Pharmacy School is the new Law School

[pbbtvv]

I've been reading people's comment how some schools will accept anyone as long as they're willing to pay the money for it. I didn't really believe that until I started looking at some recent statistics.

PharmCAS reported that in the year 2015-2016, there were 16,417 applicants. Maybe this year, there will be 16,000 applicants.
There are a total of 132 schools in the U.S.
On average, there are about 120 seats per school.
132 x 120=15,840 seats total!
I know those numbers aren't exact (some schools don't participate in PharmCAS), but they are pretty close.

There are no laws that prevent new pharmacy schools from opening. If we continue with this trend, the number of applicants will continue to decrease, and the number of seats will increase. Eventually there will be a 100% acceptance rate as long as the applicant is willing to move anywhere (maybe this is already the case).

This is good news to those who still want that 6 figure job haha. But this also means more competition. I guess no luck is needed to those applying 🙂

http://www.aacp.org/news/Documents/2016annualreport.pdf
http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/pharmacyforyou/admissions/Documents/PSAR-1213_narratives.pdf

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Saito]

If you go to a good school, have a good work ethic and overall know your **** you'll get a job.
Pharmacy isn't the place for lazy people who scraped by with a 2.3 GPA and a 30 on the PCAT. Sure you'll get accepted to a for-profit school and sure you'll get a degree, but that doesn't guarantee you a job.
You could say Medicine is the new law school if you factor all the crappy Caribbean schools etc.
You'll have an MD, but you won't get a residency.

 

[Humble Sloth]

The acceptance rate is already near 100% for every school according to the deans i've spoken to. Except for top schools like san fran.

 

[Neurotonin]

Based on my friends who are currently in pharmacy school or have already graduated, attending an established school that has high admission standards significantly improves your post-graduation opportunities. Have you looked at Purdue University which probably has the strictest admissions requirement that I know of.

 

[pbbtvv]

If you go to a good school, have a good work ethic and overall know your **** you'll get a job.
Pharmacy isn't the place for lazy people who scraped by with a 2.3 GPA and a 30 on the PCAT. Sure you'll get accepted to a for-profit school and sure you'll get a degree, but that doesn't guarantee you a job.
You could say Medicine is the new law school if you factor all the crappy Caribbean schools etc.
You'll have an MD, but you won't get a residency.

You're right in that obtaining a PharmD doesn't guarantee a job. However, having good connections and relationships with pharmacists and even district managers could increase job placement by a lot (in my opinion) compared to those who have absolutely no connections prior to graduation.

With an MD, I'm sure Caribbean Medical School graduates will land on a residency...it just won't be their first choice (which is around 95%+ for U.S. Medical schools).

 

[pbbtvv]

Based on my friends who are currently in pharmacy school or have already graduated, attending an established school that has high admission standards significantly improves your post-graduation opportunities. Have you looked at Purdue University which probably has the strictest admissions requirement that I know of.

That'll make them more competitive applicants in any pharmacy industry they choose to after graduation, especially for residency! Some people probably don't care for residencies since it's more costly and less return on education...however the job satisfaction is likely to be higher than retail haha.

 

[pbbtvv]

The acceptance rate is already near 100% for every school according to the deans i've spoken to. Except for top schools like san fran.

Really? Do you personally speak to the dean over the phone...do you have connections?

 

[Saito]

You're right in that obtaining a PharmD doesn't guarantee a job. However, having good connections and relationships with pharmacists and even district managers could increase job placement by a lot (in my opinion) compared to those who have absolutely no connections prior to graduation.

With an MD, I'm sure Caribbean Medical School graduates will land on a residency...it just won't be their first choice (which is around 95%+ for U.S. Medical schools).

Not since 2013ish.
It's been harder and harder to land residencies as an MD, even for US allopathic students.
Only a small fraction of a Caribbean class will get accepted. And it decreases every year.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Computer programming now is how pharmacy was 10 years ago. In fact, it is probably better than pharmacy in that you can earn $100k+ straight out of undergrad without having to take out $200k+ in loans and spend another 4 years in professional school. Computer science majors usually have multiple job offers thrown at them before graduation, whereas pharmacy new grads have to fight over openings for most positions. In fact, you don't even need a degree to become a programmer. You can go to a 12-week coding bootcamp right out of high school and start your career 6-8 years early with a decent salary and work-life balance.

Sent from my SM-N910V using SDN mobile

 

[Michael_Scott]

If you go to a good school, have a good work ethic and overall know your **** you'll get a job.
Pharmacy isn't the place for lazy people who scraped by with a 2.3 GPA and a 30 on the PCAT. Sure you'll get accepted to a for-profit school and sure you'll get a degree, but that doesn't guarantee you a job.
You could say Medicine is the new law school if you factor all the crappy Caribbean schools etc.
You'll have an MD, but you won't get a residency.

lol totally false comparison...Medicine is actually in demand and to become a physician is MUCHHHH harder than getting a pharmD nowadays due to the Caribbean like pharm schools IN THE US. It is an epidemic.
Plus PharmD's don't need residency to get a job. AND you can definitely get into pharm schools with those crappy stats you posted. Schools are accepting anyone they can..

 

[Saito]

lol totally false comparison...Medicine is actually in demand and to become a physician is MUCHHHH harder than getting a pharmD nowadays due to the Caribbean like pharm schools IN THE US. It is an epidemic.
Plus PharmD's don't need residency to get a job. AND you can definitely get into pharm schools with those crappy stats you posted. Schools are accepting anyone they can..

Medicine is in demand in rural areas, just like Pharmacy. It isn't much harder to become an MD in the US. Especially Primary Care. You take almost the exact same undergrad classes, you still need over a 3.3 to even be considered competitive to good schools and if you get get a 90+ %tile on the PCAT you can do the same on the MCAT.
You're an idiot if you think a 2.3 will get you past the screening processes of even the worst pharm schools. Just like that sloth guy, you seem to be going on either:
A. Anecdotal evidence from other idiots
B. Made up facts
Are you so insecure that you have to project your inability on others? This is becoming a trend on SDN it seems.

 

[Saito]

Computer programming now is how pharmacy was 10 years ago. In fact, it is probably better than pharmacy in that you can earn $100k+ straight out of undergrad without having to take out $200k+ in loans and spend another 4 years in professional school. Computer science majors usually have multiple job offers thrown at them before graduation, whereas pharmacy new grads have to fight over openings for most positions. In fact, you don't even need a degree to become a programmer. You can go to a 12-week coding bootcamp right out of high school and start your career 6-8 years early with a decent salary and work-life balance.

Sent from my SM-N910V using SDN mobile

Are you ever going to fact check your horse**** before you post it?
Unless you're coming out of Ivy and are good enough to get hired by a top company (1% of CS grads) you WILL NOT make 100k EVER as a CS grad. Indians with H1Bs get all the javascript monkey coding done for a fraction of what an American CS grad will want; and those are the majority of the jobs on the market.
Go pay for a bootcamp and see if it gets you a job you ignorant buffoon.
Also even if the economy was good for CS it's not an easy or an especially desirable job. If you had two brain cells to just google what the work environment is like, locked up in a cubical for days sometimes if you have to launch the product you wouldn't be posting this crap.
You're completely ignorant of what you're actually posting. It's sad that you do this here, on reddit, and clearly in whatever free time you have since you're using your phone.
Get a life.

 

[pbbtvv]

Computer programming now is how pharmacy was 10 years ago. In fact, it is probably better than pharmacy in that you can earn $100k+ straight out of undergrad without having to take out $200k+ in loans and spend another 4 years in professional school. Computer science majors usually have multiple job offers thrown at them before graduation, whereas pharmacy new grads have to fight over openings for most positions. In fact, you don't even need a degree to become a programmer. You can go to a 12-week coding bootcamp right out of high school and start your career 6-8 years early with a decent salary and work-life balance.

Sent from my SM-N910V using SDN mobile

Yeah, my boyfriend is a software engineer. He makes 90K+ and is only 25.

 

[Sugoi Travis]

It isn't much harder to become an MD in the US. Especially Primary Care.

It's considerably more difficult to become an MD as opposed to a PharmD. You'd be pissing off a lot of medical doctors with this line of thinking.

You take almost the exact same undergrad classes, you still need over a 3.3 to even be considered competitive to good schools and if you get get a 90+ %tile on the PCAT you can do the same on the MCAT.

Speaking as an individual who actually got a 91 composite score on the PCAT, the MCAT would have tore me a new hole if I went in with the same preparation as I did on the PCAT. The PCAT, at least when I took it, was a joke of an exam. The PCAT and MCAT should never be compared as equals.

You're an idiot if you think a 2.3 will get you past the screening processes of even the worst pharm schools.

You'd be kinda surprised at who gets into pharm schools nowadays.

 

[TheFactionless]

Computer programming now is how pharmacy was 10 years ago. In fact, it is probably better than pharmacy in that you can earn $100k+ straight out of undergrad without having to take out $200k+ in loans and spend another 4 years in professional school. Computer science majors usually have multiple job offers thrown at them before graduation, whereas pharmacy new grads have to fight over openings for most positions. In fact, you don't even need a degree to become a programmer. You can go to a 12-week coding bootcamp right out of high school and start your career 6-8 years early with a decent salary and work-life balance.

Sent from my SM-N910V using SDN mobile

You always leave out the fact that you have to be good and be able to display this. It's not like a lot of other professions. You need to display that you don't completely suck. It's not as transparent as you make it seem.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[Humble Sloth]

Computer programming now is how pharmacy was 10 years ago. In fact, it is probably better than pharmacy in that you can earn $100k+ straight out of undergrad without having to take out $200k+ in loans and spend another 4 years in professional school. Computer science majors usually have multiple job offers thrown at them before graduation, whereas pharmacy new grads have to fight over openings for most positions. In fact, you don't even need a degree to become a programmer. You can go to a 12-week coding bootcamp right out of high school and start your career 6-8 years early with a decent salary and work-life balance.

Sent from my SM-N910V using SDN mobile

Yeah but programming requires MUCH higher intelligence than pharmacy does. 95% of CS majors could do pharmacy but only like 15% of pharmDs could handle CS.

 

[Humble Sloth]

You always leave out the fact that you have to be good and be able to display this. It's not like a lot of other professions. You need to display that you don't completely suck. It's not as transparent as you make it seem.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

anyone can view your source code so it's an extremely transparent occupation. You can't be brain dead like 70% of pharmacy students judging by their grades in classes like pharmacy calculations.

 

[Michael_Scott]

Medicine is in demand in rural areas, just like Pharmacy. It isn't much harder to become an MD in the US. Especially Primary Care. You take almost the exact same undergrad classes, you still need over a 3.3 to even be considered competitive to good schools and if you get get a 90+ %tile on the PCAT you can do the same on the MCAT.
You're an idiot if you think a 2.3 will get you past the screening processes of even the worst pharm schools. Just like that sloth guy, you seem to be going on either:
A. Anecdotal evidence from other idiots
B. Made up facts
Are you so insecure that you have to project your inability on others? This is becoming a trend on SDN it seems.

You are immensely misinformed or brain washed by Chapman. Either way I did my part warning pre-pharms and do not want to continue to argue with some pre-pharm on SDN.
Remember : insults are the last resort of insecure people with a crumbling position trying to be confident.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Remember : insults are the last resort of insecure people with a crumbling position trying to be confident.

Insults tend to originate from the anger phase of grief. Next will come bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Sent from my SM-N910V using SDN mobile

 

[PharmtoCS]

If you had two brain cells to just google what the work environment is like, locked up in a cubical for days sometimes if you have to launch the product you wouldn't be posting this crap.
You're completely ignorant of what you're actually posting. It's sad that you do this here, on reddit, and clearly in whatever free time you have since you're using your phone.
Get a life.

Well, this is what Google might tell you, but the posts by actual software engineers say otherwise. Same way how Google directs you to websites created by journalists, pharmacy schools, and the likes of APhA telling you how there will be a shortage of 100,000 pharmacists due to provider status and MTM instead of posts by real practicing pharmacists on SDN and /r/pharmacy. Is the former where you get your information about pharmacy?