I failed out of pharmacy 5 years ago. AMA!

[quadramet]

After years of trying to get into school, I matriculated in 2017. After 2 quarters, I was removed for failing a class each quarter. AMA!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[quadramet]

Sorry, I thought I added all the info earlier but I guess I didn't save.
I applied for pharmacy school for several years in the mod 2000's and never got in. Finally, in 2017, I was accepted into 2 different schools! My first mistake was saying yes to any of them. To compound that problem, I said yes to Midwestern, a 3 year accelerated program. Considering I have not taken any pre-req in over 12 years, this wasn't the best choice.
I told my job of 17 years (as a pharmacy tech) that i got in and asked to go part time. i was allowed to and then the trouble started. From studying from 6am till 10pm or later, i was so out of the game on studying that i simply could not keep up. I failed biochem.
They placed me on the four year and I mentioned that I was going to take some classes at a community college in anatomy and physiology as I was not going to do well in that class. I asked them to move that to the next year and give me another class instead. They said no. They were "confident i would pass". I, however, was not. I knew I was going to fail.
Spoiler...I failed. Then i was kicked out. here is a list of some highlights since then:

1. I quit my job towards the end to spend more time studying. The company refused to hire me back.
2. I have worked crap jobs for crap pay ever since.
3. My failure has, as the kids say, lived rent free in my head and there isn't a day that goes by that it doesn't make me feel like garbage.
4. I have zero confidence in anything I do. If that confidence starts up, the thoughts come back. Even worse, i read these forums that have people saying that any mouth breather can pass. If any idiot can pass, what am I?
5. i know the market on jobs. That's the worst part. My field was very specialized and i was told by several people that I had a job once I got my degree. Now I have nothing.
6. Having 17 years experience as a pharmacy tech should net me a bit more than 14 an hour...at least in my opinion.

 

[PharmacyCat]

Same story, I actually was dismissed out of pharmacy school after first semester as a p1, 4 years ago in 2018 for failing biochemistry (it really is hard) and immunology.

How have you been doing since then? What are your plans now?

 

[RXDOC1986]

So sorry to hear your hardships. Throughout the years, I have worked with many smart, competent pharmtechs. Professional career technicians who have done this for a lifetime. Pharmacy techs deserve a much higher pay scale as they make any hospital pharmacy run smoothly. Just a few words of advice from a senior citizen pharmacist:
Okay, R.Ph. didn't work out. Maybe this was for the best. I don't know what your ages are, but it's never too late to embark on another profession.
If you stay as PharmTech, you will be constantly reminded of your perceived failure and add to the bitterness.
Search these forums, many pharmacist either cannot find employment, or work in horrible settings, or left the profession and are happier for it.
Look into Medical/Technical degrees - Resp./Phys./speech therapist, Radiology Tech., PA, NP, the list goes on. The good old standby, RN.
My wife is a dental hygienist, with a 2-year community college degree, she is in very high demand, makes between $45-60 hr. Works the days and hours she wants, on 100% commission. She can come and go whenever she wants.
Look into CS, coding and IT.
Many opportunities out there, maybe it's time to distance your self from pharmacy.
My 20cents worth(due to inflation)

 

[quadramet]

Same story, I actually was dismissed out of pharmacy school after first semester as a p1, 4 years ago in 2018 for failing biochemistry (it really is hard) and immunology.

How have you been doing since then? Also how have you gotten over failing out of pharmacy school because I haven’t exactly gotten over it. I do get triggered sometimes. What are your plans now?

I have been doing awful. Every day I am reminded of my failure and, even though I know the state of pharmacy and the saturation of the market, feel that I am just a failure at everything I do.

My plans now are to try and find a shred of happiness somewhere and build from there. 5 years and nothing as of yet.

 

[quadramet]

So sorry to hear your hardships. Throughout the years, I have worked with many smart, competent pharmtechs. Professional career technicians who have done this for a lifetime. Pharmacy techs deserve a much higher pay scale as they make any hospital pharmacy run smoothly. Just a few words of advice from a senior citizen pharmacist:
Okay, R.Ph. didn't work out. Maybe this was for the best. I don't know what your ages are, but it's never too late to embark on another profession.
If you stay as PharmTech, you will be constantly reminded of your perceived failure and add to the bitterness.
Search these forums, many pharmacist either cannot find employment, or work in horrible settings, or left the profession and are happier for it.
Look into Medical/Technical degrees - Resp./Phys./speech therapist, Radiology Tech., PA, NP, the list goes on. The good old standby, RN.
My wife is a dental hygienist, with a 2-year community college degree, she is in very high demand, makes between $45-60 hr. Works the days and hours she wants, on 100% commission. She can come and go whenever she wants.
Look into CS, coding and IT.
Many opportunities out there, maybe it's time to distance your self from pharmacy.
My 20cents worth(due to inflation)

I am 45 and live extreme paycheck to paycheck. My job was telework but then stopped unexpectedly and I am now driving 1000 miles a week to and from and paying a ton in gas. I am looking for something local but no luck as of yet. I keep getting the wonder 13-14 an hour offers.
Embarking on another profession, especially the ones listed, cost money that I simply don't have. I am not in pharmacy now and no longer want to go back. As much as I loved my previous career, being there would only remind me more so on what I screwed up. After I failed, i know all the pharmacists in that location looked at me in a different light. The loser light. All respect was lost and, when i talked to one here and there, it was glaringly obvious. Besides, any kind of school now is impossible as no matter what I do, I am certain I am going to fail because that's all I can do. The years of trying and then failing have messed up my thinking more than i possibly ever imagined.

 

[RXDOC1986]

Well, I am stumped, you set up an account, came online and spilled your guts, to what end? So we can commiserate with you? I would say good luck, but don't know in what sense.

 

[quadramet]

That's a fair point. It's a little bit of therapy, a little bit of warning to new students, and hopefully a bit of entertainment in some way.

 

[APN-59 rph]

That's a fair point. It's a little bit of therapy, a little bit of warning to new students, and hopefully a bit of entertainment in some way.

You obviously have an emergency on your hands....First..this is NOT a "smart a## reply...The system is begging for truck drivers and they will train for free...same with heavy equipment operators....even journeymen in trades are making coin...Look into joining the cops ..they kind of like older guys who aren't so young..dumb and full of ###....Cities are crying for help..Any glory day of the pharmacy trade is long over.......you might have dodged an expensive bullet..... I expect a progress report in a couple of weeks..

 

[APN-59 rph]

Well, I am stumped, you set up an account, came online and spilled your guts, to what end? So we can commiserate with you? I would say good luck, but don't know in what sense.

"Don't know" does seem to apply.....

 

[blueangel12]

You obviously have an emergency on your hands....First..this is NOT a "smart a## reply...The system is begging for truck drivers and they will train for free...same with heavy equipment operators....even journeymen in trades are making coin...Look into joining the cops ..they kind of like older guys who aren't so young..dumb and full of ###....Cities are crying for help..Any glory day of the pharmacy trade is long over.......you might have dodged an expensive bullet..... I expect a progress report in a couple of weeks..

I do agree about the dodge part. Better to have failed early on when the amount of debt and time you put in is less rather than failing in the latter part after you have put in so much. Such as graduating but not being able to pass the boards as is the case with many schools with abysmal NAPLEX and MPJE passing rates. There are some schools that will allow you to pass and go through the full curriculum and thus fail the board/certification exams. There are many schools that will not hesitate to dismiss you so it will not hurt their stats thus potentially hurting their accreditation status thus discouraging potential students from applying.

The part about feeling ashamed of not being able to be a pharmacist after being a superb technician is a difficult one to process. Especially if any of your prior pharmacists wrote recommendation letters for you and it would feel like you let them down. A lot of times, we are not meant to step up to that higher role, that sucks. With the state of the pharmacist job market, it was probably a blessing in disguise that you were dismissed.

 

[90sportsfan]

So sorry to hear your hardships. Throughout the years, I have worked with many smart, competent pharmtechs. Professional career technicians who have done this for a lifetime. Pharmacy techs deserve a much higher pay scale as they make any hospital pharmacy run smoothly. Just a few words of advice from a senior citizen pharmacist:
Okay, R.Ph. didn't work out. Maybe this was for the best. I don't know what your ages are, but it's never too late to embark on another profession.
If you stay as PharmTech, you will be constantly reminded of your perceived failure and add to the bitterness.
Search these forums, many pharmacist either cannot find employment, or work in horrible settings, or left the profession and are happier for it.
Look into Medical/Technical degrees - Resp./Phys./speech therapist, Radiology Tech., PA, NP, the list goes on. The good old standby, RN.
My wife is a dental hygienist, with a 2-year community college degree, she is in very high demand, makes between $45-60 hr. Works the days and hours she wants, on 100% commission. She can come and go whenever she wants.
Look into CS, coding and IT.
Many opportunities out there, maybe it's time to distance your self from pharmacy.
My 20cents worth(due to inflation)

I think these are all decent suggestions except for the one bolded. Computer Science (CS), coding, and IT are hard skills to pick up at age 45 for someone who (at least by reading his post), likely doesn't even have an initial skillset. They require lots of studying, and even then, there are tons of them out there, so when looking at his CV (at age 45, probably age 50 when he really develops those skills), it would be hard to crack that field, even if he did somehow develop that skillset.

I think the more realistic option would be your suggestion of looking at Medical/Tech type degrees since he has a science/medical background. The only challenge will be getting in, as he is an older applicant and given that he failed out of pharmacy school twice, the schools will be hesitant and I don't see on paper how he would be able to get in. It will require a compelling story of how he learned/grew from the situation, and I would probably suggest retaking the courses he failed at a university to prove he overcame the difficulty and now is in a better place.

It's a tough situation, and I wish the OP the best.

 

[quadramet]

"that he failed out of pharmacy school twice"

No, I only failed out once. I don't know if I mistyped earlier but I got in once and failed once.

I know all the things people are saying. The loans would be much worse if I could have stayed in. The NAPLEX and MPJE would be a nightmare for me (most likely) and that the job market is awful. My pharmacist friends tell me this when they ask how I am as I always tell them the truth that I am miserable about this whole incident still. Doesn't change anything in my brain that I am a failure.

I had letters from a couple pharmacists, a radiologist, and a couple of very high up people in my company (also pharmacists) who I feel I let down.

I agree about the CS and IT fields. My knowledge of these is limited at best and I can already tell it would be a nightmare.

That leads me to another point about all of this. One main thing this has done is completely destroyed my confidence to do anything, especially academically. I feel that even if I got into a nuclear technologist program, I would freeze up during tests and fail as well. This is happening in anything I do test wise. Even at work with silly online tests I start to panic, and those you can take an infinite number of times! The system has broke me and I don't know how to fix this.

 

[sunnyandseventytwo]

Even worse, i read these forums that have people saying that any mouth breather can pass. If any idiot can pass, what am I?

I don't know where people get this idea. I went to pharmacy school in a different time, when it was harder to get in, but:

My school had a pre-pharm program. If you got greater than a 3.0 (or maybe it was a 3.5, I can't remember) in the first two years, they guaranteed you a spot in pharmacy school. There were 300 students in pharmacy calculations. 200 of them did not make the cut. If pharmacy calculations was difficult, that was a pretty good indicator that pharmacy school might be a bad idea.

Pharmacy school was easy for many (if not most) pharmacists. But even with the increased number of schools/graduates, it does not mean that most people can be pharmacists.

 

[Drjc1977]

I am 45 and live extreme paycheck to paycheck. My job was telework but then stopped unexpectedly and I am now driving 1000 miles a week to and from and paying a ton in gas. I am looking for something local but no luck as of yet. I keep getting the wonder 13-14 an hour offers.
Embarking on another profession, especially the ones listed, cost money that I simply don't have. I am not in pharmacy now and no longer want to go back. As much as I loved my previous career, being there would only remind me more so on what I screwed up. After I failed, i know all the pharmacists in that location looked at me in a different light. The loser light. All respect was lost and, when i talked to one here and there, it was glaringly obvious. Besides, any kind of school now is impossible as no matter what I do, I am certain I am going to fail because that's all I can do. The years of trying and then failing have messed up my thinking more than i possibly ever imagined.

I have read and reread this and I am not sure what you are looking for. It is time to hold your head up and admit that just maybe pharmacy wasn't for you. There is no shame in doing your best and failing. However, you have convinced yourself you are a failure. From your text, I see no where that you were called by anybody a failure. The only person calling you a failure is you. Seek counseling and do what you have to do to get your head on straight. You were accepted to pharmacy school over at least 20 other qualified applicants which says a great deal about your academic potential. So head up, chest out and go forward. You got this.

 

[DagS132]

Have you thought about just becoming a welder or something? I dont think schooling for that is long either. Literally anything is better than what you are describing.