Should I pursue Pharmacy?

[Mux-Taiter]

I graduated high school last semester and I should be starting college in the Spring. Currently, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. During the months I had off, I did some research and found that the best career to pursue, according to what I've read, is pharmacy. So I applied to many different colleges to start my pre-pharmacy years (and got accepted to all of them). After researching the subject even more, I found that a lot of pharmacists absolutely hate their job and say it's not worth it.
SO now I need some advice from pharmacy students or pharmacists... Is Pharmacy worth it? Is it worth all the money I'll pay for pharmacy school? Is the job market really as big as pharmacy schools claim and is its future really as big as some claim?

Please note that I'm only interested in going into pharmacy for the amount of money pharmacists make. If it weren't for that, I'd be pursuing a career in computer engineering. Honestly, I'm far more interested in computer engineering than pharmacy. But computer engineering doesn't seem to have the best market, based on my research. Its job market seems to be growing tighter by the day and its salary doesn't really look too promising either. That's the only reason I chose pharmacy over engineering. But subjects-wise engineering would be my first choice. But what good is pursuing what I like if I won't be making much from it and living day to day?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.




EDIT: Also it's worth noting that I'm a bit of a lazy person and Pharmacy seemed to be on the easier side of careers so that's another reason why I considered it. I can't work long hours. I get bored far too easily and when I get bored, I get cranky and I won't get anything done. Though being lazy has no effect on my studies. I've been a straight-A student throughout my 12 years of education and graduated highschool with a 3.7 GPA.

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[PharmtoCS]

Welcome to SDN.

Software engineers are in very high demand here in Northern California, and you don't have to take out nearly as much in loans. I remember that the unemployment for software engineers is currently 2.4%, which is down from a few years ago due to the social media boom. Pharmacists were in high demand in the late 1990s and early 2000s but the market since then has been hit by a wave of new graduates from pharmacy schools that opened up in recent years, and now hospitals have been cutting staff due to a project budget shortfall with the implementation of Obamacare.

Try to shadow a pharmacist and computer engineer and find out what you like doing best. Pharmacists aren't immune to long hours and is not necessarily easier than computer engineering - after all, you do have to go through another 2-4 more years of school for that PharmD.

 

[zelman]

No. Pharmacy would be a bad idea.

 

[StellargalS]

In other words your are extrinsically motivated to become a pharmacist. Awesome "admission." Income is a perfectly valid and extremely common motivator for selecting ones career. I know I felted jipped as a kid never having any money. Money = Freedom.

Pharmacy is not immune from the simple dynamics of supply and demand. That is what drives the salary. The rate offered most recently for a position I was interviewing was the rate I was paid in 2006. AND I didn't get picked.

If you like computers than pick a field that promises bank and prospects for diversification.

Check back in a year if you are still in a quandary. From where I am sitting "the fog" has been consistently lifting for years. Till then gets A+++ in chem 1 and 2 and bio 1 and 2. Keep all your grades up and do plenty of extracurricular leadership stuff. Oh and be nice to homeless people, as Keith Richards used to say in a PSA back in the day "the fall is not as far as you think."

 

[fauxden]

uh don't go into pharmacy

 

[rph3664]

Like I have said many times, both IRL and online, GET A JOB IN A PHARMACY. You'll find out very quickly whether or not you really want to do this. Don't job shadow for 2 hours and think you know what you're talking about, either.

One of my former co-workers, who has since retired, graduated from high school in 1960, and wavered between pharmacy and computer science. He chose the former because the latter was so new, employment prospects were uncertain, and he had no regrets but one of his friends who went the computer route wrote a program in the late 1960s that was still in occasional use as of about 10 years ago, and he still got royalties from it. It wasn't anything that made him rich, but it was nice to have.

 

[pinipig523]

If your sole purpose is making money - you're looking at the wrong fields.

 

[CosmopolitanRx]

Recent (2013) graduate here:

Don't go to pharmacy school. By the time you graduate (post 2016), the competition for a job (in all pharmacy sectors) is going to be extremely tight (think Hunger Games: The Pharmacy Version). I suggest you read "The Pharmacy Supersaturation" thread for more information.........

The only way I would advise anyone going to pharmacy school at this point is if you have some serious high level connections: parents own a pharmacy company, the director of pharmacy is your neighbor that you BBQ with on weekends, your dad is the CEO of one of the retail chains, etc. Yeah, your connections need to be like that.......

You have been warned.

P.S.
As for the whole salary being a motivating factor, that's why pharmacy started to become a hot profession to enter into: done in 4-6 years and command a six-figure salary AND have a doctoral degree! It was like the next best thing w/o going to medical school and residency. But all good things come to an end. Because pharmacy never experienced such a demand before, there were no checks and balances put into place (unlike medical and dental schools) to keep the supply & demand ratio balanced. Hence the job crisis going on in the world of pharmacy.

 

[Amicable Angora]

I graduated high school last semester and I should be starting college in the Spring. Currently, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. During the months I had off, I did some research and found that the best career to pursue, according to what I've read, is pharmacy. So I applied to many different colleges to start my pre-pharmacy years (and got accepted to all of them). After researching the subject even more, I found that a lot of pharmacists absolutely hate their job and say it's not worth it.
SO now I need some advice from pharmacy students or pharmacists... Is Pharmacy worth it? Is it worth all the money I'll pay for pharmacy school? Is the job market really as big as pharmacy schools claim and is its future really as big as some claim?

Please note that I'm only interested in going into pharmacy for the amount of money pharmacists make. If it weren't for that, I'd be pursuing a career in computer engineering. Honestly, I'm far more interested in computer engineering than pharmacy. But computer engineering doesn't seem to have the best market, based on my research. Its job market seems to be growing tighter by the day and its salary doesn't really look too promising either. That's the only reason I chose pharmacy over engineering. But subjects-wise engineering would be my first choice. But what good is pursuing what I like if I won't be making much from it and living day to day?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.




EDIT: Also it's worth noting that I'm a bit of a lazy person and Pharmacy seemed to be on the easier side of careers so that's another reason why I considered it. I can't work long hours. I get bored far too easily and when I get bored, I get cranky and I won't get anything done. Though being lazy has no effect on my studies. I've been a straight-A student throughout my 12 years of education and graduated highschool with a 3.7 GPA.

Long hours are familiar for those working on pharmacy. Furthermore, the pay is good, but not THAT good. You wanted pharmacy opinions and apparently you've already gotten them. Or are you just hoping to get a response that clicks with what you want (to go into pharmacy). Be ready to do a lot of customer service and lip service and get yelled at. If I were you, I wouldn't go into pharmacy.

 

[68quebec]

I graduated high school last semester and I should be starting college in the Spring. Currently, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. During the months I had off, I did some research and found that the best career to pursue, according to what I've read, is pharmacy. So I applied to many different colleges to start my pre-pharmacy years (and got accepted to all of them). After researching the subject even more, I found that a lot of pharmacists absolutely hate their job and say it's not worth it.
SO now I need some advice from pharmacy students or pharmacists... Is Pharmacy worth it? Is it worth all the money I'll pay for pharmacy school? Is the job market really as big as pharmacy schools claim and is its future really as big as some claim?

Please note that I'm only interested in going into pharmacy for the amount of money pharmacists make. If it weren't for that, I'd be pursuing a career in computer engineering. Honestly, I'm far more interested in computer engineering than pharmacy. But computer engineering doesn't seem to have the best market, based on my research. Its job market seems to be growing tighter by the day and its salary doesn't really look too promising either. That's the only reason I chose pharmacy over engineering. But subjects-wise engineering would be my first choice. But what good is pursuing what I like if I won't be making much from it and living day to day?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.




EDIT: Also it's worth noting that I'm a bit of a lazy person and Pharmacy seemed to be on the easier side of careers so that's another reason why I considered it. I can't work long hours. I get bored far too easily and when I get bored, I get cranky and I won't get anything done. Though being lazy has no effect on my studies. I've been a straight-A student throughout my 12 years of education and graduated highschool with a 3.7 GPA.

How about move your lazy ass and work/volunteer at pharmacy and see how you think the field of pharmacy is?
if you are looking for money and easy job, go find a girl who has rich parents or inherited big buck.

 

[BeLikeBueller]

How about move your lazy ass and work/volunteer at pharmacy and see how you think the field of pharmacy is?
if you are looking for money and easy job, go find a girl who has rich parents or inherited big buck.

I appreciate the Army-ness of that first part. Two star-spangled-banner-waving thumbs up!

Just as a side note though - I don't think the OP is a serious poster. They said the got straight A's and a 3.7 GPA - clearly something doesn't add up.

 

[68quebec]

I appreciate the Army-ness of that first part. Two star-spangled-banner-waving thumbs up!

Just as a side note though - I don't think the OP is a serious poster. They said the got straight A's and a 3.7 GPA - clearly something doesn't add up.

Actually i just figured that part too.. =/

 

[D1CE K]

3.7 is actually pretty bad for high school.