Working while in pharmacy school

[Brill]

How many of y'all plan on working once school starts? This has been discussed in this forum before, and I know people do it, but I was just wondering what everyone in here plans on doing. I decided today that I'm probably going to quit my job within the next few weeks before school starts at the end of August. I'm a little nervous about quitting and being without that extra little bit of income, but my school is going to be from 8 to at least 4 Mon-Fri so I don't have much of a choice (my current job is from 4-9 on weeknights). So, what are y'all gonna do?

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[jdpharmd?]

Originally posted by Brill
How many of y'all plan on working once school starts? This has been discussed in this forum before, and I know people do it, but I was just wondering what everyone in here plans on doing. I decided today that I'm probably going to quit my job within the next few weeks before school starts at the end of August. I'm a little nervous about quitting and being without that extra little bit of income, but my school is going to be from 8 to at least 4 Mon-Fri so I don't have much of a choice (my current job is from 4-9 on weeknights). So, what are y'all gonna do?

I"m going to TRY working. I'll let school go for a few weeks to "test the waters" but some places are willing to pay 1st year interns $15-16/hour, and even working only 8-10 hours per week, that would be $500 or $600/month (more than enough to pay my rent!). I just have to get my intern license the first day of class, and apparently I can get a job fairly easily.

 

[GravyRPH]

I've always said working will give you more than just money during pharmacy school. Do it or risk failing the boards.


...seriously.


I would love to see the pass/fail rates for students who worked part time in pharmacies during school. I bet there would be at least a 10% point difference in favor of those who did.

 

[neonam11]

I was looking up the schedule for the fall quarter at UCSF and it does not seem bad at all. At first I thought it would be from 9-5 like Brill's school, but I don't think this is the case at all, so I might consider working. My dilemma is whether I should work part time at my current job, as a research technician at a biotech firm and which pays much better, or get a job as an intern at a retail pharmacy which provides me with the experience needed to prepare the board as GravyRPH suggested (and eventually the hours needed to sit for the boards). Thinking about it, I think I'll go with the latter choice and work a max of 5-8 hours per week...

 

[StevenS]

working is pretty much a mandatory part of pharmacy education. there's no way you will learn much about drugs otherwise. (i briefly contemplated inserting a short memory flashback here about an old professor advising those students who were still unemployed to find jobs so that they could "start hating it like the rest of us", but i fear that would be misunderstood here )

 

[INevrLearn]

Something should also be said for the practical education received while working....

I won't say classroom work isn't important, but the real-world education on how to survive and succeed in day-to-day situations has been every bit as valuable as the pages and pages of Goodman & Gilman I've memorized.

 

[LVPharm]

I was contemplating ditching my hospital intern position and taking a retail intern position. I don't really get much exposure to a variety of drugs at the hospital. I only get to see the parenteral stuff when I work in the IV room (which is most of the time ). Much of the oral unit dose stuff is taken care of by McKesson contract technicians who operate the robot.

Although we get exposure through the experiential curriculum to retail pharmacy during the first two years (and one summer, which I just completed), it's not enough exposure for me to learn my drugs. I'll also need to "rack-up" extracurricular hours for California licensure (~1000 hours, according to my school's coordinator for community pharmacy practice).

 

[Modnar]

Someone once told me that working during the first year of pharm school is not advisable. Would you all agree with that?

 

[GravyRPH]

No.

 

[Brill]

I was just reading on the Texas State Board of Pharmacy website, and unfortunately I can't get an intern license until I've completed one year of pharmacy school. Some of y'all are able to get them on the first day of class?

Fortunately I have a hookup though. I'm friends with a pharmacy manager at a chain and he said he'd get me a job whenever I need one

 

[Modnar]

Originally posted by GravyRPH
No.

Um... care to elaborate?

 

[LVPharm]

I don't see why it wouldn't be advisable. Someone made the point to me at one time that you would get more out of your internship when you start taking therapeutics courses...you can do patient consultations and actually start to know what you're talking about. Therapeutics is during the second year at my school. First year classes at my school revolve around basic sciences. Perhaps that's what you heard before. But I don't see why it wouldn't be advisable to start a paid internship your first year. It's actually to your advantage, since you'll get more exposure to the drugs and pharmacy practice earlier on, and you'll get hours and $$.

 

[Modnar]

^ I had just heard that the classes were so difficult that one would be better off not working... but perhaps someone was just trying to scare me.

 

[LVPharm]

Actually, I fully expect my clinical coursework (my 2nd year classes) to be much more difficult than my pharmaceutical science coursework was. I found pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, immunology, etc (my 1st year classes) to be "cake". The order in which classes are taken is probably different in other schools, so my experience could be unique.

 

[UCSFpharmgirl8]

Hi you guys,

In my opinion, I actually felt that working during my 1st year of pharmacy school was very useful. I was able to make recommendations on OTC drugs to some of my patients....since that's what we covered at our school. In addition I was able to counsel my patients and learn a little bit more about the drugs, such as adverse reactions. It all depends on how much you can handle. In my case I was able to work around ~15 hours a week and still had time to study and hang out with my friends. So if you need the money, experience, or just want to be able to put your knowledge to use.....go ahead and work. I've heard that people who work in retail setting....seem to do better in their board exam....so I hope this pays off.

 

[lilmk]

hey guys

some schools do advise their students not to work the first year or at least not the first semester. i guess coursework varies from school to school and the administrators tend to advise based on patterns they've seen in the past at that particular school. at my school they advised against working the first year because i guess they had seen many students in the past drop the ball w/their studying and then have to repeat the first year. they give out advice, like i said, based on patterns they've seen before and based on what they feel their students can handle. Some students feel pharm school is soooooooooooo hard. others feel it is much easier than undergrad--it all depends on a lot of things. for example, some students had a really easy time in undergrad and so pharm school is a shock. and others went to very competitive universities so pharm school is cake. you get the picture. so faculty at our school kind of makes an umbrella statement to cover everybody and all the variables. It's weird though cuz at our school 2nd year is the most demanding but i guess by then students kind of know what to expect and how to deal w/everything. and i think that's the idea behind the advice.

my advice then...go to administrators, faculty, and students at your school and just ask them. they will let you know if students there typically work first year or not.

hope this helped a little.

 

[Heyyyyy]

It really depends on the individual. I have worked all my life(well since my late teens). I know my capabilities and when to adjust things. If you are considering to work, see it for yourself and then decide if you can handle both.