Question about MCPHS Manchester

[PhenieMack]

Hey there. I have some questions for anyone who is enrolled in the accelerated PharmD program in either Manchester or Worcester.

What is your daily schedule like? How much time do you spend at school, reading (at home or in the library), writing assignments, doing rotations, etc? I have heard anything from "It is so easy; I'm home by 3 every day" to "I don't have a single moment to breathe!" I was accepted and plan on attending, but I'm curious as to how hard the program really is.

Also, I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what the deal is with the rotations. They say that you may be placed a substantial distance away from the campus; does this mean you are still within driving distance or should I plan on living out of hotel rooms for a year?! Do you stay in the same general geographical area for all six-week rotations, or do you getshuffled around the Northeast in that respect too? So many questions... I will appreciate any helpful comments on this subject. Thanks!

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[greatdeals225]

Hey!! first congrats on ur acceptance!!

Let me try to answer your questions to the best of my ability:

Daily schedule: this semester, my earliest class is 9am on fridays, not counting the once-a-week lab that starts at 8am, all the other days, we start either around 11 or 12noon... latest class ends at 4:20, on Fridays we get out at 1pm, which is not bad. We also have tuesdays off unless your lab falls on a tuesday, then you'll have a 3-hour lab on tuesdays. You will pretty much not go to class from 8 to 5, that's for sure! the days we start later, we end a bit later.. the days we start earlier, we end earlier!

I live in the dorms, so I do spend a lot of time organizing my notes/lectures, studying, doing hw... but I also don't spend 100% of my free time studying either. It all depends on yourself. I know some who don't study much and still do perfectly fine, but some do study a lot.. it all depends on your ability to retain things and if you learnt the material before.

For rotations, the rule is, 50 miles within campus is the radius they can send you to. I know some who have rotations 15 minutes from school, but also some have to drive 40 minutes to travel 35 miles... transportation is ur own responsibility, so if u don't have a car, it doesn't mean that you'l get the cvs next door.

For your 6-weeks rotation, you may end up doing your clinical/hospital rotations all in the same hospital but at different "stations" or you may end up doing them at different hospitals, it's all luck-of-the-draw....again, within 50 miles from campus.

Good luck!!

Hey there. I have some questions for anyone who is enrolled in the accelerated PharmD program in either Manchester or Worcester.

What is your daily schedule like? How much time do you spend at school, reading (at home or in the library), writing assignments, doing rotations, etc? I have heard anything from "It is so easy; I'm home by 3 every day" to "I don't have a single moment to breathe!" I was accepted and plan on attending, but I'm curious as to how hard the program really is.

Also, I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what the deal is with the rotations. They say that you may be placed a substantial distance away from the campus; does this mean you are still within driving distance or should I plan on living out of hotel rooms for a year?! Do you stay in the same general geographical area for all six-week rotations, or do you getshuffled around the Northeast in that respect too? So many questions... I will appreciate any helpful comments on this subject. Thanks!

 

[Chuck61686]

Hey!! first congrats on ur acceptance!!

Let me try to answer your questions to the best of my ability:

Daily schedule: this semester, my earliest class is 9am on fridays, not counting the once-a-week lab that starts at 8am, all the other days, we start either around 11 or 12noon... latest class ends at 4:20, on Fridays we get out at 1pm, which is not bad. We also have tuesdays off unless your lab falls on a tuesday, then you'll have a 3-hour lab on tuesdays. You will pretty much not go to class from 8 to 5, that's for sure! the days we start later, we end a bit later.. the days we start earlier, we end earlier!

I live in the dorms, so I do spend a lot of time organizing my notes/lectures, studying, doing hw... but I also don't spend 100% of my free time studying either. It all depends on yourself. I know some who don't study much and still do perfectly fine, but some do study a lot.. it all depends on your ability to retain things and if you learnt the material before.

For rotations, the rule is, 50 miles within campus is the radius they can send you to. I know some who have rotations 15 minutes from school, but also some have to drive 40 minutes to travel 35 miles... transportation is ur own responsibility, so if u don't have a car, it doesn't mean that you'l get the cvs next door.

For your 6-weeks rotation, you may end up doing your clinical/hospital rotations all in the same hospital but at different "stations" or you may end up doing them at different hospitals, it's all luck-of-the-draw....again, within 50 miles from campus.

Good luck!!

If one attends MCPHS for the 3-year non-traditional route, what year do clinicals begin?

 

[DrugDealer]

If one attends MCPHS for the 3-year non-traditional route, what year do clinicals begin?

Spring semester of first year: you do "shadowing" for 3 hours every other week. The school assigns your shadowing site--you have no input.

Fall semester of second year: you have an intermediate rotation. You start the semester with 8 weeks of 40 hrs/wk rotation (no classes for these 8 weeks). The school assigns your intermediate site--you have no input.

Fall semester of third year: all rotations from here on....The school assigns your advanced sites, but at least you get to pick 5 choices for each rotation. The computer then "spins" everyone's choices, and you cross your fingers that you get what you wanted.

 

[shikamaru]

Spring semester of first year: you do "shadowing" for 3 hours every other week. The school assigns your shadowing site--you have no input.

Fall semester of second year: you have an intermediate rotation. You start the semester with 8 weeks of 40 hrs/wk rotation (no classes for these 8 weeks). The school assigns your intermediate site--you have no input.

Fall semester of third year: all rotations from here on....The school assigns your advanced sites, but at least you get to pick 5 choices for each rotation. The computer then "spins" everyone's choices, and you cross your fingers that you get what you wanted.

Hi DrugDealer,

I was just wondering, off the top of your head if you know which are the hospitals, clinics, etc. students can pick for their advanced rotations. Are most in Worcester/Boston/Massachusetts, and also how many of the five can students do back in their home state assuming the "spin" likes them ? Oh and is there any way to "maximize" your chances of getting the rotation site that you want?

Thank you so much for all your help and time responding to my super long PM's! How are your rotations going?

 

[greatdeals225]

Hi DrugDealer,

I was just wondering, off the top of your head if you know which are the hospitals, clinics, etc. students can pick for their advanced rotations. Are most in Worcester/Boston/Massachusetts, and also how many of the five can students do back in their home state assuming the "spin" likes them ? Oh and is there any way to "maximize" your chances of getting the rotation site that you want?

Thank you so much for all your help and time responding to my super long PM's! How are your rotations going?

For your last 'advanced' rotations, I heard that you can do 1 (or 2) of them out of state (at home state), but all the other ones have to be local. Also, you don't get to pick which of your rotations are out-of-state.. I believe you can state that in your preference, but the computer does all that.

I wanted to clarify for the shadowing and intermediate rotations, they do have you fill out a survey and whether or not you have any pharmacy experiences.. and where your local address is. I guess they try to put you next to where you live.. but then again, the computer does the spin.. so basically.. you can't rely on "oh.. I live in the dorms, so my site will be walking distance"... none of that!!

 

[DrugDealer]

Hi DrugDealer,

I was just wondering, off the top of your head if you know which are the hospitals, clinics, etc. students can pick for their advanced rotations. Are most in Worcester/Boston/Massachusetts, and also how many of the five can students do back in their home state assuming the "spin" likes them ? Oh and is there any way to "maximize" your chances of getting the rotation site that you want?

Thank you so much for all your help and time responding to my super long PM's! How are your rotations going?

I think practically every hospital/clinic in the Worcester area participates. In Worcester, the big players are UMass Med Center (multiple campuses) and St. Vincent’s, but lots of the outlying towns have little hospitals (I mean little…some have only 10 beds!!) that I’ve heard of students going to. There’s also Worcester State and Westborough State Hospitals which provide an interesting insight into the world of psych hospitals. I’ve heard of sites north in Leominster, Fitchburg, and Leicester, and south in Dudley and actually someplace in Connecticut. MetroWest hospital in Framingham (towards Boston) and Bay State Hospital in Springfield are some of the more distant options. Springfield is quite a drive and unfortunately, one of my friends is commuting there from Worcester each day. There aren’t many options in Boston itself, since Boston is already inundated with students from the 2 pharmacy schools in Boston, but I think there are a few limited options there. There are also several rotations in Providence, RI, but I think those are mainly for the students from RI. There is a VA rotation in RI that would be really cool.

My class was allowed to do 2 rotations out of state, and yes, you don’t get to pick those. If you told the school you wanted to go out of state, you were basically guaranteed that you would be assigned out of state. The school preferred this because it freed up rotations here in the Worcester area….as you can imagine there are lots of students to place and it can be tough to find a site for everyone…any little bit helps. I’ve heard, though, that the out of state rotations will not be allowed in the future in order to maintain the integrity of the rotations, but I don’t know if that’s true. Also, next year there will be 6 advanced rotations instead of 5…..

I think the easiest way to ensure you get the rotations you want are to choose rotations that are less popular. If fewer students are vying for that site, then the odds are better you will get it.

Rotations are good...only 1 more week left of this one, then on to the final rotation...and then graduation!!!!!! Thanks for asking