The Big Question: Pharmacy School or Career?

[enludwic]

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Hello all,

I am a current masters student who recently was accepted into UNC Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy (yay!!). I am happy about this since I know UNC has a great pharmacy school; however, I need some advice from people. I do not know if I should attend pharmacy school for various reasons: debt, time, putting off a family, ect. I have been thinking about just getting a job in industry or pharmaceutical sales, but the job market seems tough. I was hoping someone could give me some advice if they have experience making this decision.

Thanks!

 

[lord999]

Well, most of this Board has experience, but do you work in pharmacy at all? If not, this would be the time right now to find a job as a tech and find out. If you want industry or pharmaceutical sales, those are extremely competitive to get into (yes, people are going to say it's easy, but it's survivors bias) and represent a small percentage of the job.

 

[PharmtoCS]

I would just go straight for industry or pharmaceutical sales. The vast majority of pharmacists end up stuck at a retail pharmacy with $200k+ in student loans and a mediocre wage.

 

[steveysmith54]

Hello all,

I am a current masters student who recently was accepted into UNC Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy (yay!!). I am happy about this since I know UNC has a great pharmacy school; however, I need some advice from people. I do not know if I should attend pharmacy school for various reasons: debt, time, putting off a family, ect. I have been thinking about just getting a job in industry or pharmaceutical sales, but the job market seems tough. I was hoping someone could give me some advice if they have experience making this decision.

Thanks!

I usually say don't go into pharmacy unless you're comfortable doing retail (outpatient pharmacy). That's where most of the jobs are. Nothing in your post gives me an impression that you want to be a pharmacist, at least the traditional and most common roles.
A lot of the good industry jobs require a fellowship, which is an additional training after completion of pharm school. I'd say less than 3% of my class ended up working in the industry.
Most pharmacy schools curriculums do not prepare you for a job in the industry or pharm sales. You might want just look for entry level regulatory affairs jobs or even degrees in that. Maybe even consider MBA degree.
Have you tried using your masters degree to get the jobs that you want? Seems like that should adequate for a lot of these entry level jobs and you could move up organically.