If you are considering pharmacy

[cmack27]

1) learn about the job market and what your future salary will be (60k-80k in 5 years is my estimate)

2) assess your final debt to income ratio

3) don’t go to a school with under an 85% Naplex pass rate (Pharmacy School NAPLEX Pass Rates (2009-Present) - ClinCalc.com)

I’m not going to beat a dead horse and yes I think you all should reconsider. But if you are gunning on pharmacy and really want to be a pharmacist because you live pharmacy and not because it’s going to be a good career we need more people like you. This is a post to help those who decide to go through with it.

don’t go to a crappy school

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[Marzapan]

3) don’t go to a school with under an 85% Naplex pass rate (Pharmacy School NAPLEX Pass Rates (2009-Present) - ClinCalc.com)

don’t go to a crappy school

Misleading advice. NAPLEX pass rates are not correlated to success, aptitude nor job placement. There is a 95% unemployment rate among 2020 grads so giving pre-pharms this advice is only going to perpetuate the thinking that "I'm going to a good school so I will be fine."

 

[cmack27]

Misleading advice. NAPLEX pass rates are not correlated to success, aptitude nor job placement. There is a 95% unemployment rate among 2020 grads so giving pre-pharms this advice is only going to perpetuate the thinking that "I'm going to a good school so I will be fine."

Yes this is meant to be for those who won’t listen to the 1) point my advice is run far away

 

[BC_89]

Job Saturation: Is Pharmacy Worth It? Here's What You Need to Know

 

[mentos]

1) learn about the job market and what your future salary will be (60k-80k in 5 years is my estimate)

In 5 years? That's how much new grads make now! If they're not unemployed of course.

 

[PharmtoCS]

But I want to stay in Southern California! I'll need to take out about $350k in loans to go to USC, do you think it'll be easier for me to find a job here if I go to a school around here?

 

[Cauris]

But I want to stay in Southern California! I'll need to take out about $350k in loans to go to USC, do you think it'll be easier for me to find a job here if I go to a school around here?

Yes especially if you intern there. However, how are you going to pay 350k in loans making less than 50 dollars an hour at a guaranteed 30 hours a week?

 

[mentos]

But I want to stay in Southern California! I'll need to take out about $350k in loans to go to USC, do you think it'll be easier for me to find a job here if I go to a school around here?

Why is USC even open?

USC reports 'alarming increase' in COVID-19 cases

Just a week into fall semester, USC reported that 43 students had tested positive for COVID-19 and more than100 placed in quarantine because of exposure.

www.latimes.com

 

[Xenophylia]

"If you are considering pharmacy"..... HAVE YOUR HEAD EXAMINED STAT!!!! THERE IS SOMETHING VERY VERY WRONG WITH YOU!!!! That is all...

 

[casprph]

Misleading advice. NAPLEX pass rates are not correlated to success, aptitude nor job placement. There is a 95% unemployment rate among 2020 grads so giving pre-pharms this advice is only going to perpetuate the thinking that "I'm going to a good school so I will be fine."

Are you just making up that number of 95% or did you get that number from an actual source? I’m just as likely to address the rampant unemployment among new grads as anyone on this forum but I think this percentage is a bit sensationalized and doesn’t provide any meaningful information to the discussion. Here is a link to some real data from an actual source: https://www.bls.gov/oes/2018/may/oes291051.htm

 

[mentos]

LOL. I live in a low COL area and nurses here make $45/hr. 36 hours/week is 80k. Working nights/weekends instead is 90-100k, and working 48 hours --> 110k easily. Anyone can get a nursing degree for $20k. Why go to an extra 4 years of schooling, $2-300k loans only to be bossed around by corporate?
Nobody can boss nurses around, they have the STRONGEST unions in healthcare.

Travel nursing is dope (when there's no pandemic, of course). You get paid to move and live rent free in a luxury condo with pool and hot tub.

 

[BelowTheMean]

Why would anyone think about pharmacy now is beyond me. Go to nursing if your grades suck. Then use that effort you would have wasted in the garbage called pharmacy school to advance yourself to become a clinical nurse/NP/crna and enjoy your provider status/pay. You'll be making way more than pharmacists and you can rub it in on the dumb ones that chose pharmacy. You'll thank me.

 

[Ladyg228]

At least with nursing, you have the support of your profession.

 

[APN-59 rph]

I met more than half a dozen CRNA students at my MD school and they're all getting offers in the 180-220k range with very lax hours. Can easily push 300 working doctor-hours and a bit more experience. Why anyone would pick pharmacy is beyond me.

GasWork.com - Search - CRNA Jobs

GasWork.com The Largest and Most Comprehensive Anesthesia Employment Resource. More Jobs. More Info. Since 1996

www.gaswork.com

Tell me 13 weeks PTO, lax hours, lower responsibility than an anesthesiologist and making 400k isn't worth it. Yes it's Laredo, Tx... but you can still make 300 almost anywhere else. If you worked 8 of your vacation weeks that's another 100k

This reminds me of the RPh trade as pay started to skyrocket in the early 1990's....what comes down the line is anyone's guess, but when things get too gross they adjust...Anesthesia seems much more interesting and challenging...My Mom was an RN partner with my uncle they were far enough out in the sticks that she had to attend U Chicago Med school just for the anesthesia course..in the days when ether would blow up an operating room ...