too late?

Started by OX82
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OX82

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Hey guys!

I became intent on becoming a pharmacist back in 2001. My husband was a pharmacy student at the time (RPH Now) , and i started working as a certified tech for CVS for 7 yrs. I had 2 tragic deaths in my family during my undergrad yrs, which significantly impacted my GPA. I had attended MCPHS Boston at that time as a pharmaceutical marketing/management major. So basically, i graduated with that degree, then went on to become a nurse b/c i couldn't get into pharmacy. Over the past year, I have retaken all the pre-pharm prereqs with A's in all my courses. The classes I took 10 years ago still haunt me (alot of C's and D's). I am planning on applying for 2011 admission to MCPHS Worcester and Creighton University. I am 27 years old, have 90K in student loan debt already. Am i crazy to go back? Do you think I have a chance of being accepted? Is it worth taking on more debt? Any advice would be most helpful! Good luck to everyone! 😉
 
Hey guys!

I became intent on becoming a pharmacist back in 2001. My husband was a pharmacy student at the time (RPH Now) , and i started working as a certified tech for CVS for 7 yrs. I had 2 tragic deaths in my family during my undergrad yrs, which significantly impacted my GPA. I had attended MCPHS Boston at that time as a pharmaceutical marketing/management major. So basically, i graduated with that degree, then went on to become a nurse b/c i couldn't get into pharmacy. Over the past year, I have retaken all the pre-pharm prereqs with A's in all my courses. The classes I took 10 years ago still haunt me (alot of C's and D's). I am planning on applying for 2011 admission to MCPHS Worcester and Creighton University. I am 27 years old, have 90K in student loan debt already. Am i crazy to go back? Do you think I have a chance of being accepted? Is it worth taking on more debt? Any advice would be most helpful! Good luck to everyone! 😉

The debt sounds kind of scary but it definitely isn't too late to go back to school. I'm a lot older than you are and have some pretty ugly grades in my old coursework but like you, I repeated my pre-reqs and got all As. I'm in pharmacy school now. Some schools won't even count your old coursework so that will work in your favor. If you are serious about getting in, you may have to expand your schools a bit to find ones that are favorable to your situation. Are you not able to relocate?

As for the debt, that is a call you are going to have to think long and hard about. Pharmacists make a good salary but you are going to be in a lot of debt. Maybe you can look into that income based repayment program so you won't have to pay out more than 15% of your income to service your debts. I don't know exactly how it works but it might make your debt manageable without having to live on rice and beans for decades.
 
Does that 90k in school loans include your hubby's school loans as well. If not then you and your husband should sit down and figure out your finances and what you may have to borrow while in pharmacy school. Pharmacists make a lot of money but with such a large sum of debt you may not be living the lifestyle if want after school.
 
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yeah, he owes 110 K (graduated in 04, debt started at 130K). its crazy....we do own a home already, so it's a tough call. follow my dreams and be sallie mae's bitch forever, or be stuck in a job i hate forever.
 
yeah, he owes 110 K (graduated in 04, debt started at 130K). its crazy....we do own a home already, so it's a tough call. follow my dreams and be sallie mae's bitch forever, or be stuck in a job i hate forever.

Well, you only live once, and you don't want to be 65 and look back at your life with deep regrets of never pursuing that dream... Just my opinion. It's all a sacrifice. Even in the BEST of circumstances, professional schooling is a sacrifice - Lost wages, lost time, and so on. For everyone it's in differing severity, of course.

Just curious as to why you'd be Sallie Mae's bitch specifically? I mean, are you sure you cannot get subsidized/unsub loans from the gov't for your pharm. school and if not, why not?
 
all of the subsidized/unsubsidized loans i have ever gotten were always sold over to sallie mae.....maybe it's a MA thing? idk