Pharmacy School?

Hello to the masses! You will all be glad to hear I've made it through another weekend alive! Always a good feeling. And I must say the whole "Spring ahead, Fall back" routine with the clocks can really suck sometimes. But I digress.

Earlier today I had an appointment down at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, which we will call MCP to keep things short. Both my father and grandfather attended and graduated from MCP and went on to become successful pharmacists. Why, you may ask did I not choose to follow in their footsteps? Well, for one I was 16 years old when I went to look at colleges and pharmacy school options were few and far between. And math and science were not exactly my top classes. More like my bottom classes. And at the time, URI, UCONN, and MCP Boston were the only options. Not to mention 6 years of school, which definitely did not appeal to me. I always did OK in school, but I much more enjoyed the "extracurricular activities".

But anyway I have now hit this brick wall of a period in my life and since MCP is now located a stone's throw away from my house, I have decided to look into the possibilities of attending the school in hopes of becoming a pharmacist. It is, after all, a great profession, one that will be in need for many years to come. So the day after I officially started this sabbatical I made a phone call down to the school and set an appointment with the asst. dir of admissions. I then requested a transcript from good old Bentley College and was on my way.

I entered the office and the admissions lady, Erika, we'll call her, asked to take a look at the transcript while I filled out some paperwork. Now, Bentley College is not exactly a breeding ground for future pharmacists, but some credits did transfer. Funny thing is, the "Drugs & Society" class I took second semester senior year was the class that caught Erika's eye the most. "I see you had an interest in drugs even at Bentley," she asked. "Uhhhh, I think the class dealt with a different type of drugs, " I replied. Awkward pause....God only remembers some of the topics I used to write about in that class. I did get an A- though.

So if accepted, I could complete the PharmD program in 2 years, 10 months. However, that is not all. Because I did not study science in college, I would need to complete the prerequisites...that is, about 3 semesters worth of classes. If I started this summer, I could be completed by Spring of 2010 and enroll at MCP by fall of 2010. The prereqs I would need to to complete would be: Bio I, Bio II, Micro Bio, Chem I, Chem II, Organic Chem I, Organic Chem II, Physics, Into to Psych, and finally a Behavioral Science elective. And all those science courses have labs. So about a year of prereqs and just under 3 years of pharmacy school. Full time. And you really cannot hold down a job while doing this due to the intense workload. And I own a house. And how would I pay?

In a perfect world, it sounds like a great opportunity, but it sounds like a lot of work, and I don't know if its financially possible. And mentally, can I handle that courseload? Another 4 years of classes? I swore I would never go to school again, but is now the time? I would be 32 years old if I could pull this off. However, I still look kind of young...

So please discuss the possibilities of this idea amongst yourselves and please, feel free to chime in...