walgreens educational assistance program

[PharmD2013abc]

Hi, so I am in my third year out of six of pharmacy school. I have worked for walgreens since the summer of 08. As school work has increased, I decided against working during school, so I asked the District pharmacy manager to put me on pharmacy intern leave. Then just today, I got an email to call him, and he had said that basically in order to stay with the company I need to take the walgreens scholarship. The first professional year you can get $1500 and an additional of $500 for every year thereafter. The only thing is that you have to work with them for the number of years that you accept the scholarship for, or you have to pay it back immediately with an 8% interest per year that you don't pay it off. I am wary of accepting the deal, even though it is basically free money, because I am not certain that I want to be in retail yet. I think Walgreens is a great company, but I really don't want to commit at this moment. Any feedback would be great if any one else shares the same experience. Thanks

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[Old Timer]

Run, don't do this. If you loved retail and you loved Walgreens and you were sure that's where you want to work after you graduate, then I would go for it. If not. DON'T DO IT.

I urge you to get a job at CVS, a hospital, an independent. Anywhere. If you can't work one night and every other weekend, you will never be able to be a pharmacist.

 

[SoonerPharmD]

a lot can happen in 3 years; just politely decline the offer and tell them you'll contact them in 3 years. the benefits aren't like what they were a few years ago, you don't have to be with the company for 6 years to be vested for certain things anymore. one could easily pay off the debt if you broke it off early, but that would just be one more thing to worry about when you'll be studying for your boards if you don't want to work for them.

besides, what if POWER rears it's ugly head again...

 

[NormalSaline]

Hi, so I am in my third year out of six of pharmacy school. I have worked for walgreens since the summer of 08. As school work has increased, I decided against working during school, so I asked the District pharmacy manager to put me on pharmacy intern leave. Then just today, I got an email to call him, and he had said that basically in order to stay with the company I need to take the walgreens scholarship. The first professional year you can get $1500 and an additional of $500 for every year thereafter. The only thing is that you have to work with them for the number of years that you accept the scholarship for, or you have to pay it back immediately with an 8% interest per year that you don't pay it off. I am wary of accepting the deal, even though it is basically free money, because I am not certain that I want to be in retail yet. I think Walgreens is a great company, but I really don't want to commit at this moment. Any feedback would be great if any one else shares the same experience. Thanks

I have been a sucker and taken that bait for 3 years + prepharm...so i currently owe them 5 years or $10k. Now I want to do a residency...this is what I found out.

Thank you for contacting Walgreens. You can defer your loan commitment for up to a year if you are participating in a residency after pharmacy school. All I need is a copy of your acceptance letter into a residency program to defer your commitment. Once you receive an acceptance letter, please send it to:

 

[Krismeese09]

I cannot echo the above advice to you more strongly to stay away from this deal.

Flexibility in your career is worth much more than that $500 per year walgreens wants to give you.

You are just starting your professional years of school and with all of the classes and then all of the exposure you will get in your clinical rotations, you never know what may end up interesting you, if your goals will change, or if you become passionate for a certain practice area.

Last thing you want to do is get to your last year of the program, decide you really want to do a residency now, but then realize that you can't because you have financially locked yourself in to working for walgreens.

Good luck to you though, you have an exciting ride ahead of you in the next few years!

 

[Krismeese09]

Oh and also, even if you can defer a year for a residency. Walgreens is probably the last place you would want to go back to after completing a residency (unless maybe you did a community pharmacy residency). Flexibility is king in my mind.

 

[type b pharmD]

walgreens program is WEAAAK

safeway will give like 10k/year of pharmacy school for a year of commitment

 

[Transformer]

Hi, so I am in my third year out of six of pharmacy school. I have worked for walgreens since the summer of 08. As school work has increased, I decided against working during school, so I asked the District pharmacy manager to put me on pharmacy intern leave. Then just today, I got an email to call him, and he had said that basically in order to stay with the company I need to take the walgreens scholarship. The first professional year you can get $1500 and an additional of $500 for every year thereafter. The only thing is that you have to work with them for the number of years that you accept the scholarship for, or you have to pay it back immediately with an 8% interest per year that you don't pay it off. I am wary of accepting the deal, even though it is basically free money, because I am not certain that I want to be in retail yet. I think Walgreens is a great company, but I really don't want to commit at this moment. Any feedback would be great if any one else shares the same experience. Thanks

Since you're not 100% sure retail is what you want to do, I would stay away from accepting this Walgreens scholarship.

You're a PHI 3, and you have yet to go on a lot of your pharmacy experiences and rotations yet. So most likely than not, you're not sure what pharmacy specialty you want and that's okay.

IMO, If you can't find a hospital or independent pharmacy job, I would work for walgreens on a minimal basis, earn a little bit of money to pay off your accrued loan interest, rack up a little bit of experience & seniority and keep walgreens as your back up plan. This way you're flexible and not committed to working for Walgreens after you graduate.

On a positive note, you never know if you might want a part time pharmacist retail job in the future....

All in all, the take home message here is to keep your options open 🙂

 

[cutiger]

I'm a P2 and have taken the scholarship the past 2 years, prob will next year but hold off in the 4th year. My only reason for locking down like this is I started college in 2003 (undergrad done in 2007), so i have no desire to do a residency after graduation. My uncle owns an independent so I could go that route down the road, but I have time to make a lil money at Walgreens in the mean time,

 

[Lisochka]

what if you took their scholarship but they don't have any open positions for you when you graduate. Then you don't have to repay them nor have to work for them (since they have no vacant jobs for pharmacists), is that right?

 

[ValeRx]

Are you kidding me? 1500 for the first year then 500 for each other year with a one year commitment tied to each payment!? Hahaha! You would have to be a FOOL to sign a contract like that. Krogers does 60% tuition per year/1 year commitment or less if you decide to take less than 60% and I'm even hesitant to sign anything.

 

[bacillus1]

what if you took their scholarship but they don't have any open positions for you when you graduate. Then you don't have to repay them nor have to work for them (since they have no vacant jobs for pharmacists), is that right?

They'll always have a position for you, though it might be night shift or in an undesirable area.

 

[lorain]

its not bad at all

i took sign on, reloc, and that ed assit $$ and returned it all

well almost all, i will return the 1500 from asst. in a couple weeks.

 

[pharmwannebe2]

if you take this money can you return it if you decide after school that you don't want to work with the company?

Some retail places do this. If your allowed this, I would just commit and try to get as much experience as possible and if you decide later you don't want to do retail you can just give back the money

You have to look out for yourself in this world...it is a dog eat dog world.