Deferring school for a year (PY2)

[pharmacybalance]

Hi members of SDN,

I was hoping to get your opinion on deferring pharmacy school after finishing my PY1. There are many reasons for deferring: pharmacy saturation, working both in retail and doing a hospital internship and not being satisfied with the job, tuition, and overall job growth. I've only paid 15k for tuition my first year and undergrad I was given a full ride, so I am not in a huge financial hole vs. finishing school and having around 80k debt (I'm in an in-state university and am living at home). I'm exploring CS, which of course is a whole other conversation.

How should I go about telling the school I want to defer? Do you think it's in my best interest to be upfront and tell them all my reasons, or just keep it more simple and say it's for personal reasons in the last case scenario I end up coming back to school?


tl;dr: finished first year of pharmacy school and want to defer my 2nd year. Should I be upfront with the school or say I want to defer for family/personal reasons?

Edit (9/24/17): Thanks for the replies you guys! There is some confusion as to deferring. I'm taking the time off to see if I'd like to move into another career with a better outlook. The saturation is already there, and graduating 1 year later won't change that for me.

Thanks you guys.

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[Gombrich12]

You have nothing to gain by engaging the school if you talk about job prospects or career satisfaction. Simply say it's for personal/family reasons and leave it at that.

 

[Seriously Serious]

I do not understand your reasoning.. you want to delay your graduation because of job saturation/satisfaction? Where's the logic.

 

[steveysmith54]

I thought I heard everything, but this is actually unique... every year the saturation gets worse, but it makes sense to delay graduation to see if the job maket improves... nice

 

[PAtoPharm]

I thought I heard everything, but this is actually unique... every year the saturation gets worse, but it makes sense to delay graduation to see if the job maket improves... nice

I could be wrong, but I think he is just saying that he's hesitant about continuing to move forward with pharmacy school considering how bad the job market is, and that he wants to take time to explore his other options. It's not really about wanting to take a year off to see if the job market improves during that time; moreover, it's about taking a year off to see if he'd like to move on to something else with a better outlook.

 

[steveysmith54]

I could be wrong, but I think he is just saying that he's hesitant about continuing to move forward with pharmacy school considering how bad the job market is, and that he wants to take time to explore his other options. It's not really about wanting to take a year off to see if the job market improves during that time; moreover, it's about taking a year off to see if he'd like to move on to something else with a better outlook.

Even if that's the case, this is unprecedented... people don't leave health professionals schools to explore other options. I've heard of people who decide to do md program afterwards, but not this

 

[quickpic007]

Hi members of SDN,

I was hoping to get your opinion on deferring pharmacy school after finishing my PY1. There are many reasons for deferring: pharmacy saturation, working both in retail and doing a hospital internship and not being satisfied with the job, tuition, and overall job growth. I've only paid 15k for tuition my first year and undergrad I was given a full ride, so I am not in a huge financial hole vs. finishing school and having around 80k debt (I'm in an in-state university and am living at home). I'm exploring CS, which of course is a whole other conversation.

How should I go about telling the school I want to defer? Do you think it's in my best interest to be upfront and tell them all my reasons, or just keep it more simple and say it's for personal reasons in the last case scenario I end up coming back to school?


tl;dr: finished first year of pharmacy school and want to defer my 2nd year b/c of pharmacy job prospects and career satisfaction. Should I be upfront with the school or say I want to defer for family/personal reasons?

Thanks you guys.

100% no doubt defer and say personal reasons. Explore other options.. some are worse (physical therapy, audiology, optometry for the most part) some are better (comp sci,RN,Dent), I'd personally pass on an MD as well.
job market already cratered so 1 year wont matter.
my goodness what an opportunity...

Just ask yourself..."will RX make me happy?"

 

[BidingMyTime]

I wouldn't defer....if you decide to continue, then you are a year behind the curve. Don't be wishy-washy, list out your pros and cons, make your decision, then never 2nd guess that decision. Either stay in pharmacy or leave, but don't put yourself in limbo-land by deferring the decision for year.

 

[Saiyo]

some are worse (physical therapy, audiology, optometry for the most part) some are better (comp sci,RN,Dent)
"

Whats wrong with PT or Optometry? They seem like pretty chill and fun jobs to me. However seeing what RN's do I don't think I would recommend that to anyone

 

[BenJammin]

DO NOT DO THIS

 

[gwarm01]

Whats wrong with PT or Optometry? They seem like pretty chill and fun jobs to me. However seeing what RN's do I don't think I would recommend that to anyone

Similar student loan debt and educational timeframe with lower pay and an even worse job market.

 

[lord999]

If I were the Associate Dean of Student Services for your place, I would probably question whether you intend to come back. I would agree to it, but warn you that you are not coming back and that your loans become due on your year off anyway without a continuance that I won't sign as a state school as you would blow up the on-time graduation statistics.

 

[PharmLifeWoot]

Graduate on-schedule and move out of mommy and daddy's house to find a job. There are PLENTY of pharmacist jobs out there if you look. The day of living in your own niche after graduation is over, so get out and explore. Saturation is not a reason to defer. Hating the profession and having doubts about career satisfaction is - but don't defer, just drop-out.

 

[87asu]

Similar student loan debt and educational timeframe with lower pay and an even worse job market.

Hmm I was under the impression that PT was booming. Cousin graduated last year (n=1) and had multiple offers, not to mention that everyone in the class was employed by graduation.