Is my future gloomy?

[Gaston]

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I am currently in my second year of pharmacy school and have been hearing a lot of buzz lately concerning the future of my career in pharmacy. Does anyone have any insight into the current job market and what it will be like in two years?

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Seriously, there are a hundred threads on this right now. I recommend using the search function. I think currently active discussions will provide much of the insight you are seeking.

 

[Jabberwocky12]

Don't we have a doom and gloom megathread for this?

 

[mustang sally]

No one can predict anyone's future. Though if you read these boards at all, it sounds like all new grads will be completely screwed.

Have you heard that the world is supposed to end in 2012? Now that's depressing...I will have spent my last four years on earth entrenched in pharmacy school. 🙄

 

[MountainPharmD]

I am currently in my second year of pharmacy school and have been hearing a lot of buzz lately concerning the future of my career in pharmacy. Does anyone have any insight into the current job market and what it will be like in two years?

Yes, yes I do. However, I charge for the use of my magic crystal ball. You will need to send me $5,000 and I will tell you every thing you want to know. PM for my address!

 

[Jabberwocky12]

Yes, yes I do. However, I charge for the use of my magic crystal ball. You will need to send me $5,000 and I will tell you every thing you want to know. PM for my address!

Sounds like something to include with an independent pharmacy. Do fortune-telling. I bet it helps a lot with calling doctors for script changes as well...

Although if their insurance covered it you would only be getting about 35 dollars per fortune telling rather than 5k. tough luck.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Sounds like something to include with an independent pharmacy. Do fortune-telling. I bet it helps a lot with calling doctors for script changes as well...

Although if their insurance covered it you would only be getting about 35 dollars per fortune telling rather than 5k. tough luck.

Cash customers only and no refunds or guarantees!

 

[gambit78]

I would say, no hope for the bigger cities, but smaller towns will still have shortages.

 

[type b pharmD]

I would say, no hope for the bigger cities, but smaller towns will still have shortages.

what do you think is the smallest town that would have a pharmacy? I was hoping to move to a town with <5,000 people but im not sure if those places even HAVE pharmacies. I hear the 50,000 population or so cities are mostly filling up at this point as far as positions being filled, but that's way too big for my tastes anyway

 

[IndustryPharmD]

what do you think is the smallest town that would have a pharmacy? I was hoping to move to a town with <5,000 people but im not sure if those places even HAVE pharmacies. I hear the 50,000 population or so cities are mostly filling up at this point as far as positions being filled, but that's way too big for my tastes anyway

I did one of my rotations in a town of 3,500 people. It had two independents. On the other hand, there were no pharmacies for at least 50 miles in either direction. The independent where I interned was quite successful and last I heard, he moved into a new building, three times as large.

One of my classmates opened her own pharmacy in an even smaller town even more in the middle of nowhere. 🙂

 

[type b pharmD]

I did one of my rotations in a town of 3,500 people. It had two independents. On the other hand, there were no pharmacies for at least 50 miles in either direction. The independent where I interned was quite successful and last I heard, he moved into a new building, three times as large.

One of my classmates opened her own pharmacy in an even smaller town even more in the middle of nowhere. 🙂

cool!!!

yeah that's pretty much my dream, to eventually have an independent in a small town. I still want to do nuclear but I think that mom and pop nuclear labs are gonna be a thing of the past once F-18 becomes the nationwide standard and you need particle accelerators, people just arent gonna be able to afford those, and the big 3, places like my former employer only have labs in decent sized cities.

 

[803]

If you listen to the pharmacy sunshine pumpers you would think the the industry is make 180k starting and plenty of jobs to go around. Just by asking the question I think you know the answer

 

[IndustryPharmD]

cool!!!

yeah that's pretty much my dream, to eventually have an independent in a small town. I still want to do nuclear but I think that mom and pop nuclear labs are gonna be a thing of the past once F-18 becomes the nationwide standard and you need particle accelerators, people just arent gonna be able to afford those, and the big 3, places like my former employer only have labs in decent sized cities.

I know nothing about nuclear pharmacy save that it exists. 🙂

I do like small towns in the middle of nowhere, but only to visit, not to live there permanently. I do not like when everyone knows everyone's business and it takes forever to get anywhere, and your choices are severely limited by what's available. I don't like New York, but one thing to be said for living within a couple hours of NYC is that you can literally find anything you might think of here. 🙂 And I like a lot of rare/unusual foods that I developed a taste for in my travels.

The gloominess of one's future is much more proportional to the person's internal qualities than to the external environment they find themselves in, in my experience. 🙂

 

[type b pharmD]

I know nothing about nuclear pharmacy save that it exists. 🙂

I do like small towns in the middle of nowhere, but only to visit, not to live there permanently. I do not like when everyone knows everyone's business and it takes forever to get anywhere, and your choices are severely limited by what's available. I don't like New York, but one thing to be said for living within a couple hours of NYC is that you can literally find anything you might think of here. 🙂 And I like a lot of rare/unusual foods that I developed a taste for in my travels.

The gloominess of one's future is much more proportional to the person's internal qualities than to the external environment they find themselves in, in my experience. 🙂

I completely agree with your last sentence there. I think the stress and satisfaction in life, with regard to ANYTHING, (esp career) is all internally generated. I've loved every job i've ever had, and i've had a lot of so called thankless '****' jobs, it's all about "you get out what you put in".

I would enjoy having great food and stuff , and realistically will probably end up in a city with maybe 15,000-30,000 people, which is enough to meet my needs. I just strongly dislike cities and traffic, enough to the point where i'd rather sacrifice a thai food restaurant for not having the traffic. Growing up in a small town probably influences my ideas about it too, but i'd rather have a place where i can buy 50 acres and have gardens and an orchard and stuff eventually. I also find that blue collar manufacturing type cities to be much friendlier and have much more realistic values and beliefs about life. Going into a bar in a big city like milwaukee, i'm gonna find a bunch of hipster people and people who are being snobby about the money they make and their lifestyles. Going into a bar in a manufacturing city like , say, oshkosh (40,000 or so pop.), people are a lot friendlier and just have a good head on their shoulders.

I imagine that your love of your job keeps you living in the populated and expensive areas. You have a pretty sweet setup job wise to make it worth living in NYC (suburbs).

Nuclear is great. Generally can expect 4-12 weeks of vacation starting depending on where you work, and being able to do a repetitive physical task requiring a lot of dexterity, and having a close-knit work environment without having to deal with the general public is GREAT. But, i think I might end up missing the public contact . small town indepedent pharmacies really foster a great sense of community and caring when you know most of your customers and are able to be seen as a real member of the community and a trusted advisor

 

[IndustryPharmD]

I spent most of every summer of the first 14 years of my life in a small town of about 4,000 people about 50 miles off any major route. I LOVED it as a kid (having the freedom to run around and only come home to eat and sleep), but I can't imagine living there as an adult.

When I interned at that pharmacy, people I have never met would come in and ask how I liked the soup I had for lunch yesterday (there was an awesome little place across the street from the pharmacy, all home-made, great food and pies to die for). To me that was just freaky, not community-building. 😳

Yes, I love my chosen field, and because of that I am limited to the very few parts of the world where jobs like mine do exist. That is, until I build up my skills and reputation enough to strike it out on my own as a consultant, then I will be able to live wherever I want. And I am vacillating between South Dakota and Liechtenstein at the moment. 😀

 

[Ackj]

Yes, yes I do. However, I charge for the use of my magic crystal ball. You will need to send me $5,000 and I will tell you every thing you want to know. PM for my address!

If I send you Western Union $7000 you can send me the change? I am an African Prince with much distressed. Your help is will be much appreciated.

 

[tungsten87]

If I send you Western Union $7000 you can send me the change? I am an African Prince with much distressed. Your help is will be much appreciated.

are you located in Nigeria?

 

[willrocks]

You'll be fine kid. Don't worry. Focus on school and get some work experience in the sector you want to go into, make connections at work and your P4 rotations, and you'll do fine.

 

[PharmDstudent]

what do you think is the smallest town that would have a pharmacy? I was hoping to move to a town with <5,000 people but im not sure if those places even HAVE pharmacies. I hear the 50,000 population or so cities are mostly filling up at this point as far as positions being filled, but that's way too big for my tastes anyway

I live in a town that has about 100K people, and it's full. They actually had to kick someone out of this position, because I was offered it at my career fair. The person before me wanted to move but didn't afterall.
This is yet another reason why I keep telling people to TAKE THE JOB (rather than wait another year to work full-time, etc).

 

[PharmDstudent]

Oh, and I stopped into this tiny, small town Good Neighbor Pharmacy a couple of weeks ago. It was soooo charming! I ended up buying a gift for my friend, not filling a script or anything like that. But I got a good look at the pharmacy, and it was only the size of a full bathroom!