A day in the life of an RU pharmacy student

The pharmacy major at Rutgers is famous for being incredibly rigorous. But, like every program in the healthcare field, the reality is that most of the students don’t have social lives outside of academics. Lets take a look at the ins-and-outs of the program, and scare away any prospective students thinking about applying to the pharmacy school.

A typical day 

“We have pharmaceutics lab and we have that calculations quiz. I actually have to start studying for that. Then, like 20 minutes later we have pharmacy practice and management and then pharmaceutical care. Oh, and physiology recitation.”

This is what Johnny Park, my roommate, a first year professional year student said. Yes this was indeed a typical Monday for us pharmacy students. All of this took place in ARC-103 except for the recitation. We started to hate the smell and even the look of ARC. Sitting in one classroom for hours trying to learn information we can’t possibly process is the last thing we wanted to do. The professors act as if we are the smartest students and they often do stress this. But, the reality is that many students develop the skills necessary to do well on tests. The program is strictly test based and no matter how much critical thinking they try to implement, a test is a test. So, with no time for lunch everybody rushes to Woody’s, the to go to café on Busch, to grab something to eat as they rush back to ARC-103. Sitting there we think to ourselves “why the hell are we even doing this? Is it even worth it?” And before even coming to something remotely close to a conclusion, Professor Colaizzi starts class early.

The rat race for survival

“What you are stressed about everyday? Trying not to fail and trying to get that impossible A. I need those A’s to go to med school. This year we don’t even have those bullshit easy A courses.” says Johnny.

It was the same for me. Everyday we are bombarded with powerpoint slides that have the least visual appeal possible. It came to the point where the slides seem purposely designed to confuse us about the material. Everyday professors upload new material for us to read, study or take into account. This just means more work and more stuff on the exam. Everyday as Johnny and I study we feel like standing on the edge of a skyscraper with no ropes attached. Each question we miss the closer it is to falling because a high percentage of students get cut or drop out of the program. It can be viewed as motivation, but it also causes a lot of stress.

Asian sensation on Busch Campus

To an extent stereotypes have a reason. As a Korean myself I acknowledge in part some of the stereotypes put upon the Asian community are true. First, we are generally pretty good at math and sciences. Asian parents tend to have a very strict education philosophy where they believe that solving the most amount of problems and using the most hours in a day to study yields good grades. Not only that, asian parents have an obsession with professional jobs. They either want us to be doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, professors, and the list goes on. Thus it is no surprise that Busch campus is filled with Asians because Busch is basically the science and engineering campus of Rutgers.

When does the party start?

This is a question that I have not asked in a while. Usually pharmacy students lack free time because of constant weekly quizzes and material thrown at you. Once we start our professional year there is no room for slacking off; not only because of the amount of work we have to do, but because of the seriousness of the material. They call it “professional year” because all of this information is critical in our careers as pharmacists. By this time, students get more serious and engaged in their studies. My friends start using their free time to get ahead of the material because they know at one point there is going to be no time to even stay on track. At this point it makes you think that having time is an accessory. The idea of “having time” becomes flawed because we never own time but live on the principles and laws of time. That is what pharmacy school is like: being dragged by the laws of time. Trying to fit in a tight schedule, study time and extracurricular activities. You become more aware of how easy it is to lose time, but that it is hard to find.

Not every pharmacy student is a pharmacy student

A majority of students have ambitions that exceed the PharmD degree. Out of all my pharmacy friends at Rutgers, Johnny is the most devoted to achieving more than just a PharmD degree. He is an ambitious student that wants to eventually be a doctor. His greatest influence is his father because he was a volunteer physician that provided free medical service in developing countries such as the Philippines, Nepal and Mongolia. As he assisted his father, he grew a strong desire to follow in his father’s steps. He came to pharmacy school because he realized that having both a PharmD and M.D. degree can allow him to provide better medical service in general. “In those developing countries, any form of medical service is helpful, but a big problem is a lack of resources and people to provide it,” said Johnny. To achieve this goal he studies day and nights doing a bunch of extracurricular activities such as working at a hospital and also being an organic chemistry study group leader. Like Johnny, many students dream of doing dual degrees or getting another degree besides PharmD.

The beat goes on

Rutgers Pharmacy is a very demanding and selective program. What tags along with this selectivity is respect, but also high responsibilities. What this Rutgers emblem symbolizes on our white coats is what we earn with this hard work. Naturally, we question if this decision is worth it. Is all this hard work worth a PharmD degree from Rutgers? The answer to that would be different for everyone for obvious reasons. But what can be said with some certainty is that the experience itself is worth it. There is a fine, but clear line between if the product is worth it or the procedure. The product may never end up being worth it, but the procedure will benefit us in some way. The late night thoughts of dropping out, but never doing it and pushing through this shit hole; the times you just laugh with your friend because you know how fucked you are going to be on the exam; the moment you walk in your room after that 3 hour monster final – all these experiences will be points that will eventually connect. The line may not be straight and at times it will have curves, but looking back you can smile because everything turned out alright.