Saturation sticky needed***

[PharmtoCS]

I'm a pre-pharm just applying for early admission. SO - what do you suggest as an alternative? All the warnings are great but please offer suggestions then.

Computer science, engineering, finance, accounting, the trades, etc.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DagS132]

I'm a pre-pharm just applying for early admission. SO - what do you suggest as an alternative? All the warnings are great but please offer suggestions then.

Offer your interests then. You trying to stay in healthcare? You just interest in science? I can't hold your hand through your life choices here.

 

[AM77]

Medicine, dentistry, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner

 

[TerryTerry]

I'm a pre-pharm just applying for early admission. SO - what do you suggest as an alternative? All the warnings are great but please offer suggestions then.

We can`t suggest you any alternative beyond giving you advice that the pharmacist job market is absolutely terrible right now and worse in the future. The decision making is your job. Depends on your situation, going to pharmacy school can be something risky yet rewarding. For most students, going to pharmacy school now would be pure stupidity & financial suicide.

You want me to give you a suggestion?
Follow your passion. Do not follow money. If your passion is making money, pharmacy school is not the right place for you to go.

 

[farm4real]

At least you can still find a cigarette. Good luck with them finding a job.

No loan forgiveness for diploma mills...., cut these schools off

 

[BC_89]

Update:

It took me awhile, but I did go ahead and added to the sticky thread the following for our pre-pharms:

Job Saturation: Is Pharmacy Worth It? Here's What You Need to Know

This also has a redirect link to our Job Market Sub-forum thread for additional examples of what the regions are undergoing with our current licensed pharmacists on the SDN network.

Overtime, I will try my best to edit and alter items as needed. It is a bit of a read, but it provides examples given by referenced materials and calculation sites to help pre-pharms better understand inflation, student loans, opportunity costs, and the current state of the job market. We still encourage users to post job market topics within the Job Market Sub-forum. The redirect link will help solidify the facts put out about the pharmacy profession.

 

[carmer90]

We can`t suggest you any alternative beyond giving you advice that the pharmacist job market is absolutely terrible right now and worse in the future. The decision making is your job. Depends on your situation, going to pharmacy school can be something risky yet rewarding. For most students, going to pharmacy school now would be pure stupidity & financial suicide.

You want me to give you a suggestion?
Follow your passion. Do not follow money. If your passion is making money, pharmacy school is not the right place for you to go.

I have been working as a pharm tech for the last 3 yrs. to make sure I liked it as much as I thought I would. And I do. A definite no to med and dentistry (my family knows too many MDs and dentisits). PAs might as well be a MD since they do all the work. Nursing maybe? Looking for more $$ so surgical Nurse or nurse anesthetist. But really like Pharm. School loan is not an issue but looking for a decent ROI. (need to make more $$ than my brother, the engineer)

 

[AM77]

First off, you never want to go into healthcare for money. If you want to make money, then go into the tech industry because that’s where all the money is these days. Or you might want to consider going into business. Because if you go into healthcare solely just to make yourself rich, you will hate your life. Pharmacy technician school doesn’t even scratch the surface on how intense a professional healthcare program is.

 

[BC_89]

School loan is not an issue but looking for a decent ROI. (need to make more $$ than my brother, the engineer)

Based on the following: this field is not for you.

Want to make $$ like your brother? Be an engineer

 

[PharmtoCS]

I have been working as a pharm tech for the last 3 yrs. to make sure I liked it as much as I thought I would. And I do. A definite no to med and dentistry (my family knows too many MDs and dentisits). PAs might as well be a MD since they do all the work. Nursing maybe? Looking for more $$ so surgical Nurse or nurse anesthetist. But really like Pharm. School loan is not an issue but looking for a decent ROI. (need to make more $$ than my brother, the engineer)

Engineering or computer science is the way to go. Most of the health professions are completely saturated and require you to take on a significant amount of debt, thus the poor ROI. It's also not for the faint of heart since you deal with the nasty general public, patient contact, etc. with far more liability and stress compared to other professions.

 

[877259]

What do you do?

Engineering or computer science is the way to go. Most of the health professions are completely saturated and require you to take on a significant amount of debt, thus the poor ROI. It's also not for the faint of heart since you deal with the nasty general public, patient contact, etc. with far more liability and stress compared to other professions.

.

 

[CarbmonstaRX]

I'm a pre-pharm just applying for early admission. SO - what do you suggest as an alternative? All the warnings are great but please offer suggestions then.

if you are close to completing your Bachelors degree, FINISH it. Try studying for MCATs/DATs start looking for PA school application since most of the pre reqs overlap. It is still not too late for you to change and all other fields come with good pay and job field that is not super saturated. If you dont think your GPA is high enough, I would suggest switching majors and going for software/IT engineering, the have tremendous potential and a really versatile role. You can still work in healthcare field by doing software/IT engineering. Lot of companies like EPIC and other CPOs are integral part of healthcare field.

 

[CaptainPicard]

Update:

It took me awhile, but I did go ahead and added to the sticky thread the following for our pre-pharms:

Job Saturation: Is Pharmacy Worth It? Here's What You Need to Know

This also has a redirect link to our Job Market Sub-forum thread for additional examples of what the regions are undergoing with our current licensed pharmacists on the SDN network.

Overtime, I will try my best to edit and alter items as needed. It is a bit of a read, but it provides examples given by referenced materials and calculation sites to help pre-pharms better understand inflation, student loans, opportunity costs, and the current state of the job market. We still encourage users to post job market topics within the Job Market Sub-forum. The redirect link will help solidify the facts put out about the pharmacy profession.

The sticky implies that people don't want to do VA, military, or Indian health. But that's not really true. VA is very hard to get into, as well as military bases. Indian health is variable but even the most remote places get a lot of applications still

 

[BC_89]

The sticky implies that people don't want to do VA, military, or Indian health. But that's not really true. VA is very hard to get into, as well as military bases. Indian health is variable but even the most remote places get a lot of applications still

Edited

 

[carmer90]

Based on the following: this field is not for you.

Want to make $$ like your brother? Be an engineer

not an option HATE math

 

[Pharmcats71]

I'm a pre-pharm just applying for early admission. SO - what do you suggest as an alternative? All the warnings are great but please offer suggestions then.

Literally anything. PA, podiatry, engineering, anything. I wish I could go back to my first year of college and change my major. Hell, Id take my 4th year of college. I understand you feel as if you're "locked" into a field as you've spent some time taking classes related to the field. Many pre-pharmers feel as theyll have wasted time if they switch. But would you rather have wasted a year in your early 20's switching your major or your entire 30's and 40's praying your debt is forgive because you'll never pay off your loans. I'm not kidding when I say the job market is a bloodbath, I just graduated in May. It won't be getting better. Getting out of retail is getting hyper competitive because nobody wants to be there.

Compare and contrast my friend and I: I'm nearing my 30's and have 100k plus in student loans collecting interest. I paid off all of my undergrad tuition at the time by working 2 jobs. Im scrapping for hours in a state with only 2 pharmacy schools and making much less than this the people year before me. I won't be paying off my loans, getting a house, getting married, or really anything because of my choices until mid 30's to 40's.
My friend also worked two jobs in undergrad and paid off his tuition as well. He started as a low level engineer for an aerospace company making around 40k a year. His company paid for his master's. He now has a small house, nothing fancy, but a house. He's had an extra 5 years of his career, one that gives raises and bonuses, to save up for a house. He's getting married soon. He makes around 85k a year after his promotions and raises. I'd trade places with him in a heartbeat.

Im not telling you this to scare you, I'm telling you this to be honest about this field. Not only are you going to have more debt than me if you continue, I can guarantee you're going to make less as well. Those are the market trends right now.

 

[PharmtoCS]

$85k/year with no debt >>>>> $120k/year (soon to be $60-80k/year anyway) with $200k+ loans and 4 years of lost earnings opportunity cost

 

[AM77]

Literally anything. PA, podiatry, engineering, anything. I wish I could go back to my first year of college and change my major. Hell, Id take my 4th year of college. I understand you feel as if you're "locked" into a field as you've spent some time taking classes related to the field. Many pre-pharmers feel as theyll have wasted time if they switch. But would you rather have wasted a year in your early 20's switching your major or your entire 30's and 40's praying your debt is forgive because you'll never pay off your loans. I'm not kidding when I say the job market is a bloodbath, I just graduated in May. It won't be getting better. Getting out of retail is getting hyper competitive because nobody wants to be there.

Compare and contrast my friend and I: I'm nearing my 30's and have 100k plus in student loans collecting interest. I paid off all of my undergrad tuition at the time by working 2 jobs. Im scrapping for hours in a state with only 2 pharmacy schools and making much less than this the people year before me. I won't be paying off my loans, getting a house, getting married, or really anything because of my choices until mid 30's to 40's.
My friend also worked two jobs in undergrad and paid off his tuition as well. He started as a low level engineer for an aerospace company making around 40k a year. His company paid for his master's. He now has a small house, nothing fancy, but a house. He's had an extra 5 years of his career, one that gives raises and bonuses, to save up for a house. He's getting married soon. He makes around 85k a year after his promotions and raises. I'd trade places with him in a heartbeat.

Im not telling you this to scare you, I'm telling you this to be honest about this field. Not only are you going to have more debt than me if you continue, I can guarantee you're going to make less as well. Those are the market trends right now.

It seems like your engineering friend got a better deal in the end. Which type of engineering did he go into?

On the other hand, my biggest pet peeve is when pharmacy technicians assume that I’m filthy rich and that I drive a luxury car just because I’m a pharmacist. Nothing can be further than the truth and it’s the biggest misconception in pharmacy. I’m flat broke because of my loans. I’m way in the gutter. Our student loans suck up our paycheck dry. It’s going to take me years to pay it off.

If I were to do it all over again, I would have gone to PA school or not be too fearful of going into engineering.

 

[mentos]

It seems like your engineering friend got a better deal in the end. Which type of engineering did he go into?

On the way hand, my biggest pet peeve is when pharmacy technicians assume that I’m filthy rich and that I drive a luxury car just because I’m a pharmacist. Nothing can be further than the truth and it’s the biggest misconception in pharmacy. I’m flat broke because of my loans. I’m way in the gutter. Our student loans suck up our paycheck dry. It’s going to take me years to pay it off.

If I were to do it all over again, I would have gone to PA school or not be too fearful of going into engineering.

He already said aerospace engineering.