Please read if applying for pharmacy school for Fall 2014

[Li555]

I am not here to be negative but only state the truth because I wish someone would have told me when I was applying. Simply put the field of pharmacy is saturated. There are no longer any sign on bonuses and a great job waiting for you when you graduate. Honestly, I think pharmacy is a great career but has turned into a big joke with all these diploma mills popping up. All these schools are private schools and only care about your tuition money. Which we all know comes from students loans. If you want to be at least 100k in debt by the time you graduate and no secure job waiting for you once you graduate, then go ahead and apply. If you don't believe me please just search it yourself. Don't listen to what the pharmacy schools tell you of course they want your money. The truth is there are not enough jobs to support all the new graduates. And if you find a job odds are they are not going to be in the place you wanted and the pay you wanted. I work for Kroger and already the starting pay for both pharmacists and interns have dropped. Interns used to start off at $15 and now it is $10.50. Im urging you to do your own research before putting yourself in this situation. All the reports pharmacy schools site about pharmacists being in high demand were done when there were only 81-90 pharmacy schools. There are now 130. If you have any questions please let me know and I will try my best to answer them.

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[Jibby321]

You just opened Pandora's box. And I'm not talking about the useful music app.

 

[Li555]

Yes I know. It's sad but true. I just want people to be informed before they make a decision like this.

 

[Jibby321]

Yes I know. It's sad but true. I just want people to be informed before they make a decision like this.

Plenty of positions here where I work. And we can check for positions all around the country and there are 1000's and 1000's of listings.

 

[Li555]

Where exactly do you live? And if that's true please explain to me why lots of new graduates have not found jobs and they graduated a year ago! Or why The American pharmacist association and American society of health system pharmacists along with pharmacytimes have all issued warnings about the pharmacy job market and new schools opening up? Or why just 2 years ago the retail pharmacies in my area had a hiring freeze that lasted a year! Also, they sent letters out asking the older pharmacists to retire because they were overstaffed! The pay for pharmacists has decreased and will contuine to do so. Please tell this to all the new graduates who haven't found jobs since you know of so many maybe you can help them out. I'm not saying there aren't any jobs. I'm saying there are not enough jobs to support the crazy numbers that are graduating each year. Please support your statements with facts before you speak.

 

[Jibby321]

Where exactly do you live? And if that's true please explain to me why lots of new graduates have not found jobs and they graduated a year ago! Or why The American pharmacist association and American society of health system pharmacists along with pharmacytimes have all issued warnings about the pharmacy job market and new schools opening up? Or why just 2 years ago the retail pharmacies in my area had a hiring freeze that lasted a year! Also, they sent letters out asking the older pharmacists to retire because they were overstaffed! The pay for pharmacists has decreased and will contuine to do so. Please tell this to all the new graduates who haven't found jobs since you know of so many maybe you can help them out. I'm not saying there aren't any jobs. I'm saying there are not enough jobs to support the crazy numbers that are graduating each year. Please support your statements with facts before you speak.

Not looking for an argument. Just telling you what I see from my companies job listings from around the country.

But from the conversations I have had with many students and graduates is that retail is his or her LAST option. So they tend not to line up any retail internships and alot of the ones who do typically don't like retail. But yes I stand by my last post stating I can see open positions from California to Maine Of pharmacy managers and staff.

 

[Li555]

Like I said I'm not saying there aren't any jobs I'm saying there aren't enough to support the crazy and still growing number of graduates. And what company is this? I'd like to help out all the graduates that have talked to me and that I know of that have not found a job yet. And for your comment about retail, there are more jobs in retail then there are in any other field in pharmacy. So when retail companies are not hiring considering about 65 percent of the jobs are there, then there's something wrong. All you had to support your facts is your company, just ONE company. I'm not arguing with you either but what you are saying has no meaning to it. I'm only here to tell people to do their own research, talk to other pharmacists, talk to people at ASHP, APhA, pharmacytimes, employers. I've talked to people in charge of residencies and they've told me they have received so many applications that it has been ridiculous. They all say there are not enough residences for even the most qualified students since there are so many applicants. The same thing is said from employers.

 

[Jibby321]

Like I said I'm not saying there aren't any jobs I'm saying there aren't enough to support the crazy and still growing number of graduates. And what company is this? I'd like to help out all the graduates that have talked to me and that I know of that have not found a job yet. And for your comment about retail, there are more jobs in retail then there are in any other field in pharmacy. So when retail companies are not hiring considering about 65 percent of the jobs are there, then there's something wrong. All you had to support your facts is your company, just ONE company. I'm not arguing with you either but what you are saying has no meaning to it. I'm only here to tell people to do their own research, talk to other pharmacists, talk to people at ASHP, APhA, pharmacytimes, employers. I've talked to people in charge of residencies and they've told me they have received so many applications that it has been ridiculous. They all say there are not enough residences for even the most qualified students since there are so many applicants. The same thing is said from employers.

I'm not saying I disagree with you completely. Is there a lack of jobs in major metro areas? Yes. It is a major chain retailer that I work for now.

 

[Li555]

Finally we agree on something lol. Im just telling people to be more careful about believing all these new schools about six figure salaries, sign on bonuses, job waiting for you when you graduate, etc. because all that is not that likely anymore. The fact that pharmacists are in demand is not true. Have you seen pharmacymanpower.com? I suggest you should. The fact is there are not enough jobs for everyone. Yes there really is not a lot of jobs in big cities but also not enough in rural places for as many people graduating. And there are people that are going to have to consider graduating with student loan debt, not finding a job, and having to consider not being a pharmacist and doing something else. It's already happening. I don't wanna see anyone in that position so I'm asking people to do their own research and find out the truth.

 

[CareDD]

I understand your point, Li555.

However, deterring new applicants from applying is not going to work because if he or she doesn't apply, there will be another person applying. This forces "diploma mill" schools to lower their criteria to accept enough students into their programs. Consequently, new future pharmacists are going to be less qualified.

That being said, I am sure everyone is aware of this saturation. Things are not going the way we want, but if we don't step up, who is going to step up for us?

 

[Jibby321]

I understand your point, Li555.

However, deterring new applicants from applying is not going to work because if he or she doesn't apply, there will be another person applying. This forces "diploma mill" schools to lower their criteria to accept enough students into their programs. Consequently, new future pharmacists are going to be less qualified.

That being said, I am sure everyone is aware of this saturation. Things are not going the way we want, but if we don't step up, who is going to step up for us?

Good post.

 

[Jibby321]

Finally we agree on something lol. Im just telling people to be more careful about believing all these new schools about six figure salaries, sign on bonuses, job waiting for you when you graduate, etc. because all that is not that likely anymore. The fact that pharmacists are in demand is not true. Have you seen pharmacymanpower.com? I suggest you should. The fact is there are not enough jobs for everyone. Yes there really is not a lot of jobs in big cities but also not enough in rural places for as many people graduating. And there are people that are going to have to consider graduating with student loan debt, not finding a job, and having to consider not being a pharmacist and doing something else. It's already happening. I don't wanna see anyone in that position so I'm asking people to do their own research and find out the truth.

Agreed that there are schools who will accept people with bad stats. I feel in the future it will matter on where you went to school when employers are looking at your application. Where as before this didn't matter as much.

 

[AlPacino]

Not all of us who are going into pharmacy are clueless of the situation. Some of us actually do our research or are already in the industry. From what you are saying, any prepharms should instead look for

1). Job with low student student loans
2). High demand for the future with no signs of saturation
3). Lucrative salary with 20K+ Sign in bonus and lease to BMW
4). Jobs offered out of college with little or no work necessary

Name me this dream career that fits all those criteria. Please dont say Physician or Dentist. Read their forums to see how it is on their side. I am so hungry to get accepted to pharmacy school and become a pharmacist that it doesnt matter what anybody else tell me, I will not abandon my goal.

If you are so unhappy with the situation and feel that pharmacy is doomed, then just quit pharmacy school and search for a different career alternative. It is never too late. There are people that graduate as pharmacist and end up later going to med school to become physicians. They obviously were not happy as pharmacist and decided to go a different path. You are going to have a miserable pharmacy career if this is the way you really feel about the profession and the future outlook. Just my opinion. Take it for what it is.

 

[Li555]

I totally agree we have to step up. And sadly what you are saying about schools lowering their standards is already happening. It's scary looking at the stats. People with 2 point something GPA and 40 percentiles are being accepted. It has gotten way less competitive. And unfortunately everyone does not know. I know lots of pharmacy students that don't know because they believed what these new pharmacy schools are telling them. I just don't wanna see this profession turn into a joke.

 

[Li555]

Not all of us who are going into pharmacy are clueless of the situation. Some of us actually do our research or are already in the industry. From what you are saying, any prepharms should instead look for

1). Job with low student student loans
2). High demand for the future with no signs of saturation
3). Lucrative salary with 20K+ Sign in bonus and lease to BMW
4). Jobs offered out of college with little or no work necessary

Name me this dream career that fits all those criteria. Please dont say Physician or Dentist. Read their forums to see how it is on their side. I am so hungry to get accepted to pharmacy school and become a pharmacist that it doesnt matter what anybody else tell me, I will not abandon my goal.

If you are so unhappy with the situation and feel that pharmacy is doomed, then just quit pharmacy school and search for a different career alternative. It is never too late. There are people that graduate as pharmacist and end up later going to med school to become physicians. They obviously were not happy as pharmacist and decided to go a different path. You are going to have a miserable pharmacy career if this is the way you really feel about the profession and the future outlook. Just my opinion. Take it for what it is.

You totally took what I said and twisted it to your liking. I'm glad you don't care about the current situation. Unfortunately I know people that really want to be pharmacists and don't have the chance to do that thanks to the saturation in the field. I never told anyone to look for a career like that. Im merely stating what these new schools are telling students to get them to apply. I don't know about you but what's the point of getting a pharmacy education if you don't get the chance to help someone with it? If you have to do something else because you can't find a job in your field? How depressing is that? It's really sad. Im hoping this market turns around and everyone can put all their years of studying to good use. In addition, since there are so many schools now a lot of schools have lowered their standards. I go to one of the top schools in the country and I'm seeing the shift with the new incoming classes. Also, I'm in an inter-professional and work with medical students and nursing students. They've always been able to keep their numbers regulated and keeping their programs competitive. Can't say the same for pharmacy. And what's sad is my best friends mother had to leave work for 2 years due to illness, came back only to find the market has completely changed and now has been unemployed for a year now. This is what is scary. She has been a pharmacist for 20 + years and now can't find a job. Anywhere. Her old company won't even hire her because they are overstaffed. I never said pharmacy was a bab career if you read any of my posts correctly, I think its great. And let me assure you, I'm on the admissions committe at my school, you don't have to be hungry to get in. Odds are you will.

 

[owlegrad]

We have a thread in pharmacy for this; this is not the correct forum for this discussion.

Good luck C/O 2014!