career advice

[Smilez4me]

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Hi All, I am currently a college junior, majoring in Bio. I am still not quite sure what my career plans are...I started out as a Pre-Med, but now I am considering either Pharmacy or Physician Assistant. 😕 I don't really know what the general required/recommended courses are and what kind of experiences are necessary for applying to Pharmacy school, so any advice is welcomed. Also, if anyone can please tell me anything about the pros and cons of each of the mentioned profession, it'll be greatly appreciated! Thank you! 😉

 

[elitesci]

Hi,

I am going to try to give you some advice based on what I see and hear so far. I have a biology degree and a master in health management systems. Having a biology is very powerful becasue it allows you to pursue differnt avenues. I was once in your position as a premed. I decided not to go to med school and pursue a master degree. However, I am trying to go more into regulatory and quality assurance for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Most likely I will get another degree or a Pharm D depening on the situation at hand.

Your question is about pharmacy and being a PA.

Well, in my opinion, you need to ask yourself what type of patient contact do you want to have. As a PA you will have have similar contacts as a actual DO or MD.

There are more jobs in the pharmaceuical arena I feel than are PA jobs. Keep in mind that when you got a Pharmacy degree you do not just have to be a retail pharmacist. You can go more into clincal (as of now very few jobs, but they are out there) nuclear pharmacy, clinical trials, patent law, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, patent agents, research, hopsital pharmacy, teaching and others maybe someone else can give you a hint on.
(Keep in mind you can do some of the jobs mentioned about if you have a biology degree), but a Pharm D can open more doors.
I woudl try to be a pharmacy tech first to see if you like pharmacy retail is rough (depening on store) but try in a hospital.

As far as a PA, try to shadow a PA in several differnt pratices. you will see that soem PA's are PA's due do various reasons (school lenght , but still wants to patice medicine)

I know a few friends that are PA's and they are doing well but they deal with alot from doctors and especially nurses who say " I can do a PA's job"

I would go more into the biotech and pharmaceuticla arena. I just feel there is more to offer especially today.

Actually I have been looking at some of the three year Pharm D programs, such as the one in Nevada.

I hope I helped you, If I can help you more just ask,. I am new to the borad so I will do what I can.

Most people on the board are geat and very helpful, I had yet to meet anyone. Take care

 

[Smilez4me]

Wow, Thank you so much elitesci! Your advice certainly helps! I was wondering...which of the Pharmacy schools do you know of now that offer the 3-year accelerated program besides the one in Nevada! Thanks again! 😉

 

[GravyRPH]

check out this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80680

 

[Smilez4me]

Thanks GravyRPH! 🙂 I really appreciate it...

Um, I read the thread about the Pharm class statistics, but can anyone please tell me what the overall acceptance rate to getting into Pharmacy schools nowadays is? How comparable is it to getting into Med school? 😕

 

[LVPharm]

Applications to all the nation's pharm schools are up as of the last application cycle. I think Dana at UF said in another post that she talked with an assistant dean at her school who stated that it was actually harder to get into their pharm program than their med program. In many schools, you'll get about 700 or 800 apps for a little more than 100 seats. Maryland reports 700 for 120 seats, our school had 800 for ~110 seats. Sorry I don't have published stats for you 😉 But you could probably expect numbers like that.

You might want to check out this article about how to make yourself more competitive:
http://healthcare.monster.com/pharm/articles/school/

...and for more info on career paths in pharmacy:
http://www.pfizercareerguides.com/

Be sure to browse the "For Students & Applicants" section at AACP:
http://www.aacp.org/

 

[Smilez4me]

Thank you for the helpful info, LVPharm!🙂

I have another question...Right now, I am going for my Bachelor of Science degree and my school does not have any pre-pharmacy programs. I think I took most of the necessary prereqs already, but if I want to enter Pharm School in Fall 2005, when should I start applying and how many years would it generally take to graduate with a Pharm D. after I get my B.S. degree?
😕

 

[LVPharm]

I don't have experience with the current application process using PharmCAS so I'll defer that question to some other more knowledgeable SDNer.

As to how long it'll take you to get your PharmD after getting your BS? ~3 years in an accelerated program, 4 years in most other "traditional" programs.

 

[dcreynol]

I'm not so sure about getting into UF Pharmacy is harder than getting into UF Med School. According to the aamc.org website, 1500 Florida applicants applied to medical school. True, it doesn't state that they all applied to UF, but common sense states that most of them did. And UF website says they accept about 100 students. If UF Pharmacy gets about 700, or even 1000 applicants, then its much better because they accept 280(according to pharmcas). So, 100/1500 vs 280/700 or 1000. So, hopefully getting into UF Pharmacy is easier!

 

[dgroulx]

Not everyone applies to every school. There are 3 state medical schools in Florida. I know people who didn't bother applying to UF, thinking that it would be too hard. Florida State has a new program which, I believe, just got accredited. A lot of Seminoles wouldn't be caught dead being a Gator and the opposite is also true. The other state school, USF in Tampa is also perceived to be easier to get into than UF. I don't know the number of apps received for med school, I was just told that pharmacy was more competitive than med school this year.

Many people don't bother applying to UF because UF has a reputation of being academically difficult. You pretty much need a 4.0 GPA coming out of high school to get in to their undergrad school. A friend of mine got his engineering degree and had a chemistry prof that took pride in the number of students that he could flunk out.

The hardest program to get into this year was the vet program. It's the only vet school in the state and they accept 80 students.

 

[dcreynol]

Yes, I agree with you on the vet statistics. But the med and pharm ones just don't sit right with me. So, I shall have to politely disagree about them.