I am a 3rd year pharmacy student. I want to get really good at my major and to develop clinical reasoning and be able to have the actual competencies (theoretical and applied) to do a good job once I graduate.
Anyway, I've enrolled in two academies, one that teaches you actual community Pharmacy oriented stuff like the most common meds, how to manage the stock, how to handle patients, and even teaches you how to stay up to date incase a new product is released or something. The second academy is theoretical, teaches university-level courses. Each module, let's say Pharmacology, has around 80 one hour lectures that pretty much cover 90% of the basics. Finally, I want to get one last thing which is Goodman and Gilman, the bible of pharmacology.
I have rough aspirations of continuing to graduate school and getting Master's and PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology but I can't afford it right now and I prioritize employment after I get my undergraduate degree so it's too early to make sure.
Anyway, 99% of my peers just study handouts, generate ChatGPT summaries, cram them before exams, and barely pass, only to move on to the next topic. I have been to community pharmacies and seen elderly patients being shouted at, and extremely disrespected by the pharmacists working there. We are explicitly trained and it is our job to roll with resistance, be patient, and dilute complex instructions to the understanding level of the patient we are talking to, but these ideals are ignored by the average incompetent pharmacist.
Anyway, when my parents or people I know that study with me see me do this, they literally giggle, call me a nerd, and brush off my interest in my major as something retarded.
I've mostly ignored all criticisms and am still trying to be the best I can be, but again, in the back of my head, what if I am just a nerd tryhard?

>>33277267 (OP)
So you feel bad for not being retarded?

Patients deserve good care. Don't doubt it's the right thing to do.

>>33277269
I have been too open about what I do and freely shared information on what I think about but people around me literally react in a way that shocks me, like, I leave off regretting divulging that kind of information.
When I sat with a group of pharmacy students and talked with them, they complained about not understanding English (despite being a 4th year student, our instruction language is English) and how they are pissed off how the latest ChatGPT/LLMs still aren't 100% perfect at solving HW.
Most of them also barely passed, have bad grades, and openly speak of failing classes like it's a badge of honor.
When my turn to talk came I just said that I study every now and then, get 80% to early 90% grades (percentage system here) whilst they get 50%-early 70s% at best and actually interact and communicate with lecturers during lectures.
Their demeanor changed from, "ah, he's not one of us" and they started sending me messages asking me to solve homework for them and they just started acting sycophantic towards me and it's just making me uncomfortable.
My parents also say that nobody gives a fuck about competence, just graduate and get a job, but again I feel like it's wrong.
So I have made the decision to shut up and act like I am retarded or something and just do what I like (I really do enjoy studying) behind scenes and "blend in".

>>33277269
I also used to feel bad for getting a few bad grades here and there for courses I didn't study enough, but after breaking the relative solitude and interacting with other pharmacy students I feel like I am like the top 10% of the students at school and that 90% of the students there are literally just... retards. Sorry for being blunt but that's the only truth.

>>33277267 (OP)
Do the thing you like and that it sounds you're actually pretty darn good at anyway