MS in Pharmacy in USA

[vikashtalanki]

Hi,

My wife is interested acquiring a job related to Pharmacy in USA. She had completed her M.Pharm in India and is on H4 dependent visa now in California USA.
We have gone through multiple forums/blogs and understood that PharmD is gonna take good amount of time either in completing the degree or in clearing the exams(NAPLEX etc..)
Hence we have decided to opt for doing MS in Pharmacy(or Pharmaceuticals, I don't know the exact difference) which should not take more than 2 years ideally.
We want to know what are the prerequisites for doing MS in USA and what are the next steps once MS is completed.

Few questions:

1. Since she had already completed her M.Pharm in India and already in US on H4, does she still require to write any of GRE, TOEFL etc now to get admission for Masters degree here in US? (She didnt write any of the eams earlier)
2. Can she persue her degree on H4 visa or do we need to convert to student visa F1?
3. I heard that pharmacy companies in US prefer people with MS degree who are either US citizens or Green card holders. Is this true? How are the opportunities for students who are on F1/OPT?
4. We are staying in California and don't have idea of moving to other states in US. Can you please suggest good colleges in CA,bay area for MS.

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[bacillus1]

There's no such thing as a Master's in pharmacy. An MS in pharmaceutical sciences would prepare you for a research type job, but it would not qualify you to be a pharmacist.

To top it off, even U.S. citizens have a hard time getting jobs. No one sponsors anymore.

 

[vikashtalanki]

There's no such thing as a Master's in pharmacy. An MS in pharmaceutical sciences would prepare you for a research type job, but it would not qualify you to be a pharmacist.

To top it off, even U.S. citizens have a hard time getting jobs. No one sponsors anymore.

Thanks for the reply bacillus1.
My wife is interested in research type job aswell. But any idea why its hard getting jobs? Is it because they prefer PharmD holders than one who do MS?

 

[radio frequency]

It's harder getting jobs because there are too many pharmacists.

An MS in pharmaceutical sciences is a totally different ballgame than a PharmD though. I know nothing of their job market (I kind of assume it's not good).

 

[Dred Pirate]

The MS degree will not allow you to sit for the board exams. It is not for a practicing pharmacist. You would have to get the PharmD or have a batchelors degree in pharmacy that would be grandfathered in (which is highly not likely in your case)

 

[fewaopi]

Even if she completes an MS in Pharmaceutical Science in the US, she will still need sponsorship through an H1B, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is already very hard to get. And if an employer had to sponsor, I'm pretty sure they would sponsor a Ph.D and not a Master's. There are more MS grads out there so I would imagine there's little to no demand for sponsoring someone with a MS.

Echoing others, an MS won't let her become a practicing pharmacist in the US. The only way to become a pharmacist would be through a US PharmD program. Then from there get sponsored as a pharmacist, which as mentioned already, is near impossible to get. Why do international students pursue pharmacy in the United States? Honestly I have no idea why.

However, when did your wife graduate pharmacy school? I don't know the exact cutoff, but if she graduated from pharmacy school in India before 2003, then she could just take the FPGEC (http://www.nabp.net/programs/examination/fpgec). She wouldn't need to repeat pharmacy school but would still need sponsorship I think.

Bottom line: She needs an employer to sponsor her (incredibly difficult) and mostly likely a PharmD if she wants to practice pharmacy. If she does research, a PhD would more likely be sponsored rather than MS, and again, still need employer H1B. If you became a citizen and helped her become a citizen (how many years this takes, I don't know but I'm imagining very long), it removes the employer from the equation but she needs a US PharmD to practice pharmacy and an MS wouldn't be mandatory for her to find research but helpful in building some connections and getting a foothold. (MS doesn't necessarily mean she has to find work in research but it's probably the largest sector)

Or join the military, I don't know if they have programs but it sounds like a fast track way to US citizenship. Is it me or is it a lot easier to become a US citizen by being an illegal than by legitimate means, or maybe that's my bias?