A Typical Monday in Pharmacy School

Hello! My name is Lauren, and I am currently in my second year of pharmacy school at PCSP.  I wanted to give you guys reading this post a little run down of what my typical day looks like and how I handle all these busy days and the required work.

My Monday class schedule consists of Medicinal Chemistry at 8:30 am, Pharmacokinetics at 10:00 am, Pharmacogenomics at 11:05 am, lunch break from 12-1:30, and then a 2 hour lab which ends at 3:30pm.  The day does not end there!  I try to make a goal to study between the hours of 3:30-6, but usually I end up taking a break from school and run a few errands or socialize with friends.  At 6, I , along with other fellow students, tutor the P1s on immunology until 7:00 pm.

Okay, let’s start from the beginning:

Honestly, I probably don’t wake up until around 7:45 am, frantically get ready for school, drive over, and immediately print out the lecture for Medchem.  I have found that actually writing the notes in this class helps me pay attention and helps with my studying because I can specifically circle or star important concepts.  Medchem lasts until 9:45, where at this point , the 15 minutes between classes fly by because I am responding to emails or getting organized for the next class.

Next up:  Kinetics
Kinetics literally makes class go by so fast!  I’ll glance up at the clock , and we’ll only have 5 minutes left of lecture.  It is a good pick me up between classes because I have just finished listening to a long lecture.  Kinetics gets me reenergized and ready to listen to genetics.  During kinetics, I am trying to write down everything our teacher says, especially when it comes to conceptual aspects because that part isn’t usually included in the notes, but can potentially be a big factor come test time.

Third class:  Pharmacogenomics
Lately, we have had a few guest lecturers come in and talk about pharmacoeconomics and infectious disease.  They relate these topics back to genetics, and I have found both the lectures to be really interesting.  I switch back and forth between taking notes on computer and hand-written notes in this class because sometimes my hand can’t write as fast as the professor teaches the class.

Lunch time:

I try to bring my lunch to school so that I can have as much time to review for a quiz, when I know there will be an in-class quiz.  If not , my friends and I like to go to the local restaurants in town (our personal favorite is Steamer’s Café) to catch a quick bite to eat and a break from school.

After lunch, I have lab for 2-3 hours where we work on our SOAP notes or we either learn about pharmacy in a hospital setting.  Either way, lab can be hectic at times because of the amount of work we complete during the time frame, but ultimately it goes by , and we can apply what we learn to our rotations sites.

Last up:  Supplemental Instruction

On Mondays, I am one of the supplemental instructors for immunology.  Students come from 6-7pm and ask any questions about topics they have covered in the class.  We usually have about 5-7 students come the week before the exam, and 2-4 students who come regularly to the sessions.  Helping the other students out is fun and rewarding!

Needless to say, my day is always full of things to do, but I wouldn’t  want it any other way.  Having a set schedule keeps me in line and on top of all my work that I have to complete.  The day that I have described is not the only aspect to the pharmacy school, and not every day is as packed as Monday.  PCSP is a wonderful school with the very best teachers, students, and resources.  Thanks for taking the time to read my post!