Pharm engineering vs pharm

[btpayne13]

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What's the difference between pharmaceutical engineering and pharmacy? I'm pretty interested in pharmacy, but I don't know if I want to pursue a PharmD or go into pharmaceutical engineering (probably in biomedical engineering or chemical engineering). What opportunities are available in each field?

 

[PharmOl]

Simple Google search yielded:
"Pharmaceutical engineers are involved in the conception, design,
construction, and operation of research facilities and
manufacturing plants, where they also are involved in the
conception, design, scale-up, manufacturing, and labeling and
packaging processes in the conversion of chemical and biological
materials into valuable pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical
therapies. They have to implement FDA regulations, validation
assurance (VA), quality control, and maintain Good
Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliant facilities. In addition
to the safety of the end product, they have to maintain a level of
personal and environmental safety."

And I assume you know what pharmacists do since you are on this forum.

 

[btpayne13]

Bump (10 chars)

 

[ShadowRX]

Bump (10 chars)

I hope you at least understood what PharmOl said. At least acknowledge it. Pharm Eng prob has nothing to do with what you want to do.

Basically, and be honest, are you introverted or extroverted? This will be a big factor in where you're headed. Either you're more suited for research or interaction with people.

You're in high school, and you want to do pharmacy. From what you've said in your OT, you're not sure what in pharmacy you want to do.

Might I suggest, besides crossing off 0+6 school from your list of potential applications, get your degree in biomed engineering, biochemistry, or something along the lines of that. You don't have to finish your degree if you don't want to, but they are good tracks for research. Both will offer a good gauge as to your technical and research skills in the health-care and biomed fields.

If you don't want to do either, get a bio degree. Not much work, and gives you a better general idea of science.

If you don't like that either, well, your core classes for most science degrees are the same. I was lucky to have done all my pre-pharmacy courses in my 1st 2 yrs of school with APs, without summer classes, and without going beyond 17 credits a semester (my freshman year was 12 hours each semester 😀). Hopefully you get into pharmacy school after your pre-reqs are done, or you gain a better interest in research.

Good luck.