Pharmacist Salary Thread

Started by rutpharm
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TheChemist said:
So all of the pharmacists at that hospital, the hospital that I'm guessing is in Florida and somewhere close to UF, all came from UF. Interesting. 🙄
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I'm in Tampa, so it's not really that close to UF.

The point is, if you're in Florida, that UF pharmacists hire UF students. My last preceptor said that FAMU students were good for retail, but not clinical. This attitude is one I have heard for years. I personally think that Nova has a good program, but most people think that people go there because they didn't get into UF. I know that's not true, but people say dumb things, then those things get repeated, then everyone thinks it's true.
 
Is Rutgers better than St. John.. and considered an elite school? I didn't know...

I'll hire an USC grad who has a 'clue'..and probably will pay slightly more money..

I hired an USC grad with a clue 3 years...now he's a director of pharmacy ..making more money than most pharmacists..

Ok..I'm SC biased.

I'll pay Clinical Pharmacy Manager more than staff pharmacists...but it really doesn't mattter where you went to school...

I did interview a candidate finishing up a residency from an elite school and an elite program... but she had a ways to go before she would have any 'clue' on clinical pharmacy.
 
I found these posts from a few years ago and I'd like to get you guys opinion on them. Do you think the same holds true in today's world?

you commented that the pay is excellent. You put it in the proper context (i.e., better than RNs, and other non physician roles), but I would not call it excellent.

I'm not a PharmD, but my wife and many friends are RPh's. The sad part I hear is that salaries are indexed to the new hire rate. Thus RPH salaries peak after a few years on the job and are somewhat wholly depedent on supply. 20 year veterans are making roughly the same as rookies. You are viewed as a commodity.

Do you see the same resentment on the salary issue within the profession?
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Here is the response from another poster..

You're right that salaries are indexed to the new hire rate. This is because pharmacists are scarce as it is, and the conversion to all-PharmD degrees has stretched the resources of many colleges, so that they are admitting fewer students yearly. So for the next few years there will be even fewer new grads, while the avg. number of prescriptions per person is rising, and the number of new drugs increases by >50/year. So new grads are basically driving the compensation of the entire profession. At some point this will stop, and the pay scale will normalize to some extent.

Things are worse in retail than in hospital. Most retail chains pay ALL their pharmacists roughly the same wage. In hospitals, there is more of a graded scale, which generally differs by about $15/hr between the highest and lowest paid staff pharmacists. But the bottom line is, pharmacy is one of those professions where the compensation has an upper limit. If you want more money, you can go into management.

I haven't seen much resentment, except in retail. And honestly, there's not much difference in skill or knowledge between a pharmacist with a year of retail experience, and one with 20 years experience. If anything, most new grads are MORE knowledgeable than the veterans. It's a little different in hospitals, where the learning curve is a bit steeper.
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Oh my gosh! What do you want a comment on???? Salary, skill level, resentment, older v. younger pharmacists, wives.....what????? I fit about all the categories.


Tell me what you want to know & I'll share!
 
This thread is really helpful but I wish I had seen this earlier.
Is there anyway we can move this to pre-pharmacy so all the applicants applying for this coming cycle can take these advice into account?
thanks
 
St. John's has more prestige than rutgers, but then again Im biased because i am a 5th year pharmacy student there
 
I think that the school that you attend matters somewhat. For retail, it probably does not matter that much because there is a shortage of pharmacists in that area. However, more pharmacy schools are opening up and eventaully the shortage might be met. When we reach this point, the name of the school will matter (but this will not hapen for awhile). So if you dead set on the retail, you can go anywhere and get the same salary as anyone from top 5.
However, if you decide to go into different area (a more competitive area), the name of the school will matter. If you went to a top 5 school, you will have an easier time getting a spot in a somewhat competitive area (such as industry pharmacy or residency).
So it just depends what you want to do.
 
nahhh janeo, from what i learn in economics 101, if the shortage is down or gone, whoever works for the cheaper wage gets the job. Experience matters the most imo.
 
from my experience...

anyone from a state school proclaims that the only reason people go to private schools is b/c they couldn't get in to the state school...

is this true?
no.

some people just prefer the private school atmosphere with less research funding and pharmacists who actually TEACH you instead of just phds...
 
ultracet said:
from my experience...

anyone from a state school proclaims that the only reason people go to private schools is b/c they couldn't get in to the state school...

is this true?
no.

some people just prefer the private school atmosphere with less research funding and pharmacists who actually TEACH you instead of just phds...
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Just so you know...most of our teachers at UF are pharmacists not just PhD's. Every person to teach us pharmacotherapy was a practicing pharmacist who was an "expert" in their field that they were teaching. Because of this we had many guest lecturers but at least we were pretty much guaranteed to get the point of view of a working professional in that field.
 
How are you enjoying 3PD year pharmacotherapy? I hated that class.
 
dgroulx said:
How are you enjoying 3PD year pharmacotherapy? I hated that class.
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hating it...but at least we don't have Dr. Doug the Data Dude! Also they added a credit to Outcomes and renamed it and we're taking Law now instead of in the spring. So it's changed a bit, hopefully for the better 🙂 How are rotations?
 
Trancelucent1 said:
hating it...but at least we don't have Dr. Doug the Data Dude! Also they added a credit to Outcomes and renamed it and we're taking Law now instead of in the spring. So it's changed a bit, hopefully for the better 🙂 How are rotations?
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Don't push the panic button!!!
 
I was always curious about this. The average pharmacist during 2001-2002 was around $70-80k/yr (from Midwestern CCP's website). Now the starting salary for recent grads are well into $100k plus/yr due to increase in demands and shortages. So did all the other pharmacists working in 2001-2002 get an immediate increase in salary every year to match the new hires?

I can just imagine the conversation:

-mgr to pharmacist: "Good news Bob. Your salary for the year 2003 has just increased $10,000 due to the new avg salary for pharmacists."

(one year later)
-mgr to pharmacist: "Good news Bob, your salary for 2004 just increased another $10,000 due to the new avg salary for pharmacists."

(repeats conversation for the next couple of years.)

-pharmacists sits at home in 2006 watching Sunday football and thinks to himself "Holy ****, I just got a $30k raise in the last 3 yrs while the past 20 yrs I've been working, I've only gotten a $20k raise. Life is good."
 
I'm not a pharmacist, but one of the staff pharmacist's I worked with had mentioned his pay was about the same as the pharmacy manager's. The staff pharmacist was with the company for about 2 yrs, and the pharmacy manager for approximately 10 yrs.
 
pharms said:
I'm not a pharmacist, but one of the staff pharmacist's I worked with had mentioned his pay was about the same as the pharmacy manager's. The staff pharmacist was with the company for about 2 yrs, and the pharmacy manager for approximately 10 yrs.
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That's what I would have suspected. It'd seem real bad if a pharmacist who got hired in 2000 still only made $70k/yr while a new grad who gets hired yesterday makes $100k/yr at the same pharmacy. Just wanted some confirmation from someone who has been through it.
 
A lot of the salary issue has to do with negotiation. Pharmacists with experience get a yearly raise and sometimes a "market adjustment" increase vs newly signed pharmacists who negotiate for a new good deal. Pharmacists with experience who threaten to leave are often offered much higher pay and bonuses because they're finally negotiating for a higher salary.
 
pharmacist in bakersfield, ca:

$57.00/hr for new grad and after about a year that can jump up to $60.00/hr + overtime pay.

in LA where there are a buttload of pharmacists the pay may be $10.00/hr less.
 
I've had long tenures in all places I've worked - the longest being 23 years....so I was at the top of the pay scale. I always moved with the pay scale as it moved....so a new grad was never hired above me.

As for bonuses when new grads get hired - the current pharmacists are getting something too - time off when & how we want it. Unless you're brand new, time is more valuable than money.

Everyone wins when there is a shortage of pharmacists (unless you're working short, obviously🙄 )
 
I'm a first year and one of our professors told us he expects our salaries to be around $138,000 by the time we graduate in 2010, is this really possible?
 
One professor told us average could be $125,000 by the time we graduate but they might be hiring less pharmcists and more pharmacy technicians than they do today.
 
Taken2 and starsweet, most pharmacists dont get paid salarly. They get paid hourly. It is possible for you to make 140k right now if you work yourself like a slave.
 
taken2 said:
One professor told us average could be $125,000 by the time we graduate but they might be hiring less pharmcists and more pharmacy technicians than they do today.
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That doesn't make any sense. With the way technology is going (automation) it seems like the industry as a whole would need less technicians and not less Pharmacists.

On a side note here in Northern California they are telling us that the average is about 110K to 120K. There is shortage up here. This is why economics is a pre-req to get into Pharm School. 🙂
 
$49.5 bucks an hour at Wags in AZ which is about $103,000/year. If you consider that pharmacist salaries have risen about 6% a year over the last decade, you can expect to be paid around $124-$136K when you graduate. More in Cali and less in Nebraska.
 
I'm in North Carolina and at our orientation a guy from CVS told us that when we graduated if we stayed in NC we would be making $120,640 a year working 40 hours.
 
Retail in the Portland metro area is around $48-50/hr to start. Generally you will make more in suburban areas than urban areas...this is true for most all professions as professionals around the country continue to aggregate in urban locations.

Pharmacy wages have seen significant yearly increases as the shortage hit home, and should continue to beat inflation for the forseeable future. So, if inflation is about 3-4% a year and pharmacy wages just match inflation, by 2010 a starting wage should be somewhere around $58/hr or $120k/yr at least. With overtime and bonuses $160k/yr wouldn't be far-fetched at all. Yes, it's a good time to be a pharmacist. 😀
 
"One professor told us average could be $125,000 by the time we graduate but they might be hiring less pharmcists and more pharmacy technicians than they do today."

I think your professor meant less "full-time/regular part-time" pharmacists would be hired. In So Cal, a pharmacist once told me that the company would only hire mostly "floating" pharmacists but not full-time or regular part-time anymore. Not sure if this is true for other parts of the country or not.
 
I am really curious to see if the pay scale will continue to increase. I personally think that as insurance companies and the feds continue to cut Rx re-embursements, i think that salaries will begin to level off.

as for pay in eastern NY at eckerd the pay is 45/hr w/5k bounus for new grads
 
The difference in reported salaries might be due to the bureau of labor and statistics looking at actual reported salaries based on income taxes filed. Thus there are a LOT of part-time pharmacists out there, so they don't make quite as much as a pharmacist who works 40+ hrs/week where the calculated salary would be higher as reported by salary.com.
 
Does anyone have an idea of how much a professor of pharmacy school makes? A pharm school professor must complete a Pharm.D. program plus the Ph.D.... is that it? Or is there more to it?


Thanks guys...
 
Depends on the school. I found the public listing of professor salaries once for South Carolina. That Dipiro dude who writes that pathophysiology/therapeutics book rakes in $180,000. Of course, he's the Dipiro guy that writes that pathophys book, so I'd imagine he's on the upper echelon.
 
All salaries of state employees are public record in my state. So I could go to the library and look up exactly what each of my professors makes if I wanted to. But it's a lot walk and it's really cold here right now...

If you are talking public university, the information is probably available somewhere. Private universities may be a bit more tricky.
 
For a few professors who specialize on a subject (i.e. biochemistry), all you need is a PhD in that subject (although a PharmD would make him more attractive for jobs offers). Not everyone teaching the pharmacy school curriculum has a PharmD. but most do.

But if I heard the RUMORS correctly, this one professor I know in CA with "only" a PhD should make around $90k/yr. Other PharmD's said they would've made more as a staff pharmacist (~$100k/yr in CA) but they enjoy teaching a lot more so the pay cut is worth it.
 
:laugh:

"ONLY" a PhD?


PhD is harder to get than a PharmD. I knowyou can teach with a PharmD alone, but probably not the basic science classes (pharmacology, Pharmacodymanics, Kinetics, Physiology, etc). You could probably teach anything related to Pharmacy Practice, though, with a PharmD only.

I'm sort of interested in being part time or adjunct faculty myself. I'ts something I'm going to look into.

My hometown just got a new pharmacy school. I am sort of playing with the idea of going home after I graduate (If possible) and maybe trying to get on at the pharmacy school there as adjunct faculty.

If you want to be full time faculty, depending on WHAT you want to teach, you might want to do a PhD. If you are wanting to do Pharmacy Practice or something other than bench science related, you can probably teach with a PharmD, depending.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
Depends on the school. I found the public listing of professor salaries once for South Carolina. That Dipiro dude who writes that pathophysiology/therapeutics book rakes in $180,000. Of course, he's the Dipiro guy that writes that pathophys book, so I'd imagine he's on the upper echelon.
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lol @ dr. dipiro making that much
 
illusions said:
lol @ dr. dipiro making that much
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That's probably not including any royalties he collects from the books he's written or edited. Granted none is a NY Times bestseller, but doesn't virtually every school use Dipiro?

A lot of the clinical faculty at my school also practice in the community in addition to their teaching duties - in fact, I think all of them do. They probably earn about the same as a non-academic pharmacist does, I'm guessing.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
Depends on the school. I found the public listing of professor salaries once for South Carolina. That Dipiro dude who writes that pathophysiology/therapeutics book rakes in $180,000. Of course, he's the Dipiro guy that writes that pathophys book, so I'd imagine he's on the upper echelon.
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He is the executive Dean for the newly formed SC College of Pharmacy. He may teach part of a class, but he is more of a program director for two pharmacy schools. For those that do not know, SC decided to join the two pharmacy schools, USC and MUSC. That still is alot of money though.

Maybe I should write a book...

BTW, we call the book, "The Dipiro". It is sort of like the pharmacy bible here. All jokes aside, it is a well written, informative book.
 
I am a faculty member and have a PharmD plus a Master's in epidemiology and a two year research fellowship in pharmacoepidemiology/pharmacoeconomics. Some of my colleagues have PharmD's plus Ph.D's, some have PharmD plus fellowships in their area of specialty. At least where I work, no one gets hired as a clinical faculty member without a PharmD (even if they have a PhD). However if you want to work in pharmaceutics or one of the bench sciences you don't need a PharmD (you need a PhD). So it depends on what type of faculty person you want to be.

Also, none of the clinical faculty (where I am, anyway) have "only" a PharmD (meaning that you also need at least a 2 year research fellowship). The ability to bring research funds into the college is very important at most places, and to do that you will need a lot of research training and skill. The exception is if you can get hired just to teach and not be expected to do research (where I am, they don't hire professors for teaching only, but maybe some places do).

Salary depends on rank (assistant professor, associate professor, or full professor) and probably starts in the 80k's most places and goes up from there. Again, this depends on ability to acquire research funds, tenure, etc. You can definitely make more if you want to work at Wal Mart! However you also need to take into account the benefit plan. My benefits are incredible.
 
PharmDEpi said:
Not sure where these people come from. Royalties? DePiro? Nuts.

Sorry.
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The idea that people write books simply for the joy of writing them is nuts. There was some kind of compensation. I'm guessing (again) that it wasn't enough to pay off the mortgage on his house, but I'll bet it was more money than I earned last year.
 
You guys do understand that neither DiPiro nor Koda-Kimble write the book themselves.. look at the chapters...they are written by many different pharmacists throughout the country. Some of the chapters in both DiPiro and Koda-Kimble are written by dear friends who I look back and only think...

Holy Chit.. I would've never thunk he could've done it..
 
DHG said:
:laugh:

"ONLY" a PhD?

PhD is harder to get than a PharmD.
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Gee, thanks for the clarification Captain Obvious. 😀


So I'm assuming being a professor in pharmacy school is similiar to undergrad? Where there are ranks, tenure, and you hope for grant money for research? I always thought p-school professors just teach and don't do much research.
 
I know a few of the basic ones, but I am specifically looking for a breakdown of places that offer higher salaries, preferrably in a rural setting. I know that a large majority of the areas that do pay higher wages tend to be off the beaten path and that is primarily what I am looking for. I am mostly looking for areas with high salary/lower cost of living areas but am a bit unsure about how to find these areas other than random luck or hearsay. If anyone has some insight to share or even some good ideas I would appreciate it.
 
ZpackSux said:
You guys do understand that neither DiPiro nor Koda-Kimble write the book themselves.. look at the chapters...they are written by many different pharmacists throughout the country. Some of the chapters in both DiPiro and Koda-Kimble are written by dear friends who I look back and only think...

Holy Chit.. I would've never thunk he could've done it..
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Yeah, we do...okay, he's the editor...geez, picky, picky. Either way, he's the dude that oversees the book.
 
eddie269 said:
So I'm assuming being a professor in pharmacy school is similiar to undergrad? Where there are ranks, tenure, and you hope for grant money for research? I always thought p-school professors just teach and don't do much research.
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Depends on the school, apparently. Where I'm at, research is what drives everything and yes, being a professor in pharmacy school is all about ranks, tenure, etc. And we work really hard to write grants for research.
 
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