Help with older student and options for future

[NatBChem]

Hello, I was out of school for quite some time, returning to finish my B.S. in Biochemistry this year. I'm 27 and I had a 'eclectic' education up till this point. I was home schooled for the first year of HS, then got my GED the second year. It's not because I did so great, it's because I wanted to go to college sooner. I'm not unintelligent, I do well in testing, but I went to college years ago, and didn't know what I wanted to do. Now I do, I'm back, finishing B.S. so I go to pharmacy school. My problem: I want to do research, but have pharmacist as back up in case I can't find jobs where I live, or need more money. I'd love to do drug design in the alternative medicines / natural or medicinal plant side of things, and possibly get into dermatological aspects of this research. The problem is, every time I look at applications, they mention research or thesis or reports and I'm not very good at these. I've never done research and I'm really nervous about writing a report when time comes. I feel incompetent (I just learned what an abstract was) because I was never introduced to these things. Secondly, I'm 27, I have at least 5-6 more years of school, and I should be taking the PCATs this year if I want to get into schools next year. But, I have no pharmacy experience either. SO, here's my questions: Should I take the PCATs next year and wait another year before heading off to pharmacy school so I can work as a pharmacy tech in between then and get some experience. Or, should I stick around another year doing research (I'm at a good research school) and see if I like that better and skip PharmD and maybe go for a PhD or MS in a field I'm interested in instead? I really wanted to do the PharmD/PhD route, but I'm really intimidated because it seems that most of my classmates have everything figured out and know how to accomplish all these tasks that I sometimes don't even know what they want of me, when applying. Thanks so much for your help!

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[Rouelle]

Hello, I was out of school for quite some time, returning to finish my B.S. in Biochemistry this year. I'm 27 and I had a 'eclectic' education up till this point. I was home schooled for the first year of HS, then got my GED the second year. It's not because I did so great, it's because I wanted to go to college sooner. I'm not unintelligent, I do well in testing, but I went to college years ago, and didn't know what I wanted to do. Now I do, I'm back, finishing B.S. so I go to pharmacy school. My problem: I want to do research, but have pharmacist as back up in case I can't find jobs where I live, or need more money. I'd love to do drug design in the alternative medicines / natural or medicinal plant side of things, and possibly get into dermatological aspects of this research. The problem is, every time I look at applications, they mention research or thesis or reports and I'm not very good at these. I've never done research and I'm really nervous about writing a report when time comes. I feel incompetent (I just learned what an abstract was) because I was never introduced to these things. Secondly, I'm 27, I have at least 5-6 more years of school, and I should be taking the PCATs this year if I want to get into schools next year. But, I have no pharmacy experience either. SO, here's my questions: Should I take the PCATs next year and wait another year before heading off to pharmacy school so I can work as a pharmacy tech in between then and get some experience. Or, should I stick around another year doing research (I'm at a good research school) and see if I like that better and skip PharmD and maybe go for a PhD or MS in a field I'm interested in instead? I really wanted to do the PharmD/PhD route, but I'm really intimidated because it seems that most of my classmates have everything figured out and know how to accomplish all these tasks that I sometimes don't even know what they want of me, when applying. Thanks so much for your help!

I come from a research background (grad school, postdoc, real job) and am starting pharmacy school in 2 weeks, so I may be able to offer some insight. First of all, take all of your insecurities about lack or research experience, seeing that everyone else has things "figured out," etc. and throw them in the garbage. A very large percentage (maybe 50% ??) of grad students entering a PhD program do not have any research experience. That number increases greatly if you consider "meaningful" research experience. It is simply very hard to work 6 hours a week in a lab as an undergrad and come away with a meaningful understanding of the life of a grad student / postdoc / faculty member at a research intensive program. Luckily for you (and all the rest of us), grad programs know this and, aside from the undergrad foundations of the field, they assume that you are entering their program knowing nothing. You will develop the research skills, the laboratory techniques of the field, the scientific writing skills, etc that you need while you are in the program. So don't worry if you don't know what's going on, because neither does anyone else at the beginning.

If you are interested in doing research in pharmacy, there are 3 very viable options: 1) You can get a PharmD, do a residency, and end up doing clinical research. It sounds like you are more interested in basic science (bench) research, so options 2 and 3 might be more useful for you. 2) You could do a straight PhD in pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, chemistry, molecular biology, or any of a number of other related fields. These have the advantage of your school will almost certainly be paid for, the PhD is the "gold standard" with regard to basic science research, you will have the ability to go into academics and compete for research grants, and industrial positions are also open to you. Disadvantages: you will only ever really be able to get PhD-ish jobs (limits where you work...both type of employer and physical location), you are not being trained to be a "drug expert," your interaction with human patients will likely be very limited, etc. 3) You could, as you mentioned, do a PharmD/PhD. There are people on this forum that are not fans of this combo. Some of the criticisms are that research can be done with either degree alone and that both are unnecessary. They say that having both degrees doesn't necessarily ensure having that many more job opportunities. It is possible that the time spent on one of the degrees distracts you from the other and that education in one of your fields may suffer. These are valid points. As you might guess from my background, I am on the other side of the fence on this issue. I believe that there are a finite number of jobs (both inside and outside of academics) in which both degrees will make one much more competitive that either degree alone would, and to me and with my own personal goals it is worth it.

If you are planning to go the PharmD/PhD route, I think you should get started on it as soon as possible. I did (am doing) my degrees separately. Others on this board are doing the combined PharmD/PhD programs. With regard to time and integration of curricula, the latter is probably the best way to go. But no matter which route you choose, it is a long term schooling process. So in my opinion, the earlier you start the better.

Good luck.