Incoming senior. I liked both fields. I work as a Tech so I know how the pharmacy career is. Haven't worked in the corporate world though so don't know how it is. Haven't shadowed a someone in Business yet as well. I find it weird to ask someone in business to shadow him/her if they work for a company. Thinking about doing accelerated 3 year pharmacy degree or 1 yr Business degree (Management or Finance). My in state pharmacy school is $75000 while the accelerated school i'm looking at is $146k (all without living expenses). Pharmacist salary is $120k while the students who graduate from the 1 yr Business program earned $62k on average. If I just put in two extra years in school, I could be making double of what the average person in business makes (avg meaning a salary of 60k), but then I will have more loan. I like Pharmacy degree though because I can make more money down compared to being an average person in business (avg meaning a salary of 60k). But then with some networking skills I might be able to get into high finance(e.g Investment banking) making bank.
Pharmacy or Business?
- Thread starter JakeSill
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I'm currently struggling with a similar dilemma. I am accepted to Pharmacy school set to start next month. The debt for my 3 year program is really high 150k, without living expenses, plus i have undergraduate debt. i currently work in corporate and its a lot of politics and favoritism that occurs, not sure if that happens in a pharmacy setting. i have limited experience in a pharmacy environment. If you are passionate, go for the Pharmacy. that debt load is something to think about though.
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Favoritism happens everywhere son. That's just life. Better learn how to kiss ass.
that's my weakness, i don't how to kiss ass. never have, never will.
Youll laugh and shake your head at this quote in 10 years
Politics and favoritism are rife in hospital settings.
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You won't be able to shadow Management Consultants or Exchange Finance personnel in a meaningful way due to the way FINRA and SEC limit non-credentialed personnel even in the meetings.
For Investment Banking and Finance, how good are your math skills? If you are a high school grad, are you at the Calc BC level? If not, you'll need to answer this question before considering finance as a major:
1. In Calculus II, you should have been introduced to Integration by Parts and Series. How comfortable were you at dealing with convergence and divergence after learning it? If not comfortable, consider passing.
If you're already an undergrad:
2. (The real question) : How good were you at your statistics, time-series finance, and mathematical analysis classes? If you can't deal with time-series and stochastic calculus (calculus with statistical errors included), the graduate versions of valuation and risk management are not possible to take. The CAS/SOA exams at the undergraduate level for the financial mathematics and the life contingencies are a fair baseline assessment for what you need to know (the standard for econ is actually higher than this).
The real honest answer is for quantitative majors like Econ and Finance, they are less concerned about your undergraduate than with your math ability. If your math ability is good and you are presentable, you'll do well. Otherwise, there are other majors that are less intensive about it.
This isn't the board for finance majors, but it's more a personal taste on which ones to take.
FYI, my graduate training after pharmacy was in those areas, so I had a hell of a time getting my remedial (from Differential Equations to Analysis) math up to the point where I could take the graduate level financial math and econ classes.
there are alternatives, just so you know
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like quitting the job?
Going to be a senior in college
Start off at 60k. Ex, auditor 63k -> 3 years -> Senior auditor 92k.
consultant 86k -> 3 years -> senior consultant 113k.
Pharmacy profession is flat ceiling at $120k with less progress. In business, you have potential to become a VP making the big $$$.
It does make sense during the early years though. 120k vs 60k. Big difference there. But as time goes by the amount of loan you take out, extra years spent in school, etc might not be worth it when looking at 92k vs 120k. What do you guys think?
A route i'm thinking about is getting a PharmD, then going back to school to get a top MBA later. But then that's 300k loan right there and I don't know what I'll do with PharmD/MBA title. Maybe corporate or something.
The $92k/year sounds like a better deal, especially if you are motivated to move up the ladder. In pharmacy, you could very well be stuck doing retail the rest of your career. With $90k/year, you could very well be taking home more than a $120k/year pharmacist can when you factor in student loans, being in a higher tax bracket, and lost income opportunity cost.
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What about 75k vs 120k(75k being the average)? That 90k was at one of the better paying firms out there?
It depends on your state. Roughly equivalent if you live in a high tax state, i.e. CA or NY. These states also have a lot more opportunities for business/finance professionals and much fewer opportunities for pharmacists due to saturation.
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also with sufficient experience you can move out to the smaller (and much more affordable) cities. My cousin worked 7 years at a Big 4 accounting firm and now works in Phoenix as a tax manager for some big company making 160K and he said 200k is not out of the possibility even in smaller cities. All depends on getting licensed and having good/extensive experience.
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PharmD, MS (Informatics), PhD (Health Economics and Operations Research), Postdoctoral AHRQ
Career: Currently VA Central Office, both the actual head for health data collection outside clinical use (the Informatics part) so I have a lot of techie sort of problems and one of the senior analysts (as in with agency final authority) over the demographics unit. I'm also loaned out to the other agencies as needed as there are only about seven health care workers (two pharmacists and five physicians) who have both a health care background and an econ/finance background who are willing to work for government rates (which are pitiful but in my case, let's say I like the benefits and definitely the power more than the money). I teach too, but usually graduate students. I take pharmacy students mainly for their personal enrichment that there are other ways to practice besides clinical. I'm personally more a basement hospital pharmacist or a chain retail pharmacist when I did practice; I never had the desire to be a clinical one. If you are in the VA and deal with non-VistA analysis, you'll run into me sooner than later as I am the one who teaches the technical classes for the informatics and analytical pharmacists (SQL, S-Plus, SAS).
If the OP didn't understand my response, finance is not a possibility for him/her. Accounting is easier, but is paid accordingly far less. The usual hiring for a Big Four who can deal with actuarial and quantitative finance is $120, $150, and then $170 for principals. I agree with the other responses, accounting is actually much more vulnerable to automation. If you do work for the Big Four, it's a 60 hour a week standing job which takes a toll on most people.
This is comparable to the version of the class I had:
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-sc...analytics-of-finance-fall-2010/lecture-notes/
Only exceptions are, this guy is a lot more faster paced and doesn't bother going through some of the setup explanations for the econometric or stochastic calculus setups (my version was more humane than this pace in a semester where MIT is apparently a quarter). So, the non-math majors get the dumb version of the Finance class, the finance majors get this version of the class. And it's this version that comes up when it comes time to hire. The final exam is basically the same sort as what we went through.
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I understood your response.
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I do not recommend pharmacy
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I am a newly graduated pharmacist. I would strongly suggest against pharmacy due to
1. difficult to find a job (pharmacists used to get 4-5 offers after graduating, now they barely have 1)
2. high loan (~100k)
Here is the statistic on the job demand: http://www.pharmacymanpower.com/usstatemap.jsp
As you can see, most east coast and west coast are pretty saturated with pharmacists, it's difficult to find positions in the cities. Not to mention the discrimination toward older pharmacists. We have a new pharmacist here who is 48 years old, travels 1 hour and 30 minutes to work a part time job (this is in NC).
Why do you still see articles about pharmacy is high in demand? Because chain pharmacies, industries can decrease our pay, and increase the quality of the employees they hire, here is an article on that: http://www.pharmacytimes.com/contri.../who-benefits-from-the-pharmacy-school-bubble
Here is the article about the bursting pharmacy bubble: https://newrepublic.com/article/119634/pharmacy-school-crisis-why-good-jobs-are-drying
So yes, I would encourage you to stay away from pharmacy as far as possible. There are many new pharmacy schools opening up, which means a lot of their education quality will go down, but tuition will continue to raise.
Unless you absolutely love pharmacy, then you should give it a try. Best of luck.
1. difficult to find a job (pharmacists used to get 4-5 offers after graduating, now they barely have 1)
2. high loan (~100k)
Here is the statistic on the job demand: http://www.pharmacymanpower.com/usstatemap.jsp
As you can see, most east coast and west coast are pretty saturated with pharmacists, it's difficult to find positions in the cities. Not to mention the discrimination toward older pharmacists. We have a new pharmacist here who is 48 years old, travels 1 hour and 30 minutes to work a part time job (this is in NC).
Why do you still see articles about pharmacy is high in demand? Because chain pharmacies, industries can decrease our pay, and increase the quality of the employees they hire, here is an article on that: http://www.pharmacytimes.com/contri.../who-benefits-from-the-pharmacy-school-bubble
Here is the article about the bursting pharmacy bubble: https://newrepublic.com/article/119634/pharmacy-school-crisis-why-good-jobs-are-drying
So yes, I would encourage you to stay away from pharmacy as far as possible. There are many new pharmacy schools opening up, which means a lot of their education quality will go down, but tuition will continue to raise.
Unless you absolutely love pharmacy, then you should give it a try. Best of luck.
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How smart are you
Pharmacy has low IQ floor and ceiling. You won't excel by brilliance
Pharmacy has low IQ floor and ceiling. You won't excel by brilliance
New Jersey. How about 95k (Senior Consultant) to 120k?
Definitely go for the senior consultant position. Your GROSS pay is about as much as a pharmacist except without the $200k+ loans and 4 years of professional school. Factoring taxes and student loans, you will be poor as a pharmacist compared to being a senior consultant.
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Hahaha you guys are making me laugh. How do you think these so called "consultants" get their salary? Do you think you can get the job with just a BS or BA? Sure you may have lower debt burden, but in order to have the salary and the future earning potential, an MBA from a reputable business school is highly recommend.
I'm planning on doing a 1 yr Masters in Finance or Management program. According to he career destinations page, most of the people went into Consulting. You work 3+ years then you become a senior consultant.
You gotta look at the lifestyles that they live too. Consulting you are going to be working 60-80 hours weeks and constantly traveling. The burnout rate is really high. You gotta look at the exit opportunities and see if that is what you want to do long term. If you think you can grind it out to partner, then more power to you.
For high finance, I would look into top schools around the NorthEast region of the US. But be warned though, cause the ibanking lifestyle ain't no joke either. 80-100 work weeks. Cut-throat environment. Can you handle it?
