FAQs and misconceptions about the pharmacist job market

[lawyer2doc]

"Every field out there is saturated, and pharmacy is no exception."

Many fields out are saturated, but relatively few of them require you to take out $150,000+ in loans and go through another 4 years of schooling. Also, there are some fields that are not saturated and only require a BS degree. Hint: engineering.

Since I'm incapacitated by the flu at present, I'm (apparently) browsing professional forums at random.

Most of your economic analysis is reasonably sound, but I think this one is completely off.

Almost any field which requires only a BS degree is a really bad bet when it comes to finding a safe career path. The current immigration structure highly incentivizes employers to "import" qualified graduates of Indian, Chinese, etc. universities who are willing to work for peanuts instead of first world workers who expect reasonable accommodation for their education and experience.

This is true of any field which doesn't essentially require extensive training in the country of employment. Physicians, pharmacists, lawyers, etc. are aided by barriers to entry which result from licensing barriers to many foreign professionals. Engineers do not (and as an extreme example, look at jobs which require a PhD but no accreditation).

TLDR: You're significantly understating the benefit of being in a field that throws up barriers to entry against foreign trained workers. As a typical worker in a chosen profession, there's almost never a safer place to be than a field that requires (a) advanced education and (b) a professional license.

Also, I'm somewhat confident that any accreditation body which desired to do so could easily get around the restrictions resulting from the Sherman Antitrust Act, to the extent they exist. I've helped clients wiggle out of much more constricting red tape.

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[sunshao]

I think that u should be required to have a bachelor's before going to pharmacy school. People pump up their gpa's because the first couple years are easy, but when they go to pharmacy school, they struggle.

 

[sunshao]

Since I'm incapacitated by the flu at present, I'm (apparently) browsing professional forums at random.

Most of your economic analysis is reasonably sound, but I think this one is completely off.

Almost any field which requires only a BS degree is a really bad bet when it comes to finding a safe career path. The current immigration structure highly incentivizes employers to "import" qualified graduates of Indian, Chinese, etc. universities who are willing to work for peanuts instead of first world workers who expect reasonable accommodation for their education and experience.

This is true of any field which doesn't essentially require extensive training in the country of employment. Physicians, pharmacists, lawyers, etc. are aided by barriers to entry which result from licensing barriers to many foreign professionals. Engineers do not (and as an extreme example, look at jobs which require a PhD but no accreditation).

TLDR: You're significantly understating the benefit of being in a field that throws up barriers to entry against foreign trained workers. As a typical worker in a chosen profession, there's almost never a safer place to be than a field that requires (a) advanced education and (b) a professional license.

Also, I'm fairly confident that any accreditation body which desired to do so could easily get around the restrictions resulting from the Sherman Antitrust Act, to the extent they exist. I've helped clients wiggle out of much more constricting red tape.

true, its hard to beat foreign competition if the field doesn't require a professional degree(look at all the TA's and teachers in university who can't speak english)

 

[oldstock]

those students might be naive and/or ignorant of this situation, but schools are more to be blamed, esp new schools, which are really taking advantage of this naiveté to capitalize on the back of those prepharmers and easy student loans by perpetuating the "great prospect" of pharmacy and all imaginable roles to lure students in which they themselves have never ever imagined even having a chance to practice, while jacking tuition. They are, in my eyes, are nothing but crooks !!

it is funny to see how quiet and/or supportive of pharmacy organizations has been for this scam. I would question if they are having any share in it. The mandate of the PharmD degree and since then the non-stop opening of schools makes me wondering if they all have been colluding in fixing this business. It is sure a lucrative business.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pharmacy-job-market-outlook.639184/page-56#post-16051623

^This.

This makes me so mad when I see threads with people with 2.5 GPA/40 PCAT and are asking which new schools they meet the minimum threshold for, or because they weren't good enough for med/dental so instead of pursuing something else, they figured pharmacy would be easier for them to get into (which now apparently it is, but it shouldn't be). Or they can barely put 3 words together in English. Yes, I understand that it may not be your first language and you were not born here, but this is a profession where communication is pretty damn important, and people need to understand what you're saying. If you make a mistake due to lack of knowledge/understanding, there is a chance that you could actually injure/kill someone.

I think a lot of students like you have tunnel vision of seeing only pharmacy as an option which is understandable. On the plus side a lot more students are concerned about their futures/careers and aren't doing things like filming, "_______" history, or other humanities/or quite useless major. However that's causing a lot of students to flood jobs thought to pay well and have good job security and that flood is destabilizing the values of the profession they sought. Now they look for which pharmacy school has the lowest and easiest way to admission thinking the profession will save them while doing little career research. Some even have no work experience in a pharmacy.

Pharmacists will give you different ideas of the job market based off age. The very old pharmacists will almost always say it's good b/c after 20-30 years it's treated them well and rode the boom. They haven't looked for job in decades and plan to retire so they don't care about their job future or honestly your job future. Their only worry is you don't overthrow the government and take their SS/Medicare away.

Middle aged pharmacists you will get different opinions. Obviously those doing well will say it's great, those not will say it's terrible.

Best way to know the job market? Ask the P4's(cause that will be you) or graduating class how long it took to find a job. Was it a job they wanted or had limited options? Are they still unemployed? Ask P4's at multiple schools in saturated areas and in areas not saturated, maybe there's a difference in response, but you'll start to see a similar narrative to what's said here. 4 years later is it going to be worse? You bet it will almost 100% guaranteed based off trends in supply/demand and nothing will derail the train unless the ACPE decides to act for the profession and not themselves. Some pharmacists you ask haven't looked for work so aren't as aware of the market but likely will know people who are having a tough time.

You may see you will be fine with relocating hopefully you will but 4 years later will you say the same? What if you have a partner, someone you love? Will you be okay moving away from all your pharmacy school friends you have yet to make? People change and so do our expectations, often these days we lower them.

I know nurses have a hard time finding work, I honestly think it's a tough market for them too. And while the market is tough, maybe it's not as bad as psych majors. Just know it's going to get worse than what you are hearing now and if you feel you can afford the risk, take it. A lot of fear will also make you take school more seriously and make you a better job candidate so that's a more optimistic way of seeing it I guess but note even that might not be enough. A lot of times it's luck, I don't know if it's a 250K gamble I'm willing to take though, who knows?

Honestly you seem like a good candidate for medicine or dentistry too. Though I'm just basing it off your GPA. Don't discount yourself but leave those doors open. You don't have to end up in the same pile as the 2.5 and 2.9s here

 

[oldstock]

Since I'm incapacitated by the flu at present, I'm (apparently) browsing professional forums at random.

Most of your economic analysis is reasonably sound, but I think this one is completely off.

Almost any field which requires only a BS degree is a really bad bet when it comes to finding a safe career path. The current immigration structure highly incentivizes employers to "import" qualified graduates of Indian, Chinese, etc. universities who are willing to work for peanuts instead of first world workers who expect reasonable accommodation for their education and experience.

This is true of any field which doesn't essentially require extensive training in the country of employment. Physicians, pharmacists, lawyers, etc. are aided by barriers to entry which result from licensing barriers to many foreign professionals. Engineers do not (and as an extreme example, look at jobs which require a PhD but no accreditation).

TLDR: You're significantly understating the benefit of being in a field that throws up barriers to entry against foreign trained workers. As a typical worker in a chosen profession, there's almost never a safer place to be than a field that requires (a) advanced education and (b) a professional license.

that is a moot point though. You are an attorney and I am sure you have already known how bad it is for students when supply (schools) outstrips demand (jobs) as it has happened to law grads.

There are 140 pharm schools now (and many many more in the process of opening), everyone with 2s GPA and 10-20 percentile on the PCAT can get in. What source the supply comes from, abroad or domestic, is not the matter here.

Also, I'm somewhat confident that any accreditation body which desired to do so could easily get around the restrictions resulting from the Sherman Antitrust Act, to the extent they exist. I've helped clients wiggle out of much more constricting red tape.

the foreign pharmacists will not be a problem here. Too many schools is. And I honestly do not think any pharmacy accreditation body want to restrict and / or stop the crazily non-stop expansion of schools. They have already announced publicly many times that they will not do anything and will grant accreditation to anyone who wants to open schools and qualifies for their accreditation requirements.

 

[PharmtoCS]

TLDR: You're significantly understating the benefit of being in a field that throws up barriers to entry against foreign trained workers. As a typical worker in a chosen profession, there's almost never a safer place to be than a field that requires (a) advanced education and (b) a professional license.

The benefits of barriers to entry from foreign trained participation have unfortunately turned out to be a myth when we saw them overcome by easy access to student loans, lax school accreditation standards, and lax licensing standards (i.e. easy-to-pass NAPLEX). Schools and employers took advantage of these factors to allow large numbers of students to enroll and graduate from these schools, leading to a massive glut in the job market. There is no need to outsource work or bring in H1B workers when companies and colleges can promise starry eyed domestic students great job prospects, trap them with $200k+ debt, make them fight Hunger Games style for the scarce available jobs, and work them to death, as we have seen in pharmacy and law.

 

[oldstock]

I think that u should be required to have a bachelor's before going to pharmacy school. People pump up their gpa's because the first couple years are easy, but when they go to pharmacy school, they struggle.

artificially requiring a bachelor degree will not change anything. When there are too many schools, sub-par students will still get in, as in 2s GPA and 10-20 percentile on the PCAT, bachelor degree or not. There will still be saturation when 140++++ schools pumping out grads non-stop. Supply and demand here.

 

[IDontHateYou]

I think a lot of students like you have tunnel vision of seeing only pharmacy as an option which is understandable. On the plus side a lot more students are concerned about their futures/careers and aren't doing things like filming, "_______" history, or other humanities/or quite useless major. However that's causing a lot of students to flood jobs thought to pay well and have good job security and that flood is destabilizing the values of the profession they sought. Now they look for which pharmacy school has the lowest and easiest way to admission thinking the profession will save them while doing little career research. Some even have no work experience in a pharmacy.

Pharmacists will give you different ideas of the job market based off age. The very old pharmacists will almost always say it's good b/c after 20-30 years it's treated them well and rode the boom. They haven't looked for job in decades and plan to retire so they don't care about their job future or honestly your job future. Their only worry is you don't overthrow the government and take their SS/Medicare away.

Middle aged pharmacists you will get different opinions. Obviously those doing well will say it's great, those not will say it's terrible.

Best way to know the job market? Ask the P4's(cause that will be you) or graduating class how long it took to find a job. Was it a job they wanted or had limited options? Are they still unemployed? Ask P4's at multiple schools in saturated areas and in areas not saturated, maybe there's a difference in response, but you'll start to see a similar narrative to what's said here. 4 years later is it going to be worse? You bet it will almost 100% guaranteed based off trends in supply/demand and nothing will derail the train unless the ACPE decides to act for the profession and not themselves. Some pharmacists you ask haven't looked for work so aren't as aware of the market but likely will know people who are having a tough time.

You may see you will be fine with relocating hopefully you will but 4 years later will you say the same? What if you have a partner, someone you love? Will you be okay moving away from all your pharmacy school friends you have yet to make? People change and so do our expectations, often these days we lower them.

I know nurses have a hard time finding work, I honestly think it's a tough market for them too. And while the market is tough, maybe it's not as bad as psych majors. Just know it's going to get worse than what you are hearing now and if you feel you can afford the risk, take it. A lot of fear will also make you take school more seriously and make you a better job candidate so that's a more optimistic way of seeing it I guess but note even that might not be enough. A lot of times it's luck, I don't know if it's a 250K gamble I'm willing to take though, who knows?

Honestly you seem like a good candidate for medicine or dentistry too. Though I'm just basing it off your GPA. Don't discount yourself but leave those doors open. You don't have to end up in the same pile as the 2.5 and 2.9s here

thanks. That was a great post.

I know I could have done medical or dental but I like the degree of separation that pharmacy has from the patient and I feel like it suits my personality better. Things will undoubtedly be hard. But I'm just going to believe in myself and keep pushing forward. I will make a way for myself within the profession.

You do make great points and it definitely is something a lot of pre-pharm majors should atleast consider.

 

[oldstock]

thanks. That was a great post.

I know I could have done medical or dental but I like the degree of separation that pharmacy has from the patient and I feel like it suits my personality better. Things will undoubtedly be hard. But I'm just going to believe in myself and keep pushing forward. I will make a way for myself within the profession.

You do make great points and it definitely is something a lot of pre-pharm majors should atleast consider.

now you really start talking... jk

 

[IDontHateYou]

artificially requiring a bachelor degree will not change anything. When there are too many schools, sub-par students will still get in, as in 2s GPA and 10-20 percentile on the PCAT, bachelor degree or not. There will still be saturation when 140++++ schools pumping out grads non-stop. Supply and demand here.

Is this actually serious? Because all the schools I'm applying to don't have such low standards.
Even NOVA, you need to at-least get a 55 on pcat to be competitive and they're standards are fairly low.

Its terrible what they're doing to the profession because it lowers the integrity of the pharmacy career because you certainly can't pull that kind of crap with Medical school. If they had made pharmacy school more competitive and difficult to get into this situation wouldn't be happening in the first place.

Its sad because not all Pharm. D students are mediocre. I for one, am always at the top of my classes and strive to be as perfect as humanly possible.

Though I would like to think I atleast have the advantage of being an over-achiever which will help me stick out and be more marketable.

 

[PharmtoCS]

I think that u should be required to have a bachelor's before going to pharmacy school. People pump up their gpa's because the first couple years are easy, but when they go to pharmacy school, they struggle.

artificially requiring a bachelor degree will not change anything. When there are too many schools, sub-par students will still get in, as in 2s GPA and 10-20 percentile on the PCAT, bachelor degree or not. There will still be saturation when 140++++ schools pumping out grads non-stop. Supply and demand here.

I would rather require work/volunteer experience in a pharmacy as a prerequisite. Too many pre-pharmacy and even current pharmacy students do not seem to understand what it is like to actually work in the field.

 

[lawyer2doc]

The benefits of barriers to entry from foreign trained participation have unfortunately turned out to be a myth when we saw them overcome by easy access to student loans, lax school accreditation standards, and lax licensing standards (i.e. easy-to-pass NAPLEX). Schools and employers took advantage of these factors to allow large numbers of students to enroll and graduate from these schools, leading to a massive glut in the job market. There is no need to outsource work or bring in H1B workers when companies and colleges can promise starry eyed domestic students great job prospects, trap them with $200k+ debt, make them fight Hunger Games style for the scarce available jobs, and work them to death, as we have seen in pharmacy and law.

I don't disagree that these factors have left our fields as utter hellholes, from the perspectives of both what they ideally should be and of how they're perceived by outsiders or those who haven't crunched the numbers. But the entire global economy is a hellhole and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. I still think that you and I are in a safer place than the overwhelming majority of American workers.

There is probably some debt level at which this would no longer be true. I say 'probably,' because this highly depends on the way the federal government handles the write-off of unpayable debt loads in the future. The uncertainty there is beyond my capacity to quantify.

 

[oldstock]

I don't disagree that these factors have left our fields as utter hellholes, from the perspectives of both what they ideally should be and of how they're perceived by outsiders or those who haven't crunched the numbers. But the entire global economy is a hellhole and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. I still think that you and I are in a safer place than the overwhelming majority of American workers.

that is not the point here. I agree that as professionals, pharmacist or lawyers, we can be better off than the avg American workers. The minimum wage is like 9 bucks an hour. Of course, even working as a pharmacist earning 30-40 dollars an hour still beat making minimum wages.

The question is, is it still worth it to risk 150K+ in student debts and 4-6 yrs in school + training anymore compared to other alternative career choices ?? unless you have no choice but do pharmacy.

There is probably some debt level at which this would no longer be true. I say 'probably,' because this highly depends on the way the federal government handles the write-off of unpayable debt loads in the future. The uncertainty there is beyond my capacity to quantify.

are you suggesting, in a way, to count on government's writeoff ??

 

[oldstock]

Is this actually serious? Because all the schools I'm applying to don't have such low standards.
Even NOVA, you need to at-least get a 55 on pcat to be competitive and they're standards are fairly low.

Its terrible what they're doing to the profession because it lowers the integrity of the pharmacy career because you certainly can't pull that kind of crap with Medical school. If they had made pharmacy school more competitive and difficult to get into this situation wouldn't be happening in the first place.

Its sad because not all Pharm. D students are mediocre. I for one, am always at the top of my classes and strive to be as perfect as humanly possible.

Though I would like to think I atleast have the advantage of being an over-achiever which will help me stick out and be more marketable.

how do you know that they do not accept such low ??

yes, I have seen many such low. If you dont believe me, I suggest you check the PCAT scores and GPAs of accepted students by checking some good / established pharmacy school websites. I bet you will find some surprises there If you search for posts in pre-pharm forum here, you will find people posting such stats and proud on making it into pharmacy schools (even top 10... yes I am not kidding you....)

the reason you do not see this happening with medical schools because the supply (the numbers of med schools) is way less than the demand (applying students). The numbers of med schools have been kept in check, while pharmacy schools are opening non-stop. When I looked in February this past year, there were 133 schools. There were 140 schools in late December 2014. 7 new schools in like 10 months ?? It is like 1 school opening per month now. Crazy. No wonder everyone and their dogs can get in if they want to. And yet more schools are still in the process of opening...

In the future, it is more about who you know than how you perform academically and professionally to get a job and keep a job. This you probably know by learning history.

not every pharm student is mediocre. But you will be one of a few in a sea of them, bro

yes, it is terrible because schools are greedy. All they care is $$$$$ !!

 

[lawyer2doc]

The quote feature isn't working properly for me. In response to oldstock:

1. I understated my argument. I think that pharmacists and lawyers are in a better place than other really smart, really hard working American workers---say, the guy who graduated from a really good engineering program.

2. For the love of God, don't rely on what I just said in any way. I was not advising anyone to borrow from the government without fear of the consequences. That would be kind of like me saying in an academic debate "It's easier to get away with murder than you might imagine" and you taking that as a license to go out and shoot someone. I'm saying that if you've already done it, your life probably isn't ruined. Borrowing way too much money from the federal government creates two problems. First, being able to make your monthly payments. This isn't a huge problem because you can always have your monthly payments based on income, not debt level (You guys do qualify for IBR/pay-as-you-earn, right? I honestly don't know, because health professionals are sometimes treated differently). The harder problem is that, under current law, the government will at some point say "This guy is too poor to pay off his student loans" and write them off. Debt write-offs are a form of income under the Internal Revenue Code [you borrowed money and never paid it back; you essentially had income]. You (probably with the help of a tax attorney) will have to work out with the IRS what you're going to do about having a massive tax bill that you have no way to pay off. It will not be a pleasant place to be.

Edit: And again, this is an academic argument, not legal advice. I really don't want to be sued for legal malpractice down the road somewhere. I'm presently wearing my economist hat, not my lawyer hat.

 

[oldstock]

The quote feature isn't working properly for me. In response to oldstock:

1. I understated my argument. I think that pharmacists and lawyers are in a better place than other really smart, really hard working American workers---say, the guy who graduated from a really good engineering program.

I have to respectfully disagree with you here. The computer/software and engineering fields are booming now. I know plenty of new engineers (in my circle of friends and family) who are making in near or 6 figure right out of schools recently.

I will try to find some data next time to avoid the +1 story argument (as it is late now).

2. For the love of God, don't rely on what I just said in any way. I was not advising anyone to borrow from the government without fear of the consequences. That would be kind of like me saying in an academic debate "It's easier to get away with murder than you might imagine" and you taking that as a license to go out and shoot someone. I'm saying that if you've already done it, your life probably isn't ruined. Borrowing way too much money from the federal government creates two problems. First, being able to make your monthly payments. This isn't a huge problem because you can always have your monthly payments based on income, not debt level (You guys do qualify for IBR/pay-as-you-earn, right? I honestly don't know, because health professionals are sometimes treated differently). The harder problem is that, under current law, the government will at some point say "This guy is too poor to pay off his student loans" and write them off. Debt write-offs are a form of income under the Internal Revenue Code [you borrowed money and never paid it back; you essentially had income]. You (probably with the help of a tax attorney) will have to work out with the IRS what you're going to do about having a massive tax bill that you have no way to pay off. It will not be a pleasant place to be.

Edit: And again, this is an academic argument, not legal advice. I really don't want to be sued for legal malpractice down the road somewhere.

chicken !! jk

but your argument sounds like some encouragement for people to go out to borrow a great deal of student loans thinking they might have a chance to get away. I bet some people will literally take that chance

 

[lawyer2doc]

chicken !! jk

but your argument sounds like some encouragement for people to go out to borrow a great deal of student loans thinking they might have a chance to get away. I bet some people will literally take that chance

Godspeed to them, I guess. At that point, I will already have had my debt written off, the IRS will have come looking for their eleventy billion dollars, and Uncle Sam will have dibs on everything I earn for the rest of my life

 

[fewaopi]

Since I'm incapacitated by the flu at present, I'm (apparently) browsing professional forums at random.

Most of your economic analysis is reasonably sound, but I think this one is completely off.

Almost any field which requires only a BS degree is a really bad bet when it comes to finding a safe career path. The current immigration structure highly incentivizes employers to "import" qualified graduates of Indian, Chinese, etc. universities who are willing to work for peanuts instead of first world workers who expect reasonable accommodation for their education and experience.

This is true of any field which doesn't essentially require extensive training in the country of employment. Physicians, pharmacists, lawyers, etc. are aided by barriers to entry which result from licensing barriers to many foreign professionals. Engineers do not (and as an extreme example, look at jobs which require a PhD but no accreditation).

TLDR: You're significantly understating the benefit of being in a field that throws up barriers to entry against foreign trained workers. As a typical worker in a chosen profession, there's almost never a safer place to be than a field that requires (a) advanced education and (b) a professional license.

Also, I'm somewhat confident that any accreditation body which desired to do so could easily get around the restrictions resulting from the Sherman Antitrust Act, to the extent they exist. I've helped clients wiggle out of much more constricting red tape.

This exactly. And I feel pharmacy schools are exploiting this, opening up new schools to take pharmacy students knowing pharmacy is a place to run to. However as oldstock mentioned, the number of schools and greed is eating away at pharmacist job security. A good number of these schools are international students. Honestly any international with no green card in pharmacy school is making the worst decision possible. No H1Bs, no sponsorship. Unless that student is marrying a citizen then there's really no chance.

Ultimately the qualities of the pharmacy job market prepharmers are falsely led to believe are being destroyed in a way by the flood of prepharmers themselves.

I think we're getting ahead of ourselves when we say engineers have it best. There's a lot of subspecialties to engineering, some clearly better than others. Software is a good one, the ones finding good jobs are software engineers. Civil may be a bit harder. Keep in mind, I was in middle school and I remember people saying web design and html were the fields to go into, everyone should learn how to make a website...well what happened to that field? It's no longer popular. Pharmacy is showing very similar trends though pharmacy isn't identical (b/c language barrier, licensing, regulation by federal/state law), it is showing similar trends.

 

[Erbium]

Threads like this keep me awake at night. I've been a tech for 10 years, I have a 3.6 GPA and 93 PCAT. I've been wanting to be a pharmacist since a pharmacist doodled a picture of how SSRI's work at a synapse for me more than a decade ago. Now I'm 38, ready to apply to an affordable state school, and there is nothing but doom.

 

[oldstock]

Threads like this keep me awake at night. I've been a tech for 10 years, I have a 3.6 GPA and 93 PCAT. I've been wanting to be a pharmacist since a pharmacist doodled a picture of how SSRI's work at a synapse for me more than a decade ago. Now I'm 38, ready to apply to an affordable state school, and there is nothing but doom.

Its all about timing...

 

[PharmtoCS]

"I don't care about pay. I'm in the profession to help others."

First off, your views on money will most likely change when you have $200k+ student debt to pay off.

Second, if you go into pharmacy to "help people," then chances are that you may be disappointed. You will face metrics, workplace politics, bureaucracy, etc. that will get in the way of being able to help your patients. Remember that your employer is most likely a business and has still has to make a profit to survive.

 

[rederza]

Except that pharmacy is open to international people. My old pharmacist was from pakistan where it's just a 4 year degree. She said the hardest part of licensing was the toefl exam.

My (thank god now ex) pharmacy class had a bunch of international kids in it who spoke only their native language to each other in class. But they are paying cold hard cash for it so who could say no to that?

 

[PharmDKat]

Good thoughts all around. I am not saying this will change everything. But LET THEM KNOW FORMALLY THERE IS A PROBLEM! Tell others. This site can collect your opinions and support in a way that is official. No one will take action based on things they read in forums...that is IF anyone with power to do something about this even knows about these forums!

https://www.change.org/p/national-a...nd-demand-of-the-pharmacist?just_created=true

 

[tbear15]

Good thoughts all around. I am not saying this will change everything. But LET THEM KNOW FORMALLY THERE IS A PROBLEM! Tell others. This site can collect your opinions and support in a way that is official. No one will take action based on things they read in forums...that is IF anyone with power to do something about this even knows about these forums!

https://www.change.org/p/national-a...nd-demand-of-the-pharmacist?just_created=true

You should make a new thread for this so more people will see it

 

[PharmDKat]

You should make a new thread for this so more people will see it

Okay fine . Here is my, professional (I hope..) plea...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...t-saturation-pharmacist-unemployment.1119428/

 

[PharmtoCS]

bump

 

[Gombrich12]

Entry-level salaries for hospital pharmacists expected to decline

 

[oldstock]

Entry-level salaries for hospital pharmacists expected to decline

wow !! less pay, more work = awesome

 

[PharmDCandidate2014]

Entry-level salaries for hospital pharmacists expected to decline

Retail pharmacy is going to follow soon, though inflation is doing about 50% of the job for us.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Entry-level salaries for hospital pharmacists expected to decline

Retail pharmacy is going to follow soon, though inflation is doing about 50% of the job for us.

And you were right.

 

[rederza]

Update: I forgot I used to post on here a lot. Long story short I was real upset about being in pharmacy school back in 2014-

I'm graduating medical school this May!

There's hope for a lot of people that's reading this and I don't regret switching to medicine at ALL. It was super fun, it wasn't that bad, you get to see so much cool procedures, doctors, researchers, AND my school loans are about the same if not less than going into pharmacy.

Going into a field where I don't have to worry about job prospects is great. Not having to settle for a job in BFE is great. But most importantly, I truly feel like my work is meaningful to me and the patients. I'm still a student, but the kindness and respect I get from them even being a 4th year student is so nice.

I'm not posting this to brag, but for anyone reading my old stuff- I was there in pharmacy school, and it was so wrong for me. I was unhappy from the very first day. I know how scary it is to leave and start over for a very hard process. I had ~20k loans from just one semester in pharmacy school. But the lifetime stress was worth way more for me than 20k was.

Don't wait to switch out if you are hesitating!

 

[APN-59 rph]

Sooo to follow up I've always been around heavy machinery...lot of time on aircraft....electricity...emergency vehicles...etc..
This AM I was watching this amazing truck unload shingles on to a roof and my safety alarms start ringing in what's left of my noggin..Not long ago was talking to a helo dude about safety and he is going into the safety field .....Likely need a degree in engineering to get started...Too late for me..but I have it in mind while flogging pills...at least in my experience safety isn't much of a consideration in a drug store...but of course, you don't kill yourself....Could be a very interesting career...

 

[AM77]

Update: I forgot I used to post on here a lot. Long story short I was real upset about being in pharmacy school back in 2014-

I'm graduating medical school this May!

There's hope for a lot of people that's reading this and I don't regret switching to medicine at ALL. It was super fun, it wasn't that bad, you get to see so much cool procedures, doctors, researchers, AND my school loans are about the same if not less than going into pharmacy.

Going into a field where I don't have to worry about job prospects is great. Not having to settle for a job in BFE is great. But most importantly, I truly feel like my work is meaningful to me and the patients. I'm still a student, but the kindness and respect I get from them even being a 4th year student is so nice.

I'm not posting this to brag, but for anyone reading my old stuff- I was there in pharmacy school, and it was so wrong for me. I was unhappy from the very first day. I know how scary it is to leave and start over for a very hard process. I had ~20k loans from just one semester in pharmacy school. But the lifetime stress was worth way more for me than 20k was.

Don't wait to switch out if you are hesitating!

Congratulations! I also had a pharmacy classmate who went to medical school right after graduation. Today she’s a medical doctor who loves what she does. I think it happens to every pharmacy school class.