Stick with Pharmacy school debt free or drop out and be homeless

[Marzapan]

It is one thing to warn others about the saturation but it is another to say crazy things just to scare people off. Don’t act like you are some veteran pharmacist who is trying to save the world out of your kind heart. Your ears are still green and apparently you have a lot of debt.

Ah, the gaslighting is real. So you're a foreign grad pharmacy school dean now, huh?

There's a major difference between saying something that others (like you) don't want to hear and saying something to scare people off. Like I said, I have no incentive to say things to scare people off because I'm not looking for a job so I have no personal incentive for posting what I post. What did I say that would scare people off? That retail pharmacy is going to be another Blockbuster's? It's true and not a hyperbole. So stay in denial all you like since facts are facts. How about you tell me what your credentials are to challenge me on this?

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[Deja]

Irrespectively, Ivy CS or MIT CS is better and still cheaper than sticking with pharmacy school.

If his parents are willing to pay for it, it comes to 128,000k in tuition if he is in a private pharmacy school or public 80,000k. Not 300k, that is for someone taking out loans.

say hello to school like USC lol

 

[Deja]

A pharmD is not prestigious in 2020. It's the parents that don't understand the situation. They are living in the past, it's not 1999 anymore.

yeah and your point? the whole point of the post is his parents not understanding the situation and think pharmacy is prestigious so a random cheap CS degree probably wouldn't work

 

[lord999]

Op, I was in your circumstance and was forced to go to pharmacy school against my preference for another major. As stated in the earliest posts when I joined this forum, I was looking for something else to do afterwards. Being successful in pharmacy school and actually wanting it are two separate matters, I had no problems with it even though I hated it (mainly I hated the clinical professors who clearly did not know what they were doing). I understand your angst, and given the social matters, I'm going to give you non-American advice.

What my sister did was take the money, go to school, take the degree, and handed it to her (my) parents at graduation congratulating them that they earned it, physically hand them the degree, and walk out. My sister literally did that at commencement and has not spoken with them since (though she did get her license and practiced her way through graduate school but never again afterwards). You don't have to be that dramatic, you get the degree, you get licensed, and you go elsewhere. Don't leave a forwarding address and get a restraining order if necessary if they continue to interfere with your life.

If you owe nothing for the experience, just take the degree and get licensed for the hell of it, take it from me, this time ends. But otherwise, start looking at your mathematics because you really are going to need that for CS if you are going to take it seriously.

 

[deleted820760]

As the title states is my current situation.

Current P1, my circumstances are typical Asian parents want a "doctorate" degree. They are footing the bill for tuition so I would graduate completely debt free. Even though I don't completely hate pharmacy, been working as a tech at a big three letter company for over a year now and like most of the patient interaction; however, I am not passionate about the retail setting at all. With the market saturation of graduating pharm students, most of the jobs are going to be in retail. I've brought up the idea to my parents about going back to do a post-bacc to get a CS degree (Took a few CS classes during undergrad and really enjoyed them), but they won't entertain it and have clearly stated they will kick me out of the house and cut me off financially. So either stick with pharmacy debt free or be homeless and pursue something I'm passionate about.

Has anyone been in this situation before? What did you do? If you were in my shoes which option would you pick?

You should be able to get student loans for tuition and living expenses if you want to major in something else. You don’t have to be homeless or dependent on your parents.

I moved out when I was 18, and didn’t get help with anything. Just worked and used loans.

 

[deleted562805]

say hello to school like USC lol

Yeah, I agree with you with respect to USC. USC is 300k. That’s insane

 

[mentos]

yeah and your point? the whole point of the post is his parents not understanding the situation and think pharmacy is prestigious so a random cheap CS degree probably wouldn't work

Then don't depend on the parents. Do you agree with arranged marriages too? Cause this is basically an arranged useless college degree. I moved out at 18 and my parents never gave me a dime ever since. OP's parents only care about themselves so they can brag to their friends. Is this OP's life or his parent's life?

Even if he graduates from pharmacy school debt free, that still puts him 4-6 years behind the career ladder. He will have a useless degree for a dead end career with no job prospects. Then he will start his CS career at age 22-24 and compete against 18 year olds. These early years are critical. Who would you hire as a junior engineer, the 22 year old CS graduate or the 28 year old CS graduate with no employment history?

OP sounds like a typical snowflake who can't make any decisions for himself. It's time to be a man and make his own path in life.

 

[TerryTerry]

I think you will be fine doing pharmacy.
Your parents are very rich.

At the same time, I must tell other students with non-rich parents to avoid pharmacy at any cost.

 

[Sabril]

His malpractice must be through the roof. How he even keeps his license is beyond me.

What harm can he do? He's just a doc doing mushrooms.

I think you will be fine doing pharmacy.
Your parents are very rich.

At the same time, I must tell other students with non-rich parents to avoid pharmacy at any cost.

I don't know if I miss the part where the OP said his parents were rich. Otherwise, I guess they are just blue collars who work and save like crazy. Many foreign-born Asians are stuck in their old way of thinking and are bringing their kids up as such. It's an extreme that most Westerners won't understand.

 

[PharFromNormal]

A lot of people want to talk about the depreciation of the value of the pharmd degree but it will never be completely worthless.

Is there an arbitrage play here? Your parents seem to value the degree more than its market worth and even value their perceived improvement in social status more than your actual interest in the degree.

Can you pursue the degree on their dime and increase any weekly allowance/spending money that they might also provide in addition to covering room and board? Throw this extra money into an investment or savings that you could use for a different degree/education if you can’t back your way into an enjoyable career obtainable with a pharmD?

I get you might feel bad doing this and milking extra cash off them but to be fair they aren’t entirely fully aligned to what you want either...

 

[mentos]

A lot of people want to talk about the depreciation of the value of the pharmd degree but it will never be completely worthless.

If this beautiful woman can't get a pharmacist job in 2020 then OP won't be able to get one in 2024 or 2026 or whenever he graduates. I'm willing to bet everything I've got that OP is not as attractive as her.

Pharmacy 2020 graduate salary ?

How much are 2020 grads making in retail pharmacy ?

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[PharFromNormal]

If this beautiful woman can't get a pharmacist job in 2020 then OP won't be able to get one in 2024 or 2026 or whenever he graduates. I'm willing to bet everything I've got that OP is not as attractive as her.

Pharmacy 2020 graduate salary ?

How much are 2020 grads making in retail pharmacy ?

forums.studentdoctor.net

The ability or inability of any individual or group of individuals to secure a job that those individuals are pursuing and willing to take does not define the lifetime value of the degree. Is it an indicator of the current average rate of return relative to what it may have been? Sure.

Do I believe that out of all future graduates of pharmacy school not a single one will find a job at some point in their life as a pharmacist or even a job that may not require a licensed pharmacist but strongly valued/preferred someone with that degree? Absolutely not.

Additionally, like I suggested if OP can squeeze more out of their parents, they could use this money to go back to school to pursue what they are actually interested in. depending on what that is they may (or admittedly may not) have even additional/greater opportunity when combined with their pharmd. For instance if they went back to undergrad business school and wanted to be a management consultant or something, they might be more attractive or come in at a higher level with a McKinsey, Deloitte, bain, bcg, etc. because of the additional, specialized credential. For software developer they might (but again not guaranteed) be more attractive to firms with healthcare applications.

Im as much as a “pharmacist job market is bad and getting worse” as the next guy but again if OP can fund the cost of pursuing what they really want to do while gaining something additional at no cost with value that will yield an unknown future return, it might be a very legitimate path to consider.

We don’t know OPs time horizon for when they want to be working in their desired job and what they are willing to sacrifice for that... family relationships, time, debt, workload for a degree they may not entirely desire, etc.

If I had to go back and do it again and I had an opportunity to not only get a free degree but also get paid to get that degree so I could then do what I wanted...Im pretty sure I’d be on my way to buy the books before they processed I said yes.

 

[PharFromNormal]

If this beautiful woman can't get a pharmacist job in 2020 then OP won't be able to get one in 2024 or 2026 or whenever he graduates. I'm willing to bet everything I've got that OP is not as attractive as her.

Pharmacy 2020 graduate salary ?

How much are 2020 grads making in retail pharmacy ?

forums.studentdoctor.net

additionally, having a pharmd with limited to 0 liabilities (student loans) on your balance sheet, should in theory remove any filters on job prospects that those with loans may rule out because the salary wouldn’t cover their loan payments. I’m not saying this is a good thing for overall pharmacist wages but if someone is loan free, mortgage free, and sitting on piles of cash. They might have an attraction to a job that is high enough where they’d do something for less money because the salary of that specific job means less to them than someone else.

 

[HopelessStudentD]

Thanks everyone for all your inputs. Just a little update on my situation. Through many back and forth squabbling and using some of your guys comments and other resources. I was able to make a compromise with my parents. Instead of continuing pharmacy, they will settle me pursuing CLS, since it's still in healthcare, and a relative is able to get me into one of the nearby programs. (I don't mind it since, I always enjoyed microbio, pay is great in California, and there are actually jobs here). They still won't entertain CS degree, cause they always cite my other relatives who are software devs but have pretty much burned out of the tech field. So I'll probably just have to learn CS on my free time using all the free sources online. Not the most ideal outcome but at least, it's better than continuing Pharmacy school. Peace out y'all.

 

[deleted562805]

Thanks everyone for all your inputs. Just a little update on my situation. Through many back and forth squabbling and using some of your guys comments and other resources. I was able to make a compromise with my parents. Instead of continuing pharmacy, they will settle me pursuing CLS, since it's still in healthcare, and a relative is able to get me into one of the nearby programs. (I don't mind it since, I always enjoyed microbio, pay is great in California, and there are actually jobs here). They still won't entertain CS degree, cause they always cite my other relatives who are software devs but have pretty much burned out of the tech field. So I'll probably just have to learn CS on my free time using all the free sources online. Not the most ideal outcome but at least, it's better than continuing Pharmacy school. Peace out y'all.

Congratulations, OP! Clinical Laboratory Science is really good career. You are correct there are jobs out there and some jobs with sign on bonus. Physicians and Midlevels order labs all day in the hospital, so you will be in demand. Great selection. Plus, if you want to pursue medicine, or PA school later down the road, having CLS experience looks really good on applications.

Yeah, I agree with you. I would do CS on my own time because you made a good selection. CLS is hands down better than Pharmacy.

 

[Nguyen2021]

As the title states is my current situation.

Current P1, my circumstances are typical Asian parents want a "doctorate" degree. They are footing the bill for tuition so I would graduate completely debt free. Even though I don't completely hate pharmacy, been working as a tech at a big three letter company for over a year now and like most of the patient interaction; however, I am not passionate about the retail setting at all. With the market saturation of graduating pharm students, most of the jobs are going to be in retail. I've brought up the idea to my parents about going back to do a post-bacc to get a CS degree (Took a few CS classes during undergrad and really enjoyed them), but they won't entertain it and have clearly stated they will kick me out of the house and cut me off financially. So either stick with pharmacy debt free or be homeless and pursue something I'm passionate about.

Has anyone been in this situation before? What did you do? If you were in my shoes which option would you pick?

During my P2 rotation my preceptor who happen to be Asian said I was in the wrong field. So you could take your parents to local pharmacy ( look for Asian pharmacist) they will be happy to talk to your parents and explain about it. There are also lots of YouTube by Asian pharmacist who quit being Pharmacist and went back to school for other major. The pharmacy field have NO GROWTH according to Labor Bureau Statistic, so carry the DOCTOR title only waste 200k, no job. I know Asian parent just get very stubborn on the Medical field, so any medical profession would probably satisfying them. Show your parent the LBS project of jobs in health profession that have growth to it, may be it will convinced them.