All the advice above is both right and wrong. You just have to figure out if it applies to your situation.
Here's what I would do, if you have completed 50% or more of the Pharm D, then I would say stick it out. Because you are already half-way there, and even if you will be taking out more loans, at least you will end up with a degree. And that degree does offer job opportunities (just not in LA, Chicago, or New York or any other city with a population over 100,000.) If you drop out, then you just have all the debt and no degree.
However, if you have completed less than 50% of more of the Pharm D, then yes, take your losses and drop out now. Because if you are already this unhappy and 2nd guessing yourself, then it's probably going to affect your schoolwork, and you run the risk of flunking out of pharmacy school with more debt (and then having to explain to another school why you flunked out of the Pharm D program.
So, you don't need to waste any more time thinking about this, just look at your total completed credits (only count the credits for classes you are currently taking, if you are past the withdrawal date to get a full refund.)
>=50% credit slug it through to the end
<50% credit cut your losses and run
Nah. I think time is more precious than anything. Know a girl who dropped out of MD school during year 3 who could have slugged it out till after year 4 and got her MD but didn’t. She had a chemistry undergrad and around 100k debt when she left. The only reason why she left was because she hated it and was extremely unhappy. Yeah her life wasn’t balling or great for about a year or 2 after but she turned out better than fine. Employers took a chance and interviewed her because she went to med school, finished or not.
If you’re miserable, leave. The market, work conditions, and stress is even better reason to. I’m not saying to leave without a solid plan. But don’t waste more time and money than you have to.
You can go back to pharmacy school if your life sucks that much without a pharmD. If I’m 30 and am more miserable than I was thinking about being a pharmacist/working as an intern, I can go back with only 2 years to go. I’m sure they’ll be blood thirsty for applicants then.
If you leave with 25-50% you technically got what you would have gotten the same deal when you leave the profession eventually anyway. Getting into pharmacy school and doing a couple years of it says something. I’m sure finished or not you’re still going to get an entry level position. Use the other 2-3 years you would have spent in pharmacy school to actually get work experience in the field you want, live with your parents or extremely frugally and pay off your loans faster. Half a pharmD with couple years of relative experience probably looks/is better than just a pharmD with no relative experience. Job hopping is the way to get raises now which is not a trend pharmacists can follow with only like 3 major chain employers and the saturation. The trend of the job market now is “can you do the job?” “how much potential do you have?”, “how hard do I think this person will work?” not “this piece of paper says I have business degree therefore I do good business”. So having a half or quarter pharmD on a resume and the professionalism skills you learned are still useful.
Don’t waste more time paying more tuition for a pharmD you don’t even want as a “back up” which you’ll have no other sensible options than to work as a pharmacist full time for at least a couple of years till you’re 30. It’s a lot easier to make a change when you have no commitments. If you get a job as a pharmacist you’ll have to move, get a car, settle in an area, take care of at least half your loans then you can think about leaving the profession which you probably never will. And why should Walgreens hire you in 2040 when you finally decide to use your “2022 back up degree” vs a new grad who graduated 2040 or the 50 other pharmacists who have 20 years experience who also applied for the position unless the market becomes desperate again? Leave now, go back, graduate 2040, lol IF you regret it that much.
This quarter million “backup” thing is bull****. In pharmacy, a certificate is a certificate. Whoever is newer, cheaper and faster will win. These amazing wide range of opportunities in big cities are not limited to pharmacy.
It’s still the beginning of the school year, as long as you’re not a P4, I would take a leave of absence and think. NP is booming right now with around the same pay. Yeah sure it’s not a doctorate but ego sounds kind of silly now. Being employed with stability sounds better than whatever is happening right now and the impending trends to follow in pharmacy.
"As long as you have a solid plan of what you truly want to do after dropping out, you will be fine. If you have a good GPA and still think about dropping out, you probably should get out of pharmacy asap" - This is what my advisor told me when I asked him for dropping-out advices lol.
