Best way to prepare for a future in Pharmacy

[ken1957]

What are the best ways to prepare yourself for life after pharmacy school? What should pharmacy students be doing to have a higher chance of securing a decent job after graduation? Are residency programs worth it? Please give any and all advice that you have for future pharmacists. Thanks!

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[sunnyandseventytwo]

You know how you've been living like a starving student for the last 5, 6, 7, or 8 years? Keep doing that and the profession will be great for you.

 

[ken1957]

Is a PharmD/PhD Combination Degree worth it?

 

[Old Timer]

Get out

 

[letsquitpharm]

cs...the end

 

[RN2RPh]

What are the best ways to prepare yourself for life after pharmacy school? What should pharmacy students be doing to have a higher chance of securing a decent job after graduation? Are residency programs worth it? Please give any and all advice that you have for future pharmacists. Thanks!

1/ Life after pharmacy school of course is much better. No more exam. You'll get a pay check every 2 weeks (very likely a 6 figures income). So spend your money wisely.

2/ Just be flexible and willing to relocate for job.

3/ Residency will probably open a lot of doors for you. If you get it then it is great. If not, no big deal, there are other ways.

Just be humble and willing to learn new skills.

 

[lord999]

Is a PharmD/PhD Combination Degree worth it?

If you have to ask, the answer is No.

Read this before going to graduate school:

www.amazon.com/Getting-What-You-Came-Students/dp/0374524777/

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Work hard, network, be personable during internships/rotations and maybe you'll secure a job prior to graduation.

After graduating and securing a job, live below your means and save as much money as you can.

More things to do:

1. Make a will.
2. Pay off your credit cards.
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support.
4. Fund your 401k to the maximum.
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum and your HSA to the maximum.
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it.
7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account or HYSA
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest in a stock index fund, VOO or VTSAX is safe.
9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio.

 

[mentos]

Is this @curlygirl1738

 

[RXDOC1986]

Is this @curlygirl1738

Well Ken1957 joined today to follow up with Curlygirl's line of questions. And, I have never seen the two of them in the same room, together!
You figure it out!

 

[ken1957]

I am new here. Just be thankful I didn’t start 5 other threads.

 

[Sunshine98*]

Secure a job?

These days its all about politics. They already know who they are going to hire. If they have a hard to fill location (ie a _________ storm of a store) they will take anyone to fill it. Also Im sure as Covid laxes chains will get back to laying off more tenured pharmacists to hire someone at 50-55 as they were doing several years ago.

 

[BC_89]

What are the best ways to prepare yourself for life after pharmacy school?

1) Network while in school
2) Have a mentor (doesn't have to be at the same school)
3) Develop an excel sheet that budgets your semester to semester living and be disciplined enough to follow it

What should pharmacy students be doing to have a higher chance of securing a decent job after graduation?

I'll break down the networking portion with a bit more detail
- Work as an intern while in school to help solidify letters of reference outside of school faculty
- GPA (some may disagree); have a high enough GPA to have an option to "consider" residency if that is the route worth taking
- Work on your CV from day one of school and have a mentor +/- a preceptor provide necessary feedback and changes
- Be willing to work "anywhere and everywhere" in the United States and not be choked into one or two selected states

Are residency programs worth it? Please give any and all advice that you have for future pharmacists. Thanks!

Depends on your goals

Why Should I Do a Pharmacy Residency?

Retail pharmacy truly is the majority of jobs and labor. Even with proper networking skills, you may not necessarily get the hospital job right after graduation (the longer you work outside a hospital, the harder it is to stand out). Personally, my decision to pursue a PGY-1 was well worth it. It was also the only way I could secure my ultimate goal of working in an ambulatory care setting (still need to push through my PGY-2).

I was also willing to do the following:
- travel 1,700 miles for school
- travel 1,500 miles for PGY-1
- travel 1,200 miles for my upcoming PGY-2 (~ 6 weeks).

I was also financially stable enough (with a family and kids) to budget my finances to prevent me from going into any more debt than necessary (I personally think that in this day and age, this is the ultimate deal-breaker). Even with all of this, I STILL MAY NOT GET A JOB if I decide to stop networking and traveling. Whatever your goal is, you need to write down what it's going to take and at what cost. I would look at the following link:

Job Saturation: Is Pharmacy Worth it? Here's What You Need to Know

Is a PharmD/PhD Combination Degree worth it?

No comment other than to say that if you need to ask, you probably need to have a conversation with yourself and figure out what it is exactly you want to do. Research? Retail? Industry? Academia? Sub-specialty in oncology/ID/pediatrics? I am willing to say that for now, it wouldn't be worth it.

YMMV

 

[Gombrich12]

Also Im sure as Covid laxes chains will get back to laying off more tenured pharmacists to hire someone at 50-55 as they were doing several years ago.

I don't think the reserve of pharmacists desperate for jobs is there anymore for them to do this. So many pharmacists left chains in the past 3 years and the graduating classes of pharmacists are getting much smaller.

 

[RxPreceptor]

I don't think the reserve of pharmacists desperate for jobs is there anymore for them to do this. So many pharmacists left chains in the past 3 years and the graduating classes of pharmacists are getting much smaller.

Hmmm, I’m curious to see how things pan out once the student loan pauses end soon. Desperation, debt

 

[Gombrich12]

Yea who knows what happens and how much the student loan pause was contributing to inflation in housing costs and other things.

 

[projektreverb]

Hmmm, I’m curious to see how things pan out once the student loan pauses end soon. Desperation, debt

I agree. I’m curious how many homes/cars will be offloaded once student loan payments resume.

 

[Script1992]

What are the best ways to prepare yourself for life after pharmacy school? What should pharmacy students be doing to have a higher chance of securing a decent job after graduation? Are residency programs worth it? Please give any and all advice that you have for future pharmacists. Thanks!

I would look into Industry early in your pharmacy school. you need an extra like a fellowship for MSL, a masters degree in drug modeling for specifics on clinical trials, an internship for medical writing. Out of those areas, MSL is where pharmacists majorly have transitioned after years of retail or hospital experience.

Therefore since it is hard after school to transition into industry with prior work experience as a pharmacist, use the opportunities in Pharmacy school for networking and getting internship in Pharma, rotations in Pharma. also another niche area to look into is Drug Information- look for pharmacy internships in drug Information. InPharmD hires pharmacy students and you work remotely.

If I had to do pharmacy school all over again, I would have gone against crowd and started industry organization. After gaining insight on the different pharmacy areas, fellowships make a lot of sense for getting into a MSL position as a pharmacist because only a fellowship provides experience in regulatory affairs.