Hi, sorry about being quick to play the Bump card....My question is, Is there such thing as "high profile jobs" that graduates would compete for and be recruited for toward the end of school, and if so would graduating from an out of state school put you at a major disadvantage at getting them. Or is this all irrelevant and all the "good" jobs are not exclusively filled by students graduating from Pharm in that respective state, sorry if this thought is a bit scrambled
High profile - like director of pharmacy (like Zpak?????
) or high profile like in working on the ground floor of a drug company startup as their regulatory guy then getting the big bucks after the stock pays off (a long shot at best!)????
I'd say that pharmacy school alone gives you the inside track to neither. So much depends on what you do with the years you are there. It won't be given to you - you have to make the contacts & make whatever works for you ...... well, work!
A "good" job is obviously subjective. I wouldn't have Zpaks job for anything & he, obviously, hires people like me to do mine. We are both happy in our choices & his wouldn't be "good" for me.
I had a "great" job for many,many years....but the job changed due to economic changes in healthcare. It became mundane & awful. So...I changed....got another "great" job - well actually two.
So...what you think might be "good" now...not even being in pharmacy school could change after you've been exposed. I'd say you probably don't even have an idea what nuclear pharmacy or oncology or neonatal pharmacy entails. There's all sorts of pharmacy jobs which are not clinically based (oh....retail is clinical - my own personal vendetta!!!)....
So...go to the school which you either want or can get into. Then, once there, take advantage of each & every opportunity presented to you. Go to meetings & conventions...keep your eyes & ears open....be willing to take more than one job or more in your years of working to broaden you experience, if your personal circumstance allows that, particularly if you want to climb a particular ladder (check Zpaks old posts - he details how he got where he is now). While you are in school, find out about residencies & fellowships....that refines your training & experience & often it is beneficial to go to another place to obtain this just to broaden your experience. Find a mentor who you feel safe to bounce ideas off of.
But...no....pharmacists are as mobile as any other profession. If they move - for whatever reason - as long as they are current & offer something to the employer - it doesn't matter where they went to school.
One caveat, however, there are some states with notoriously difficult state board exams, in spite of the full acceptance of the national exam - the state judicial exam can be hard. If you ever thought you might want to live in those states.....take the exam when you are fresh out of school & the information is right there in your head. Its tough to have to try to pass it later (I worked with a pharmacist from Purdue - was out of school 12 years & had come to CA. While attempting to pass the board exam, she was an intern - one of the best I ever had
! Anyway...she failed 4 times - 4 is the max in CA without having to take classes at a pharmacy school).
You'll be fine....if you go to school in CA or NV...we won't force you to stay nor will folks keep you from going to another state. We're not THAT weird!
