Please Advise me on Pharmacy

[Plowi]

Hello everyone,

I know I want to get into pharmacy, but I want to get experience in the field before applying to pharmacy school.

How exactly do I get this type experience? Are retail pharmacy jobs available for the inexperienced? What are these positions called? Are there other places that hire people without pharmacy experience? Are there places to VOLUNTEER in the event that I cant get a job? I am not necessarily seeking pay, but just want to get experience. I really want to do a pharmacy internship bad but Im in my third year of undergraduate courses already and its getting late.

Also, does anyone know what pharmacy schools really want to see besides grades and a high PCAT score? Do grades and PCAT outweigh everything?

I know some of you are in pharmacy school already and have gone through the ringer, please share some of that experience with me. I'd appreciate it.

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[Aznfarmerboi]

You can apply for a pharmacy job for a position as a pharmacy tech or associate in any retail or hospital settings. Do not apply for the pharmacy cashier job even though it is interchangable with tech/associate. You will not get the full pharmacy experience of the pharmacy besides the stress.

I have never heard of anyone volunteering in the pharmacy. A pharmacy is a place where you turn out scripts for profit. Its not a nursing home or the park. This being said, noone minds free labor but if you are volunteering to ring up people and count pills, you obviously are not going to stay very long. There's no point in training a volunteer and watch him quit in a few weeks.

In order to be a pharmacy intern, it depends on the state. Most of the time, the requirements are that you have to complete your third year from an accredited pharmacy school.

Grades and PCAT scores outweigh everything. What else are they suppose to base your acceptance on?

 

[Glycerin]

This is an advising question, so I'm moving it to pre-pharmacy. We have a FAQ stickied to the top of the forum with useful information in it.

 

[taken2]

What you said is not true. I'm volunteering in a private pharmacy right now. People volunteer in a pharmacy, some times they call it shadowing a pharmacist. If you can get hired as a tech, shadow a pharmacist to get some experience.

You can apply for a pharmacy job for a position as a pharmacy tech or associate in any retail or hospital settings. Do not apply for the pharmacy cashier job even though it is interchangable with tech/associate. You will not get the full pharmacy experience of the pharmacy besides the stress.

I have never heard of anyone volunteering in the pharmacy. A pharmacy is a place where you turn out scripts for profit. Its not a nursing home or the park. This being said, noone minds free labor but if you are volunteering to ring up people and count pills, you obviously are not going to stay very long. There's no point in training a volunteer and watch him quit in a few weeks.

In order to be a pharmacy intern, it depends on the state. Most of the time, the requirements are that you have to complete your third year from an accredited pharmacy school.

Grades and PCAT scores outweigh everything. What else are they suppose to base your acceptance on?

 

[rxlynn]

Hello everyone,

I know I want to get into pharmacy, but I want to get experience in the field before applying to pharmacy school.

How exactly do I get this type experience? Are retail pharmacy jobs available for the inexperienced? What are these positions called? Are there other places that hire people without pharmacy experience? Are there places to VOLUNTEER in the event that I cant get a job? I am not necessarily seeking pay, but just want to get experience. I really want to do a pharmacy internship bad but Im in my third year of undergraduate courses already and its getting late.

Also, does anyone know what pharmacy schools really want to see besides grades and a high PCAT score? Do grades and PCAT outweigh everything?

I was hired without any pharmacy experience as a technician. Unfortunately, a lot of times I think it's just being in the right place at the right time when a particular store has an opening. That means you might have to spend a lot of time going to or calling pharmacies in your area trying to find out who has a current opening. Stress your computer skills and anything in your work background that is relevant to customer service. And, it sort of goes without saying, but dress and act like a professional. I have spoken either on the phone or in person to quite a few candidates for openings at my pharmacy who lost any hope of us hiring them in the first 30 seconds.

Generally, I do think that grades and PCAT count the most. However, there are certainly pharmacy schools that really prefer to see that their applicants have some pharmacy experience. I believe that it's Mercer's site that says something like lack of experience in the field could be construed as applicant's lack of interest.

Is there a pre-pharm or pre-medical field advisor at your school who might be able to help you find an internship?

Good luck.

 

[DownonthePharm]

I am also volunteering in a pharmacy. It is at a free clinic, but we are licenced by the state of oklahoma as a charitable pharmacy, so I still had to get a pharmacy tech license. So there are other opportunities out there than your corner Walgreens.

Some hospitals (few and far between unfortunately) also have programs set up for students to shadow/volunteer in their pharmacy. It doesnt hurt to contact the volunteer services department directly, if nothing else you express a need to them. Of the hospitals I contacted, at least 1/2 of them responded that they did not have anything currently, but were hoping to set something up in the future.

Also, contact pharmacists at small, independent pharmacies. They tend to be more open to students shadowing them. Set up a block of time in your schedule that you know can be there consistantly every week, and stick to it. That makes it easier on them, because they can count on you to be there, and on you, because if you treat it like a job or class you will be less likely to blow it off.

 

[DrugCzar]

Think about finding a hospital that has a retail pharmacy in it. I found the following things about getting my experience there:

1) Usually, hospitals have a volunteer services office, get a point of contact in the pharmacy and ask about volunteering
2) When you work in the hospital, you have the potential to at least see the inpatient side of the house.
3) When you do your P-4 internships, you might get lucky enough to intern at that same hospital, making your "A" a lot more realistic.
4) When you graduate, you know the system, your training at the hospital was free (to the hospital, that is) and now you're REALLY an attractive hire there.

Hope this helps...

Hello everyone,

I know I want to get into pharmacy, but I want to get experience in the field before applying to pharmacy school.

How exactly do I get this type experience? Are retail pharmacy jobs available for the inexperienced? What are these positions called? Are there other places that hire people without pharmacy experience? Are there places to VOLUNTEER in the event that I cant get a job? I am not necessarily seeking pay, but just want to get experience. I really want to do a pharmacy internship bad but Im in my third year of undergraduate courses already and its getting late.

Also, does anyone know what pharmacy schools really want to see besides grades and a high PCAT score? Do grades and PCAT outweigh everything?

I know some of you are in pharmacy school already and have gone through the ringer, please share some of that experience with me. I'd appreciate it.

see

 

[iheartpandp]

Some hospitals let you volunteer in pharmacies, but they are a little hard to find. You might have to drive a bit to find one that allows that.