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Dismissals will only make people stronger! So why don’t you all go to hell.
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People with career changes are Smart
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Red flags homicide.
Assuming you got dismissed for academic reasons, what makes you think you can hack it in pharmacy school?
Seems a little heavy-handed of a reply. It's not like the poster said "I work hard so I deserve it." It's a post (albeit clearly emotionally driven) asking for information and perspective.
The fields are very different. What did you like/dislike about optometry? What were your struggles? If you were dismissed for academic reasons, what classes gave you trouble?
What are you looking for out of pharmacy? Which career path in pharmacy do you see yourself taking? Why?
My gut reaction says to wait it out for a year and continue in optometry if that is an option, but we need more information before we can give you any sort of real advice.
What are you looking for out of pharmacy? Which career path in pharmacy do you see yourself taking? Why?
My gut reaction says to wait it out for a year and continue in optometry if that is an option, but we need more information before we can give you any sort of real advice.
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I'm a pharmacist and I'd rather be an optometrist. Don't switch if you still have the option to be the latter. Being a pharmacist is not a fun job unless you own your own store or work in an independent where you reign in the profits. Otherwise, its politics after politics and too much going on.
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If you think pharmacy is going to be "easier" than optometry, you are wrong. Whatever caused your dismissal from your optometry school, will most likely also be a problem in pharmacy school. You will need to fix whatever the problem was that you had in optometry school (and if you fix the problem, why wouldn't you want to try to go back to optometry school, since that was your first career choice?)
To be honest, despite what other pharmacists will tell you, I will say from personal experience that pharmacy is easier to get through than optometry. Pharmacy is a lot of times viewed as backup for other healthcare fields for people who want to be in healthcare but can't cut it in other fields. I have few other friends that left medicine/dentistry for pharmacy and I was similar in your shoes and started my healthcare career in optometry and went through 2 years of it before dropping it for pharmacy. Just my 2 cents
To be honest, despite what other pharmacists will tell you, I will say from personal experience that pharmacy is easier to get through than optometry. Pharmacy is a lot of times viewed as backup for other healthcare fields for people who want to be in healthcare but can't cut it in other fields. I have few other friends that left medicine/dentistry for pharmacy and I was similar in your shoes and started my healthcare career in optometry and went through 2 years of it before dropping it for pharmacy. Just my 2 cents
Lol are you kidding me? Optometrists aren't even making 6 figures.
What does how much one makes have to do with anything?
Stay with optometry! Pharmacy has become a 'slave' job. I even question whether you can call it a profession. I have been in pharmacy for 45 years. Pharmacy has gone downhill ever since I graduated from pharmacy school. A lot of pharmacists are putting in 12 to 14 hour days, no breaks, and no lunch breaks with lines of people complaining about how long it is taking for you to fill their prescription. Corporate is constantly sending notices complaining about your stores performance and they will micro-manage everything you do.
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My struggles were in two classes, and they were also the tough ones. I didn't dislike anything about optometry, it's just that I was not satisfied with the way the tough class professors taught the class. I went to the Puerto Rico optometry school, and I feel the only thing I learned is how to live alone a little bit. Some students had old notes, while others didn't. I always studied myself, and I feel I learned a lot that way. On top of that, I literally struggled with my first roommates (nothing but gossip and party people) ever that I had to move in the middle of the school of year, and they did too because of their behavior. I had a Gpa very close to 2.0, which was the minimum dismissal criteria, only because of two classes.
I want to go to pharmacy because I was thinking maybe it is more for my personality, quiet, calm, etc. Another reason is that, my experience at the Puerto Rico optometry school (called IAUPR) was not good, coming back home and thinking about it, and interacting with the people there. So then if I want this, I want to transfer to another school, and so... it would make more sense to just try another career would it?
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unfortunately this may be what many people outside the profession think - in most cases, this is far from the truth
Yep. You will be speaking to people all day long in most pharmacy settings. Communication skills are important. You will have to deal with hectic situations every day.
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Let me dissect this for you step by step. Maybe it will help you see your situation more clearly to have a 3rd party lay it out for you. This is what you've revealed so far:
- You've been dismissed from optometry school and are thinking of pharmacy school
- You're "unhappy and crying all the time"
- You don't have any experience in pharmacy or know anything about it
- Your struggles in optometry were because of two "hard" classes that were taught by professors whose teaching style you disliked
- You learned to "live alone a little bit" in Puerto Rico and "always studied [on your own]," presumably without "old notes"
- You think it makes sense to "try another career" because your experience in optometry was "not good"
- You believe pharmacy is "more for [your] personality, quiet, calm, etc"
- Do not "try another career" and apply to schools like you try on hats. It's horribly ineffectual and shows lack of sound judgment.
- Use every advantage you can get (within your ethics). People don't live on an island - if there were people with "old notes," and you knew this, why didn't you ask? Maybe you wouldn't have done as badly. Concise notes that save precious time are priceless.
- Pick yourself up. Finish your grieving, then stop crying. It doesn't help you at all. Easier said than done of course. Focus on what you can do to change your situation, not what has transpired.
- Hard classes with professors you aren't fond of doesn't stop with optometry.
- Get real world experience. Learn what pharmacists actually do instead of attaching your preconceptions onto the profession. Shadow. You say you don't know pharmacy, but think it's the right field for you. Contradiction.
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First thing you need to do is recover from your grief. After that is done, explore your options. Pharmacy is not doing well in the job market so take that into consideration before you make your decision. Don't pick pharmacy simply as a fallback, that's a big mistake you don't want to make. Claiming you're a hard worker means nothing; prove it! Being quiet is fine, but a pharmacist's job involve a lot of talking and consulting, so you must develop communication skills to do well.
If you are really serious about pharmacy, then consider working at a pharmacy and talk with the technicians and pharmacists. Check if you enjoy the job.
If you are really serious about pharmacy, then consider working at a pharmacy and talk with the technicians and pharmacists. Check if you enjoy the job.
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Seriously????? I guarantee the daily life of an optometrist is FAR more calm than the daily life of a pharmacist. A hospital pharmacist has a slightly calmer life than a retail pharmacist, but not by much. With optometry, you have scheduled patients & you will deal with one patient at a time (granted there may be the occasional emergency situation....) However, with pharmacy, for 98% of the practice settings, you will be multi-tasking, you will have technicians pulling on one arm to get you to do something and nurses or customers pulling on the other arm to get you to do something. There will be no orderly pace to your day, its always a million things to do at once or nothing, and it won't be at the same time each day.
Nor is there anything "quiet" about a pharmacy. The phone is always ringing...whether your are in retail or hospital. Myself, like many people tune it out, but if you can't, then it will be like listening to your alarm clock go for your entire shift. You will be talking for a good portion of your shift, to patients, to technicians, to nurses, to doctors.
And if you can't handle the workload of optometry school, I doubt you will be able to handle the workload of pharmacy school (have you even looked at the coursework load pharmacists take?)
As mentioned above, you should not be trying on careers like hats. Perhaps the best thing you could do is take a year off, job shadow different careers that you think you might be interested in (or just go to a retail pharmacist around 5:00pm and sit down and observe what's going on....) and then you will be in a better position to decide what type of career you want.
You should also probably take some on-line aptitude tests and maybe a study habit class. Any advanced career you pick is not going to be a walk in the park, it will have difficult material to learn and difficult teachers to work with. You will have to learn to deal with that.
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I suggest you learn to talk and connect with other people with your free time right now.
Just try talking to strangers.
Studying with a group is tremendously helpful if you aren't smart. You need other people to teach you.
It looks like you are way too shy to even ask someone for their notes. How hard is, "Hey can I borrow your notes and study together?"
Most pharmacy jobs place high priority in communication skills and it seems you are severely lacking.
Just try talking to strangers.
Studying with a group is tremendously helpful if you aren't smart. You need other people to teach you.
It looks like you are way too shy to even ask someone for their notes. How hard is, "Hey can I borrow your notes and study together?"
Most pharmacy jobs place high priority in communication skills and it seems you are severely lacking.
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I guess the twenty responses above didn't dissuade you from jumping into pharmacy, which is OKAY. But now you are back asking for advice again.
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Sometimes? It’s the case all the time.
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This.
Sometimes it’s to the point which I think that these grads DESERVE to slave away at CVS in the middle of nowhere to pay off their debts, or default on their debt and have their credit ruined since that’s what they chose by not listening to us.
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No, for my immigrant parents, this was the lowest acceptable degree! I was a bad student and had no higher aspirations. My mom was a Ph.D in nuclear physics, my dad was an engineer (EE) my sister is a Physician. So.....Pharmacy, which I liked, was my ceiling.
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The only thing you'll do by going to pharmacy school is to defer your "crying" from the present until till you graduate. Then you'll discover what REAL crying is......
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It is a known fact- every time someone contemplating pharmacy school willfully ignores the advice of an actual pharmacist working in the field like this, a CVS recruiter somewhere gets a spontaneous erection.
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Goddamn, son.
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Ironic, how someone had the chance to be persuaded out of the pharmacy, but still chose this path.
Wish I had people to persuade me out but I was naive and never asked.
Anyways, to answer a question from a completely unrelated thread, get your license ASAP since you will need it eventually.
No license, no pharmacist job.
Anecdotally, I've been receiving unsolicited emails from Walgreens recruiters and its counterpart.
Even if you get terminated for asking for study time... jobs seem to be abundant from these companies.
Wish I had people to persuade me out but I was naive and never asked.
Anyways, to answer a question from a completely unrelated thread, get your license ASAP since you will need it eventually.
No license, no pharmacist job.
Anecdotally, I've been receiving unsolicited emails from Walgreens recruiters and its counterpart.
Even if you get terminated for asking for study time... jobs seem to be abundant from these companies.
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Btw, since the completely unrelated thread doesn't mention the law exam- you are aware that you also have to pass the law exam, right?
Unless you're trying to get license in Idaho or Iowa. Apparently you just how to sign an affidavit that you understand the pharmacy law.
Just can't remember which one. I just know that one of them is a potato state. Or perhaps both are potato states.
Unless you're trying to get license in Idaho or Iowa. Apparently you just how to sign an affidavit that you understand the pharmacy law.
Just can't remember which one. I just know that one of them is a potato state. Or perhaps both are potato states.
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Definitely Idaho.
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it isn't Iowa- I hate how people get these mixed up- I mean the distance between Iowa and Idaho is the same as Iowa and New York.
And we don't grown potatoes in iowa
What a gem you are,
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Can't confuse them if you ignore their existence
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all the ****ing time
There is a t-shirt I saw that said "University of Iowa, in Idaho City, Ohio"
Completely different. but you know - people in the cities.... (PS I am one of those city people now)
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Well at least you will fit in with the crying all day thing.
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Is no MPJE state? Figured
What was pharmacy like 45 years ago, or even 30? I had professors that went from retail to PhD because they hated retail in those days?
Heatlh care is very strict and you should do a self-reflection if its what you want to do vs. being a mother and some other work. However, if you are still set on health care, PA or nurse, I would say the latter because it has more roles and the PA/NP thing is on the cusp of saturation.
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Agree with your post, just the last part.
HRSA has PA/NP still in higher demand than supply in the next 10 years. BLS has both at massive job growth 2021-2031, unlike any other health profession. Saturation, especially for NPs (though PAs is similar) is not even a discussion point currently. NPs are at 40% job growth 2021-2031, while PAs are 28%. This is absolutely insane in comparison to other healthcare professions (or any). Unlike pharmacy, the reason here is that, for example, PA school is incredibly competitive and they control class sizes strictly.
Source:
PA: Physician Assistants : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
NP: Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Midwives, and Nurse Practitioners : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Can’t go wrong with either OP.
Edit: also, pharmacists and PAs now have practically identical median salaries (123 vs 128), except one has negative job growth (and decreasing salaries and work conditions) and the other has 40% job growth, among many other benefits. Pretty clear which is the smarter choice but to each their own.
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This thread is 7 years old. OP ignored the advice of pharmacists and went to pharmacy school anyway. He/she has been a grad intern at Wags for 5-6 months and has yet to take the NAPLEX.
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Ah, i was just going off of the previous post, should’ve known better.
Those roles are definitely better at this point. The work conditions and the expanded care. even in government, th care inpatient or outpatient clinical rxs is limited and contingent on the MD agreeing.
I am curious about inpatient clinical roles in gorvernment, how much autonomy do they have? For instance, does a ABX stewardship rx have the abiliti to unilaterally d/c abxs? Does the chemo rx have the ability to change meds? What are their roles here and how are they measured?
In outpatient, it appears that some rx have the ability to be put on the schedule and receive pts., but other agencies they have to be referred by the PA/MD?
A far as saturation goes, read the BLS with a grain of salt. They are under pressure to rose color the numbers. Though congress refuses to expand MD residencies, causing a bottleneck, NP programs have expanded to the moon. Not sure how PA works, but both roles are in the same bucket.
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Not sure on the former stuff as that’s a question for PAs/NPs but in terms of PA/NP schooling, there is a pretty big difference in schools and i wouldn’t say they’re in the same bucket. NP has expanded, many new programs and schools but is still quite competitive, while PA is still very strict, few new programs, and small class sizes (25-50). In terms of BLS, HRSA backs those numbers/predictions as well for PAs/NPs.
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I would take a long look at pharmacy before jumping in. What the job involves, what the current job market is like, just everything.
Also I have a very calm and quiet personality as well, and I don't find it to be a good fit for pharmacy (though I have found my niche). Loud and obnoxious might be better suited (no offense, pharmacists).
Also I have a very calm and quiet personality as well, and I don't find it to be a good fit for pharmacy (though I have found my niche). Loud and obnoxious might be better suited (no offense, pharmacists).
Does pharmacy (especially inpatient) require one to be that much of an extrovert?
I will be honest here to say that I don't know too much about what pharmacists do. But the one I interact with everyday as a hospitalist seem to have a job that do no require that much interaction with people.
I see them on the floor and talk to them if I need to consult them about something (eg., warfarin dosing, TPN etc...) or they usually call me if they want me to address something.
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Pharmacist for 37 years, clinical/staff Hospital Pharmacist, I can tell you, you can be either, and still find your perfect fit in Hospital Pharmacy.
Personally, I am bipolar, sometimes extrovert, sometimes introvert.
Working in a large regional teaching hospital. we love our M.D. hospitalists. Easy to work with, communicative and reasonable. Now the consulting/specialists M.D.s, not so much!
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