The Glass Ceiling in Pharmacy..

[stdent9972]

It appears that if one goes into retail, clinical or reseach pharmacy, most earn 70-95K/ year.

I was wondering, especially when as one gets older, into their late 40's, 50's and 60's, carrying a mortgage, college tuition for 2 children, car payments, etc, if there may be a time in one's life when a 120K-150K salary would be desirable.



What are the options? Can you take on more hours? (closer to 60 hours/week) Can you become a manager?

Can you also decide to work for a pharm/ biotech company in a business/ managerial position? How much can researchers earn?

I guess one last option could be to get a JD which would result in a higher income.



How difficult or realistic is this? Is there in effect a "glass ceiling" on income for PharmD's?



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[dgroulx]

I talked with a pharmacist at a grocery store. Between salary, profit sharing, bonuses & overtime, she made 150K last year. Her store was considered to be a busy store, but she only had 250 scripts a day.

 

[michelleca4]

Most managers have six digit salaries because of bonuses and overtime. UOP states that their graduation class last year had a starting salary of $102,000-$115,000, but probably those retail jobs are at areas with a shortage: Alturas, Central Coast, Delano, Fairfield, Fresno, Lakeport, Lemoore, Modesto, Palm Springs, Porterville, Riverside City, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Temecula, Vacaville, Yuba City.

 

[SteveL]

base salary in Ohio seems to average about 85,000 for the worst paying areas. This is not including bonuses, p-sharing, benifits, etc. Either way you look at it, it's not bad.

Most graduates, even those with phDs, would kill for a salary like that. Let's put it in persepective. The average houshold between 2 parents maybe totals 90,000 a year and most pharmacists start at about that anyway. Like i said b4...either way you look at it, it's not bad.

 

[MNnaloxone]

SteveL has the right idea. For an example, after speaking with my rotation preceptor (chair of the Pharmacy Practice Dept at my school), the starting salary for a academic PharmD at my school is hovering at 70K. A liberal arts PhD is lucky to start above 35K.

Starting at 90K++ is putting you in a darn good position to start with, and if you add a spouse, they'll contribute as well (either financially or domestically or both...) If you can't live on your combined incomes...maybe you should cut back. Or tell the kids to get student loans (like most do). Taking on more hours is always a possibility, but you have to ask yourself-are you living for work or working to live?

 

[MALA]

Working for a pharmaceutical company, there are many avenues for a PharmD. Lots of Mon-Fri no weekends and the salaries are 6 figures upwards. I work with pharmacists who are VPs, clinical, sales, etc... and I know they all make a great living. Research, if you are a dedicated individual, it can be very rewarding. However, if you are in the lab doing research to work on developing the next claritin or viagra, etc...be prepared to devote much of your time to it- the reason is that the company is spending millions of dollars on research (that's you) and there are deadlines that have to be met. And the days before the "new drug" is released you will not have much of a family life. But on the other hand, you're making a fantastic accomplishment to science.

 

[TotalKayOs]

I was under the impression that in order to work in a lab or research setting most places required a Phd.