Rethinking and regretting everything (PLEASE HELP ME)

[lucas988]

hey everyone i’ll try to make this as short as possible and cut the sob story but i could really use some advice
I’m starting pharmacy school this september and though, a few weeks ago I was really happy to finally start the school that matters, I don’t know if I want this anymore and it’s giving me an unnecessary amount of stress
I’m not going to lie to you guys and say “i have a huge passion for pharmacy” i’m just doing it because I have a job secured, and it pays well (my parents are both pharmacists that own a chain in my city and each is within a clinic and those patients get referred to their pharmacy). I could never see myself doing anything with medschool, PA, or NP because i really just lack the passion for that and am not willing to put myself through it in all honesty.
To be honest, the only reason I have been stressed out is because genchem and Ochem was never my forté, i was always average and only liked biology cause I prefer memorizing over application if i’m being honest. I know a few people in pharmacy school and they are studying more than the dental students I’ve seen. Those same people have also been putting negative thoughts in my head and saying because I don’t enjoy or am not good at chemistry, I might as well just drop the program entirely before I fail out. I have been getting mixed signals that i’ll be fine since it’s all new material but then I get comments belittling me. I understand pharmacy school is hard every where you go but I honestly feel stuck, that I really shouldn’t pursue health care at all, and have already dug my grave too soon.
Anything goes, you guys can be as mean as you want and call me stupid for going into this profession at all. I know the job saturation but understand the circumstance and that I have a job secured with great financial stability. I should’ve done more research but better late than never I just don’t want to be a disappointment to anyone or myself. I feel suffocated.

For context: i’m a huge overthinker with a lot of anxiety and trying to get out of the imposter syndrome complex i’ve developed over the years.

Stats:
no pcat
3.4 cumulative
3.0 science gpa

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[RXDOC1986]

hey everyone i’ll try to make this as short as possible and cut the sob story but i could really use some advice
I’m starting pharmacy school this september and though, a few weeks ago I was really happy to finally start the school that matters, I don’t know if I want this anymore and it’s giving me an unnecessary amount of stress
I’m not going to lie to you guys and say “i have a huge passion for pharmacy” i’m just doing it because I have a job secured, and it pays well (my parents are both pharmacists that own a chain in my city and each is within a clinic and those patients get referred to their pharmacy).
To be honest, the only reason I have been stressed out is because genchem and Ochem was never my forté, i was always average and only liked biology cause I prefer memorizing over application if i’m being honest. I know a few people in pharmacy school and they are studying more than the dental students I’ve seen. Those same people have also been putting negative thoughts in my head and saying because I don’t enjoy or am not good at chemistry, I might as well just drop the program entirely before I fail out. I honestly feel stuck and feel that I really shouldn’t pursue health care at all and have already dug my grave too soon.
Anything goes, you guys can be as mean as you want and call me stupid for going into this profession at all. I know the job saturation but understand the circumstance and that I have a job secured with great financial stability. I should’ve done more research but better late than never I just don’t want to be a disappointment to anyone or myself. I feel suffocated.

Stats:
no pcat
3.4 cumulative
3.0 science gpa

I too chose pharmacy because I was undecided and then a Poli-Sci major with no prospects of being able to support myself. I was not good with all the sciences or advanced math. Still to this day I cannot figure out how chemistry plays into the pharmacy profession. Whenever I tell people I am a pharmacist, they say "you must be very good with chemistry"! Hell NO!~ Pharmacy is one BIG 4-year memorization and regurgitation exercise. You have to be able to memorize a whole bunch of info, organize and store said info in your head, and spit it out when needed.
No, you are not stupid for going into the profession. Pharmacy has been very good to me, provided a very good standard of living for many many years. These days the profession is on a decline, some say it's fallen off a cliff. But in your case, Just go for it, choose a more forgiving (easier) school. Get your degree and license, and you are set for life!

 

[lucas988]

I too chose pharmacy because I was undecided and then a Poli-Sci major with no prospects of being able to support myself. I was not good with all the sciences or advanced math. Still to this day I cannot figure out how chemistry plays into the pharmacy profession. Whenever I tell people I am a pharmacist, they say "you must be very good with chemistry"! Hell NO!~ Pharmacy is one BIG 4-year memorization and regurgitation exercise. You have to be able to memorize a whole bunch of info, organize and store said info in your head, and spit it out when needed.
No, you are not stupid for going into the profession. Pharmacy has been very good to me, provided a very good standard of living for many many years. These days the profession is on a decline, some say it's fallen off a cliff. But in your case, Just go for it, choose a more forgiving (easier) school. Get your degree and license, and you are set for life!

oh yeah from a retail point of view, i don’t think you use everything in pharmacy school besides the last year of rotations. I was just worried because chemistry ESPECIALLY orgo is my weak point. like i said, i’ve only been good at memorizing and really just don’t want to be a failure

 

[John Muir]

“I know a few people in pharmacy school and they are studying more than the dental students I’ve seen”

Whoah, why bring the dental students into this? Pretty random and unrelated comparison unless you are interested in dentistry…

 

[lucas988]

Whoah, why bring the dental students into this? Pretty random and unrelated comparison unless you are interested in dentistry…

its really not that deep… i just made the comparison based off literally what i’ve been told and to show the type of stress i’m under? you’re acting like i’m discrediting them when all I did was give an example of how corrupt the entire pharmacy curriculum is. Grad school is grad school but pharmacy school makes it harder than it needs to be so i think you can understand my stress.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

If you don't like ochem you will hate the four semesters worth of medicinal chemistry that comes along with pharmacy school. In front of that is biochem, which is no walk in the park. Do pharmacists use chemistry every day in a retail setting? No. Is the understanding of how drugs function and interact in the body, especially in a person with multiple disease states, based in a solid foundation of understanding chemistry....well yes. So knowing the chemistry is about building a foundation of knowledge that you use almost automatically at the point of being a pharmacist. It is not a corrupt cause to expect students to learn basics and develop a well of knowledge that they draw upon in their day to day functions of working in a pharmacy setting. If you don't like chemistry I would highly suggest you either learn to love it or pick something else.

 

[BC_89]

I’m not going to lie to you guys and say “i have a huge passion for pharmacy” i’m just doing it because I have a job secured, and it pays well (my parents are both pharmacists that own a chain in my city and each is within a clinic and those patients get referred to their pharmacy).

tld;r - Get a job to support hobbies. See if your student debt would hinder finances for said hobbies. You don't need to be an expert in organic chem or remember all the details of gen chem (you'll waste your time studying it all over again). If not pharmacy, what is your alternative? Work for freedom of chasing hobbies, not just endure a job you have doubts about.



I would really focus on the job security aspect and see if it's worth 4 years of studying to have steady income to support other passions and hobbies. Truth is, many folks seem to confuse "passion", "want", and "need" real often. I think part of the confusion on this site is people trying to interpret what these words mean in terms of a pharmacy degree vs job placement. I'll use myself as an example:

1) Passion - I have a passion for fishing / hunting. I have put in thousands of dollars over the years invested in these hobbies. This is something I can get up early for, and return home late at night without feeling burnt out. This is something I wish I could do 7 days a week. What's even better is that my kids are getting to the age that I can introduce them to this hobby of mine and hope they appreciate the outdoors as much as I have.

2) Want - I Want the latest shimano baitcaster on 100% fluorocarbon line in preparations of my 4 season fishing trips. I want LED lit automatic running boards on my truck so I don't have to keep assisting my kids to get buckled up in the back seat. I want to eat out more frequently so as to avoid taking time out of my day preparing food while balancing out late night studies and getting kids ready for the day / school of their own.

3) Need - I Need my health, I need to eat, I need to breathe, I need to get at least minimal sleep. I need to make sure my kids are healthy, eating, breathing, getting some level of sleep. Things I literally cannot live or comfortably tolerate without (a job) are things I need.

Replace any of those words with your decision to know if pharmacy can support your hobbies and lastly, can pharmacy provide enough satisfaction in your daily living to have the want/desire to at least return to work knowing you have the means/finances to pursue aforementioned hobbies. So, how much debt will you be in if you make it through the 4-year ring of fire and despair? Is it balanced enough to know you can enjoy the hobbies of life, or will you be enslaved to debt for multiple years to come?

Lastly, yes. You need the basic chemistry but it is by no means a deal breaker if you forgot organic chem or your second semester of gen chem. It'll come back to you and you will be wasting your time thinking you can study anything prior to school. It just comes down to how bad you want it and if not, what is your second alternative.

 

[steveysmith54]

Who told you pharmacy school is hard? Maybe it was 15 years ago.

Who told you chemistry is important? Also False.

 

[PharmtoCS]

I’m not going to lie to you guys and say “i have a huge passion for pharmacy” i’m just doing it because I have a job secured, and it pays well (my parents are both pharmacists that own a chain in my city and each is within a clinic and those patients get referred to their pharmacy). I could never see myself doing anything with medschool, PA, or NP because i really just lack the passion for that and am not willing to put myself through it in all honesty.

How stable are your parents' pharmacies? Aren't they affected by the PBM cuts? Can you be sure the pharmacies will be even be open after 4 years?

Don't forget the mass layoffs of chain retail pharmacy employees in 2019-2020 and the plummeting of starting pay. Every single prepharm 4 years before (around 2015) would have thrown a fit if you told them the mass layoffs would happen.

 

[APN-59 rph]

Hopefully you can have an honest parlay with your parents about the pharmacy trade..'cause I think it's gonna get ugly...the one that scares me (or would if I really cared) is the COSTCO model....That high volume.....cut rate operation is gonna hit hard I believe. Your Mom and Dad are gonna have applicants banging at the door so it won't matter if you drop the pharmacy school idea..And really...you want to spend all that time and effort on a career that you have no interest in just to make parents happy? (see honest parlay above) AND you could easily become the proud owner of your very own millstone a few years from now....Write down a few jobs that you might really LIKE to do and look them over...Remember, you are only a youngster once and eventually you gotta move off the dime...tempus fugit as they say...make at least part of your existence an adventure (flogging pills is not one)..Sometimes I think that we should bring back the draft,,,force boyz to be men....but I digress..