Are you in pharmacy school? It can be challenging to manage schoolwork, your own mental health, a social life, and maybe even a job! Tori Paesano, Co-Owner and girl boss at Preston’s shares six things she wishes she knew while she was in pharmacy school.
While everyone has different study habits or socializing schedules, Tori wants all pharmacy students to know her tips! Pharmacy school is hard, but it can also be fun and is rewarding.
Tori’s Top 6 Tips:
1. Find a good mentor!
This is very important but honestly quite difficult. A good mentor should not only mesh with you in the career path that you want to take but also match with you personality-wise. It might take you time (and a few different people!) to find someone that you trust and can learn from, but keep trying until you find that one special person.
2. Keep all of your notes and you must organize them!
It is way less stressful when everything is in the right place and you can easily reference specific terms, medications, etc when you know where everything is. Organization is key! Find more study habits here.
3. Get exposure to other healthcare fields, other than just pharmacy!
This may sound like a funny tip, but by focusing only on the field of pharmacy, you are limited to just that. It is helpful to be familiar with other healthcare fields in the future. For example, in the area that you find a job in, there may be many dermatology offices. It would be helpful for you to know the doctors in that area, and what kinds of patients you will see walking through the pharmacy door!
4. Establish study time versus personal time.
Your mental health is super important! Make time for your hobbies or activities that make you happy. Whether you enjoy physical activity or exercise, have a passion for photography, or even just relaxing and doing nothing, take dedicated personal time for yourself every day! It might help to “schedule in” “you time”!
5. Do not wait until the last minute to study or apply for jobs.
You will not produce your best effort or work and you will cause unnecessary stress for yourself. Your future self will thank you now for doing it today!
6. Join fraternities and other groups.
Networking is super important. The more people you know, the more resources you have. It is very easy to get lost in studying but taking time to socialize is just as important.
