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Started by RXUWwarrior
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RXUWwarrior said:
Hi! I live in Canada and I'm trying to decide which pathway of education to pursue. I have a choice of doing masters in organic and computational chemistry which is very exciting as I will be able to work with chemistry, math and coding. Also my masters is paid ($25k/year) and its only two years. My other option is PharmD (4 years) which is also exciting as I will be able to help many people. My only concern with pharmacy is that the job market is expected to go down in the future bc of the surplus of pharmacists in canada.

I would like to hear your opinions about which option is worth pursuing.


Thanks in advance!
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I would do the first option. With the first option, you could be working for Biotech companies.

I would not recommend PharmD. 80% jobs are retail. Retail job is shrinking fast due to low reimbursement for dispensing medications, pharmacist hours getting cut leading to decreased salaries and experimentation with automation by CVS and Walgreens.

Independent pharmacies are closing due to net loss in profits and PBMS squeezing them out of the market. That means less job opportunities for you.

Hospital pharmacy is 30% of the job market. In the hospital side, credential inflation, and expansion of residency programs and clinical Pharmacists have experienced furloughs at many hospitals. Plus, order and verification, anticoagulant and Vanc dosing can be automated in the near future. Also, not to mention hours are getting cut for clinical pharmacists. Resident trained pharmacist are forced to get staffing jobs out in rural hospitals. These hospitals can be bought out by bigger hospitals.

Industry and managed care jobs for pharmacists are <5% of the job market. And are extremely rare to get, but are very niche secure jobs.
 
Thank you so much for your insight! Here in Canada, pharmacy is not as bad as in the USA however, I understand that it might get worse in the future. Do you believe that a career in chemistry is better than in pharmacy?
 
RXUWwarrior said:
Thank you so much for your insight! Here in Canada, pharmacy is not as bad as in the USA however, I understand that it might get worse in the future. Do you believe that a career in chemistry is better than in pharmacy?
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I do believe that your first route is better than pharmacy. With chemistry, you can do a Ph.D., you can do chemical engineering, or you can do route you suggested. Chemistry is a versatile degree than pharmacy, which is tied to dispensing medications. If you are interested in designing medications, medicinal chemistry is more beneficial than pharmacy
 
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