Second thoughts on pursuing Pharmacy

[atnguy13]

I’m currently studying for my PCAT (taking it in less than 2 weeks), I finished all the prerequisites, and currently about to get my bachelors in 2017. My head has been perusing pharmacy since I’ve started college. I’m starting to get cold feet due to finally applying soon and reading so much about the saturation on here. Also, for the past year, I’ve been really interested in pre-med (possibly because the people I surround myself with are pre-med) but I know I would not want to spend that much more time in school and my GPA is not at all competitive to apply, so my anatomy professor suggested PA. Not sure if this makes a difference but I have always heavily loved biology courses much more then chemistry although I do almost equally well I can even tell while studying for the PCAT I am dreading touching chemistry and I assume pharmacy school is much more chemistry based than biology. The human body fascinates me and learning more about it in a biology aspect is always interesting. I’m unsure of where to go next, pharmacy has been my goal for many years but I have heard nothing but bad things about pharmacy since I’ve touched this website, any positives about perusing pharmacy? I’m scared to make the wrong move.

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[owlegrad]

Moved to appropriate forum.

There is much less chemistry than you would expect in pharmacy school, the education is much more clinical focused than it is chemistry. I think PA or MD/DO are better choices if they appeal to you. Get a job in a pharmacy and you will quickly know if it is for you or not. Good Luck!

 

[RxAddyCt]

I would suggest getting a job at a pharmacy first prior to applying to pharmacy school. This should be a mandatory requirement for all pre-pharmacy students in my honest opinion. There's also little to no chemistry in pharmacy school, maybe the first year though when you're still taking some basic science classes such as medchem, biochem, etc. Beyond that, everything is clinical- yes you do need a foundation of chemistry and biology; however, you won't be memorizing chemical structures of medications. If you are, transfer to another pharmacy school.


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[PharmtoCS]

Agree with the posters above. You start out with a general review of chemistry and biology during your first year and start to apply more of it toward your medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and therapeutics courses as you progress. In practice, you use little or none of the chemistry or biology you learned in school. In fact, in retail where 60-70% of the jobs are, you barely even get to use any clinical knowledge, as it is almost completely customer service based.

If you're going to take out $200k+ in loans, then you might as well do so for a degree that's worth the investment, i.e. PA, medicine, or dentistry. If you don't feel like spending the extra time in school, there are other careers such as computer science, finance, engineering, accounting, etc. that are intellectually stimulating, pay well, have great job security, and do not require you to take out an astronomical amount of loans like as many health professions do.

 

[atnguy13]

I would suggest getting a job at a pharmacy first prior to applying to pharmacy school. This should be a mandatory requirement for all pre-pharmacy students in my honest opinion. There's also little to no chemistry in pharmacy school, maybe the first year though when you're still taking some basic science classes such as medchem, biochem, etc. Beyond that, everything is clinical- yes you do need a foundation of chemistry and biology; however, you won't be memorizing chemical structures of medications. If you are, transfer to another pharmacy school.


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Ive volunteered at a hospital pharmacy for a year, I hated working with the techs since they always seemed miserable and grumpy, however I loved working with the pharmacists as they seemed happy and friendly. Most of my volunteer work required working with the techs though so my opinions are biased. Can you give me more detail of what the class material is like in pharmacy school when you say clinically based?

 

[atnguy13]

If you're going to take out $200k+ in loans, then you might as well do so for a degree that's worth the investment, i.e. PA, medicine, or dentistry.

What made you consider pharmacy over other health professions besides the patient contact aspect if you don't mind me asking? Can you give me more detail of what the class material is like in pharmacy school also?

 

[RxAddyCt]

Ive volunteered at a hospital pharmacy for a year, I hated working with the techs since they always seemed miserable and grumpy, however I loved working with the pharmacists as they seemed happy and friendly. Most of my volunteer work required working with the techs though so my opinions are biased. Can you give me more detail of what the class material is like in pharmacy school when you say clinically based?

An example would be during your therapeutics classes in pharmacy school (P2 or P3 years), you will learn about HTN, HLD, DM, etc., you will go over those disease states to have a general understanding as well as learning some diagnostic tools and how we assess (labs, etc.) those individuals, then you will learn pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment options for those various disease states.


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