I appreciate all the information posted here, I really do! It helps pharmacy school applicants reconsider their choice and have a chance to ask themselves if this is a right career for them, before too late. However, this topic about job saturation in pharmacy is getting old.
People keep mentioning the simple concept about supply and demand to explain for that, but never go any further than that. So, I'd like to pitch in another simple economical concept that everybody should already know. If we have too many students graduating as pharmacists, and the job market can't take all of them (this is what they call "job saturation"), then there should be a higher competition for the job positions. As an employer I'd want the best pharmacist working for me if I have 20 people applying for 1 position. At the end of the day, the other 19 pharmacists who aren't as good will be unemployed with the 200k debt, and start to warn everybody who wants to be pharmacists. Guess what? this is not new, this is basic macroeconomics principle, this is how capitalism in our country works! It's all about competition. If your product is not better than your competitor's, you'll have a problem with your revenue. As a result, you, as a customer, have the best product possible delivered to your doorstep. Similarly, the result of this "job saturation" for pharmacists will lead to a generation of best pharmacists who are good enough to compete with other 19 qualified people to get that job. It'll only make the career better with better healthcare workers. And, this doesn't just happen particularly for future pharmacists. I bet you some great researchers will be able to tell you the same thing in any career at some point in the future, or the past, or now (like pharmacists career). Now the question is, are you that ONE who gets that job? Are you willing to take that opportunity (or risk)? Do you want it bad enough and fight for it? I guess nobody else can answer that for you.
As an pharmacy school applicant, I encourage everyone to be aware of the job outlook as well as important facts about the job. However, I think no one should be discouraged about the "hype" of job saturation conversations, especially if you're sure this is your dream job, and you'd rather be remembered as a pharmacist (by your grandkids) than anything else. Best of luck with other applicants this year! Go live your dream, not someone else's!