It is too late for me to switch this career choice

[dreamer122]

I will start pharmacy school this August. However, after following this forum I have realized that my chance of getting a job is extremely low and my debt will be >200k. But I am feeling stuck because I can't really switch to any other career especially not engineering since I can't handle Math and Physics well, not computer science or business or finance either because the only area I can study and enjoy is biological sciences, and I am already 25 and have a Bachelor's degree in biology

I can't seem to switch to any other health career such as MD, dentist, PA, nursing, PT, etc because the only experience I have is pharmacy. I volunteered at hospital pharmacy, worked in retail pharmacy for 2 years. I chose pharmacy because I like a career in healthcare (mostly because I enjoy studying human biological sciences) but I am not a fan of direct patient contact. To switch field, I must get LOR's and I can't get any more LOR's because my pharmacists and coworkers all believe pharmacy is what I want to do, unless I start over, take more classes, find a new internship at hospital where I work closely with nurses, MD, etc, which will cost me more time and money. I am now 25, 4 more years of schooling and I will be 29.

Does anyone feel the same? any advice is appreciated!

p/s: Also, can pharmacy schools find out who I am based on my profile on SDN? Can they find out my email address that's linked to my profile?

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[DagS132]

You are severely limiting yourself by telling yourself that you like just biology. It sounds like you already cornered yourself into pharmacy. If you are willing to make around 60k per year, try out clinical lab scientist also known as medical lab scientist. You would probably only need to study for another two years before getting a job. And hospitals absolutely need these people.

 

[APN-59 rph]

W/O knowing your age..you might have the time to get the lay of the land in a hospital w/o breaking your finances.....THEN you will have a better idea of what will work for you....I've strayed into three jobs...two were great adventures but at times terrifying......Pharmacy paid (notice "paid" )the best but as a job is total frumpsville.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Maybe get a PhD in the biological sciences?

You said you don't like patient contact either. Do you like retail? That is where about 70% of the jobs are and where about 70% of graduates will end up, probably higher if you don't do a residency which is getting harder each year to get.

 

[GravityBeetle]

I will start pharmacy school this August. However, after following this forum I have realized that my chance of getting a job is extremely low and my debt will be >200k. But I am feeling stuck because I can't really switch to any other career especially not engineering since I can't handle Math and Physics well, not computer science or business or finance either because the only area I can study and enjoy is biological sciences, and I am already 25 and have a Bachelor's degree in biology

I can't seem to switch to any other health career such as MD, dentist, PA, nursing, PT, etc because the only experience I have is pharmacy. I volunteered at hospital pharmacy, worked in retail pharmacy for 2 years. I chose pharmacy because I like a career in healthcare (mostly because I enjoy studying human biological sciences) but I am not a fan of direct patient contact. To switch field, I must get LOR's and I can't get any more LOR's because my pharmacists and coworkers all believe pharmacy is what I want to do, unless I start over, take more classes, find a new internship at hospital where I work closely with nurses, MD, etc, which will cost me more time and money. I am now 25, 4 more years of schooling and I will be 29.

Does anyone feel the same? any advice is appreciated!

p/s: Also, can pharmacy schools find out who I am based on my profile on SDN? Can they find out my email address that's linked to my profile?

If I were a pharmacist you worked with, I would gladly write you a second LOR and commend you for choosing another career path. Also if you're willing to look outside of healthcare, there's tons you can do with a biology degree: research, pharmaceuticals, environmental, agriculture, food...

 

[BC_89]

I will start pharmacy school this August. However, after following this forum I have realized that my chance of getting a job is extremely low and my debt will be >200k. But I am feeling stuck because I can't really switch to any other career especially not engineering since I can't handle Math and Physics well, not computer science or business or finance either because the only area I can study and enjoy is biological sciences, and I am already 25 and have a Bachelor's degree in biology

I can't seem to switch to any other health career such as MD, dentist, PA, nursing, PT, etc because the only experience I have is pharmacy. I volunteered at hospital pharmacy, worked in retail pharmacy for 2 years. I chose pharmacy because I like a career in healthcare (mostly because I enjoy studying human biological sciences) but I am not a fan of direct patient contact. To switch field, I must get LOR's and I can't get any more LOR's because my pharmacists and coworkers all believe pharmacy is what I want to do, unless I start over, take more classes, find a new internship at hospital where I work closely with nurses, MD, etc, which will cost me more time and money. I am now 25, 4 more years of schooling and I will be 29.

Does anyone feel the same? any advice is appreciated!

p/s: Also, can pharmacy schools find out who I am based on my profile on SDN? Can they find out my email address that's linked to my profile?

Why not start out as a lab assistant or a science teacher while going to school part time for your other interests? Better yet, why not get your masters in biology or even a PhD? You could do research and teach at a higher academic level.

I don’t know why you mentioned MD, PA, Dentist, Nursing or PT. If you don’t enjoy direct patient contact you’d be wasting time, money, and endure misery day in and day out.

As for pharmacy, would you be happy if you didn’t have debt or is it just a job? Have you considered Indian Health Services that pays off portions of your loan for every year you work with them? Your correct that fulltime hours are getting tougher by the year in the profession. At the end of the day, happiness is more important than age. See what you could do for 30 years and if it meets your needs.

And no, programs cannot link your profile to your email. Your anonymous.

 

[mentos]

Dude you're 25 and haven't paid a dime for pharmacy school yet. You may think you're old compared to the 18 year olds but you are still a baby. People switch careers in their 40s and 50s. Many Rphs here would recommend withdrawing from pharmacy school even if you were 1-2 years deep. Luckily, you have no losses to cut!

 

[alpha12]

I will start pharmacy school this August. However, after following this forum I have realized that my chance of getting a job is extremely low and my debt will be >200k. But I am feeling stuck because I can't really switch to any other career especially not engineering since I can't handle Math and Physics well, not computer science or business or finance either because the only area I can study and enjoy is biological sciences, and I am already 25 and have a Bachelor's degree in biology

I can't seem to switch to any other health career such as MD, dentist, PA, nursing, PT, etc because the only experience I have is pharmacy. I volunteered at hospital pharmacy, worked in retail pharmacy for 2 years. I chose pharmacy because I like a career in healthcare (mostly because I enjoy studying human biological sciences) but I am not a fan of direct patient contact. To switch field, I must get LOR's and I can't get any more LOR's because my pharmacists and coworkers all believe pharmacy is what I want to do, unless I start over, take more classes, find a new internship at hospital where I work closely with nurses, MD, etc, which will cost me more time and money. I am now 25, 4 more years of schooling and I will be 29.

Does anyone feel the same? any advice is appreciated!

p/s: Also, can pharmacy schools find out who I am based on my profile on SDN? Can they find out my email address that's linked to my profile?

I felt the same way as you. I switched at a similar age. It's not too late. Get a MS in computer science and you will be 27 when you graduate. Not to old.

 

[Havequestion]

I felt the same way as you. I switched at a similar age. It's not too late. Get a MS in computer science and you will be 27 when you graduate. Not to old.

Shouldn’t it be more than 2 years with the addition of undergrad courses?

 

[alpha12]

Shouldn’t it be more than 2 years with the addition of undergrad courses?

Not if you do full time and summer classes. There shouldn't be more than 4 undergrad prereq courses to take.

 

[TerryTerry]

I wouldn`t say chance of you finding a job is extremely low. It`s just that the job you find might be very different from what you expected. Many of them will offer only part time with reduced pay rate and no benefit.
I was exactly the same age when I attended and graduated from a pharmacy school. If I were you I would totally do something I am passionate about. If you have no passion toward being pharmacist don`t do it. I guarantee you that you will regret going to pharmacy school by the time you turn 30 and feel even more helpless.
Go become a pharmacist only if you have passion, no debt getting diploma or some kind of job guaranteed.

 

[puahate]

Definitely switch

 

[wreagle96]

Get out. It's never too late

 

[Xenophylia]

Definitely not too late...you will look back some day and thank yourself....

 

[mentos]

Definitely not too late...you will look back some day and thank yourself....

Probably in just a couple years.

 

[pharmBear]

First off, I want to say I personally enjoy pharmacy tremendously. My position was due to me being at the right place at the right time. I wouldn't like pharmacy, if there was not a pharmacy job available.

Now, in your case, you are already questioning your path, then you probably already know what you like/dont like.

Dont feel stuck. You are stuck when you take out a huge financial ball and chain with limited career options.

Every job has its ups and down. Sadly, at this moment pharmacy has more down than up.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

Echoing the post above, if I wrote you a LOR as a pharmacist, i personally would write another LOR speaking to your transferable skills. It is tough out there , so I wish everyone the best.

If you end up going to a different field, please remember to help the pharmacy field.
Thanks!

 

[mentos]

OP since you wrote this, starting pay dropped from $51/hr (it was around $60/hr before January) to $46/hr. That's a 25% decrease in 5 months so imagine how much worse it will be in 4-6 years.

 

[REACHOn]

I do not know why your brought up the other healthcare occupations. They have their fair share of difficulties. Dental schools tuition make pharmacy school look cheap. Tuition for a few California dental school are around 400-420k and when you add living expense and fees... total comes out to be near 500k and there are a fair share of people talking about how dentistry is moving towards corporate. You're not a fan of patient interaction so you should acknowledge that healthcare professions in general will require social interaction of some sorts. Do your due diligence and choose a career you won't regret and one you are willing to work hard in.

Good luck with your decision, stay positive and ReachOn

 

[PharmtoCS]

I do not know why your brought up the other healthcare occupations. They have their fair share of difficulties. Dental schools tuition make pharmacy school look cheap. Tuition for a few California dental school are around 400-420k and when you add living expense and fees... total comes out to be near 500k and there are a fair share of people talking about how dentistry is moving towards corporate. You're not a fan of patient interaction so you should acknowledge that healthcare professions in general will require social interaction of some sorts. Do your due diligence and choose a career you won't regret and one you are willing to work hard in.

Good luck with your decision, stay positive and ReachOn

I personally don't recommend most of the health professions. They are generally completely saturated, require you to take on a considerable amount of debt, and involve great deals of stress and liability.

Engineering, computer science, finance, or accounting would be far better choices.

 

[REACHOn]

Supply and demand. Right now the healthcare is saturated but as people diverge to the tech field the healthcare field will be more promising + the baby boomer generation are getting older so that may help alleviate the saturation.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Supply and demand. Right now the healthcare is saturated but as people diverge to the tech field the healthcare field will be more promising + the baby boomer generation are getting older so that may help alleviate the saturation.

I wouldn't hold my breath on waiting for the market to get better with around 15,000 students graduating from pharmacy schools each year. The market can remain irrational for longer than most of you can remain solvent which part of the oversupply of pharmacists is fueled by easy access to student loans. You'll have a hard time remaining solvent when you're $200k+ in debt accuring interest at 6%+ per year while trying to scrape for hours in this saturated job market.

 

[mentos]

Supply and demand. Right now the healthcare is saturated but as people diverge to the tech field the healthcare field will be more promising + the baby boomer generation are getting older so that may help alleviate the saturation.

There is no divergence from health care to tech. People who work in tech chose tech in the first place. Apart from some outliers, no one goes "oh I want to be a pharmacist. Oh that's saturated? Ok I'll do comp sci instead". Most people do not have the skills to code, whereas anyone can get a PharmD. That is why tech is in demand and pharmacists are not.

 

[WalSlave]

Get out now. I was a little older than you when I started down the PA path after seeing the writing on the wall with pharmacy. I’m now a practicing PA and haven’t yet hit 30. You’ll likely still acquire quite a bit of student loan debt but it’s much easier for a provider to find a PSLF-eligible employer than a pharmacist (unfortunately).

Also, don’t discount the worth of your pharm experience to other fields. My school was super cool about counting my pharm tech hours as PCE. Majority of my classmates were CNAs and while I’m sure they could change a mean diaper, they all spent an insane amount of time studying for pharm because they were starting from scratch - they might as well have been learning another language. Simply having that familiarity with drug names and a vague idea of what they do means you can skip all of that tedious memorization, grind the nitty gritty details that’ll get you an A, and use that valuable time to study for other classes.

Obviously many schools aren’t gonna count pharm tech hours for one reason or another. I went through all 200+ school websites and made a list of those that didn’t specifically exclude pharm tech hours, so it does involve some initial leg work but totally worth it. Also depends a lot on how you speak on the experience.

 

[SF2]

Don't go into biology. That market is rougher than pharmacy even for folks who got their PhD at big name schools.

Since you mentioned you can't handle math or comp science don't even bother. The only pharmacists I have seen switch into comp science had serious raw talent in mathematics and put in 60-80 hours per week to boot just for fun. People in those types of fields love numbers and numbers love them.

What about a related field like biochemistry?

 

[AM77]

If you don't like direct patient contact, then perhaps healthcare is not the field for you. In healthcare, you have to care directly for the patient all the time. You will always run into that one difficult patient all the time. Perhaps you should consider going into research.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

I would back tf out of your school. There is no future for those who are starting school now. Do the math. Look at the number of school verses how many are hiring or how many openings are available. Job market saturated about 5 years ago or abit earlier depending on what location you look at. And no, no new jobs are being created.