Six year programs and pharm school in general

[kedhegard]

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Hi, I'm writing this for my younger brother who is starting his senior year of high school and doesn't have internet access at home. If you guys have time, he has asked me a lot of questions that I don't know enough to answer for him.

What are some things that he could do now to get started on the road to going to pharmacy school? (Besides the obvious "get a job")

What are your opinions of six-year programs, and what are some advantages/disadvantages that you can think of?

Are pharmacy schools much like other professional programs in that they select from within their school's undergraduate applicants fairly heavily? In-state as well?

This may be taboo to ask, but what can he look at as far as income in the first five years after graduation? Is there a particular path that most pharm graduates follow (internship, private business, etc.)?

Thanks for this and any other info you might have, he will be very glad to learn about these sorts of things.

 

[Modnar]

Hi, I'm writing this for my younger brother who is starting his senior year of high school and doesn't have internet access at home. If you guys have time, he has asked me a lot of questions that I don't know enough to answer for him.

What are some things that he could do now to get started on the road to going to pharmacy school? (Besides the obvious "get a job")

What are your opinions of six-year programs, and what are some advantages/disadvantages that you can think of?

Are pharmacy schools much like other professional programs in that they select from within their school's undergraduate applicants fairly heavily? In-state as well?

This may be taboo to ask, but what can he look at as far as income in the first five years after graduation? Is there a particular path that most pharm graduates follow (internship, private business, etc.)?

Thanks for this and any other info you might have, he will be very glad to learn about these sorts of things.

Hi kedhegard!

I can answer your brother's first 3 questions, but the last one I'm not sure about.

1. Shadowing a pharmacist or volunteering in a hospital pharmacy come to mind. (He may need to be over 18 for the hospital bit.)

2. I think 6 year programs are good for people who know what they want to do coming out of high school. The few pharmacy schools I've seen with six year programs don't offer any other majors, so if your brother attended one of these and later decided not to be a pharmacist, he'd have to switch schools. Just something to consider.

3. I don't know about preference for their own undergrads, but state pharmacy schools show preference to in-state students. Sometimes, they're *required* to take a fairly small percentage (10-20%) of out-of-state students in each entering class.

 

[npp71681]

Hi, I'm writing this for my younger brother who is starting his senior year of high school and doesn't have internet access at home. If you guys have time, he has asked me a lot of questions that I don't know enough to answer for him.

What are some things that he could do now to get started on the road to going to pharmacy school? (Besides the obvious "get a job")

What are your opinions of six-year programs, and what are some advantages/disadvantages that you can think of?

Are pharmacy schools much like other professional programs in that they select from within their school's undergraduate applicants fairly heavily? In-state as well?

This may be taboo to ask, but what can he look at as far as income in the first five years after graduation? Is there a particular path that most pharm graduates follow (internship, private business, etc.)?

Thanks for this and any other info you might have, he will be very glad to learn about these sorts of things.

Hi!

I graduated from High School last year. I had strongly dicided from my HS senior year that I want to be a Pharmacist. So, what I did was I worked as an Intern for 5 months at Eckerd pharmacy during my senior year. This Internship was offered to me by my High School. At my High School we had a Career Center and they offered juniors and seniors internships based on their interest in field, they also check your academic record and other things and then the career center counsler tell you that you are qualified or disqualified for the Internship. But, in my case I was qualified for that Pharmacy Internship (without paid). So, I was working 2 hours per week after school at pharmacy. I did that for 5 months and at the end of my internship I got certificate from High School. This was for retail.

At hospital, you do not have to be 18 in order to volunteer all hospitals takes people from age of 14 to start volunteer in any hospital department. So, if your Brother want to volunteer at hospital pharmacy, when he fill out an application for volunteer in that application they asked like in what dapartment you want to volunteer - Put pharmacy. Also, at hospital if he is 16-18 yrs of age, he can be a Pharmacy Tech Assistant (with paid). Visit any hospital in your city and go to pharmacy and ask pharmacy director for more information.

I am a pre-pharmacy student. I am working as a Pharmacy Tech at hospital and also volunteering at hospital.

I recommond that get as much as experience you can get in Pharmacy(by, volunteering, internship, or with paid), b/c pharmacy schools are looking for pharmacy experience(when he apply for admission).

That's all I can tell based on what I have done since High School senior year.

Hope this help!!!!!!!!!!

Thanx!!!

 

[kedhegard]

What is the requirement after you graduate? Do you go straight into practice, or do you have to work under another pharmacist for a while?

 

[ultracet]

Before you are allowed to take the boards you must have completed a certain number of hours under a pharmacist. The number of hours varies by each state as does the requirements for the pharmacist.
Most schools (probaby all i just don't know) during the last year (3rd or 4th) have rotations instead of classes. At my school, you do one a month and you work at all types of pharmacies, hosptial, nuclear, research, etc. From there you can kinda figure out what you want to do.

it has been my experience that yes schools do prefer their students over incoming. but i go to a private school and they don't care about instate.

as far as the 6 year programs....
i will complete my pharmD degree in 6 years but i'm not in a 6 year program.
so if you know what you want to do you can still do the 6 year thing without going to certain 6 year schools.
i have had some friends who did the 6 year program thing for a year and they absolutely hated the people in their class, knowing they would have to spend the next 6 years with only those people and not gaining many more caused them to drop out of the program.
(yes i know stupid reason, didn't really want to do it, etc...)

one thing they are pushing really hard right now at my school is a residency. After you graduate and are liscensed you work for 1-2 years under a pharmacist in a very specific field. There are some for communitiy pharmacy but they are mainly in a hospital or "clinical" setting.

Ok now to money, it really depends on where you want to work and what you want to do.
hospitals usually pay lower. i would expect to start in a hosptial in the 70's. Retail is a different ball game.
if you go to an area where no one else wants to be in the worst store ever (think hell) the pay can get as high as 110-125
but if you stay around a city, esp one with a pharmacy school there is a decrease, 80-90.

i live in the south and i know in other parts of the country the saleries are different.

if its what he wants to do, he will be able to survive doing it.

 

[group_theory]

Your brother might be interested in the University of Sciences in Philadelphia (USP), formerly the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.

http://www.usp.edu/

They have a 6-year PharmD program (direct entry from HS)

And if he decides that pharmacy isn't the right path, he can major in something else (pharmacology, biology, chemistry, psychology, etc - however, I don't think they have non-health science related majors like physics)

Your brother can try calling the school for more information (if he doesn't have access to their website)

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
600 South Forty-third Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4495
Phone: 215.596.8800


or you can fill out this "request information form" for him

http://www.usp.edu/moreinfo/



Disclaimer: I am not a student, alumnus, faculty, or have any other affliations to USP. I just know about USP because 1. they're next door to Penn and 2. several Physician Assistant Students here at PCOM went to USP (USP has a 5 year BS/MS linkage program for physician assistants with PCOM)

 

[jdpharmd?]

Hi, I'm writing this for my younger brother who is starting his senior year of high school and doesn't have internet access at home.

I'm still wondering what it would be like to NOT have internet access at home! 😱 I've been plugged in every day since 1996. Is there a local public library/internet cafe/community college that he could go to? It's hard to research schools without being able to visit their websites first-hand.