Would you recommend pharmacy?

[hinher]

Every time I consider a career option, I get bombarded by professionals who tell me it was not what they thought it was going to be and that I should run while I still have the chance. I haven't had people do that to me yet with pharmacy. For current practitioners, would you recommend pharmacy as a career, what are the worst parts of your job, and what do you wish you had known prior to going to pharmacy school? Thanks in advance.

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[Beet Pharmer]

You should think about what YOU want to do. Start broad with a passion or an interest and then narrow it down.

There's good and bad parts to any job.

 

[crazybob]

Every time I consider a career option, I get bombarded by professionals who tell me it was not what they thought it was going to be and that I should run while I still have the chance. I haven't had people do that to me yet with pharmacy. For current practitioners, would you recommend pharmacy as a career, what are the worst parts of your job, and what do you wish you had known prior to going to pharmacy school? Thanks in advance.

Keep your options open and explore what you can do in the profession. You'll find that special niche that you enjoy.

 

[WhiteSnows]

At the end of the day, you gotta do what you like to do, and what you are capable of doing.

 

[Notecard]

Spend some time shadowing and if you can see yourself doing it then go for it.

The problem with a lot of people is that they get into certain fields with no experience and it turns out to be different than expected. It's funny when they're shocked and then kind of sad when you realize how much time they wasted.

No one can tell you what you like doing and what interests you except for yourself.

 

[steveysmith54]

maybe 10 years ago

just kidding, if you have a passion for it... do it.

 

[ValeRx]

When's the last time you've done something where it was exactly as you thought it would be?

 

[Passion4Sci]

I'd definitely go into pharmacy again if a reset button was hit putting me back to 2008 when I started this voyage so yes.

 

[RobSter33]

I still recommend pharmacy. The job market is very competitive right now, just like pretty much every profession. I worked in a pharmacy before I applied so I knew the good and bad things about the profession. Knowing how competitive it will be once I graduate has motived me to plan ahead especially since I am investing 250 k for my pharmacy education!

 

[SN1]

You should think about what YOU want to do. Start broad with a passion or an interest and then narrow it down.

There's good and bad parts to any job.

I worked as a pharmacy technician for 2 months at CVS and they made it me switch my career goal.

 

[Zoupa]

I still recommend pharmacy. The job market is very competitive right now, just like pretty much every profession. I worked in a pharmacy before I applied so I knew the good and bad things about the profession. Knowing how competitive it will be once I graduate has motived me to plan ahead especially since I am investing 250 k for my pharmacy education!

250k? why so much?

 

[cjflahave]

250k? why so much?

We don't all get accepted to our state schools. Private schools are also expensive.

 

[Zoupa]

We don't all get accepted to our state schools. Private schools are also expensive.

so what is that then, like 40k/year tuition? Plus living expenses and undergrad? That's too much debt IMO. That's just a lot of debt for a pharmacist to tackle. Not to mention the worsening job prospects.

 

[pharmschooler]

so what is that then, like 40k/year tuition? Plus living expenses and undergrad? That's too much debt IMO. That's just a lot of debt for a pharmacist to tackle. Not to mention the worsening job prospects.

If they told me I'd have 250k in debt afterward, I wouldn't go to pharmacy school. No joke. I'd milk being a tech for life (I like working in pharmacies!), instead.

Sort of like vet school. No matter your love for the profession, sometimes financials get in the way. How does anybody afford vet school? It costs more than pharmacy school and they're paid much less than pharmacists, usually. I have some serious respect for the veterinarians though...those are not easy classes.

 

[Zoupa]

If they told me I'd have 250k in debt afterward, I wouldn't go to pharmacy school. No joke. I'd milk being a tech for life (I like working in pharmacies!), instead.

Sort of like vet school. No matter your love for the profession, sometimes financials get in the way. How does anybody afford vet school? It costs more than pharmacy school and they're paid much less than pharmacists, usually. I have some serious respect for the veterinarians though...those are not easy classes.

Yeah my sister graduated vet school with like 90k debt 10 years ago... in canada. I don't even want to know how much it costs in the states, especially nowadays. She makes decent money though... 90k for 30 hours per week. Which is more per hour than pharmacists make up here.

250k for pharmacy is just insane. I wouldn't even want to take that out for dentistry. When you factor in interest and taxes you're gonna be putting the majority of your salary toward loans for quite a while. Although I guess it isn't as bad as the kids who go to bottom tier law schools.

 

[Passion4Sci]

I'd never looked into how much Veterinary school was until this thread and wow it IS expensive!!!! At UC Davis, it's nearly a quarter-million dollars for total COA:

1st year - 53,376
2nd year - 51,767
3rd year - 52,905
4th year - 61,124

I guess I should have expected that, given that it's a professional program, but still, do vets make as much money as physicians or pharmacists? I have to plead total ignorance & the BLS only has data from 2008/2009 (how useful is that?).

Likewise, I would not pay $250k for any degree, not even an MD because while the cost could feasibly be recouped in a high-demand specialty like Derm or Surgery, counting on that is just a bad idea IMO.

 

[LazyMooch]

My A&P prof. was last semester was a vet. Nice lady.

She told us that she was struggling with loans and wouldn't recommend it unless you were really passionate.

She went to school in Ireland.

 

[Passion4Sci]

My A&P prof. was last semester was a vet. Nice lady.

She told us that she was struggling with loans and wouldn't recommend it unless you were really passionate.

She went to school in Ireland.

I always thought Europe was cheaper for professional schools!

 

[LazyMooch]

Hahahaha, yeah thats what she told us.

Of course, she then went on to tell us that it balanced on on beer purchased/consumed.

Also, she had the funniest ways of pronouncing things since she had learned it in Europe. However, unlike a lot of the "Dr." professors I've had, she could take a joke and laugh at herself.

 

[johnep34]

I was fortunate to be a student at the time when education in the UK was first rate.
I passed an exam at 11 to go to a Grammar School and at 16 was advised to study pharmacy, two years with Chemistry, Biology and Physics, then two years apprenticeship (residency). Entered uni in 1954 and qualified in 1957. Pharmacy has taken me all over the world and given me a comfortable life. After retiring from industry in 1999, enjoyed new 10 year career as a locum (relief).
Now fully retired but enjoy this and Uk forums giving advice.
However, in the UK pharmacy is regarded as a supply function in retail. Hospital pharmacists able to develop much further. See the video 'pharmacy respect' on
utube.
johnep

 

[Elisaveth]

Spend some time shadowing and if you can see yourself doing it then go for it.

The problem with a lot of people is that they get into certain fields with no experience and it turns out to be different than expected. It's funny when they're shocked and then kind of sad when you realize how much time they wasted.

No one can tell you what you like doing and what interests you except for yourself.

Also, people have a tendency to think everyone else is having more fun than they are or having a better life or making better choices. You have to manage your own expectations and be realistic.

 

[Elisaveth]

I'd never looked into how much Veterinary school was until this thread and wow it IS expensive!!!! At UC Davis, it's nearly a quarter-million dollars for total COA:

1st year - 53,376
2nd year - 51,767
3rd year - 52,905
4th year - 61,124

I guess I should have expected that, given that it's a professional program, but still, do vets make as much money as physicians or pharmacists? I have to plead total ignorance & the BLS only has data from 2008/2009 (how useful is that?).

Likewise, I would not pay $250k for any degree, not even an MD because while the cost could feasibly be recouped in a high-demand specialty like Derm or Surgery, counting on that is just a bad idea IMO.

I don't know, dude. People love their animals. I just listened to a radio story about this hedgehog that was put on anti-psychotics because its owners thought it wasn't behaving like its usual self. That consult has got to be worth at least $100.

 

[SHC1984]

You should do pharmacy if

1) you are really passionate about the career

2) you can get a PharmD with less than 100K in debt

If 1) and 2) are NOT you, then you should go into something better. It's that simple. Good Luck.

 

[Passion4Sci]

You should do pharmacy if

1) you are really passionate about the career

2) you can get a PharmD with less than 100K in debt

If 1) and 2) are NOT you, then you should go into something better. It's that simple. Good Luck.

it's definitely not that simple, but then again you said you wouldn't go to pharmacy school if the school wasn't ranked in the top 50 so... yeah.

Stick to giving advice on Louis Vuitton handbags and Gucci leather. =p

 

[SVB99]

I've been a pharmacy tech for six years now at the same hospital so I've been dealt with a large number of pharmacists and it always amazed me when current pharmacists would try to deter me from applying to pharmacy school when they got wind of it earlier this year.

They would give me all these dire warnings and forecasts regarding the profession and try to convince me to do something else like "green jobs or lobbyist work or entrepreneurship."

Now keep in mind that most of the most vocal ones were among the most well off (six figures in savings, medium six figures in retirement accounts).

During a shift one day, probably the most vocal opponent of pharmacy school (curiously also probably the most well off pharmacist) approached me and attempted to make a final push to convince me not to go. I, like most people who think through their decisions, became a little irritated at her continued insistence that pharmacy was a disaster waiting to happen and that I should become a lobbyist (yes, a lobbyist).

I asked her one simple question, which was "if it's such an awful profession and you hate it so much, why don't you just take your own advice?"

Her response: "Because I am very comfortable where I am at..."

Moral of the story, while the profession isn't as safe and secure as it was even a few years ago, pharmacists are still exceedingly better off than the vast majority of professionals out there. There are jobs out there, but that you'll just have to look a little harder. Hell, all the doomsday pharmacists I work with have two jobs and are seriously banking.

Some would refer to this as hypocrisy at its most obvious.

Get some experience at a pharmacy so that nothing will surprise you when and if you choose to enter the profession. It's one of the reasons I believe that pharmacy experience should be absolutely mandatory for acceptance into pharm school. I believe schools do the profession a serious disservice by accepted those who have little to no experience in the profession as these are the ones who are most likely to be the most unsatisfied in the profession.

 

[LazyMooch]

I applied as a cashier for CVS this summer in hopes of getting my foot in the door to get into the pharmacy. I spoke with one of the pharmacists briefly last night. She told me that she was "comfortable" also.

She didn't seem too thrilled about the profession.

However, she had only worked retail.

 

[pharmschooler]

You should do pharmacy if

1) you are really passionate about the career

2) you can get a PharmD with less than 100K in debt

If 1) and 2) are NOT you, then you should go into something better. It's that simple. Good Luck.

I actually agree with you on this idea (but maybe change that 100k to around 120k or less, for realism's sake), but I'd change the "something better" to "something different"...as better is definitely a subjective description.

 

[SHC1984]

it's definitely not that simple, but then again you said you wouldn't go to pharmacy school if the school wasn't ranked in the top 50 so... yeah.

Stick to giving advice on Louis Vuitton handbags and Gucci leather. =p

True. If I could only get into a newly built diploma mill school I would do something else too. I will never understand why people would pay 40K a year for a school that is just built 10 years ago.

And also true. I do give better advice on Louis Vuitton bags....especially on the Speedys. Hehe...

 

[koercive]

Don't forget to explore careers in industry, managed care, and government. Most people overlook these career opportunities in pharmacy when deciding on enrolling in a Pharm.D. program.

I am enjoying my internship experiences in managed care and can't see myself doing anything else..