Everytime I say my major is Pharmacy people assume I'm studying to be a tech!!!

[Rattlergirl53]

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I swear so many times people ask me what my major is I say pharmacy. Then the automatically asssume I want to be a tech. Example a couple of days ago I was talking to my boss at Kmart. It's a summer job and I'm leaving to go back to school. So he asks me what my major is and I say pharmacy. He then goes on to tell me of a guy he knew who studied pharmacy in Wilmington (Which by the Wilmington, NC has no Pharmacy school) and got his degree in 2 years and didn't like it so he later returned to being a regular retail person doing loss and prevention. First of all as soon as he said Wilmington I KNEW he was talking about pharmacy techincian school because there is no pharmacy school there. Then when he said 2 years I'm like okay he's talking about a technician. Then he had the nerve to make it seem like I should stay working at Kmart my whole life because that other loser didn't like being a tech!!! It just pissed me off. I've also had people forget what my major was and say oh yea you're studying nursing right?? Does anyone outside of the pharmacy field ever think that some people want to be pharmacists, not everyone is a tech someone has to be the pharmacist???

 

[xeodragon]

Pharmacy is a program, not a major. Maybe that's where there was the confusion?

 

[Jbuprepharm]

your major is... pre-pharmacy... but it's more likely biology or something on a pre-pharmacy track

 

[Rattlergirl53]

I was pre-pharmacy but I've been accepted into pharmacy school now so when people ask me my major or what I'm studying shouldn't I say pharmacy?? What else can I say? Or should I just say I'm in pharmacy school studying to be a pharmacist? Oh well its not the big of a deal I just hate my Kmart boss he's a jerk and thinks everyone's goal should be to stay slaving their life away as a Kmart associate forever getting paid 6.75.

 

[Priapism321]

I was pre-pharmacy but I've been accepted into pharmacy school now so when people ask me my major or what I'm studying shouldn't I say pharmacy?? What else can I say? Or should I just say I'm in pharmacy school studying to be a pharmacist? Oh well its not the big of a deal I just hate my Kmart boss he's a jerk and thinks everyone's goal should be to stay slaving their life away as a Kmart associate forever getting paid 6.75.

Maybe you should just go with the technician gig....

 

[gopher22]

You're talking to the wrong crowd about health professions (i.e. your Kmart manager).

 

[OKgirl]

I would just respond, "I'm studying to be a pharmacist".

 

[iphetamine]

...or "I'm studying pharmacy", period!

 

[samuricool]

I am an operations manager for UPS, so when people ask what I am studying I just tell them that I am going for a biology undergrad and hopefully will get accepted to pharmacy graduate school. Usually when I tell them that they immediately want to know what kind of drugs I can recommend for them or their family members and must stress that I hopefully will get accepted to pharmacy graduate school and am not a pharmacist yet. Never have they assumed that I am going to be a technician (of course most of them know that I am ptech at my other job too, but not everyone knows that).

 

[RxWildcat]

I swear so many times people ask me what my major is I say pharmacy. Then the automatically asssume I want to be a tech. Example a couple of days ago I was talking to my boss at Kmart. It's a summer job and I'm leaving to go back to school. So he asks me what my major is and I say pharmacy. He then goes on to tell me of a guy he knew who studied pharmacy in Wilmington (Which by the Wilmington, NC has no Pharmacy school) and got his degree in 2 years and didn't like it so he later returned to being a regular retail person doing loss and prevention. First of all as soon as he said Wilmington I KNEW he was talking about pharmacy techincian school because there is no pharmacy school there. Then when he said 2 years I'm like okay he's talking about a technician. Then he had the nerve to make it seem like I should stay working at Kmart my whole life because that other loser didn't like being a tech!!! It just pissed me off. I've also had people forget what my major was and say oh yea you're studying nursing right?? Does anyone outside of the pharmacy field ever think that some people want to be pharmacists, not everyone is a tech someone has to be the pharmacist???

I understand your frustration here, most people outside the field of pharmacy have very little knowledge about the education of a pharmacist. Does your K-Mart not have a pharmacy in it? If it does then the manager should have at least been a little more familiar with pharmacy stuff. You gotta just let it go sometimes.

 

[mike36]

I have had similar issues. Someone told me he didn't know my school had a pharmacy program, but the community college down the road does.😕

 

[PharmDstudent]

This happens to me quite often. People will assume that I'm a tech, especially if I wear scrubs, which hopefully, I will never have to wear in the future.

They love to think that I just graduated from high school yesterday. One time a lady asked me 'So what are you, 18?' I thought that was really funny, not, because I was 23. They'll call me a girl, too. Maybe it's the doll-like face.

People aren't going to ask what your major is if you don't tell them a blank statement like "I'm going to Texas A&M." They will, in general, ask what you do and then where you go to school. Instead of telling them that you go to whatever school, just say that you go to "pharmacy school @ Texas A&M".

The worst is whenever you tell someone that you're going to pharmacy school, and they reply "Oh, pharmacy tech." If they say something stupid like that, then you can tell them "No. I'm going to school to be a pharmacist."

"Pharmacy graduate school" sounds silly. Med and dent students don't say "medical graduate or dental graduate school". They probably get the same technician or assistant assumption bs from people, too.

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

I hear Texas A&M is a fantastic school!

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

I swear so many times people ask me what my major is I say pharmacy. Then the automatically asssume I want to be a tech. Example a couple of days ago I was talking to my boss at Kmart. It's a summer job and I'm leaving to go back to school. So he asks me what my major is and I say pharmacy. He then goes on to tell me of a guy he knew who studied pharmacy in Wilmington (Which by the Wilmington, NC has no Pharmacy school) and got his degree in 2 years and didn't like it so he later returned to being a regular retail person doing loss and prevention. First of all as soon as he said Wilmington I KNEW he was talking about pharmacy techincian school because there is no pharmacy school there. Then when he said 2 years I'm like okay he's talking about a technician. Then he had the nerve to make it seem like I should stay working at Kmart my whole life because that other loser didn't like being a tech!!! It just pissed me off. I've also had people forget what my major was and say oh yea you're studying nursing right?? Does anyone outside of the pharmacy field ever think that some people want to be pharmacists, not everyone is a tech someone has to be the pharmacist???

Who cares what people think... you know who you are and what you're about.. people think I'm a drug rep.. and make me wear those ugly orange "vendor" badge... I've even been stopped in a hospital hallway where people asked "you know my sister is trying to be a drug rep..what does she need to do?" questions..

 

[Requiem]

Who cares what people think... you know who you are and what you're about.. people think I'm a drug rep.. and make me wear those ugly orange "vendor" badge... I've even been stopped in a hospital hallway where people asked "you know my sister is trying to be a drug rep..what does she need to do?" questions..

Hahahah, I bet you love that.

 

[Glycerin]

Iwhat I'm studying shouldn't I say pharmacy?? What else can I say? Or should I just say I'm in pharmacy school studying to be a pharmacist?

You could say the latter or that you're getting a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

Really, as someone else mentioned, the general public really doesn't understand the difference in a technician and a pharmacist. One of my friends that isn't in a health-related career knows that I'm in pharmacy school and that I spent billions of hours studying diseases and drugs that he can't pronounce, but then asked me yesterday what a pharmacy technician was.

Use these opportunities not to get upset but to educate.

 

[pharmwannebe2]

I was pre-pharmacy but I've been accepted into pharmacy school now so when people ask me my major or what I'm studying shouldn't I say pharmacy?? What else can I say? Or should I just say I'm in pharmacy school studying to be a pharmacist? Oh well its not the big of a deal I just hate my Kmart boss he's a jerk and thinks everyone's goal should be to stay slaving their life away as a Kmart associate forever getting paid 6.75.

your boss is obviously a ***** but that is assumed because it doesn't take a college degree to go to college. I know your feeling. i kinda just explain to them no...i am going to school to become a pharmacist. and then they understand better.

don't worry about it. when you start school and get an internship they pay better than 6.75.

 

[Garfield3d]

I don't think I've really had a problem with people confusing pharmacy school for technician certification. The most nebulous responses I've gotten is when people nod their head in agreement, so in those cases I don't really know what they're thinking. Sometimes, the person will pause, then ask for clarification, but they have been spot on with their conjectures. Even my Staples cashier today asked, "So... you're going to be the head honcho?"

I think it's important in how they phrase their question and how you phrase your response. I usually say, "I'm attending pharmacy school," so that they don't think I'm still an undergraduate.

Maybe it's just the type of people that ask. Or, maybe I've just been lucky.

--Garfield3d