Pharmacy and pre-pharm dos and don’ts

[radio frequency]

If you are still reading these forums, you may really want to be a pharmacist. Good for you. I’m no doom and gloomer, though the market isn’t that great right now. But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about the things not to say to pharmacists if you are a pre-pharmacy student or a PharmD student. If you are able to follow some simple advice, you will at least be ahead of the pack.

Do:
-Research pharmacy as a career and what different types of pharmacists do all day before meeting with pharmacists to discuss their jobs. APhA and ASHP have great resources that can guide you.
-Have specific questions in mind, and ask them. It’s ok to write them down if you may not remember. Great questions include things about how the work environment impacts your non-pharmacy life, so those are ok to ask!

Don’t:
-Ask the pharmacist about whether they are a clinical pharmacist or not. Pharmacists should all be practicing “clinically”. At best, it’s a snooty question. At worst it’s a put down to somebody who invariably has more knowledge and education in pharmacy than you do. So don’t be that guy.
-Don’t try to pass your program off as something more than it is. If your program is a seven year program straight from high school, don’t play like your program is “seven years long.” No. It’s not. A PharmD is a four year program at most, generally post-college. You aren’t fooling somebody who already has a PharmD.
-Don’t minimize pharmacy as a career to somebody who is a pharmacist. Saying things like “I couldn’t believe I had to go to school for so many years to be a pharmacist!” comes across as both ignorant of the many other jobs requiring extensive schooling, as well as the work of a pharmacist that is based on that knowledge. It’s also offensive.

I normally wouldn’t think these dos and don’ts would be necessary to share, but I’ve met a number of pre-pharm and current PharmD students lately who have surprised me with their disparaging comments about pharmacists and pharmacy as a whole.

Think before you speak, especially when you are nervous. Practice your questions in advance if you need. It’s always ok to admit you don’t know something. Just don’t say things you will be remembered unkindly for.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Xenophylia]

DO: avoid the profession like it has a terminal STD
DONT: Pretend there's anything appealing about it.
DO: actually believe the veteran pharmacists who post about what a sh*tshow it has become
DONT: listen to the naive snowflakes who claim that none of the doom and gloom is true...

 

[TerryTerry]

In short,
use your common sense.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Do:

WORK in a pharmacy as a technician before making the decision to go to pharmacy school, especially in a busy CVS, Walgreens, or Rite Aid. This is the setting where the AVERAGE pharmacist works.

Minimize your student loans. Be very selective with your school choice with regard to cost followed by reputation.

Be willing to work retail since is where most of the jobs are and where most of you will end up.

Be willing to relocate anywhere in the country.

Put pharmacy schools on the same level as car dealers. Remember that they are here to sell you a degree that costs six figures and 4 years of your life, so of course they will paint pharmacy in the best light possible to get you to go to pharmacy school.

Consider the financial return on investment of other professions, i.e. computer programming, finance, accounting, engineering. Many of these professions pay well, are less stressful, do not require you to take out $200k+ loans and spend another 4 years in school, and are actually hurting for more workers unlike pharmacy.

Don't:

Use pharmacy school as a stepping stone to a different career path, whether it is IT, research, managed care, etc. If you like IT, get a degree or certificate in IT. If you like research, get a PhD. Don't waste $200k+ on a PharmD on the hopes of going into these subspecialties when the vast majority will end up in retail.

Count on getting into your desired niche. As mentioned above, RETAIL is where the vast majority of pharmacists end up.

Think that with your circumstances that you won't be affected by saturation. You're competing with a limited number of jobs against 15,000 other new grads and experienced pharmacists, many with residency. Employers will constantly threaten to replace you with a desperate new grad with $200k+ in loans with less pay if you do not obey.

Go into pharmacy if you are unable to unwilling or unable to relocate to anywhere in the country and stay there indefinitely. Many graduates had to move away from family and friends to the middle of nowhere to find a job and are unable to find jobs back in their saturated hometowns since they are competing with tens of thousands trying to transfer back home.

 

[AM77]

DON'T go into the pharmacy profession for the money. Even the managers at In-N-Out Burger make more money than pharmacists. If money is all you care about, then why would you take out a $200,000 student loan with high compound interest in an oversaturated field?

 

[radio frequency]

In short,
use your common sense.

Unfortunately I find it is so much less common than "common sense" would imply. But yes.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Unfortunately I find it is so much less common than "common sense" would imply. But yes.

This. You would expect students not to take out $100k in loans for a degree in underwater basket weaving from a private school that will qualify you only for minimum wage retail jobs, yet people still do it - and complain about their situation.

 

[Xenophylia]

I think many are deluded into believing that all they need is "passion" for something and have blind faith which tells them that if they travel a path- no matter how esoteric- things will "just work out". But reality doesn't work that way. If the world has no need for an "underwater basket weaver", then its common sense to realize that no one is going to pay you to do that as a career. I think there is also some confusion between what constitutes a career vs a "hobby"...

 

[mentos]

Don’t:
-Ask the pharmacist about whether they are a clinical pharmacist or not. Pharmacists should all be practicing “clinically”. At best, it’s a snooty question. At worst it’s a put down to somebody who invariably has more knowledge and education in pharmacy than you do. So don’t be that guy.
-Don’t try to pass your program off as something more than it is. If your program is a seven year program straight from high school, don’t play like your program is “seven years long.” No. It’s not. A PharmD is a four year program at most, generally post-college. You aren’t fooling somebody who already has a PharmD.
-Don’t minimize pharmacy as a career to somebody who is a pharmacist. Saying things like “I couldn’t believe I had to go to school for so many years to be a pharmacist!” comes across as both ignorant of the many other jobs requiring extensive schooling, as well as the work of a pharmacist that is based on that knowledge. It’s also offensive.

These sound very petty and pompous, I don't agree with any of them and wouldn't care or give a second thought of anyone did say one of those things because they're true.

-I'm a "clinical pharmacist" and I wouldn't care if someone asked whether I was or wasn't.
-If someone says their 7 year program is 7 years... Cause it's 7 years... then what's the problem? They're not saying their 7 year program was 20 years.
-I would agree with the person that says "I can't believe I had to go to school for so many years" cause half or more of the classes are BS filler that do not apply to real life. They're mostly an excuse to fill the curriculum to jack up tuition. Pharmacists with bachelor's degree went to school for less years and know just as much or more than PharmDs.