I need some advice

[wtdeerhunter93]

Ok, I'm a junior in highschool and I am interested in becoming a pharmacist. I have looked on multiple sites but I cannot find the answers im looking for so I have a few questions.

1) what degrees do I need. I know that i need a Pharm D. but I'm pretty sure that I need a bachelors before this don't I?
2) What bachelors degree would help me with the pharm D... Toxicology maybe? Im open to suggestions.
3)What do y'all think about ULM College of Pharmacy? Heres a link to their website http://rxweb.ulm.edu/pharmacy/bps.html . It's only a few hours away from where I live now so thats a +.

Overall I'm just trying to figure out what i want to do and I believe that I would like the job... the nice paychecks don't hurt though.

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[bacillus1]

You can get a bachelor's degree. Or you can move to the East Coast and go to a 0-6 program. Start after high school and guaranteed admission into the professional phase if you meet the requirements (typically around a 3.0 GPA). Not sure how many of these will be around by the time you graduate HS, as their numbers are slowly declining. I think there are about 6 programs right now that are purely 0-6.

Or you can just do prerequisites in 2-3 years and apply to whatever school you want to then (without having completed a degree). Point is that a bachelor's isn't required (though some schools do give preference to people that have bachelors' degrees).

 

[wtdeerhunter93]

Thanks, Ill have to look into the 0-6 programs. I also never thought about just taking the pre-requisites and then going for the pharm d. I do see why some places might not like that though because having a degree would look better i guess. I had thought about getting a bachelors from LSU and then going to get my pharm d. from ULM or Xavier in New Orleans. I guess i need to think about it.

So does anyone have something they dont like about pharmacy that i should know about before i go for it? Im not deadset on it, I have also thought about being an engineer because im really good with numbers and math in general, so right now its a toss up between the two.

 

[bacillus1]

Bad thing about pharmacy: job saturation. Way too many pharmacy schools have opened up recently, so harder to find a job. I hear Louisiana's an area that's not as affected, but by the time you're done, who knows, maybe even jobs there may be harder to find. Also the largest employers of pharmacists are the chain pharmacies (Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens, etc...) and they often treat their pharmacists very poorly. If you pursue other jobs as a pharmacist, though, you will most likely get better treatment

But I would imagine there's job saturation with engineering too, so not sure which field it's easier to find a job in.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Engineering is way worse than pharmacy, except for petroleum engineering. A lot of the jobs like aeronautical and mechanical are extremely saturated. The only difference is you might have less debt in engineering because the B.S. degree is the terminal degree for an industry position and you wouldn't be pressured by mounting student loan debt.

You need to do what you enjoy, for that reason. If I was going to be miserable as a pharmacist, there'd be no way in hell I would take the gamble on debt for a few months of dealing with prn work or whatnot. I would look at something else.

To Op's direct questions:

1. You don't need a BA or BS, particularly for schools outside of California, but admissions seem to be trending toward more people having 4 year degrees than not.

2. Anything that enables you to accomplish two tasks: a. Complete pre-requisites and b. get as high of a GPA as possible. For that reason, choose something that interests you that also enables you to finish the pre-requisities. If you love toxicology but don't like, say, biochemistry, then major in Tox but make sure you can easily accommodate your pre-requisites.

3. No idea about that school.

 

[phathead]

When i was speaking with schools last year, they all said that within 5 years having a B.S will be a requirement for admission.

Make sure you keep this in mind.

 

[harsha]

Ok, I'm a junior in highschool and I am interested in becoming a pharmacist. I have looked on multiple sites but I cannot find the answers im looking for so I have a few questions.

1) what degrees do I need. I know that i need a Pharm D. but I'm pretty sure that I need a bachelors before this don't I?
2) What bachelors degree would help me with the pharm D... Toxicology maybe? Im open to suggestions.
3)What do y'all think about ULM College of Pharmacy? Heres a link to their website http://rxweb.ulm.edu/pharmacy/bps.html . It's only a few hours away from where I live now so thats a +.

Overall I'm just trying to figure out what i want to do and I believe that I would like the job... the nice paychecks don't hurt though.

bro i tell u something really easy go to pardue univ by writing SAT and you r done 2 yrs pre requisites and 4 years pharmD no Pcat nothing just work hard in ur pre requisites over there all d best