<p>@Sugarcookie</p>
<p>For AP creds, bio is good if you want to reduce your workload.Personally, I APed out of bio, but that made the jump in workload between my 1st and 2nd year pretty huge. So yeah, it kinda depends. </p>
<p>Anyways, Im a 3rd year now and there are definitely people in it just to make money; saying that everyone here is SUPER into being a pharmacist is simply not true as one poster suggested, though some definitely are. As for workload, it gets worse progressively till your 4th year, which is the worst year unanimously. But, Ill go into a bit more detail below. </p>
<p>First off I gotta say, if you can manage your time well and youre interested in pharmacy, this is a good major for you. Otherwise its pretty dammed tough. </p>
<p>Anyways, 1st year is pretty easy
Gen chem has a bunch of people who arent sure that they want to be science majors and the exams are easier than AP chem and the curve is nice. Calc 1 (135) is a complete joke if youve taken calc before; I literally opened my book twice and got an A. Psychology is a joke, chem lab is a joke, etc. Your only possible obstacles are Expository writing I&II, which is pretty annoying.
As for bio, I didnt take it personally, but I hear its not too hard either, though it will increase your workload obviously.</p>
<p>2nd year, Orgo is definitely killer; a significant amount of people drop pharmacy because of this. Systems physiology 2nd semester is also pretty hard. Other than core science courses, 2nd year isnt bad either, though youll probably be taking 15-18 credits each semester.</p>
<p>Now in 3rd year, you definitely get some spare time, but its significantly less than before. You WILL have to study a lot (like constant studying a week in advance for some exams), so make sure youre ready for that.</p>
<p>As for your 4th and 5th years? You won’t have a life, not gonna lie. Anytime I talk to a 4th year, theyre studying. Its exam after exam after exam. I hear 5th year is a bit less intense because you don’t have as many exams but its still similar in workload intensity.</p>
<p>On the bright side, the professors and material in your professional years are better, so its not as boring to study. Id also like to add that Im not a happy pharmacy student, (if you haven’t already noticed), so I have a negative viewpoint lol. There are def exceptions though, so dont be scared away from pharm because of me, there are definitely happy pharm students here. </p>
<p>@collegebiomed
I have to say, there are instances of unhealthy competition in pharmacy. For example in my biochem class, everyone creates their own number under which their grades will be posted online. (So you can see everyones grades, but not their identity) This person wrote down several of her classmates numbers just to keep tabs on their grades. In addition, around 20 minutes before an exam, she didnt even wake up their roommate (also a pharm student) even though she was in the room the whole time. Obviously these people aren’t common, but they do exist.</p>
<p>@mom2239 </p>
<p>Rutgers pharmacy is one of the higher ranked pharmacy programs if I recall correctly. We have a really good fellowship program here because Rutgers is so close to industry. </p>
<p>The pharmacy professors are generally of pretty good quality, many are extremely sharp and experienced in their specialties (In many classes youll have many professors for each class teaching about their specialties). I know a student who transferred from USP and she says Rutgers is a lot better. As for the cons, workload as I already mentioned, and the class size is big (200+ students).</p>
The more I look into EMSOP, the more I’m liking it over other 6 year pharmacy programs.</p>