Intern Pay

[GaPharmGirl09]

I'll be in Atlanta, GA. (P1) What is the intern pay like there?

In the southeast?

Does this increase each year (P1,P2,P3,P4)?

How about other areas of the country? What's the pay like?

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[bananaface]

There is a little info here, but it's not too specific.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=1700988&postcount=24

 

[letjin]

.

 

[dgroulx]

It depends on what chain you are with. Walgreens classifies me as a 5th year intern and pays me $12 per hour. I made $9 last year with Eckerd/CVS.

 

[tetra327]

Well, I am curious what pay to expect as well. I am currently making $11/hr @ CVS in Maryland as a ChPT. I would think as an intern, in Georgia, I should get at least $15/hr, considering the added responsibility and the incentive to get me as a RPh when I graduate!

 

[Lexian]

Making 19.10 an hour for Kaiser. But I think average here in Cali is about 13-14/hr.

 

[Caverject]

Well, I am curious what pay to expect as well. I am currently making $11/hr @ CVS in Maryland as a ChPT. I would think as an intern, in Georgia, I should get at least $15/hr, considering the added responsibility and the incentive to get me as a RPh when I graduate!

heh....Hope you like hospital pharmacy!

 

[ultracet]

ours are at p1- $11
p2-$12
p3-$13
p4-$14

they are around that at the very least..

yes those are the retail chains too..

no i'm not lying

yes i realize that's not high

no i don't think they care

no it doesn't make a difference everyone still wants to work for them

oh but the people that pay the most are our wonderful mail order facility here. but those positions are way limited and hard to get

no interns here working retail make $15/hr unless perhaps you are a graduate intern

i don't know how ATL pays... we're about 2hrs away from there

 

[Caverject]

ours are at p1- $11
p2-$12
p3-$13
p4-$14

they are around that at the very least..

yes those are the retail chains too..

no i'm not lying

yes i realize that's not high

no i don't think they care

no it doesn't make a difference everyone still wants to work for them

oh but the people that pay the most are our wonderful mail order facility here. but those positions are way limited and hard to get

no interns here working retail make $15/hr unless perhaps you are a graduate intern

i don't know how ATL pays... we're about 2hrs away from there

10-13 dollars an hour is average intern pay in savannah

 

[tetra327]

I have been with CVS for 6 yearsand got certified...I earned my $11/hr.

I'm up for a raise anyway, and I'll be a P1 in 10 weeks so I better be getting $13/hr.

I've had some experience with salary negotiations and think I could get this if not more.

If not...bye bye CVS

I've already starting talking to other companies down there, and have been in contact with my DM @ CVS. I'd like to think that if I countered with what another company was paying I'd get it

 

[Caverject]

I have been with CVS for 6 yearsand got certified...I earned my $11/hr.

I'm up for a raise anyway, and I'll be a P1 in 10 weeks so I better be getting $13/hr.

I've had some experience with salary negotiations and think I could get this if not more.

If not...bye bye CVS

I've already starting talking to other companies down there, and have been in contact with my DM @ CVS. I'd like to think that if I countered with what another company was paying I'd get it

I just PM'ed you.

 

[TotalKayOs]

all of my classmates that work as interns in Cali make over 20 an hour. i think that's standard.

 

[Tuck]

I ended up on the lower end in Oregon at $16.30/hr. Most of the other students are making anywhere from $18.00-$27.00 an hour. Kaiser paying the highest at $27.00.

 

[DrPharm]

no interns here working retail make $15/hr unless perhaps you are a graduate intern

What are graduate interns? New PharmD graduates? They don't start making the big bucks after graduating? my assumptions are probably wrong-please clarify

 

[DrPharm]

I ended up on the lower end in Oregon at $16.30/hr. Most of the other students are making anywhere from $18.00-$27.00 an hour. Kaiser paying the highest at $27.00.

damn! 27 bucks an hour? where do you guys live? i'm only making around 13.50 at a CVS in Texas.

 

[ForgetMeNot]

What are graduate interns? New PharmD graduates? They don't start making the big bucks after graduating? my assumptions are probably wrong-please clarify

Graduate interns are those who have graduated from their college of pharmacy but have not yet obtained licensure.

 

[xfactor1127]

damn! 27 bucks an hour? where do you guys live? i'm only making around 13.50 at a CVS in Texas.

WTF?? hwo do i maek 27 as intern???

 

[xjmax]

WTF?? hwo do i maek 27 as intern???

I believe that person who said that is from CA. Interns/RPhs in that area (west coast) generally get paid higher. I know it's tempting, but you have to remember that they have a higher standard of living there as opposed to, say, TX. So a person may get paid less in TX, but living in TX is cheaper compared to living in CA...so it evens out.

 

[bananaface]

OR has uniquely high intern wages, for some reason.

 

[Trancelucent1]

I'm making $13/hr has a level 4 intern (just completed 1st year) working for Wal-mart. Next summer I'll make $14/hr as a level 5 intern. That's the highest of all the retail pharmacies in Orlando (that I know of). My friend makes $27/hr working at a hospital in the middle of nowhere, but he only gets to work every other weekend. He also gets called in occasionally for $30/hr working the 4th shift- 5:30am-2pm. It's not a steady job though b/c he only working every other weekend and occasionally during the week. B/c of this he works for walgreens for $11/hr as an intern.

~Pam

 

[nguyenkd]

I'm making $13/hr has a level 4 intern (just completed 1st year) working for Wal-mart. Next summer I'll make $14/hr as a level 5 intern. That's the highest of all the retail pharmacies in Orlando (that I know of). My friend makes $27/hr working at a hospital in the middle of nowhere, but he only gets to work every other weekend. He also gets called in occasionally for $30/hr working the 4th shift- 5:30am-2pm. It's not a steady job though b/c he only working every other weekend and occasionally during the week. B/c of this he works for walgreens for $11/hr as an intern.

~Pam

i'm a level 4 intern at walmart too. i'm not getting paid that much though. have you learned anything so far? i'm just doing tech stuff cause i've already completed that training book thing.

 

[tetra327]

I just found out from CVS what the Intern wage breakdown is. I would assume this would be company-wide, but just in case its not...I'm on the east coast. It is also based upon 3 or 4 year Rx schools.

P1-$10/hr
P2-$11/hr
P3-$12/hr
P4-$14.50/hr

Speaking to the Rx supervisor I was informed that these wages have been policy for some time now and she thought they were dated, but said we just have to wait for CVS to get updated on Intern pay.

 

[Trancelucent1]

I have learned a ton. My DM is awesome and only put us in well-established stores so we wouldn't be solely relied upon as a tech. Because of this, I have had plenty of time to do other things other than just teching all the time. We also get called to go to other stores and help out. Last week we also went to a pharmacy managers convention (but most of the people there were interns). My pharmacy manager's also great. I also ask both my pharmacists tons of questions regarding drugs and their usage so it's really helping me learn what the drugs are used for. When I want to know what a drug's for, I also read the monographs or look up the info on Clin Pharm. I really like the internship so far and I'm right on schedule for my notebook. Oh yeah and one of the best parts is that I was able to pretty much make my schedule since I'm not being scheduled as a tech. So yeah I really like it and plan on staying on during the school year and want to intern next summer as well!

 

[dgroulx]

I have learned a ton. My DM is awesome and only put us in well-established stores so we wouldn't be solely relied upon as a tech. Because of this, I have had plenty of time to do other things other than just teching all the time. We also get called to go to other stores and help out. Last week we also went to a pharmacy managers convention (but most of the people there were interns). My pharmacy manager's also great. I also ask both my pharmacists tons of questions regarding drugs and their usage so it's really helping me learn what the drugs are used for. When I want to know what a drug's for, I also read the monographs or look up the info on Clin Pharm. I really like the internship so far and I'm right on schedule for my notebook. Oh yeah and one of the best parts is that I was able to pretty much make my schedule since I'm not being scheduled as a tech. So yeah I really like it and plan on staying on during the school year and want to intern next summer as well!

You're lucky. I haven't finished the intern assignments that were due during the 1st week. When they give me a day to work on them, it's "sorry, so and so called in sick". There is always someone calling in sick. They try to keep me parked at the drive-thru and out window, too. The senior techs think that they are above cashiering. We have no pharmacy manager to make up the schedule, so the senior techs do it.

I met my DM once a few weeks ago when my pharmacy manager was leaving. She came to say goodbye. Supposedly we finally have a pharmacy manager starting this week. I'm hoping my situation will improve.

I'm supposed to fill out my 6-week evaluation this week. I'm also supposed to receive an evaluation from my pharmacy manager.

 

[gablet]

ours are at p1- $11
p2-$12
p3-$13
p4-$14

they are around that at the very least..

yes those are the retail chains too..

no i'm not lying

yes i realize that's not high

no i don't think they care

no it doesn't make a difference everyone still wants to work for them

oh but the people that pay the most are our wonderful mail order facility here. but those positions are way limited and hard to get

no interns here working retail make $15/hr unless perhaps you are a graduate intern

i don't know how ATL pays... we're about 2hrs away from there

once bitten, twice shy, huh?

 

[nguyenkd]

I have learned a ton. My DM is awesome and only put us in well-established stores so we wouldn't be solely relied upon as a tech. Because of this, I have had plenty of time to do other things other than just teching all the time. We also get called to go to other stores and help out. Last week we also went to a pharmacy managers convention (but most of the people there were interns). My pharmacy manager's also great. I also ask both my pharmacists tons of questions regarding drugs and their usage so it's really helping me learn what the drugs are used for. When I want to know what a drug's for, I also read the monographs or look up the info on Clin Pharm. I really like the internship so far and I'm right on schedule for my notebook. Oh yeah and one of the best parts is that I was able to pretty much make my schedule since I'm not being scheduled as a tech. So yeah I really like it and plan on staying on during the school year and want to intern next summer as well!

wow! i had a really great pharmacy manager too, but he got promoted to DM. they transferred me to another store and i have not learned a darn thing. my old store was supposed to hire someone to replace me (i had been a tech there for 2 yrs), but it's already been 5-6 weeks into the internship and they still have me working weekends! intern = free tech hours gahh!! i am really feeling abused. my old manager was really good about me not doing tech work, but that changed after he left. the "lead tech" said that it was insane for me to be off on a monday and scheduled me so she could sit on her fat butt in the smoking room. i like my new store. they are really appreciative when i do tech stuff, but i haven't learned anything.

 

[Trancelucent1]

wow! i had a really great pharmacy manager too, but he got promoted to DM. they transferred me to another store and i have not learned a darn thing. my old store was supposed to hire someone to replace me (i had been a tech there for 2 yrs), but it's already been 5-6 weeks into the internship and they still have me working weekends! intern = free tech hours gahh!! i am really feeling abused. my old manager was really good about me not doing tech work, but that changed after he left. the "lead tech" said that it was insane for me to be off on a monday and scheduled me so she could sit on her fat butt in the smoking room. i like my new store. they are really appreciative when i do tech stuff, but i haven't learned anything.

Yeah that sucks. Although I did lots of research from fellow classmates that interned last year before I even interviewed with them. Everyone had nothing but great things to say about our DM (who is in charge of the internship). I knew that was a good sign. Plus it was highly sought after (100 applications for 3 spots), so that told me something right away also. Had it not been like this then I would be planning on trying and getting an internship in the hospital next summer but now I'm staying on after my internship (we'll see if I can work one day a week) and then I'll be coming back next year as well.

Nguyenkd- as far as pay goes, I'm not sure why you don't have the same payrate, unless it's a regional thing. I get paid from corporate so I just assumed that it was the same for all interns. I know that last year level 4's started at 12/hr but they increased the pay this year.

Good luck all with your internships!

 

[nguyenkd]

Nguyenkd- as far as pay goes, I'm not sure why you don't have the same payrate, unless it's a regional thing. I get paid from corporate so I just assumed that it was the same for all interns. I know that last year level 4's started at 12/hr but they increased the pay this year.

Good luck all with your internships!

i remember my manager saying it was going to be $13 also. a small percentage is charged to each pharmacy in order for home office to pay their interns, so i assume that pay would be the same for all interns. maybe my DM is just cheap. he told me how the pay rate he offered one of the previous interns was lower than her pay rate as a tech.

 

[letjin]

You're lucky. I haven't finished the intern assignments that were due during the 1st week. When they give me a day to work on them, it's "sorry, so and so called in sick". There is always someone calling in sick. They try to keep me parked at the drive-thru and out window, too. The senior techs think that they are above cashiering. We have no pharmacy manager to make up the schedule, so the senior techs do it.

I met my DM once a few weeks ago when my pharmacy manager was leaving. She came to say goodbye. Supposedly we finally have a pharmacy manager starting this week. I'm hoping my situation will improve.

I'm supposed to fill out my 6-week evaluation this week. I'm also supposed to receive an evaluation from my pharmacy manager.

I'm so suprised at how similar our situations are! They give me no time to work on my projects, and they try to keep me at the drive-thru and the out window because I'll learn more there. I met my DM and brought this up, so now they've taken me off the drive-thru but my pharmacy manager is

 

[jacob]

Sure the payment is important but the most important thing is the possibility to learn something useful after working there. And about the payment. Has anybody have any idea about what they would pay you if you were working at an online pharmacy

 

[pali182004]

hi everyone!!
I'm a 4th year pharmacy student in palestine (over seas not Texas).
and to graduate i have to finish 1444 hours of training, so i finished like 750 hours in my country and I'm coming to the US in the summer ( like in 2 weeks).
So to finish the other hours i have left i decided I'm going to train in the US, but they said i had to get a internship license. so I'm applying to get that.
so when i do, i actually get payed???
I'm kind of surprised because i trained for more than 700 hours and i didn't get a penny out of it!!they kind of made us feel that them training us and giving us their wisdom was more than enough!!
and anther thing in palistine we don't have pharmacy's like Walgreen's or C VS, we have independent pharmacy's so i really don't understand the chain of workers in super pharmacy.
like what is p1,p2,p3,p4 and DM....etc
P.S i am an American citizen its just that i haven't been in America since i was a little girl.
O and another thing we don't have GPA like you do we only have grades like 80 or 70....so what would my GPA be if i had the grade of 79????
SORRY THE MESSAGE IS TOO LONG!!!

 

[YapYap6]

hi everyone!!
I'm a 4th year pharmacy student in palestine (over seas not Texas).
and to graduate i have to finish 1444 hours of training, so i finished like 750 hours in my country and I'm coming to the US in the summer ( like in 2 weeks).
So to finish the other hours i have left i decided I'm going to train in the US, but they said i had to get a internship license. so I'm applying to get that.
so when i do, i actually get payed???
I'm kind of surprised because i trained for more than 700 hours and i didn't get a penny out of it!!they kind of made us feel that them training us and giving us their wisdom was more than enough!!
and anther thing in palistine we don't have pharmacy's like Walgreen's or C VS, we have independent pharmacy's so i really don't understand the chain of workers in super pharmacy.
like what is p1,p2,p3,p4 and DM....etc
P.S i am an American citizen its just that i haven't been in America since i was a little girl.
O and another thing we don't have GPA like you do we only have grades like 80 or 70....so what would my GPA be if i had the grade of 79????
SORRY THE MESSAGE IS TOO LONG!!!

This is from a retail perspective.

Well, you start accumulating pay as soon as you clock in. The norm is that you get a paycheck every 2 weeks.

As far as the "chain of command", generally there are techs and senior techs that have been there longer. Then there's the intern, pharmacist, and the pharmacy manager. Interns should technically be separate from the techs, but you do a lot of the same work aside from your projects.

P1,2,3,4 indicates what year you are in pharmacy school. P1=pharmacy year 1 etc. etc. The longer you've been in pharmacy school, the more you get paid as an intern. DM = district manager, usually referring to district pharmacy managers. For retail stores, there are plain district managers for the store floor and district pharmacy managers. They are basically in charge of several pharmacy managers/plain managers in their district.

As far as your GPA goes, I'm really not sure how I would convert that. A 79, grade wise, would be a high C in an uncurved situation; however, I'm definite we wouldn't extrapolate that to a C average GPA. I'd imagine it'd be much higher than a C average GPA.

Where are you hoping to intern when you get to America?

 

[pali182004]

thank you so much for this information!!
I'm going to be an intern in Louisiana.
They do accept foreign students don't they???
Do all interns get paid ..I mean foreign students???
I'm a 4th year pharmacy student and ill graduate next year ( Our pharmacy school is 5 years without taking a B.S), so will they count me as a p4????

 

[timbutt2]

P1, Chicago suburb, Dominicks (grocery store)- $14.20

 

[OHPharmd08]

I'm a graduate intern and I make $36/hr until I pass my exam...then it jumps up considerably. I work for a specialty pharmacy.

 

[Allure]

I'm under the impression that Wal-mart pays more than Walgreens for their interns. Does anyone know for sure or does it depend on the area also?

 

[rXcmoney]

Walgreen's = $15.50 for P1 intern.

 

[evilolive]

Walgreen's = $15.50 for P1 intern.

In Cali it's 18.50 and $25 for overtime.

 

[Sparda29]

Might leave CVS soon from what I'm seeing here. I'm only getting $13 for P-1 and I've been with them for 2 years.

 

[fiorio]

Might leave CVS soon from what I'm seeing here. I'm only getting $13 for P-1 and I've been with them for 2 years.

CVS pays me 12 for p1 and I've been with them for 2+ years too. so I quit.

walmart here in columbus only pays 11 for P1 with 1$ increase each year. so cheap.

 

[Ross434]

12?? looks like i'm going to be taking a pay cut from tech wages around here!

 

[Farmercyst]

I know this is an old thread, but it is the one Pharmacy forum FAQ links to. Bumping for now, willing to update the link to a newer thread if desired.