Some Advice Please

[rabreu]

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Im a pre-pharmacy major and have a 3.65 gpa taking my pcat in october 17 and have limited to no pharmacy experience... recently i went to shadow a retail pharmacist and found his job kind of boring. I was originally a business major but i loved chemistry so much that i decided to go pharm but i dont see myself going through my whole life just verifying if the pharm techs did their job right. maybe my impression is wrong or maybe i went to the wrong pharmacy. Can anyone help me make a decision. Thanks

 

[Passion4Sci]

Im a pre-pharmacy major and have a 3.65 gpa taking my pcat in october 17 and have limited to no pharmacy experience... recently i went to shadow a retail pharmacist and found his job kind of boring. I was originally a business major but i loved chemistry so much that i decided to go pharm but i dont see myself going through my whole life just verifying if the pharm techs did their job right. maybe my impression is wrong or maybe i went to the wrong pharmacy. Can anyone help me make a decision. Thanks

Retail sucks.

You need to spend some time in a clinical setting in a hospital, you'll probably enjoy that quite a bit more.

 

[LightRx3]

Im a pre-pharmacy major and have a 3.65 gpa taking my pcat in october 17 and have limited to no pharmacy experience... recently i went to shadow a retail pharmacist and found his job kind of boring. I was originally a business major but i loved chemistry so much that i decided to go pharm but i dont see myself going through my whole life just verifying if the pharm techs did their job right. maybe my impression is wrong or maybe i went to the wrong pharmacy. Can anyone help me make a decision. Thanks

I had a very similar situation as you. I questioned myself many times as to why I want to pursue pharmacy because I do not imagine myself doing retail for a career. I was fortunate enough to find an internship at a nuclear pharmacy setting, which involves more laboratory (a combination of chemistry and physics) work. The recent exposure immediately convinced me to continue my path as a pharmacist, but in a specialty field rather than retail.

Essentially, maybe you just need to find a field of pharmacy that you like; particularly one that deals with more of the science aspect of pharmacy, rather than retail.

Good luck.

 

[rxforlife2004]

want a 200K student loan debt with no job offered after graduating? If yes, try pharmacy.

 

[Passion4Sci]

want a 200K student loan debt with no job offered after graduating? If yes, try pharmacy.

Rabble rabble rabble.

Only failures like you won't have/wouldn't have employment.

 

[rxforlife2004]

Rabble rabble rabble.

Only failures like you won't have/wouldn't have employment.

really? don't know about that ..I've been working for a while now...and what status are u now? "Pharmacy student"? I see...

Even when there is a job opening...between someone who has extensive clinical/inpatient training vs. a brand new grad soon to be like you...who's gonna get the job, kid? Lol...u get the image

 

[rxforlife2004]

Rabble rabble rabble.

Only failures like you won't have/wouldn't have employment.

really? don't know about that ..I've been working for a while now...and what status are u now? "Pharmacy student"? I see...

Even when there is a job opening...between someone who has extensive clinical/inpatient training vs. a brand new grad soon to be like you...who's gonna get the job, kid? Lol...u get the image. So STFU!👎

 

[adma826]

Im a pre-pharmacy major and have a 3.65 gpa taking my pcat in october 17 and have limited to no pharmacy experience... recently i went to shadow a retail pharmacist and found his job kind of boring. I was originally a business major but i loved chemistry so much that i decided to go pharm but i dont see myself going through my whole life just verifying if the pharm techs did their job right. maybe my impression is wrong or maybe i went to the wrong pharmacy. Can anyone help me make a decision. Thanks

Retail sucks.

You need to spend some time in a clinical setting in a hospital, you'll probably enjoy that quite a bit more.

I am applying this cycle and I will start volunteering in a military outpatient pharmacy - kind of like retail but without the for-profit, 100 different insurance companies, etc.. BS - While I have a feeling that I won't mind and might enjoy helping the little old ladies etc...at the counter, and all of that, I think my interest for a career path is outside of retail. I want to get an MPH in addition to the PharmD and would be happy to make less pay than a retail pharmacist in return for a more clinical/research/non-retail setting.

I know that exists but I wonder how many Pharm students feel the same way but have to go to retail because there are more jobs in retail. Or is retail that popular because it pays well? With the gloom and doom about competition for jobs it seems that getting any job is the goal, kind of like new grad RNs are finding - where they used to be able to orient right into a nursing specialty area of their choice, they are now having to take any job at all remotely related to their training and license.

Any insight?

 

[Passion4Sci]

I know that exists but I wonder how many Pharm students feel the same way but have to go to retail because there are more jobs in retail. Or is retail that popular because it pays well? With the gloom and doom about competition for jobs it seems that getting any job is the goal, kind of like new grad RNs are finding - where they used to be able to orient right into a nursing specialty area of their choice, they are now having to take any job at all remotely related to their training and license.

Any insight?

There isn't any single answer. It's a combination of several factors, including a greater volume of jobs to start with, to hospitals requiring residencies, etc. The pay is typically lower at hospitals as well, (not by much, though).

At the end of the day, the idea is just to get a job. If you absolutely, totally, cannot whatsoever stomach the idea of being a retail RPh, you might need to think about doing something else, since it's a real possibility that you might end up in retail.

 

[adma826]

I am hoping my volunteer time at the MTF outpt pharmacy will help me figure that out once and for all. If I absolutely hate it, then I am aiming for the lab (CLS) and a much lower salary but well that is life. Better to know before investing $120K in tuition and making my family miserable for three years.

 

[Passion4Sci]

I am hoping my volunteer time at the MTF outpt pharmacy will help me figure that out once and for all. If I absolutely hate it, then I am aiming for the lab (CLS) and a much lower salary but well that is life. Better to know before investing $120K in tuition and making my family miserable for three years.

A little lower salary is a great trade-off for happiness though, definitely.

I'd rather make 65k a year and be happy every day at work than 100 and be miserable every day.

 

[adma826]

A little lower salary is a great trade-off for happiness though, definitely.

I'd rather make 65k a year and be happy every day at work than 100 and be miserable every day.

So true.

You are former military so you may understand when I say my husband is a PJ (pararescue) and my becoming a Pharmacist will allow him to retire in style and switch work roles with me but my getting through Pharm school with 4 young kids and him still being a PJ will be pure hell for all of us. I have to be 100% committed to the goal or it all could go south fast. Its hard enough just as it is right now. I am sure you have some idea of the lifestyle.

I also expect him to understand if I have to step back from the path of Pharmacy because of his job, because I stopped pestering him about trying to become an officer or PA a long time ago when I finally understood the whole "better to be happy at your job and make an OK living than miserable and bringing in a lot".