# Pre-Pharmacy Students



## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

So I've been in and out of about 3 different majors and now I'm really thinking about becoming a pharmacist because it's originally the job I always wanted and I just found out all you need is up to Calculus 1. Someone a while ago told me you need up to Calculus 3 and that's what immediately steered me away. Now however I spoke to someone familiar and did research and now I know it's mostly science and some ethics and natural healing remedies. I've always been interested in medicines and look them up in my free time for fun sometimes to see what they do, side effects, how long they stay in your system. 
I've always been interested in medicines but what scared me away was thinking you have to go to school for 8 years but I just found out pre-pharmacy is 16 months to 2 years max and then you do 4 years of studying nothing but pharmacy related things so I can be more determined knowing everything I study is useful towards my career. 
I haven't registered or picked classes but I'm accepted and I can switch majors right now. I wanted to know if pre-pharmacy, since it's all science and some math, would it require lots of interaction with people compared to what I have right now as my current major which is finance?
Also how much work is it? I currently don't study for physics and I get about an 85 on every test but I know high school is easier than college. 
Also would there be more girls in my class compared to with a finance major? I get very nervous around attractive girls let alone just people in general make me nervous but mostly around girls.
Also how difficult is it for anybody here currently in pharmacy school or pre-pharm?
I'm an average student in everything but I do poorly in math. History I do above average because I am good at memorizing things, I pretty much memorize all the definitions and spit them out on a test. 
Physics if I pay attention I get most of everything and like I said I do average. Chemistry I had a horrible teacher and the entire class failed we were all basically curved and passed that way so I don't know how I would do with a better teacher.
Please share any experiences with me I just wanna know what it's like what to expect and stuff like that and difficulty for an average student like me. 

Thanks


----------



## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

Is no one here doing anything medical like pharmacy?


----------



## QuietnSociable (Apr 1, 2014)

I'm a first year pharmacy student. While you do need at least two years of prerequisites most schools prefer a bachelors degree. Not to say you can't get into pharmacy school without the prerequisites alone but in my class of 80 there are like one or two people without bachelors degree. Something to think about. Also you can major in anything, you just need to do the prerequisites. It helps to have volunteer experience, which is scary for someone with social anxiety but somehow I managed. As for calculus, I have never seen a school require 3 semesters of it. I took 2 semester of it but ended up going to a school that only required one semester. Are there girls in these classes? yes, I'm female. One thing about science courses is that it pays to befriend your classmates so that you have to opportunity to join a review session, or they can make the labs a hell of a lot easier. Going it alone can be challenging, I know this because of my SA i ended up doing a lot of my work alone and suffering from severe burn out towards the end of the semester. If I were you I would also join a pre-pharmacy student organization just to help your confidence. If you are doing average then you need to change your study habits. Hope this helps.


----------



## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

QuietnSociable said:


> I'm a first year pharmacy student. While you do need at least two years of prerequisites most schools prefer a bachelors degree. Not to say you can't get into pharmacy school without the prerequisites alone but in my class of 80 there are like one or two people without bachelors degree. Something to think about. Also you can major in anything, you just need to do the prerequisites. It helps to have volunteer experience, which is scary for someone with social anxiety but somehow I managed. As for calculus, I have never seen a school require 3 semesters of it. I took 2 semester of it but ended up going to a school that only required one semester. Are there girls in these classes? yes, I'm female. One thing about science courses is that it pays to befriend your classmates so that you have to opportunity to join a review session, or they can make the labs a hell of a lot easier. Going it alone can be challenging, I know this because of my SA i ended up doing a lot of my work alone and suffering from severe burn out towards the end of the semester. If I were you I would also join a pre-pharmacy student organization just to help your confidence. If you are doing average then you need to change your study habits. Hope this helps.


Thank you for replying, and the school I got into with the pre-pharmacy program has a 60% acceptance rate so I doubt it's considered good enough to let me get into any pharmacy schools especially one around here because I want to commute because of my SA. I guess this isn't the profession for me then since I have no social skills and I have horrible study habits. Thank you for replying, you did give me a reality check. I thought it was all easy science lol.


----------



## Bert Reynolds (Dec 18, 2013)

I was planning to get my pharmD at one point but decided not to, as I was interested in how medicine works too (still am). Obviously I'm not in the program for it but at the time when I had the interest I did my fair share of research. To answer your questions, yes there is quite a big female population in the field but that goes for just about the entire medical industry--nurses, PA's, etc. I hear the average girl is attractive looking too, fyi. It seems you have a good memory which is always a big help when studying any type of medicine. There are tons of things you need to memorize. As far as the socialization aspect goes, yes there is also a great deal of interaction required on your part not only in the classroom but also when you enter the profession. In class, if I'm not mistaken, you will have to do mock presentations later on in your studies as if you were consulting a customer/patient. This will prepare you for when you start working which entails you to interact with the public a lot of the time. Being in the medical field is greatly people-oriented, meaning you work with people constantly--both indirectly/directly. That's just how it works and you wouldn't have a job in it if it weren't for that because basically that's what you are there for..to help people. That brings up another point, are you a people person? You don't have to be the most social person but do you enjoy helping people? I think that is an important question to ask yourself to help you decide if this is a good fit for you. Keep in mind, there is usually no room for advancement either when you're a pharmacist. It is an interesting job and the pay is very good (varies where you live, etc.) but technically there are no promotions to a higher level position as there are when taking a job in Finance. You can switch jobs and move around but the actual pay itself will not increase. Last thing you should be aware of is to not be fooled into thinking being accepted at a credible pharmacy school is the least bit easy. Indeed, nowadays it is extremely difficult based on the high level of competition out there and it is not too far away from trying to get into med school. You should evaluate your academics and how you are as a student to see if you are truly capable of getting in and staying in--not to discourage or anything. Good luck man on your decisions.


----------



## ForeverInBloom (Oct 4, 2010)

Are you currently in high school or in college?

I was going to university for pre-med though, but dropped it since I realized I didn't have much of a passion for a medical career as I fathomed in high school. This was after taking higher science courses and getting involved in research in college.

Do you have a passion for the sciences and an interest in pharmacy? If you do, I don't see why the pre-reqs (if you really need up to calc 3) should stop you from becoming a phamarcist. One also has to take the PCAT for entry. It's not by any means an easy task, but you have to really want it and if you do, you can do it, most definitely.

I would assume that with any medical career, this would require interaction to some extent, but if you're driven enough, I'm sure you can do it. 

Either way, best of luck!


----------



## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

Bert Reynolds said:


> I was planning to get my pharmD at one point but decided not to, as I was interested in how medicine works too (still am). Obviously I'm not in the program for it but at the time when I had the interest I did my fair share of research. To answer your questions, yes there is quite a big female population in the field but that goes for just about the entire medical industry--nurses, PA's, etc. I hear the average girl is attractive looking too, fyi. It seems you have a good memory which is always a big help when studying any type of medicine. There are tons of things you need to memorize. As far as the socialization aspect goes, yes there is also a great deal of interaction required on your part not only in the classroom but also when you enter the profession. In class, if I'm not mistaken, you will have to do mock presentations later on in your studies as if you were consulting a customer/patient. This will prepare you for when you start working which entails you to interact with the public a lot of the time. Being in the medical field is greatly people-oriented, meaning you work with people constantly--both indirectly/directly. That's just how it works and you wouldn't have a job in it if it weren't for that because basically that's what you are there for..to help people. That brings up another point, are you a people person? You don't have to be the most social person but do you enjoy helping people? I think that is an important question to ask yourself to help you decide if this is a good fit for you. Keep in mind, there is usually no room for advancement either when you're a pharmacist. It is an interesting job and the pay is very good (varies where you live, etc.) but technically there are no promotions to a higher level position as there are when taking a job in Finance. You can switch jobs and move around but the actual pay itself will not increase. Last thing you should be aware of is to not be fooled into thinking being accepted at a credible pharmacy school is the least bit easy. Indeed, nowadays it is extremely difficult based on the high level of competition out there and it is not too far away from trying to get into med school. You should evaluate your academics and how you are as a student to see if you are truly capable of getting in and staying in--not to discourage or anything. Good luck man on your decisions.


I do have an interest in meds and I've always had one since I was little but honestly I barely push myself to do good in high school, in college nobody will be pushing me and then all the attractive girls on top of that. I would really like to be a pharmacist but I'll accept that I can't do it and I'll find something better cut out for me. 


ForeverInBloom said:


> Are you currently in high school or in college?
> 
> I was going to university for pre-med though, but dropped it since I realized I didn't have much of a passion for a medical career as I fathomed in high school. This was after taking higher science courses and getting involved in research in college.
> 
> ...


It's only up to calc 1, I thought it was up to calc 3 but i got wrong information from someone. I do have a bit of a passion and people do come to me for advice on meds in school haha i sort of have a bit of a pharmacist reputation but I'm decent in science, never had a passion. Just for medications but not for compounds and valences and stuff like that. I never got anything in chemistry, I had a bad teacher but still everything bored me in that class and everyone but 2 people of 18 students failed. It's the combination of organic chemistry, physics, and calculus that scare me away. I could do one at a timebut no way could i do all the 3 at a time like in the requiremnts. Reality just hit me, well thanks anyway guys


----------



## QuietnSociable (Apr 1, 2014)

It sounds like the science courses are scaring you. For many years i took 2 prerequisites each semester and took 2 in the summer in a condensed format so i can focus on one class at a time (was easy to do because i majored in humanities). Also if drugs are an area of interest you could become a pharmacologist or do something related to pharmaceutical sciences (drug development/drug discovery). I have a feeling there a far less women in pharmaceutical science and pharmacology. But I'm not 100% sure. 
Good Luck!
QnS


----------

