Top 10 reasons to go to Pharmacy School.

[ultracet]

I need a bit of help. I'm trying to come up with the top 10 reasons people apply to pharmacy schools.
Here are some that i've heard:

Want to go into the medical field and couldn't get into med (or other) school
Like Chemistry
Money
Flexible scheduling as a rph
A family member is in pharmacy
Had a rph as a mentor and was encouraged
Good money part time (want to raise a family)
Care about people
Want to help people
Media Exposure

PLEASE add and take away any that you feel match what you think. I want candid responses too... not crappy admission interview answers.

I'm trying to make up a survery and i want it to be valid.

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[jky007]

I need a bit of help. I'm trying to come up with the top 10 reasons people apply to pharmacy schools.
Here are some that i've heard:

Want to go into the medical field and couldn't get into med (or other) school
Like Chemistry
Money
Flexible scheduling as a rph
A family member is in pharmacy
Had a rph as a mentor and was encouraged
Good money part time (want to raise a family)
Care about people
Want to help people
Media Exposure

PLEASE add and take away any that you feel match what you think. I want candid responses too... not crappy admission interview answers.

I'm trying to make up a survery and i want it to be valid.

i don't like how you put that it's a field to go into because you didn't get into med school. it just perpetuates the idea that pharmacy ppl are med-school rejects which isn't necessarily true. they're very different fields, and a lot of us could do med school if we wanted to.

 

[gablet]

i don't like how you put that it's a field to go into because you didn't get into med school. it just perpetuates the idea that pharmacy ppl are med-school rejects which isn't necessarily true. they're very different fields, and a lot of us could do med school if we wanted to.

I agree. I have no interest in being a physician.

Unless there are a majority of prepharmacy students who would rather be physicians, I'd say delete that one. You are, after all, trying to get the top 10, not the top 100.

 

[DownonthePharm]

Or you could just change it to, "wanted to go into medicine but didnt want to be doctor".

 

[Brock1385]

I need a bit of help. I'm trying to come up with the top 10 reasons people apply to pharmacy schools.
Here are some that i've heard:

Want to go into the medical field and couldn't get into med (or other) school
Like Chemistry
Money
Flexible scheduling as a rph
A family member is in pharmacy
Had a rph as a mentor and was encouraged
Good money part time (want to raise a family)
Care about people
Want to help people
Media Exposure

PLEASE add and take away any that you feel match what you think. I want candid responses too... not crappy admission interview answers.

I'm trying to make up a survery and i want it to be valid.

Its just as easy if not easier to get into medical school than it is to get into pharmacy school here, so I don't think the "couldnt get into medical school" fits the description.

One reason would be the fact that you can go to a store and fill rx's all day and get payed damn good money to do it. I look forward to being able to enjoy life. I will make good money and be able to do what I want If I am able to become a pharmacist.

I don't want to be in my mid 30s before I can start a family. Thats also a reason for wanting to be a pharmacist rather than a doctor. How many jobs can you get that will allow you to get out in six years and be making that kind of money?

 

[pharmmom]

What do you mean by media exposure?
Here are my top 5 reasons for going to pharm school
1) love science but don't want to do research
2) want to work well into old age, I can do that in a pharmacy
3) at some point I want try my hand at teaching, I can do that with a Pharm D
4) money (I would be lying if I said this wasn't a factor)
5) Lots o' jobs available

 

[Requiem]

Want to go into the medical field and couldn't get into med (or other) school

Absolutely terrible and incorrect reason. wow.

Like Chemistry

Sure.

Money

Sure.
Flexible scheduling as a rph

Most jobs from clinical to teaching to retail have 'shifts'.

A family member is in pharmacy
What you do should be individual. After all, you are an individual. Hopefully if a family member was a murderer you wouldn't follow suit either

Had a rph as a mentor and was encouraged

Sure
Good money part time (want to raise a family)

I'm pretty sure you already stated MONEY. and SCHEDULING. So maybe you could put it in a few more times.


Care about people

Yes
Want to help people

Caring/helping usually go together.

Media Exposure

Terrible reason to go into pharmacy. McDonalds gets media exposure too, sign me up.



Anyway it's late at night and i'm tired, but please think through what you post as "top 10 reasons to go into pharmacy".

It can be summed up into a general benevolency for people, natural aptitude for science and its real world application, heightened job security / pay which satisfies maslow's needs.

 

[RLK]

I want to wear a white coat, but not a straight jacket. That's when I decided to go into pharmacy.

 

[gablet]

I love...
to learn about the mechanisms of the body and how medicine affects them, to educate others on their health, to have a flexible schedule, a good paycheck, and having many job opportunities

 

[ultracet]

please chill out about what i listed

i didn't say they were the only reasons and i didn't say they were my reasons

the majority of them were given to me from admission department officials and others in a school of pharmacy

i'm trying to make it a valid survey and wanted input from you all here since this is a much broader audience.

thank you for those of you who have posted helpful comments

and for the rest of the comments i do not believe it is necessary to start a med vs pharm debate

i definitely like the idea of wanted medicine but didn't want MD

i may also add... shorter time committment in school
job availability



oh and as far as perpetuating the idea that pharm students are rejected med students.... this will only be given to pharm students in pharm school not someone considering it.

 

[no-see-um]

I need a bit of help. I'm trying to come up with the top 10 reasons people apply to pharmacy schools.
Here are some that i've heard:

Want to go into the medical field and couldn't get into med (or other) school

How about after having made medical schools, realizing that you're not interested in the responsibility of the direct patient care as much, and are, rather interested in the lifestyle of the pharmacy profession? I don't want my career to be my life. Sure, I would be a pharmacist, but I don't have to be a pharmacist 24/7 or need to identify as one after I finish a shift at the pharmacy. Thankfully, I won't have to be my career. Doctors have a hard job in that respect.

It's a shame that even after making the decision to be a pharmacist by taking it all into account, that there will always be people out there who think you didn't cut it as a pre-medical gunner. If truth be known, I've ripped pages out of library books just as much as the rest of em! I've wrecked the curve like a gunner's first sportscar in a few courses before. I've one-upped many a nerd in my time at any given opportunity. And I've definitely called those who just couldn't cut it 'garbage'.

Though on a serious note, I know this isn't your idea of what a pharmacist is, but it's surely out there as a reason for how a pharmacist, who albeit very much needed in the scheme of modern medicine, came into being.

Pharmacy is a profession in itself. Comparing pharmacy to the medical field is like comparing apples to oranges, but then again, the egoes of health care always seem to make that leap. In my opinion, however, it's more about giving the patient the best possible care and having real thoughtful reasons for what one does, beyond ego. Doctors, pharmacists, nurses, PA's, etc., all play important roles in health care, and each are surely needed.

I need a bit of help. I'm trying to come up with the top 10 reasons people apply to pharmacy schools.
Here are some that i've heard:

Media Exposure

So, with that said, I did it all for the media exposure. The media loves pharmacists, and it's about time there be a goodlooking pharmacist out there.

 

[no-see-um]

You can just say you wanted to go into a healthcare field.

Then it doesn't really matter if you could or couldn't, wanted of didn't want to be a physician.

Agreed. Each health care field is a separate entity enough with its own particular focus versus a sliding scale from top to bottom (as some actually do believe), where it hardly matters what one had once considered elsewhere in the scope of healthcare in relation to what he is finally set on doing. You would think he had good reason for the change. To me, it's just as extraneous as if one were to say that he became a pharmacist because he couldn't become a ballroom dancer.

 

[KUMoose]

Honestly the number one thing that drives me to Pharmacy is professional security. This isn't about money, although that's not bad either, it's about being able to have a family and not stress about where the next paycheck is going to come like the IT sector I'm coming from. I firmly believe my retreating hairline isn't due to a genetic issue or testosterone, but trying to figure out how to pay for the house I bought, put food on the table and support my retired Mom. It's my hope that good pharmacy positions won't go the way of good IT positions and the dodos.

 

[VCU07]

Or you could just change it to, "wanted to go into medicine but didnt want to be doctor".

PharmDs are doctors...it is important to diff. between doctors (PharmD, DDS, PhD, MD...) and physicians.

 

[Serenity Now!!!]

So, with that said, I did it all for the media exposure. The media loves pharmacists, and it's about time there be a goodlooking pharmacist out there.

Hey thats my reason too...I think, (wait) I KNOW i'll make a really sexy pharmD. However I also like the Idea of looking down (literally) at customers from behind the counter(being a bit vertically challenged myself) I like that idea too!

But seriously, I like Pharmacy for the reasons that most have mentioned (money etc) but I would add that I like the idea of making money as soon as I get out of school! I never liked the idea of going thru x years of schooling then told that "your just an intern" You need to pay your dues first before you get the big bucks...and while your at it go pay off that 100,000+ loan on your $35,000 resident's salary!! If I was younger and single I could see that happening...but I want to start my life NOW!! or as soon as possible

 

[ultracet]

Ok Folks... here is my semi-final list......

Opinions...

The pharmacy professsion offers flexible scheduing
I desire the respect in the community that pharmacists have
I like healthcare but did not want to be a Medical Doctor or Nurse
A family member or mentor is a pharmacist and encouraged me
Phamracy offers a decent living immediate after graduation
I have been a tech for a while and thought I might as well be a pharmacist
Pharmacy offers job security
I care about people and want to help
Pharmacy is a professional doctorate in as little as 6 years/ curriculum.

 

[africanpharmd14]

- I didnt want to go through the rigors or training to be a medical doctor (they dont start out making 180, 000 + right off the bat; go nd ask a doctor yourself)
- The main reason i got interested in pharmacy is because of "clinical trials" and "pharmacogenetics". I would like to work with these areas when i graduate. Pharmacy isnt all about retail.

 

[Jibby321]

2005?!?!?

 

[vasoolraja]

Application of chemistry in healthcare; excited about learning details about drugs and their effects in human body; interested in drug development research; hate my present job, so this career change to pharmacy helps me get out of my present job; honestly, money was never a motivation for me; Further, unlike MD, pharmacy doesn't involve a lot of direct physical contact of patients. I feel pharmacy offers me the prestige, respect and the intellectual stimulation I desire.