Knowing what you know now, would you have pursued md/do school?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
It's not just that simple for engineers. I'm really starting to think it doesn't matter what you do. Everything involving higher education is becoming saturated. 2 very close people to me are engineers and they don't get paid what they should and are having a hard time finding jobs.

Still feel like I would be better suited for engineering

Members don't see this ad.
 
Still feel like I would be better suited for engineering
I considered chemical engineering after my bachelors but I was there as my friend struggled to find a job with that degree. I'll pass.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I graduated same age. I just couldn't wait to go make money and didn't even think about doing any more school. Props to u

I did too but my situation was slightly different in that I had to go through pharmacy school and work in order to get my green card. Now I am 30 yo and studying for my mcats. Worked as a clinical pharmacist for the last few years but always had my heart and mind set to medicine. If money is a priority thn yes I think being this age and going back to school is definitely not worth it, however, if it is a calling and you cant see yourself doing anything else thn heck...as they say...YOLO!?!
 
And how long will that last? Everything is up and down. Oil and gas was great and I was being pushed towards that by many people. Now it sucks. Just like that. That happens in everything. Nothing is guaranteed in any profession.

In our time horizons yes things are up/down. But some career pathways aren't. Farmer, typewriters, kodak, neon lights (now replaced by LEDs), lot of jobs, technologies, businesses, go out of business and permanently.

I'm fairly confident that parts of pharmacy are on a downward slope and others are just hanging in there. Overall, robots/computers/technologies will render all of us obsolete, some earlier than others. Pharmacy IMO would be one of the earlier ones to go out.
 
Just curious, what side of pharmacy are all you guys who hate your job in? Is this all retail/hospital pharmacy? I can't seem to find any industry or ambulatory/inpatient pharmacists to ask if they hate their job
 
^ do you know why you can't find them? Because big pharma have been getting rid of them for the last 5 years. Less than < 1% of pharmacists work in the industry.

Don't buy into this crap and these "emerging jobs" pharmacy schools are promoting. They did the same thing when I was in school, the same thing in the 90s, 80s and 70s. Don't borrow 250 k so you can make 90 k. The numbers don't make any sense.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
I would have done comp sci. Brother's friends make 85 and 80K with a B.S. without all the hoop of bs in Pharmacy. I took a C+ course and I found it MUCH easier than clinical courses I took.

Funny thing is I'm still looking for a pharmacist job.
After I make enough and get out of debt, I'm gonna get my mba.

I don't feel that pharmacist jobs are secure anymore. Its like IT job security but more debt and schooling. I did it because my parents wanted me to get a stable job in healthcare.

My dad is a comp sci professor and he told me not to do it because of the outsourcing. lol

The irony... Life really sucks. I struggled with all the clinical classes, the Naplex.

In hindsight, if I did comp sci, I would have been getting equal salary with less stress and struggling.

I'm not good at memorizing and all healthcare profession require memorization.
 
^ do you know why you can't find them? Because big pharma have been getting rid of them for the last 5 years. Less than < 1% of pharmacists work in the industry.

Don't buy into this crap and these "emerging jobs" pharmacy schools are promoting. They did the same thing when I was in school, the same thing in the 90s, 80s and 70s. Don't borrow 250 k so you can make 90 k. The numbers don't make any sense.
Can I ask why they're removing them? Any info you could provide, I'm currently interviewing now, but all the negativity is kind of spooking me, been considering PA schools. I really have no interest in retail/out patient pharmacy. I was hoping for a job in industry
 
Just curious, what side of pharmacy are all you guys who hate your job in? Is this all retail/hospital pharmacy? I can't seem to find any industry or ambulatory/inpatient pharmacists to ask if they hate their job
Retail

TBH I probably should've left as soon as I first started working at a chain during my pre-pharm years ... it was complete hell ...

Didn't really enjoy pharmacy school either

Not too late by any stretch of the imagination...

I've had enough of school
 
Can I ask why they're removing them? Any info you could provide, I'm currently interviewing now, but all the negativity is kind of spooking me, been considering PA schools. I really have no interest in retail/out patient pharmacy. I was hoping for a job in industry

Industry consolidation, lack of blockbuster drugs. In the early 2000s, blockbuster drugs like viagra, lipitor, plavix, nexium, zyprexa came on the market. Those days are gone. Do your research and good luck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
Can I ask why they're removing them? Any info you could provide, I'm currently interviewing now, but all the negativity is kind of spooking me, been considering PA schools. I really have no interest in retail/out patient pharmacy. I was hoping for a job in industry

You are also competing with well-qualified applicants with MD's, PhD's or a combination of both. It is no secret that the drug market industry is a volatile one with mergers and patents making or breaking a company.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Can I ask why they're removing them? Any info you could provide, I'm currently interviewing now, but all the negativity is kind of spooking me, been considering PA schools. I really have no interest in retail/out patient pharmacy. I was hoping for a job in industry
Can I ask why they're removing them? Any info you could provide, I'm currently interviewing now, but all the negativity is kind of spooking me, been considering PA schools. I really have no interest in retail/out patient pharmacy. I was hoping for a job in industry

It all comes down how bad you want that job and how hard you will work for it. To work for inpatient or industry you are going to need a residency/fellowship. To qualify for either, you are going to need to be at least top 20 percent of your class and have a successful interview to "match" With the lack retail jobs and stability, half or my class applies for a resodenxy and about 15 to 20 people matched. Retail is where usually more than half of the graduates end up starting their careers. If you go to pharmacy school, know that there is a strong chance that you will be in the retail group. That's reality of where the jobs are. What I am trying to say is that it's an uphill battle.
 
It all comes down how bad you want that job and how hard you will work for it. To work for inpatient or industry you are going to need a residency/fellowship. To qualify for either, you are going to need to be at least top 20 percent of your class and have a successful interview to "match" With the lack retail jobs and stability, half or my class applies for a resodenxy and about 15 to 20 people matched. Retail is where usually more than half of the graduates end up starting their careers. If you go to pharmacy school, know that there is a strong chance that you will be in the retail group. That's reality of where the jobs are. What I am trying to say is that it's an uphill battle.
oh hey! I actually just replied in the other thread. That's pretty much what I've been hearing, which is really ****ty because schools seem to be painting a different picture than what the majority of pharmacists are telling me. I'm having trouble finding anyone that will tell me pharmacy is worth it.
 
oh hey! I actually just replied in the other thread. That's pretty much what I've been hearing, which is really ****ty because schools seem to be painting a different picture than what the majority of pharmacists are telling me. I'm having trouble finding anyone that will tell me pharmacy is worth it.

Remember that schools have the vested interest in collecting $150k+ in tuition from you, so I suspect anything rosy they paint about the pharmacy profession.

If you are set on working in industry, then I would strongly reconsider going to pharmacy school. You will probably be better off with a PhD in pharmacology or related field with little or no loans compared to a PharmD with $200k+ loans and roughly the same gross pay. Roughly 60-70% of the jobs are in retail, so you will need to be willing to work in that setting and be ready to relocate to the middle of nowhere in the event you do not land a residency or fellowship which are very competitive to get.
 
^ do you know why you can't find them? Because big pharma have been getting rid of them for the last 5 years. Less than < 1% of pharmacists work in the industry.

Don't buy into this crap and these "emerging jobs" pharmacy schools are promoting. They did the same thing when I was in school, the same thing in the 90s, 80s and 70s. Don't borrow 250 k so you can make 90 k. The numbers don't make any sense.

shhh.. don't say this in front of the KGI students. (This might be my last post/read for a while, so bear with me). A quick side story on KGI. When I started western, we were told that they are partnering up with Keck to provide a dual degree. Kind of makes sense, schools are aprox 4 miles apart. We received countless emails and solicitations, and about 5 of students actually collaborated on projects with them and had interest in enrolling in that degree. I had zero interest so I didn't pay attention to the details. Why would I? This was prior to 2009, sign on bonuses and jobs were readily available. For those few who don't know, this was prior to first graduating class of Touro, Loma Linda, and UCSD (where # of schools almost doubled in state of CA) Fast forward to 2014, and I guess Keck went in another direction :) I kind of wondered why my school didn't teach or introduce us to the industry side of the pharmacy. For the longest time, all I knew is it offered little stability. I guess even Western thought that teaching us more info on the industry is not the appropriate allocation of teaching time.

On another note, what baffles me most about pharmacy its the corrupt "leaders" in pharmacy and direction in where we are all headed. Many may not know this, but the president of APhA is an associate dean of Chapman. For those who don't know, he is no stranger to SDN. You can see what he has to say here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...armacy-1st-class-starting-2015.1079374/page-2 . Deceiving young students about the "emerging jobs", shortage of RPh, future of MTM is a bit easier than working RPh. Several of us called him out on it. I for once called him a sellout and a threat to the profession of pharmacy. He couldn't handle it so he asked me what I am doing to help the profession and said I have a dark cloud hanging over my head. I guess truth hurts for him. But that's neither here or there. The president elect of CPhA was the guest speaker at KGI's white coat ceremony. I guess these leaders got tired of seeing new grads make more than them and made a deal with the devil. I am still waiting on the impact of KGI, Westcoast, California HSOP, and Chapman impact on the job market and pharmacy profession. If it's anything like 2009, the incoming class will be in trouble.

With all of that said, I wish you guys success in your existing and future careers.

So long!
 
I kind of wondered why my school didn't teach or introduce us to the industry side of the pharmacy. For the longest time, all I knew is it offered little stability. I guess even Western thought that teaching us more info on the industry is not the appropriate allocation of teaching time.

I'm just curious why on this point? I was central to all the major pharm companies in the northeast and we had about 1-2 hours (TOTAL during P1-P3) introducing us to industry. I elected to do an industry rotation with one of the top 3....but the amount of effort it takes a school to broach the topic is practically zero.

I actually found that the existing curriculum complements industry needs pretty well... drug information, law, and pharmacoeconomics that are curriculum standards (and are useful in clinical areas) were what I drew from most while at that rotation. Assuming these were on your curriculum, you were already prepped for industry without explicitly being briefed on it.

Was definitely not "ready" for an industry job, but a) that's what fellowships are for and b) my industry preceptor's boss basically told me he only hired 10+ year experienced pharmacists who were experts in their field.

On another note, what baffles me most about pharmacy its the corrupt "leaders" in pharmacy and direction in where we are all headed. Many may not know this, but the president of APhA is an associate dean of Chapman. For those who don't know, he is no stranger to SDN. You can see what he has to say here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...armacy-1st-class-starting-2015.1079374/page-2 . Deceiving young students about the "emerging jobs", shortage of RPh, future of MTM is a bit easier than working RPh. Several of us called him out on it. I for once called him a sellout and a threat to the profession of pharmacy. He couldn't handle it so he asked me what I am doing to help the profession and said I have a dark cloud hanging over my head. I guess truth hurts for him. But that's neither here or there. The president elect of CPhA was the guest speaker at KGI's white coat ceremony. I guess these leaders got tired of seeing new grads make more than them and made a deal with the devil. I am still waiting on the impact of KGI, Westcoast, California HSOP, and Chapman impact on the job market and pharmacy profession. If it's anything like 2009, the incoming class will be in trouble.

With all of that said, I wish you guys success in your existing and future careers.

So long!

I wanted to chime in that thread, but it's so horrible I'm just going avoid the time sink that it would become.
 
Remember that schools have the vested interest in collecting $150k+ in tuition from you, so I suspect anything rosy they paint about the pharmacy profession.

If you are set on working in industry, then I would strongly reconsider going to pharmacy school. You will probably be better off with a PhD in pharmacology or related field with little or no loans compared to a PharmD with $200k+ loans and roughly the same gross pay. Roughly 60-70% of the jobs are in retail, so you will need to be willing to work in that setting and be ready to relocate to the middle of nowhere in the event you do not land a residency or fellowship which are very competitive to get.
PhD in pharmacology will open different doors in the R&D sector (and may take more time to boot). PharmD has a somewhat different skillset - more of a generalist. It's not as common to see the former in Reg/Med Affairs or in commercial areas, probably by virtue of the time investment of a PhD in a different area. PharmD in Clin Dev isn't unheard of

An interested person needs to make sure they go to a school with a good fellowship match rate that gives them opportunities to get industry internships, co-ops or rotations (UMich, UNC, USC, UCSF, Rutgers, USP etc.). Pharmacy rank DOES matter, but very loosely. For example, I don't think any of the lower-ranked schools can compete with UMich and USCF's ~50% and ~10% residency and fellowship match rates. Anyway, even if you don't go with pharmacy there are other ways to break into industry. They're always looking to find business, engineering and comp sci majors for other functions, including somewhat different fields like project management. Strength of your school will comparatively matter more, but you'll find a way e.g. I met interns from Columbia and UChicago doing corporate strat and supply chain, but I also met someone from community college doing IT and another in Drug Safety from a lowly-ranked regional school
 
Last edited:
It all comes down how bad you want that job and how hard you will work for it. To work for inpatient or industry you are going to need a residency/fellowship. To qualify for either, you are going to need to be at least top 20 percent of your class and have a successful interview to "match" With the lack retail jobs and stability, half or my class applies for a resodenxy and about 15 to 20 people matched. Retail is where usually more than half of the graduates end up starting their careers. If you go to pharmacy school, know that there is a strong chance that you will be in the retail group. That's reality of where the jobs are. What I am trying to say is that it's an uphill battle.

What does "resodenxy" mean?
 
If I were interested in healthcare, of course I would. I sleepwalked into this profession.

Get your life in order kids. You really don't want to waste your youth. A dark age is coming. You want to be the best that you can be. You'll thank me later. Lol
 
Last edited:
****, I think thats the perfect description of what I did, I switched out of wanting to go to Med school and sleep walked into pharmacy school, now I'm getting acceptance letters and wondering if this is the right field for me, never had a term for it
If I were interested in healthcare, of course I would. I sleepwalked into this profession.

Get your life in order kids. You really don't want to waste your youth. A dark age is coming. You want to be the best that you can be. You'll thank me later. Lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
nope, but I'm happy being a pharmacist. My 2nd career choice would have been to be a teacher. I briefly considered being a doctor, and had no desire to commit to the schoolwork and 120 hours residencies (this was before the 80 hour limit) that would have been required.
 
I wish I would have started having kids at 15 and gotten on Medicaid. I didn't realize until I became a pharmacist that work is completely optional for a lot of people.

On the other hand, I didn't realize until becoming a pharmacist how many people are full employed (or at least partially employed) and still qualify for the medical card and WIC, and sometimes even SNAP. It's a sad commentary on society, I think, when people are working as much as they can, and still can't earn a living wage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Heckkkk no, after seeing where healthcare is going. I would have pursued consulting earlier.
 
Pharmacy seems to have two main issues now. The first one is : Walgreens and CVS (and other retails like them). The second one is the expansion of pharm school. The pharmacists I have talked to who don't work for Walgreens/CVS seem to be ok with their job; some of them even like their job.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
MD/DO? No way. I'm just too socially awkward for that. :) If I hadn't gone to pharmacy school, I probably would've gone the PhD route. But I have a job I like and a kickass work/life balance, and I probably wouldn't be able to say that if I weren't a pharmacist.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
. The pharmacists I have talked to who don't work for Walgreens/CVS seem to be ok with their job; some of them even like their job.

lol. much easier said than done. This is the bloodline pharmacy jobs, especially for new grads. With Rite Aid finally running out of oxygen, I'd think 1/3 to 1/2 of new grads will start their careers at either CVS or Walgreens (If they are lucky to get a job). This is a conservative estimate. Walgreens is known to close low performance stores, Rite Aid has quite a few of those, means good bye jobs! I think the only thing left to be determined is what will happen to the grocery store chains and the independents.
 
nope, but I'm happy being a pharmacist. My 2nd career choice would have been to be a teacher. I briefly considered being a doctor, and had no desire to commit to the schoolwork and 120 hours residencies (this was before the 80 hour limit) that would have been required.

Oh there are still work hour violations. They are just not reported.
 
No one wanted to get into the business/finance field? Why?
 
No one wanted to get into the business/finance field? Why?
Obviously because everyone here is risk aversed...the medical/healthcare profession draws people who like to take the proven way in life. It's hard work but you get, for the most part, what you put in. If you're competent and pay your dues...you'll get a job...marry..have a house and car..and can die later.

Business and finance...it's hard and there is a wide spectrum of results. Your hard work does not necessitate the same level of reward or return. You can work 70hours/week on a project or a business and have it fail....or make millions and millions of dollars.

Healthcare= people who are usually more timid/quiet/reserved/wants safe way...nothing wrong with this just how we're wired. you usually get back what you put in.

Business/finance= for more creative people/people who take risks/ sky's the limit kind of alpha personality...very cut-throat. alot of people don't get back what they put in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
MD/DO is not something I have the patience or drive for
 
Hell no. Family medicine/IM is underpaid and I'd never bust my ass for a competitive speciality just so I can look forward to several more years as a resident and the stress of the career. Pharmacy you can at least finish your shift and shut it out. Plus, I like answering questions and solving problems but I don't like to deal with people or lead a conversation.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
When I was a student, no.
Now that I'm more than a decade in practice and deal with the Administrative Investigation Boards for REAL screwups in medicine, hell no.

It's actually not about money for me, although I would argue that unless you went into certain specialties, pharmacy in my timeframe (2004 grad) was clearly the right place and the right time and the standard physician (I'm going to use an IM physician who works 50 hours at $220k as the standard) won't anywhere near catch up to me financially now or ever unless they make more than 15% annually . The lead is just too high nowadays and considering that physician pay is flattening across many categories (and the impending CMS changes), I can't see a situation where the standard physician is going to be outearn me in a career.

Intellectually, lab medicine/pathology in blood banking or nuclear medicine interested me and it pays well, but I am not willing to make the emotional investment (the schooling isn't a problem, but dedication to the day in and day out task would be). The difference in emotional investment for a successful physician is higher than a corresponding successful pharmacist. The analogy I give is that the best answers from the least psychologically problematic veterans that I treated went into the military for the following reasons:

1. "I wanted to drive a tank,...fly a plane,...be a fighter...sail everywhere" - Activities that are inherently military in nature. ("Kill people" is a specific variant that I only hear from certain rare Marines and oddly not from Army)
2. "I didn't mind the price I paid to drive a tank..." - Less concerned about the personal sacrifice if it meant doing those activities
3. "I made enough to afford quality booze every night, and that's all I needed." The money is good enough such that the activity is its own reward. It's not the activity alone, and it's not the renumeration alone, it's both. You need to earn enough that you can think about other things.

The most intellectually healthy physicians (which doesn't become apparent until about 15 years into their career and I think this is 10 years into ours) are adjusted to 1-3. Money still is a driver, but just the act of practicing medicine is still a worthwhile matter for them. What I see though are a lot of physicians trying to enter "research" or go into the administration suite for burnout reasons. There are very few physicians at either university that I am affiliated with who are truly research as a primary occupation. Most are delegated to research as it's an escape from yet another day of the visit grindstone.

It was (and still is) about the activity for me. Yeah, I like teaching. Yeah, I like research. I can do administration. And I'm a fair bureaucrat. But, if I were doing what I was trained to do (nuclear), I can be a cantankerous, anti-social night owl with just a simple compounding job ahead of him. I wanted something to do where it was technically complicated enough that you had to do it right, to do in an environment where people respect your need for concentration (probably the factor that pisses off retail outpatient the most), and did not necessarily need 'personal' relations (in fact, my official federal Position Description contains NO performance element, required or optional for customer service or humane relations which was the norm for pharmacy for years, and damn those clinical pharmacy specialists for introducing that to the 0660 PD!).

Oh wait, I'm there right now and in two hours the mixing begins...I had my administrative assistant rewrite my schedule this week since we've finished the AIB's from the July new resident screwups. Then after this week, four weeks in the Hubert Humphrey building in DC reading/writing policy reports related to infection control. The most interactive I'll get is to go meet people who are medically ordered to be antisocial (the decommissioned PHS Carville, LA hospital for lepers) to talk to the few surviving ones for a report on the effects of forced quarantine (it's as tragic as it gets considering how inhumane we used to be about quarantine, people forget that there's a reason the PHS CC has a uniform). I've made it perfectly clear to everyone that I don't want to talk to any trainee or preceptor or deal with any bureaucratic crisis from anyone else until after Labor Day.

What I think pharmacy does a piss poor job doing is something called occupational enrichment. It's nice at times to rotate out of your 'normal' job into doing something else for a little while. That's what keeps me from being bored out of my skull with nuclear or retail outpatient, my other favorite practice area nonsarcastically. If you can vary the work you do, and even better if you can control when you vary that work, it's hard to burnout. I do think that everyone has an occupational lifespan in certain areas. From work we've done in the feds (and corresponding work at UChicago and UW on physicians), it's roughly somewhere between 30,000 and 48,000 (given the standard 2040 hour year and adjusting 1.5 to 2 hours for every OT hour) for most pharmacists who make it past their initial 10,000 mentally intact where you start to see the major signs of burnout.

What changed the answer to "hell no" for me (and this even affects my relationship with pharmacy) is the amount of bureaucratic BS that I have to put up with nowadays in the healthcare profession. Who the hell designed the reimbursement system to slave drive primary care physicians into the shortest visits that they can ethically squeeze? Why must pharmacy play these games on AWP, AAC, WAC, and pharmacist personnel between PBMs, the chains, and your job. What happened to where the new graduates aren't work capable coming from pharmacy school? Where pharmacists have some expectations of working in the medical bureaucracy, not many nurses or physicians really get the extent of their participation in it, and things like CPOE and CPT billable Irate pressure have ramped up the stress on the rank and file. I usually agree with BMBiology on his complaints, although I have a different sort of headache as I know I'm the one giving his kind the headaches as well as having some of my own.

If I could do it all over again, I would choose pharmacy with the condition that I could have entered at the time I did (school and internship were sufficient to train you for your job, no residency required, many jobs for few grads, weird jobs to those who bothered to look). I just would have probably taken more classes in theatrical acting (how to fool people in presentations comes in real handy in the corporate world), creative writing (like acting, but writing a coherent narrative is a prized skill in the bureaucracy), and known sooner that I wouldn't be able to finish my career as a pure dispensing role and that no job is ultimately safe that you don't work at. I am not sure how much of my antipathy in the healthcare field is related to the bureaucracy or the human relations of people being horrible to each other than from the operational issues (making certain sorts of mistakes or negligence that is unique to the pharmacy profession). Knowing what I know now though, I would tell myself that the idea of how medicine practiced in 2000-2004 is nowhere as fun to practice in 2016 (and I thought even then that primary care was a big chore).

If I had to enter now (2016), I'm not sure. If I were not intelligent, I would have probably kept at being a licensed electrician in a lineman position. Not exactly a glamorous job, but it fairly pays the bills, unemployment is not a problem, and it doesn't have a strong customer service component. If I were me as I were those years ago, I would have probably done mathematical statistics for actuary work as an undergraduate and probably taken a PhD in applied math or computational statistics to work for no such agency on some arcane transmission methods or Bureau of the Census/NCHS on demographic methods. IT is a means to an end for me, it's more interesting to find general algorithms than program for a specific function.

To the OP, how much is it the profession, how much is it the environment, and how much of it is you? Can't easily change the profession (and I think changing yourself is the hardest thing), but you could possibly exchange the work environment for something different perhaps?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
I wanted to become a DBA, database administrator. But got into pharmacy for some reason....now just finished a masters in health informatics. Hmm, not sure what to do with my life.. :p

I'm not kidding, are you looking for a job? We have several that you can do both of them (depends on what you did for your MHI project and which school you came from in terms of PSB work - hopefully not OHSU). Please PM me if you're willing to discuss this as I'll have to dox myself.

My counterparts at White Oak, MD are also looking for someone even just interested in that aspect and possess a pharmacist license.
 
no, but what I would have done different is get my Pharm D....I graduated when both degrees were being offered, and at the time there didn't seem to be any reason to get a Pharm D (unless one wanted to teach.) Now, that Pharm D is the only degree being given out, and it would be a lot harder for me to go back and get one now, then if I had just got one while I was in college.
 
no, but what I would have done different is get my Pharm D....I graduated when both degrees were being offered, and at the time there didn't seem to be any reason to get a Pharm D (unless one wanted to teach.) Now, that Pharm D is the only degree being given out, and it would be a lot harder for me to go back and get one now, then if I had just got one while I was in college.

How would a PharmD benefit you though? I feel like I am in a similar situation with residency. Maybe in 10 years it will turn into a requirement or something but right now it just looks like a big pay cut and a ton of work for someone who plans to do retail anyways. The only reason I'm still somewhat considering one is because I only get one chance at it and you can always go hospital to retail, but not the other way around.

I think for me personally it's not that I love retail but I'm good at it, and it's also the fear of the unknown. I haven't worked in a hospital and things are very different from hospital to hospital and position to position. Retail be more uniform and is what I'm familiar with. Is it really worth giving up what I am good at, doing a residency, and overcoming a knowledge gap/learning curve for a job that pays less (at least in general)? Idk.

I always figured I could get into indi/LTC/mail-order if I get tired of retail, or even try grocery chain. It's not black and white chain retail vs hospital.

I wish I was at least motivated enough to build a CV that would give me a chance at a residency if I change my mind but honestly I'd rather be studying for my classes than attending some meeting for a stupid student organization. My grades are top 10% of class but I have nothing to put on my CV other than my paid internship and the fact that I gave APhA 80 dollars and am yet to attend a meeting.
 
Last edited:
How would a PharmD benefit you though? I feel like I am in a similar situation with residency. Maybe in 10 years it will turn into a requirement or something but right now it just looks like a big pay cut and a ton of work for someone who plans to do retail anyways. The only reason I'm still somewhat considering one is because I only get one chance at it and you can always go hospital to retail, but not the other way around.

I'm still a long way from retiring, and while I have a stable job at the moment, who knows what can happen in this economy? A PharmD would give me more job options and my job experience would give me more options then just having a BS along with my job experience.
 
No one wanted to get into the business/finance field? Why?

I got out. It was soul sucking, but the money was great. But I also spent a ton....like, hundreds on dry cleaning, for example. Just keeping up with the jones' I suppose.

Now I'm making way more on an hourly basis (I think I was, in total, making just slightly less on double the amount/time of work).

Plus I would have likely been laid off or gotten my commissions cut significantly in the recession, I quit just before Lehman laid to waste the economy. Good timing, but my friend who worked AT Lehman left 3 months before it went under wins that award.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
I'm still a long way from retiring, and while I have a stable job at the moment, who knows what can happen in this economy? A PharmD would give me more job options and my job experience would give me more options then just having a BS along with my job experience.

What more options does it give you? My opinion (I think) is that a license is a license, they all have the same privileges. Sure a PharmD may be trained differently and the education may be more clinically oriented but I don't think this translates to opportunity seeing as experience/residency is required for clinical jobs anyways. If the PharmD was so much more valueable they would hire me straight out of school and the BSPharms would be doing the residencies.
 
What more options does it give you? My opinion (I think) is that a license is a license, they all have the same privileges. Sure a PharmD may be trained differently and the education may be more clinically oriented but I don't think this translates to opportunity seeing as experience/residency is required for clinical jobs anyways. If the PharmD was so much more valueable they would hire me straight out of school and the BSPharms would be doing the residencies.

In saturated areas, Pharm D's ARE being hired over BSpharms. Of course, in saturated areas, a Pharm D isn't enough, you need a Pharm D + residency (or 5 - 10 years experience.) Companies can't just fire all their BS's and hire PharmD's (and why would they want to, if they have good employees, why would they fire them to risk hiring an unknown employee?) A license is a license is a license was true in the 80's/90's, which is why I didn't get a PharmD, in the 2010's with an ever increasing surplus, things are different.
 
What about Dentistry?

What ConfettiFlyer said. Plus dentists for the most part, have to be able to run their own business. That is a special skillset that most pharmacists don't have (one of the reasons why there aren't many independent pharmacies.)
 
I'd get a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and hope to find employment
 
Top