Question:
How do you stop caring as much about grades? I realize that above else, I want to be a great pharmacist, but I can't seem to stop stressing over how well I do on everything from small assignments to exams. (I feel like this is one of those easier said than done scenarios).
Response 1:
I think the most important thing to realize here is that it’s not necessarily that you should care less, but more so that you might want to be more selective with where you direct your energy. I think many pharmacy students relate to this issue because overall, I would say the vast majority of our student body is composed of good students who excelled in undergrad. What’s important to realize is that while getting good marks is certainly important to build that foundation off of for future practice, it’s not the only thing that’s important. Being a good pharmacist means much more than knowing clinical trials, writing a good care plan or reciting a list of side effects - ask any pharmacist you work with. I think what’s most important is for you to look more carefully at what you specifically need to work on, and where you want to go in terms of your career - then, focus more so on those areas. I think if you do that, you’ll find that studying another 5 hours to get a final mark that might be 2% higher doesn’t get you any closer to your long-term goals. I’ve worked alongside many great pharmacists, many of which even teach at our school, and I can tell you that they’ve all told me the exact same thing - grades don’t make a good pharmacist. It’s about what you make of it.
More than that, I think it’s also really important to realize that there’s a lot more out there than just school. I think a lot of us come from a place where the situation was more like: If I don’t get these grades, I won’t get into the program I want. And sometimes we might have even used that as an excuse to focus on academics and even neglect some of the other parts of our lives. In my opinion, it’s really important to address that mentality at this point, because living in a way that’s so out of balance ultimately may not be best for you in the long-run. Prioritize your needs and what you want out of life. As an adult, it’s up to you to decide what’s important to you. Pharmacy and your career might be a big part of that, but so might be things like family, relationships, hobbies, friends and travel. I think by looking at the big picture, what you want not only out of your career but out of life in general, you’ll definitely find other areas you want to direct your energy towards. And you might see that being overly invested in your marks right now won’t truly make a difference to what you want in life in the long-run. I really hope that helps, and good luck!
Response 2:
The above response was fantastic! I only have a few other perspectives to add and share. I have now been in post secondary education for 8 years, and what I have found is that unfortunately the way our education system is set up is to measure our success with grades. This does not always foster creativity or even optimal learning in a student. We become obsessed with achieving a certain grade so our GPAs meet particular cutoffs. This type of thought pattern unfortunately takes away from the learning process. It fosters a rote learning mentality. Let me memorize all of these facts and spit them back out! Look at the volume of information we are dealing with in pharmacy school! Its crazy isn’t it? Lots of drug interactions, lots of side effects, lots of mechanisms of actions to understand and yet so little time! Its not likely that everything will stick the first time, the second time or even the third time! Instead of focusing on memorizing every single fact focus on the big picture and try to understand how can I use this information to help my patient. I have met a lot of pharmacists and some of the greatest pharmacists believe it or not were not always at the top of their class! Remember that clinical rotations will help to solidify the material you learn in school because you can tie the clinical knowledge to a patient’s story, making learning a more personal process. So please don’t be so discouraged if you are not at the top of your class! There is more to being a good pharmacist then achieving good grades. When you go out in the real world apply for jobs or residencies they are more interested in what you have to offer to the profession of pharmacy. Do you recognize potential gaps in the profession and how can you make a unique contribution or how can you advance our profession. So get creative! You’re not going to love every slide you have to study! Don’t be so hard on yourself and please do not become disheartened and beat yourself up for that! Find something you are passionate about in the world of pharmacy and chase it! We are educating people out of their creativity. Make sure you take your education into your own hands. Don’t compromise on what is important to you just because you have to get assignments done for school etc. I recognize that we have very limited time but ensure that you are chasing after the things that make you happy as well! Trust me on this one….you will be much happier in the long run and a better pharmacist.
-Manjit :)