Am I in too much debt to go to Pharmacy school now?

[PharmBoy90]

I'm in my 3rd year of school (20 years old), and I haven't taken all of my pre-reqs yet. I have decided that I would like to finally pursue Pharmacy. I think it's everything I'm looking for in a career.

However, assuming I have 2 years left of pre-reqs and 4 years of Pharmacy school, do you think it's too late and I've accumulated too much debt? I'm almost $50,000 in debt already. My parents have agreed to pay for $20,000 of that (they took out a student loan in their name), so I guess I'm technically in $30,000 debt myself.

After my grants/scholarships, the school I go to is about $14-$15K a year. So if I take 2 more years to do pre-reqs, I will probably be $60K in debt BEFORE Pharmacy school.

I did however just land a job at CVS, and if I stay with them, I think they might help pay for some school. But do you think it's too much debt? Everyone keeps telling me to not let the loans scare or stop me from pursuing my dreams, but I just feel like it is a huge risk.

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[pharm B]

Jeez. That's a huge amount of debt to carry with you into pharmacy school. Is there any way to get the pre-reqs done sooner, possibly in combination with courses at a community college? I wouldn't dig myself that far in the hole just to say I took General Chemistry at a university.

 

[PharmBoy90]

Jeez. That's a huge amount of debt to carry with you into pharmacy school. Is there any way to get the pre-reqs done sooner, possibly in combination with courses at a community college? I wouldn't dig myself that far in the hole just to say I took General Chemistry at a university.

I would be more than willing to take the pre-reqs at a Community College, but isn't it frowned upon when Pharm schools see your transcript?

The school I want to go to is Long Island University's campus in Brooklyn.

 

[dazzled]

I know when I graduate from undergrad, I will be ~40K in debt. For my situation, it was unavoidable. It just happens; you take out enough so that you can live, and no more, but it just adds up. Probably going to be ~250k in debt by the time I'm done with pharmacy school, and that is a LOT of money. But, I really think it is worth it. You just need to realize that as soon as you are out of school, you need to pay off as much of that debt as soon as you can (esp. private loans...), even if that means living like a poor undergrad for a few years. If you're willing to do that, I say go for it. Just remember that it is a huge responsibility and that your debt won't just go away.

I would, however, try to do your pre-reqs as quickly and as cheaply as possible, and make sure you do very well in them. CC isn't bad as long as the credits transfer and they prepare you for pharm school.

 

[whatbout2morrow]

The only way to know how they view community college credits would be to personally contact the admissions office there. Just by browsing their website, it seems they evaluate classes taken outside LIU on a case-by-case basis. It also seems that they prefer that the pre-professional phase be taken there. They also say that 4 years are considered undergrad for financial aid purposes and only the final 2 years are considered grad. I would also give some thought into applying to UB also. I don't know if CVS still offers scholarships. You might want to research deeper into that.

 

[PharmBoy90]

The only way to know how they view community college credits would be to personally contact the admissions office there. Just by browsing their website, it seems they evaluate classes taken outside LIU on a case-by-case basis. It also seems that they prefer that the pre-professional phase be taken there. They also say that 4 years are considered undergrad for financial aid purposes and only the final 2 years are considered grad. I would also give some thought into applying to UB also. I don't know if CVS still offers scholarships. You might want to research deeper into that.

Applying to UB might not be a bad idea...

 

[PharmBoy90]

Jeez. That's a huge amount of debt to carry with you into pharmacy school. Is there any way to get the pre-reqs done sooner, possibly in combination with courses at a community college? I wouldn't dig myself that far in the hole just to say I took General Chemistry at a university.

Are there certain courses that generally should be taken at a 4-year university as opposed to community college?

I just don't know what to do.