Why all the negative talk about pharmacy?

[futurething]

I read many threads before posting this and i'm seeing all these people talking really badly and some disrespectfully about pharmacy, jobs etc. YES. I know that there are too many pharmacists in this world and that the job market is saturated but that's just like any other field. (at least in my country) Why are so many people excited and dying for med school? There are so many doctors that are not getting paid enough and having many other issues because of the increase of the number of doctors. (just like pharmacists) Plus, i think being a pharmacist doesn't only consist of retail selling that some may consider boring, but has many other opportunities such as working in pharmaceuticals, as a scientist, medical sales representative, researcher and many more... We are living in a world where there is too much of everything. I rarely come across people who don't complain no matter what field they're in..

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[PharmtoCS]

Plus, i think being a pharmacist doesn't only consist of retail selling that some may consider boring, but has many other opportunities such as working in pharmaceuticals, as a scientist, medical sales representative, researcher and many more

People like to pretend that you can do so much with a PharmD, but this graph shows where the vast majority of the jobs really are. Everything that is not in red is extremely hard to land and requires connections, residency, and/or fellowship.

Aside from med, there are other professions, i.e. computer programming, finance, accounting, engineering, etc. that offer better job prospects, better work conditions, and salary just as high as for pharmacists if not better without you having to take out $200k+ in loans and spend an additional 4 years of your life in school. This is referring primarily to the US, though.

 

[NewRPh2006]

Pharmacy bad? I don't know if I would go that far, but at the present time pharmacy may not be the best option. You could do worse for sure, but as the previous person illustrated over 60% of pharmacist jobs are in retail - mostly large chains. High volume and high stress in most retail settings. Pay is good, but trend has flat-lined (pay has not really gone up for years). A lot of new pharmacy schools popped up in the US over the past decade or so. Big profit opportunity for universities to start a pharmacy school. They can charge same as what they would charge law or medical students. Big money. Don't blame them. It's the free market baby. No real restrictions from starting a new school, just need to get accredited. Result of all these new schools is a big jump in number of graduating pharmacists. I think what most of my colleagues are feeling is that it's not just as simple as supply and demand affects pay. It also affects working conditions. When supply of pharmacists outweighs demand, then employers (particularly large chains) can be more demanding (e.g. require more Rx volume, more immunizations, more MTM cases) knowing that if they push the pharmacist too hard and he/she quits, no problem - a replacement is easy to find in a saturated market. Not to mention, the new grads are coming out of school thinking that the only way to ever be happy in life is to do a residency or become an MTM guru. This is driving an identity crisis in the profession. The job description keeps getting longer.

 

[Seriously Serious]

People come to this forum to complain. Those who are doing well will more than likely be busy enjoying their lives.

 

[Peterpiper1]

The other day I saw a pharmacy school had posted their employment rates after graduation around 60%. Pharmacy schools are really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Students who can hardly speak English. Students with 2.5's from community college. Students only in it for the money. Professors who end up curving the whole class so nobody fails because the school doesn't want to lose accreditation.
On top of that everyone thinks they're going to be a clinical pharmacist, because they're too good for retail. Unbelievable.
Pharmacy is going really down the tube and fast. If you're smart you'd find something else to blow 200k on.
Worst part is, more schools are opening up.

 

[Kevin.Mero]

I read many threads before posting this and i'm seeing all these people talking really badly and some disrespectfully about pharmacy, jobs etc. YES. I know that there are too many pharmacists in this world and that the job market is saturated but that's just like any other field. (at least in my country) Why are so many people excited and dying for med school? There are so many doctors that are not getting paid enough and having many other issues because of the increase of the number of doctors. (just like pharmacists) Plus, i think being a pharmacist doesn't only consist of retail selling that some may consider boring, but has many other opportunities such as working in pharmaceuticals, as a scientist, medical sales representative, researcher and many more... We are living in a world where there is too much of everything. I rarely come across people who don't complain no matter what field they're in..

What country are you in?

 

[Kevin.Mero]

People like to pretend that you can do so much with a PharmD, but this graph shows where the vast majority of the jobs really are. Everything that is not in red is extremely hard to land and requires connections, residency, and/or fellowship.

Aside from med, there are other professions, i.e. computer programming, finance, accounting, engineering, etc. that offer better job prospects, better work conditions, and salary just as high as for pharmacists if not better without you having to take out $200k+ in loans and spend an additional 4 years of your life in school. This is referring primarily to the US, though.

Overall Pharmacy is a very narrow field!