Rutgers Pharmacy Advice/additional questions thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rutgers University
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<p>Hi everyone I saw how popular the Rutgers Pharmacy Thread is on here and just wanted to clarify some commonly asked questions: I'll see later if I can edit this thread if you guys have any additional questions.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Rutgers Pharmacy "dismissal" rate:
To be honest many people do get dismissed/voluntarily withdraw from the program from PP1-PP2. I would say out of 230 approximately 65 or so left either because of academic issues or just decided on another career path (usually pre-med). Most left on their own and were not dismissed by the school. The empty spaces were then filled by transfers from other universities/newark/camden. I'm 2014 so no word yet on future retention rates although I heard weeding out of transfers P1 year is around 5-10.</p></li>
<li><p>Getting into Rutgers Pharmacy: (I'm class of 2014)
I believe that SAT scores are the most important to get into Rutgers Pharmacy. I had a 3.0 unweighted GPA 3.2 weighted which was crap but a 2300 on SAT using highest scores/800 on math 2/800 in US history/800 in chem. Also based on SAT scores I got a 1k/semester scholarship. I did not have any special stuff/positions in terms of clubs or volunteering. Basically 3 years marching band. 2 years MUN. 100 hrs of volunteering at JFK hospital. So yeah maybe they made a mistake on me but my only strong point was SATs. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Other friends had lower SATs but higher GPAs (3.5/1900) who did not get in so I don't know.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>AP Credits:
Ok. This is different for everyone. The Chemistry department at rutgers is known for being "not so friendly/caring." Just look at ratemyprofessor for professor siegel. But Biology takes a lot of time that you otherwise might devote to studying chem. So in selecting AP credits I would highly recommend the following:
a. AP Chemistry (Interchangeable with Biology) you will not need this knowledge/pain and suffering for orgo. In addition, the orgo prof will email you a list of topics that you might need to know (mostly hybridization).
b. AP Biology (Interchangeable with Chem). Lots of material to memorize which takes time out of your other classes. Annoying 3 hour lab. You do not need to know bio info for systems phys although it might help a bit. That class is just memorizing everything on the slides/recordings.
c. AP Languages (Because in order to recieve credit for these classes without AP you have to take 2 semesters worth of classes)
d. AP Calc (VERY EASY AT RUTGERS calc 135) do not take credit for Calc unless you absolutely have to/despise calc. Remember AB requires you to take Calc 2 which is one of the hardest math classes at rutgers apparently.
e. AP Physics (VERY EASY AT RUTGERS) do not take credit for physics because it is a joke class (elements of physics 161 is the pharm class you get a 8 1/2 X11 cheat sheet double sided)
f. AP Stats (EASY AT RUTGERS): stats for research is easy especially with professor miniere. However not so easy with some other profs. Depends on your prof.
g. AP Psych (EASY AT RUTGERS): Depending on professor though.
h. Anything else
Just remember that when you select AP credits that many elective classes are easy GPA boosters which will raise your GPA if you need to keep it above that 2.8 minimum. </p></li>
<li><p>Honors Program:
Depends on if you can handle it. You will most likely get published/great resume boost/guaranteed research etc. The rewards are great. If you feel you can take the workload (thesis writing/lab hours) then go for it. However, if you are doing honors program just to get in a lab...you do not have to be in honors program to get into a lab. </p></li>
<li><p>Rutgers Housing:
I cannot stress enough YOU SHOULD PUT DOWN THE DEPOSIT ASAP WHETHER OR NOT YOU DECIDE TO COME TO RUTGERS. This is because you will get stuck on Livingston campus. Although the housing situation is getting better there is a severe shortage which will ensure you get stuck on Livi in the quads (worst jailcells ever).
Busch is where most of upperclassmen pharm/science majors live with the best dining hall (along with neilson on cook).
Livi is just generally freshmen with crappy food/housing etc. although they are building new dining halls/student centers/paths.
College ave is where all the action takes place in terms of frats/parties/easton ave apt parties and is generally noisy until 10pm when ppl go out and then again when they come back at 3am. Although you may find that the buses will be a hassle going to your classes on busch in terms of crowding.
Cook/Douglass is just way too far for any real benefit other than food. </p></li>
<li><p>Social Life:
Your social life will not really suffer. You will definitely get the chance to party although you do have to realize you're not a communications major and will have to study when the time comes. If you decide to join the pharm frats AZO is the social PDC is more "cerebral". Both know how to have a good time although I have no doubt that AZO has the higher dropout rate lol. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Just remember though...If you go out every weekend and/or become an idiot who doesn't study you will most likely get a certified letter at your house that you have to sign for stating you are "dismissed."</p>

<ol>
<li>Curriculum "rigorousness"/Class sizes:
Class sizes are usually huge. Around 300 except for recitations which are around 40 for chem and 60 for calc and expos which are around 30 (normal high school size). Biggest class I've seen is orgo which fills ARC 103 to the brim so maybe around 600-1000?</li>
</ol>

<p>1st year
a. Gen Chem 161/162: One word. Rough. Take a look at practice exams for course Chemistry 161 or Chemistry 162 at Department</a> of Chemistry & Chemical Biology under undergrad. Then take a look at ratemyprofessors ratings for Donald Seigel who is the head honcho for 161/162. Course is 2 day 1hr 20min lectures with recitation (basically Q+A) with a TA who sometimes doesn't know what he/she is talking about. Grade is based on I believe 3 exams and 4 quizzes wh
ich you take during recitation. Exams are taken on weds at 9-11pm? Some ridiculous late hour.
b. Chem 171: The 3 hr lab course for the above course. Not that bad if you have a chill TA. Can leave early. Final is the killer. Basically open ended 161 exam. Make sure you study for the final because the final basically makes or breaks the grade. I dropped one letter grade from A to B cuz I bombed that final. </p>

<p>b. Biology 101/102
Not that bad. Lots of material. Memorize either the book or the lectures. 2 1hr 20 min lectures with a 3 hr lab. That simple. For example exams please go to StudyBlue</a> | Study anytime, anywhere with mobile notes & flashcards.. Comes with 3 hr lab in which you color pictures/look at slides/look at dead stuff. For bio 102 dissecting fetal pigs. Annoying lab practicals in which you get 1 min at a station and have to identify stuff on a slide/body part the pin is stuck in/phylum class etc from an example organism sitting there. Oh yeah did I mention 20 page lab report? Virtual lab which basically does a brief summary is here [virtuallabs.html[/url</a>]</p>

<p>c. Expos 101/Writing discipline? course (for ur 2nd semester)
All depends on professor. Make sure you research your professor on ratemyprofessors.com. I had two good professors which made my life that much easier. They told me what they wanted to hear in my papers which I put in and got the B+ in expos 1 and A on research. You have to write I believe 4 papers with rough drafts and etc. For the writing disciplines course it's 1 expos paper with drafts + 1 huge research paper broken into due by this date parts. </p>

<p>d. Orgo 307/308
...
I dunno what advice to give. Just study as best you can. Although more concepts than math so don't despair after gen chem. The only thing you might have to know from gen chem is hybridization and lewis structures which plays a small but important role on first exam in orgo 1. Again for example exams go to the [url=<a href="http://rutchem.rutgers.edu/%5DDepartment"&gt;http://rutchem.rutgers.edu/]Department&lt;/a> of Chemistry & Chemical Biology](<a href="http://bio.rutgers.edu/%7Egb101/virtuallabs_101.html%5Dvirtuallabs.html%5B/url"&gt;http://bio.rutgers.edu/~gb101/virtuallabs_101.html) under undergrad. Orgo 2 is easier/harder. Easier because it is pure memorization of reactions starting from 2nd exam. Harder because all the dumb ppl are gone so curve is worse.</p>

<p>e. Systems Phys:
This class is very interesting and very difficult like pathophysiology (very related) which comes after in your P1 year. Bring a recorder. Record everything Merrill says and transcribe. Very time consuming. For Golfetti...what a joke. Just try to memorize her slides because you will not understand. </p>

<p>And im tired of typing. any questions on other courses or anything else just ask :)</p>

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<p>If i use my AP Chemistry credits, does that mean I don’t have to take Gen Chem 161/162 AND 171?</p>

<p>Do you recommend AP-ing out of Chem? or Bio?</p>

<p>Thanks for the info :slight_smile: !!</p>

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<p>@cherryfilter:
Unfortunately for AP Chem you only get out of Chem 161 and 162 not the lab 171. If you passed AP chem with a >4 I would suggest you AP out of Bio since that will get you out of Bio 1 and 2 and the respective bio labs saving you tons of time. Also chem might be easier for you because you demonstrate competence scoring >4 on AP chem exam. </p>

<p>The only thing that might suck is that you’ll get placed in 3hr Saturday psych 101. Of course during add/drop period the first week you can attempt to switch out at <a href=“https://sims.rutgers.edu/webreg/[/url]”>https://sims.rutgers.edu/webreg/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Wow this is so helpful, thanks! You are Class a 2014, so you are… a P1 now, right? If I am right, how do you feel about the first professional year? I also had a few more questions, if you don’t mind: </p>

<p>I heard that Rugers apparently makes schedules for the pharmacy school kids. Could you make special requests (like “I rather have less early morning classes”) before they schedule you?</p>

<p>You were mentioning housing, but you didn’t stay where you stayed. What campus did you live on and what were your experiences like there? </p>

<p>What are your future plans? Do you plan on becoming a retail pharmacist, hospital pharmacist, or would you branch out to maybe research or something? How many people do straight up pharmacy after they graduate and how many people do other things? If they choose other careers, what do they do?</p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

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<p>@sj0593</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How do you feel about the first professional year?
It’s alright not too tough except for patho. The rest of the classes are either easy Bs (Pharmcare) or As (PPM/Ceutics/Hist of pharm). A lot easier actually right now than PP2 year with Orgo and Systems hell but that’s cuz I cram.</p></li>
<li><p>I heard that Rugers apparently makes schedules for the pharmacy school kids. Could you make special requests (like “I rather have less early morning classes”) before they schedule you?
Rutgers doesn’t make your schedule except for 1st year 1st semester. You have to wait your turn in the most annoying registration system webreg which allows you to register based on # of credits. This means if you have AP credits you’ll register ahead of your classmates which allows you to get the better sections/times. If you don’t like your 1st semester schedule the fact is that you can switch your class sections during add/drop period the first week. However you should use <a href=“CAS - Central Authentication Service NetID Login”>CAS - Central Authentication Service NetID Login; to organize your schedule during the last week of summer to optimize. </p></li>
<li><p>You were mentioning housing, but you didn’t stay where you stayed. What campus did you live on and what were your experiences like there?
I lived in the craphole livi freshman year and it was terrible in terms of food, walking in the damn construction mud, and general quietness. If my dorm (North tower 4th floor) wasn’t as chill as it was I dunno what I would’ve done. And I’m still friends with most of the ppl on my floor. Upperclassmen dorms aren’t as social because the “cliques?” already formed freshmen year. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Nowadays I live on college ave at University Center at Easton Ave but that’s cuz I “beat” the system by buying 2 parking permits for my car (1 for easton $800 + 1 for busch $200) which is not allowed. The travel time and crowded buses would really **** me off so I don’t suggest college ave unless you really want to. Easton ave apts are not social at all but the parties are definitely more entertaining to me than stupid routine basement frats. </p>

<p>What are your future plans? Do you plan on becoming a retail pharmacist, hospital pharmacist, or would you branch out to maybe research or something? How many people do straight up pharmacy after they graduate and how many people do other things? If they choose other careers, what do they do?</p>

<p>To be honest I’ll just stick with retail. Other than monetary reasons (it pays the most) it’s the most direct way I can help patients with their MTM. </p>

<p>However retails not for everyone cuz when patients yell and curse and throw stuff at you (it WILL happen)…it kinda entertains me that people act so childishly whereas my pharmacist breaks down and cries :frowning: I’m currently an intern at CVS and it’s tough AKA hellish because it pushes multitasking to the max so you definitely should give it a try outside of rotations before committing to the $$$.</p>

<p>To be honest many people have debts to pay after pharm school so they go straight into retail. I don’t have stats for you but in your Pharmacy Convocations class they will tell you how many people go into what type of pharmacy career or whether they go into entirely nonpharm career. I just forgot those numbers. I would presume other careers would be med school (nice to have prescribing authority haha) or business related (sales rep/management) but I have no idea.</p>

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<p>This is really helpful! :slight_smile:
How hard was it for you to get an internship at CVS?</p>

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<p>Hey. I am in state, female with a 1990 sat scorea and 9/280 rank. Is there a possibility that I’d get in? Please let me know.</p>

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<p>@prodigy11</p>

<p>Umm your SAT score is a little low I feel but you may get in based on rank and GPA. I feel you have at least a 70% chance of getting in based on my friends and my stats. Like I said b4 I feel that they put a lot of weight on the SAT score if you can raise that score to above 2000 you would be set. </p>

<p>My roommate who is currently in pharm and has a 3.9 did horrible on his writing and reading cuz he came from the ukraine had a 1940 SAT but was 5/300 and he got in so you definitely have a good chance.</p>

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<p>@pink7788 </p>

<p>to be honest I had a hookup but the job market’s not as bad as it was a year ago…</p>

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<p>Thanks for that response Chris. I got waitlisted at the end of January and am still waiting for an answer. But I think I will get rejected eventually.</p>

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<p>thanks!
do you recommend AP-ing out of Bio or chem?
because I already have a 5 for AP Chem, but I’m studying on my own for AP Bio because a student at Rutgers Pharm told me to AP out of bio…</p>

<p>which class takes more time to study for!?</p>

<p>and do you know when the housing is open (approximately)??</p>

<p>thanks again :slight_smile: hope to see u next yr!</p>

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<p>Is there a concept of pharmd honors program for exceptionally good students? </p>

<p>Also does the Rutgers Presidential Scholarship apply to pharmd program?</p>

<p>There is a new program starting this year pharmd/mba …seems like a good combination of business and science. Any reviews on that?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>yes, there is a pharmacy honors program: <a href=“https://pharmacy.rutgers.edu/files/Honors%20Research%20Program%20-8-3-10.pdf[/url]”>https://pharmacy.rutgers.edu/files/Honors%20Research%20Program%20-8-3-10.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It’s research-based, so it’s not a honors program like what SAS has. The earliest you can get in is 2nd semester of PP2 year. </p>

<p>I believe that the presidential scholarship should apply to pharmacy as long as you have the GPA/SAT requirements, but I’m not totally sure (as they changed up the way they gave scholarships from when I was admitted)</p>

<p>I don’t have much to say about the PharmD/MBA program since it has just started, but here is the information sheet: <a href=“http://pharmacy.rutgers.edu/files/PharmD-MBA%20Program%20Desc-Rev2-14-11.pdf[/url]”>http://pharmacy.rutgers.edu/files/PharmD-MBA%20Program%20Desc-Rev2-14-11.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Cherryfilter: I guess it depends on whether your strength is chem or bio (most do choose to AP out of bio)…but IMO, having either gen chem or gen bio out of the way is a relief.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input. It was helpful.</p>

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<p>Should I make the deposit now even if I am not 100% sure I want to attend?</p>

<p>How much is the deposit?</p>

<p>Lastly, when is the earliest that I can apply for housing if I want to get into Busch…? Should I apply like Today?!</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>The deposit for enrollment is $150. Whether you deposit or not is up to you. I don’t know if you want to risk wasting the money if you choose not to attend in the end. </p>

<p>I believe that you can only make a housing deposit (as a freshman) after you have enrolled/paid the deposit. The housing deposit is $200 and has been out since around mid-February, so you can probably apply as soon as possible or a few days after you’ve enrolled. It’s on a first-come first-serve basis for campus preference, so applying today would probably give you a better chance than if you were to wait.</p>

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<p>I’m planning to AP out of chem, but I know that you still have to do the chem labs?? are they easy? or are they hard to do without taking the chemistry class?</p>

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<p>Yes labs are fine without the hassle of the course. Just make sure you study hard for that final…cuz its basically an open ended chem exam (which are normally multiple choice).</p>

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<p>As for housing I think its already too late to get a room on busch/college ave although they’re opening up the new dorms on busch so maybe I’m wrong.</p>

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<p>oh damn…i want a busch room…■■■</p>