Pharmacy school!!

[Prepharm21]

Hi everyone, I want to get an idea of what pharmacy school is like. Do all the students take the same courses there first year of pharmacy school and how many credits do they take? I'm in undergrad and I take 12 credits each semester to make me full time but I don't schedule so many difficult classes because it takes me long to study the material becasue it is alot of information. Do I have the option of how many credits I can take in pharmacy school also can you take summer classes in pharmacy school? Because even though I only take 12 credits I still take summer classes so that I am not behind. Thanks for any info you provide!

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[Kelp103]

Everyone takes the same classes minus possible electives. You can possibly be taking up to 19-21 hours of required classes per semester depending on the school. Normally summer classes are only offered if you fail (depending on the school of it's even offered) or electives. You can't choose to take less than your peers and make it up in the summer.

 

[pms_testosterone]

You generally can't adjust how many courses you take per term, since most (or all) pharmacy courses are only offered once per year. You'll just have to start studying more.

 

[GPharm19]

I was in your position last year. I'm a P1 and it's not easy. I have 22 credits this past semester, and at my school we don't pick our schedule. Except electives, which doesn't start until our P2. Our entire class was together for 8 hours taking back to back classes all day, with an hour lunch break. OUr classes are already set for our entire year...We just have to register for them when they tell us to (we went online and they told us which ones to pick). Going from 12 to 20+ credits is going to be hard, especially when it lasts all day, every day. I actually struggled a lot this past fall. We have tests/quizzes every week. My biggest adjustment/obstacle is trying to find ample study time. I took 12-14 credits in undergrad as well, and I would have half days sometimes or day off during the week, which I would use to study for an upcoming test or sleep. You don't have that in pharmacy school. It's way more material and you're in school all day.
And no, you can't drop a class and catch up later in the summer or next semester. That's not even an option. There's usually no summer school b/c its used for your rotations. My friend went to one school that had a re-take in the summer that she told me about. But it was an intro class and only if you got an F the first time around.