A US Citizen, but Non-US graduate

[ayejayeed]

Hi everyone, well as of now I am a US citizen currently studying in the Philippines as a high school student. I'm aspiring to be a Pharmacist. So I was wondering & all what would happened if I took my BS Pharm then continue on to Pharm D. degree here in the Philippines, would I be able to practice in the US after I graduate or would is there a need to go back to the US & go tot Pharmacy school there? I really need to know what might happen so right when I graduate high school I'd know what I'd have to do become a Pharmacist & still be able to practice in the US. Please & Thank you for the help

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[KidPharmD]

The way I understand it is that you would still have to take the FPGEE when you returned to the US, but the TOEFL would be waived if English is your primary language.

If you plan on practicing in the US (and not the Philippines) I would recommend undergraduate degree wherever (foreign is fine) and getting your Pharm.D. in the U.S.. The best practice for this is pick a school early and make sure you qualify to transfer your undergraduate courses to your pre-requisites before its time to apply.

 

[pharmdpharmd]

School Phillipines= no loans, harder to get a US JOB (but not impossible), have to a couple of extra exams (I am assuming that Phillipines is similar to the rest of the world that has reasonable or free higher education)

School is US: 150-200K in loans (likely even higher in 5-7 years), but easier to get a job (still hard)

If your family can help you with college cost, I would go to US.. If they can't I would stay in Phillipines and then come to US and hustle until I get a job

 

[KidPharmD]

I just want to point out that I had less than 100k in loans when I graduated pharmacy school, and that wasn't that long ago.

 

[Momus]

Well, if I were you (US Citizen), I'd just get a degree in Phillipines. I've seen more than 50+ phillipinos here with 0 loans. All they need to do is pass FPGEE, and take NAPLEX. They have 0 loans vs. 200k in debt US graduates counterpart. 0 loan = WIN.

If you are going retail, employers don't really care where you graduated as long as you pass NAPLEX.

 

[genesis09]

It requires more than passing fpgee, naplex, and mpje to become licensed as an international grad. You have to intern for a set number of hours and that is where many have troubles. Many pharmacies will not hire them to get their hours. You also need to see if the degree is considered to be equivalent. It can take years for an international grad to complete all the requirements.