)
 
lord999 said:
http://www.uh.edu/pharmacy/_documents/students/pharmd/UHCOP_Professional_Dress_Code_2010.pdf


(*Disgusted*, there really has to be a dress code policy in a pharmacy school?! At least it isn't the old days where you actually had to wear exactly a white shirt, black tie, and black slacks with black or brown shoes. Such a legal and political environment we work in now.)
Click to expand...

I would rather prefer that dress code, people come in shorts to class. lt feels like i am back in undergraduate with that community college feeling lol
 
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FuturePharmerOfAmerica said:
Could you PM me what you would wear? Like the OP I am also preparing for Pharmacy School, and would like to know. I was planning on working this summer to get the items that will be needed (school supplies and clothes mostly)
Click to expand...


Sounds like you are leaving home for the first time and a little bit afraid of making your own decisions. Scary, right? However everyday you will have to make decisions on your own. Although we would all like to help you make them, what time to get up for class, how long should I study, when is the best time to study, should I carry a pen or a pencil or both? The list goes on and on and on.

Maybe this OP should be in the Pre-pharmacy forum where others are trying to make the same difficult decisions. Lots of decisions ahead. Nobody can help with them. Seriously, asking everybody what you should carry in your backpack?
 
Is this a real thread?

Bring one binder with some scratch paper, a couple pens and pencils, and a calculator and of course laptop/tablet. That's it.
 
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Old said:
Sounds like you are leaving home for the first time and a little bit afraid of making your own decisions. Scary, right? However everyday you will have to make decisions on your own. Although we would all like to help you make them, what time to get up for class, how long should I study, when is the best time to study, should I carry a pen or a pencil or both? The list goes on and on and on.

Maybe this OP should be in the Pre-pharmacy forum where others are trying to make the same difficult decisions. Lots of decisions ahead. Nobody can help with them. Seriously, asking everybody what you should carry in your backpack?
Click to expand...

I am very capable of making my own decisions, but once you've been accepted somewhere it's nice to get tips and a brief overview of what to look forward to. I don't see anything wrong with trying to gather information before I take off next year. Like you and I, every pharmacy school is different.
Thank you.
 
  • Laptop - you never know how verbose your profs will be, haha, and some profs don't leave enough white space so you can take notes.
  • Audio recorder (this could be on your phone) in case your school doesn't provide video/sound recording of lectures
  • Pen/notebook or scrap paper/calculator, etc. not a bad idea
  • Snacks for library sessions/lectures that won't end
  • Water bottle
  • Encouraging note from a parent (lololol, okay, but this could be nice)
You'll find out quickly enough what you find useful, what stuff you'll never use. Better to over-pack at first and then pare down.
 
paper/pens/highlighters or laptop/tablet depending on how you take notes
I just put all my notes into a binder with plastic dividers. At first, I used the dividers, but then I just stuffed them any old place.
headphones if you get bored of your prof
FOOD
coke or coffee
blackjack and hookers
 
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