Can't decide whether to pursue pharmacy or not

Started by SadSad
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SadSad

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I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not sure what else to do with it, so I was thinking of Pharmacy as I always wanted to be pre-health and was not really interested in the hands on stuff with patients. However, reading a lot of these forums here made me realize that I should rethink that decision. Is the saturation really that bad ? I feel like my Biology degree would be useless if I don't pursue pharmacy and decide to pursue something completely unrelated. Just several questions

1. Is the saturation really that bad?
2. If you had a choice, knowing that the market for pharmacy is this bad, would you pursue it all over again?
3. Is it better to just pursue a completely different career path and treat my biology degree as useless than to continue w/ pharmacy because job outlook is bad and working conditions aren't that great either.
 
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That is not the norm for Optometry. It is starting to get very saturated, they opened up a whole bunch of schools. And the margins for glasses have been cut drastically since online retails have become a thing.

In fact, Optometrists have the worse debt to income ratio of all health professions besides veterinarians I think.

UCSF2021 said:
if I could do it over again I would do optometry. my friend that just finished optometry school got offer for $150k and company car. never hear of that happening in pharmacy anymore
Click to expand...
 
SadSad said:
I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not sure what else to do with it, so I was thinking of Pharmacy as I always wanted to be pre-health and was not really interested in the hands on stuff with patients. However, reading a lot of these forums here made me realize that I should rethink that decision. Is the saturation really that bad ? I feel like my Biology degree would be useless if I don't pursue pharmacy and decide to pursue something completely unrelated. Just several questions

1. Is the saturation really that bad?
2. If you had a choice, knowing that the market for pharmacy is this bad, would you pursue it all over again?
3. Is it better to just pursue a completely different career path and treat my biology degree as useless than to continue w/ pharmacy because job outlook is bad and working conditions aren't that great either.
Click to expand...
Find a happy pharmacist... I dare you.
 
The starting salary for two major chains has been decreased from around $56 to $50. Is there any need to say more??
 
Don't do it because you don't know what else to do. That's a surefire way of regretting it. The only people that should go into pharmacy these days are folks who have experience in the field and who know what they're getting into, and still want to do it, even if they know they will have to move around the country to find a job, and they don't mind that wages are stagnant/decreasing.

The ROI on a PharmD is not that great, and it requires a lot of effort. Pharmacy school (at least any half-decent school) is not easy. Why be miserable studying for 3 years, doing one year of rotations where you're at the mercy of a bunch of different preceptors, some who make it a point to make your life miserable, just for the pleasure of moving to BFE to be yelled at by customers that want their narcotics filled early, and trying to get a hold of a physician to fix the 10 different errors on the script they wrote? Ask yourself how will you handle the worst of it - the angry customers, the arrogant prescribers, the clueless public (most people don't even really know what a PharmD is), the student loan debt, the pressure from upper management, the lack of support and resources to do your job adequately, the lack of leadership and advocacy for the profession, the lower quality pharmacy school applicants that will be your peers and will be representing your profession, the lack of job security, the bureaucracy of obtaining and maintaining your license (and board certification and immunization certification and whatever other BS certification) and the associated fees (it can costs hundreds to thousands of dollars per year to keep your license active, depending on how many states you're licensed in, and with the job market the way it is, you will likely need to be licensed in more than one state).

There are tons of jobs in healthcare and medicine specifically that don't require a lot of hands-on patient care. It's not completely avoidable during med school, but there are residency programs that focus more on population health and less on individual patient interactions. There are a lot of jobs out there in healthcare that you probably don't know exist. Do some more research, figure out exactly what your different options are, and figure out which path will lead you to where you actually want to end up. If you find out that pharmacy is where you truly want to end up, then go to pharmacy school, but don't do it just because you don't know where you want to end up.
 
beautifulrobot said:
Don't do it because you don't know what else to do. That's a surefire way of regretting it. The only people that should go into pharmacy these days are folks who have experience in the field and who know what they're getting into, and still want to do it, even if they know they will have to move around the country to find a job, and they don't mind that wages are stagnant/decreasing.

The ROI on a PharmD is not that great, and it requires a lot of effort. Pharmacy school (at least any half-decent school) is not easy. Why be miserable studying for 3 years, doing one year of rotations where you're at the mercy of a bunch of different preceptors, some who make it a point to make your life miserable, just for the pleasure of moving to BFE to be yelled at by customers that want their narcotics filled early, and trying to get a hold of a physician to fix the 10 different errors on the script they wrote? Ask yourself how will you handle the worst of it - the angry customers, the arrogant prescribers, the clueless public (most people don't even really know what a PharmD is), the student loan debt, the pressure from upper management, the lack of support and resources to do your job adequately, the lack of leadership and advocacy for the profession, the lower quality pharmacy school applicants that will be your peers and will be representing your profession, the lack of job security, the bureaucracy of obtaining and maintaining your license (and board certification and immunization certification and whatever other BS certification) and the associated fees (it can costs hundreds to thousands of dollars per year to keep your license active, depending on how many states you're licensed in, and with the job market the way it is, you will likely need to be licensed in more than one state).

There are tons of jobs in healthcare and medicine specifically that don't require a lot of hands-on patient care. It's not completely avoidable during med school, but there are residency programs that focus more on population health and less on individual patient interactions. There are a lot of jobs out there in healthcare that you probably don't know exist. Do some more research, figure out exactly what your different options are, and figure out which path will lead you to where you actually want to end up. If you find out that pharmacy is where you truly want to end up, then go to pharmacy school, but don't do it just because you don't know where you want to end up.
Click to expand...

The ROI on pharmacy used to be very good. The best path to wealth is still MD (if you can handle the time sacrifice). Optometry is no bueno from what I've seen either.

It has been a decline for several years now and continues to get worse with the increasing student loans. If you aren't looking to be a practicing Pharmacist for another 3-5 years, things are not going to end well for you.
 
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PharmDBro2017 said:
The ROI on pharmacy used to be very good. The best path to wealth is still MD (if you can handle the time sacrifice). Optometry is no bueno from what I've seen either.

It has been a decline for several years now and continues to get worse with the increasing student loans. If you aren't looking to be a practicing Pharmacist for another 3-5 years, things are not going to end well for you.
Click to expand...
Am i the only fearless one looking forward to what peak sat. will bring to the pharmacy field? I think it's exciting to see how the situation will play out. For example, what will the thousands of new unemployed grads do with their time when there is not enough jobs? Very cool thought experiment.
 
SadSad said:
3. Is it better to just pursue a completely different career path and treat my biology degree as useless than to continue w/ pharmacy because job outlook is bad and working conditions aren't that great either.
Click to expand...

Why do you have to do something with your Bio degree? It is a sunk cost. You could potentially do a lot better if you write it off. Your bio degree might have been a waste but you would make it an even bigger waste by tacking on an additional $200k+ in loans for another devalued degree that is the PharmD.

There are other fields of study, i.e. computer science, engineering, finance, accounting, etc. that offer jobs that pay as well as pharmacy if not better, are in high demand, offer better work conditions, and do not require you to take out $200k+ in loans and spend an additional 4 years of your life in school.
 
SadSad said:
1. Is the saturation really that bad?
2. If you had a choice, knowing that the market for pharmacy is this bad, would you pursue it all over again?
3. Is it better to just pursue a completely different career path and treat my biology degree as useless than to continue w/ pharmacy because job outlook is bad and working conditions aren't that great either.
Click to expand...

1. Yes, saturation is very much real when many full time positions are offering less than 40 hours a week.
2. No way, and I graduated over 10 years ago. I should've majored in business or engineering. I would have probably made around the same as I currently do now with potential to grow professionally as well as earning power in the future.
3. You can always find work in a lab with your bio degree and in the meantime try to pay off that student loan if you had taken out any. It's a much better proposition than to put yourself an ADDITIONAL 200k in the hole.
 
SadSad said:
I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not sure what else to do with it, so I was thinking of Pharmacy as I always wanted to be pre-health and was not really interested in the hands on stuff with patients. However, reading a lot of these forums here made me realize that I should rethink that decision. Is the saturation really that bad ? I feel like my Biology degree would be useless if I don't pursue pharmacy and decide to pursue something completely unrelated. Just several questions

1. Is the saturation really that bad?
2. If you had a choice, knowing that the market for pharmacy is this bad, would you pursue it all over again?
3. Is it better to just pursue a completely different career path and treat my biology degree as useless than to continue w/ pharmacy because job outlook is bad and working conditions aren't that great either.
Click to expand...

Never ever do a career because you don’t know what else to do.

If you have no true way to offset student debt or even stepped inside a pharmacy, you are putting your freedom on the line. The outlook is not great. For you, I urge you to look elsewhere and see other options. Your happiness is worth more than just picking Pharmacy because you can.
 
PharmtoCS said:
Why do you have to do something with your Bio degree? It is a sunk cost. You could potentially do a lot better if you write it off. Your bio degree might have been a waste but you would make it an even bigger waste by tacking on an additional $200k+ in loans for another devalued degree that is the PharmD.

There are other fields of study, i.e. computer science, engineering, finance, accounting, etc. that offer jobs that pay as well as pharmacy if not better, are in high demand, offer better work conditions, and do not require you to take out $200k+ in loans and spend an additional 4 years of your life in school.
Click to expand...
This. I would write off the bio degree as a loss. I mean lets be honest probably like 70% of college degrees are completely useless in 2019. The hard part is admitting you wasted 4 years and 100,000 USD on a literal piece of paper and ink that has a real market value of probably like 0.03 USD.
 
grizzlesgrizzlies said:
1. Yes, saturation is very much real when many full time positions are offering less than 40 hours a week.
2. No way, and I graduated over 10 years ago. I should've majored in business or engineering. I would have probably made around the same as I currently do now with potential to grow professionally as well as earning power in the future.
3. You can always find work in a lab with your bio degree and in the meantime try to pay off that student loan if you had taken out any. It's a much better proposition than to put yourself an ADDITIONAL 200k in the hole.
Click to expand...
Yes! first step of ditch digging is to stop digging.
 
PharmDBro2017 said:
The ROI on pharmacy used to be very good. The best path to wealth is still MD (if you can handle the time sacrifice). Optometry is no bueno from what I've seen either.

It has been a decline for several years now and continues to get worse with the increasing student loans. If you aren't looking to be a practicing Pharmacist for another 3-5 years, things are not going to end well for you.
Click to expand...
A lot of the MD's I know are working 60-70 hours a week. If a pharmacist worked that many hours, what is that, like 230K per year? Sure you are wealthy but is the time investment worth it? A lot of MD's would say no.

If you want to be rich, the medical field is not the best choice.
 
Modest_anteater said:
Am i the only fearless one looking forward to what peak sat. will bring to the pharmacy field? I think it's exciting to see how the situation will play out. For example, what will the thousands of new unemployed grads do with their time when there is not enough jobs? Very cool thought experiment.
Click to expand...

Won’t be a thought experiment for much longer at the rate things are going.
 
projektreverb said:
Won’t be a thought experiment for much longer at the rate things are going.
Click to expand...
meh. I don't see peak sat. hitting till 2025. By then the avg. starting salary will be 45k USD a year working 25 hours a week with a real unemployment rate of 15% for all pharmacists. Hopefully by then I'll have my own pharmacy so i can take advantage of the glut of new pharmacists by hiring them to work for 15 bucks an hour.
 
BC_89 said:
Never ever do a career because you don’t know what else to do.

If you have no true way to offset student debt or even stepped inside a pharmacy, you are putting your freedom on the line. The outlook is not great. For you, I urge you to look elsewhere and see other options. Your happiness is worth more than just picking Pharmacy because you can.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity BC how long have you worked in pharmacy? are you a student ? thats what your title says. And how old are you to be giving such wise advice?
 
PharmtoCS said:
Why do you have to do something with your Bio degree? It is a sunk cost. You could potentially do a lot better if you write it off. Your bio degree might have been a waste but you would make it an even bigger waste by tacking on an additional $200k+ in loans for another devalued degree that is the PharmD.

There are other fields of study, i.e. computer science, engineering, finance, accounting, etc. that offer jobs that pay as well as pharmacy if not better, are in high demand, offer better work conditions, and do not require you to take out $200k+ in loans and spend an additional 4 years of your life in school.
Click to expand...
This. This is exactly what I did. Why does your bio degree have to get you a job? Write it off and move on.
 
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SadSad said:
I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not sure what else to do with it, so I was thinking of Pharmacy as I always wanted to be pre-health and was not really interested in the hands on stuff with patients. However, reading a lot of these forums here made me realize that I should rethink that decision. Is the saturation really that bad ? I feel like my Biology degree would be useless if I don't pursue pharmacy and decide to pursue something completely unrelated. Just several questions

1. Is the saturation really that bad?
2. If you had a choice, knowing that the market for pharmacy is this bad, would you pursue it all over again?
3. Is it better to just pursue a completely different career path and treat my biology degree as useless than to continue w/ pharmacy because job outlook is bad and working conditions aren't that great either.
Click to expand...

Please take into consideration that I have a job that the retail drones would kill for:

1.) Yes
2.) No. Not in a million years
3.) Who cares. Anyone who was "pre-health" obviously has no vision and is only chasing an ideal
 
sozetone said:
Just out of curiosity BC how long have you worked in pharmacy? are you a student ? thats what your title says. And how old are you to be giving such wise advice?
Click to expand...

You want my credentials? Why not:

1) 12 years in pharmacy

2) 5 years MIlitary service (air assault and pharmacy) with a deployment and medical discharge (fell out of a helicopter)

3) Start my 3-year program in August which will be paid for by my GI Bill (was in a pharmacy program years ago before leaving due to family obligations)

4) 30 years old with wife and two kids

I also like hunting / fishing and working out with the wifey 😉

I love honey-barbecued brisket as well!
 
BC_89 said:
You want my credentials? Why not:

1) 12 years in pharmacy

2) 5 years MIlitary service (air assault and pharmacy) with a deployment and medical discharge (fell out of a helicopter)

3) Start my 3-year program in August which will be paid for by my GI Bill (was in a pharmacy program years ago before leaving due to family obligations)

4) 30 years old with wife and two kids

I also like hunting / fishing and working out with the wifey 😉

I love honey-barbecued brisket as well!
Click to expand...

Boxers or briefs?
 
Do not pursue pharmacy. I have years of retail experience and there is at least 25 retail jobs around me and the district managers keep lying to me that they will call me back to schedule interview in a week. It been more than a month and they keep ignoring my phone calls and emails.
 
I would only consider pharmacy again if it meets these criteria:
1. Total cost of school < 100K
2. Guaranteed or very good chance of landing of a job after graduation
3. No obligations to any other debt besides pharmacy school so I could pay it off in a couple years
 
Last edited:
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SadSad said:
I just graduated with a Biology degree and I'm not sure what else to do with it, so I was thinking of Pharmacy as I always wanted to be pre-health and was not really interested in the hands on stuff with patients. However, reading a lot of these forums here made me realize that I should rethink that decision. Is the saturation really that bad ? I feel like my Biology degree would be useless if I don't pursue pharmacy and decide to pursue something completely unrelated. Just several questions

1. Is the saturation really that bad?
2. If you had a choice, knowing that the market for pharmacy is this bad, would you pursue it all over again?
3. Is it better to just pursue a completely different career path and treat my biology degree as useless than to continue w/ pharmacy because job outlook is bad and working conditions aren't that great either.
Click to expand...

Med school, nursing school, PA school, dental school, optometry school, vet school... hell chiropractic school probably is better. Just dont do pharmacy. Youre gonna saturate the job market. Youre gonna end up going to one of the schools that just opened up by some bigass pharma company lobbying their asses off to build more school so they can undercut their own emplyees and basically suicide their own company. Youre probably not gonna find a decent job by the time you come out of school. Need more reasons?
 
i know pharmacists drop their career and pursue engineering (civil, software, etc), designer, law, etc
In which case, both science-related undergrad degree + their doctorate of pharmacy degree is useless for their purpose.
At least in your case, you get a head start compare to them without tackling on a 200k+ tuition and 3-4 extra years of your youth gone towards it.
 
rxkrafted said:
I would only consider pharmacy again if it meets these criteria:
1. Total cost of school < 100K
2. Guaranteed or very good chance of landing of a job after graduation
3. No obligations to any other debt besides pharmacy school so I could pay it off in a couple years
Click to expand...

My situation meets all criteria but number 2. How can one be sure about that before school? Thank you.
 
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