Welcome to life, pharmacy school. (Rant)

It's funny, they put a lot of weight, effort, into finding people for the pharmacy program that have done more than their basic pre-reqs. Not more college, necessarily, more STUFF. They are looking for well rounded people, that have some life experience, and goals. So I figure, that they might be a little more laid back in the amount of random stuff we have to regurgitate for exams. I mean, I get it, there is a LOT to know. I'm talking like the one sentence random facts that we can look up in a reputable reference in a matter of seconds if we need it. Like gram to grain conversions, equations, clinical dosing recommendation...They give us a class on looking this up, even. An entire, GPA weighted (thank goodness, I needed that!) course on how to look up drug info. But it seems that this is the very stuff they test us on.

I mean sure, if I was living at home, with mom and dad paying for my school, with no family, no bedtime, no job, no bills, I could do it. If my life was on flashcards, you bet I would know those facts. But they want to target, to recruit these people, that balance life, jobs, bills, families even, experiences, with these piles of reproducible facts.

Last year, I dealt. I chalked it up to pregnancy and a full time course load, two things I hadn't done in the last few years. But now, it's almost like they are wasting my time. Not because what I am learning isn't valuable, but because the way I have to present it is simply unrealistic. Am I going to compound something for a patient when the rx is given in grains, without looking up the conversion factor? No. I can tell you right now, it's 15.4 grains per gram. 65 mg per grain. But in ten years when that script floats into my pharmacy? You bet I'll look that up.

And when I spend a couple hours, studying for some quizzes, when I make sure I am there, every day, in that seat....When I leave before the sun, to study and have parking...And I take the quiz, to be told it doesn't count, and that the students that came in as the quiz was being collected will get the same "points" as me...It's frustrating. If you are going to make a point, to get people "like me" to fill the seats in your program, it would be awesome if you designed the coursework to what we will do in real life. Cause I'm living it. I've got the anxious second grader, the husband who is worried about job security. I've got no healthcare. I've got the mortgage, the job. I have the teething baby up keeping me company when I am studying at 4am, because that's when I can fit it in. I've got the sick grandma, the laid off dad, the brother who is trying to catch what life is throwing him. And I plan on being there for them too. And I'm not going to put that on the back burner. I picked this. That is why I'm here. That is how I got here. Their needs, their support, my goals, my needs. That's why I do this. And I will get through this. Pharmacy school doesn't really fit into life so well, but I'm trying. Welcome to life, pharmacy school.

My lack of memorizing flashcard facts and optimal dosing that will likely change when I graduate won't get me A's for sure. That won't help me compete for a residency, but at this point, I can't afford to spend my time for anyone that expects me to pick my GPA over my valued free time. I guess it's a good thing I ruled out med school long ago....