Hi I'm a senior in high school and I've wanted to become a pharmacist for the longest time. After reading through this website I have heard horror stories like "turn back now" and "don't you dare". My question is, is being a pharmacist really that bad? If so, what are other alternative health care careers that maybe have a brighter future. Thanks.
-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
I need advice
Started by tennesseevol98
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Why pharmacy?
Have you shadowed a pharmacist?
Do you know any pharmacists?
What are you looking to do or what fields are you looking to get into with a Pharm.D.?
What are your grades/ECs like? (as in, will you survive a Darwinian purge)
People's answers may be contingent on your reasons for wanting to "become a pharmacist for the longest time." Whatever I would tell you would be incomplete without knowing the answers to the above questions. If it's a run-of-the-mill I-want-to-help-people reason, realize that there is a higher-than-average probability that you won't be able to find full-time work upon graduation. If you do find work, there's a decent chance that you will be a pill mill for the retail chains (i.e. you are actually not doing much clinical work).
Alternative healthcare careers would be physician, nurse, physician's assistant, dentist. Maybe some others I'm not thinking about
I was in high school just 2 years ago. And had the same vision like you. In fact since 8th grade I wanted to become a pharmacist. I graduated high school and received my AA degree at the same time cos I was an early admin to college. And with a good PCAT and pre reqs I got accepted into pharmacy school, and its the biggest blessing! YES its a LOT of study, but all worth it. It's a great job market out there , you just need to make connection with companies and people while you are in school. I personally like learning about diseases, how drugs work, etc which makes learning enjoyable. Dont let others tell you the negatives long as you like what you wanna pursue 😀
I am pretty sure that most pharmacists and P3s/P4s disagree.
I graduated pharmacy school in 2013 and after four months as a staff RPh, I was hired as PIC by a great retail company - excellent pay and schedule. My friends that are pharmacists - we're all in our mid to late twenties, travelling the world, making $160k +. Just living life here in the Bay Area. Loans are effing insane but if you are smart, you can pay them off in five years.
And the career of a pharmacist can go in so many directions - my plan is to leave retail in the next few years while I network a clinical / hospital position.
You're young and still have some thinking to do, but I would research the job prospects of a few health care careers vs full student loan amounts vs your desire to do that job. Good luck.
