All you need to know about Pharm.D in India.
Disclaimer: These are my views/opinions/suggestions.
The primary focus of this article is on the Pharm.D program (doctor of pharmacy)
however other pharmacy degree students may benefit as well from certain sections.
however other pharmacy degree students may benefit as well from certain sections.
Once a student has secured admission into B.Pharm or Pharm.D one of most common academic related questions probably is dealing with the subjects. Often the simple key to dealing with most subjects in pharmacy is practice (Ironic given that our speciality is literally Pharmacy practice). If you notice carefully the subjects that students find difficulty with are the ones that need daily practice. In this once case many wise seniors will usually say the same thing, but juniors will never take the advice to heart and thus effective fail in their mission to master it.
Feeble first year:
The only subject students may find difficult in the first year may be organic chemistry, but every senior in retrospect will say it way not really that hard. Believe me, if students pay a bit of attention to it, practice it, it will get easier. You will notice a trend that most reactions follow especially about how the electrons move around. From that point on its easy peasy lemon squeezy. You need to look for that trend. After that, your instincts develop and you begin to like it.
Nothing in the first year is hard. Students find it hard because their mindset has not yet transitioned from the spoon feeding done up until 12th grade to the self-study required then on. I guess they didn’t get that memo. To be honest even at this level also it is spoon feeding but of a different kind.
Learn to be self-reliant and do some self-study, you will get the hang of things.
Learn to be self-reliant and do some self-study, you will get the hang of things.
Organic chemistry is another subject that made the life of a few students miserable, we were given assignments by one of the professors. I hated these assignments and felt they served no purpose(In retrospect I still do because of their design and aim). At one point I bravely defied the professor and denied doing the assignments, I was challenged saying, “we shall see how many marks you get for the exam.” The result was I comfortably managed to maintain my marks whereas all those who did submit the assignment fared poorly. So its all a matter of strategy. Study smart and don’t try this same stunt that I did. That professor is long gone and left MCOPS. The current ones WILL screw you!
Another subject some may find hard in the first year in Biochemistry (I did, others did not). This subject is quite hard in reality, but luckily in pharmacy, we are expected to just the bare minimum. If this was MBBS your life would be horrible. Simply practice the cycles daily as far as possible and you will get it right. For final exams do some of the cycles whatever you can if not all.
Succulent second year:
The second year is one of the best, ideally, students by now will be well versed with everything a stupid few may develop a hint of excess pride and act like some great person who is all wisened around the campus with the new juniors etc.
Subjects in the second year are easy to deal with save maybe Pharmacognosy. The reason is that you may be often expected to memorise many concepts diagrams with no degree of flexibility and this makes things hard. Often most students will manage to scrape through. Defiantly not a dangerous subject only slightly venomous.
Some students who don’t memorise stuff may also find Community pharmacy (and later also find) Hospital pharmacy, clinical pharmacy difficult. Let me be extremely honest. These are some of the most useless and outdated subjects of pharmacy. They are all one and the same. They should be expunged from the syllabus and replaced with something better. Unfortunately, the relevant authorities are yet to take note of the matter probably. You might have to struggle with these a bit. Handle it one at a time and at the least grasp and vomit out the concepts.
Terrible Third Year:
The biggest monster of Pharm.D lies wait here, Medicinal Chemistry, and the best way to deal with this subject is two words as with any challenge, “Mind Block.”
During her first-class Professor, Jayshree talked at the concept of mind block. Something that I took to heart as any of you should. The concept of mind block, it is very simple, don’t create a preformed notion about something, don’t simply assume something negative about something beforehand or at all.
In this case, during my time people feared med chem like anything. (Or mad chem as I called it because people went mad). There were people who didn’t clear med chem for 3 years and beyond. Everyone talked about it and the new students eventually before even writing one exam or even studying it had already assumed that it would be a tough subject. This is what Prof. Jayshree was referring to, a Mind Block. Don’t think that negatively no matter what. It is an easy subject, we all made it, so can you! The only reason people didn’t clear this subject is because they made silly excuses and that they did not practice it daily. Take my word as the word of god on this one, practice daily.
Let the sky fall on your head, but you must practice daily, and your will shall be done!
Med Chem is easy if practised daily. What you did yesterday recall it today and learn a bit more than yesterday. Let the world go to hell, listen to nothing of what any senior tells you about how hard things are or whatever. It is not hard, it is just hard for them because they did it wrong.
A 100kg rock to lift on your own is hard, but it is not hard if you use a pully system because now you are doing it right, right?
In Pharm.D there are far greater challenges to be faced than the trivial subject of Medicinal Chemistry later in life.
In Pharm.D there are far greater challenges to be faced than the trivial subject of Medicinal Chemistry later in life.
Phantom Fourth year:
The year in which past subjects come back to haunt you in the form of Hospital and Clinical Pharmacy, subjects that you have already done and are wasteful.
Fabulous Fifth year:
An easy year, but since you now have a project to do, it may become difficult to manage time. Ensure simply that you have a rough timetable, and everything falls into place. I recommend trying to finish your project as soon as possible with Deadpool like maximum effort. Work well and write a good manuscript and get it published soon. If you are someone who wants to get into research, it will be good to have that head start.
Sixth year:
No point writing about 6th year, by 5th year itself everyone is an experienced master and is ready to well advice others. (Hopefully)
The sixth-year should be well utilized in quickly identifying which are you want to get into next if not decided already. Finding vacancies in potential industries etc.
A word of caution, avoid going on leave as far as possible. Unnecessary extensions of the internship will apply. Believe me, at this stage you don’t want that. Do your presentations at the stipulated time and finish them off.
By Raghuvir Keni
click on the links below:
By Raghuvir Keni
All you need to know about Pharm.D in India.
click on the links below:
PART 1 THE GENERAL PICTURE
PART 3 MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY AND OTHER MONSTERS
eagerly waiting for the part 4
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