what do you think....

[kohistan]

Hello,

I been accepted to pharmacy school and will be starting this fall. The debt I will graduate with would be around 200K+ including my undergraduate debt. I am really considering taking a year off and working to pay off my loan of undergrad (20K)

My friends and family think that I am dumb to even consider not going to pharmacy school. I want to take the year off and work and also see if i could perhaps finder another career since there is already somewhat a glut of pharmacists.

I guess can you guys tell me if it would be a good idea to take a year off and apply else where (cheaper school) and see what my other options are. It scares me that I might not be able to get in somewhere else or not go to school and just be stuck with a bio-degree. I just turned 24

I love working with medicine, I have been a tech for 4 years. I want to do something that has to do with drugs but really don't know what else except pharmacy, but being 200K+ in debt is not sounding like a very good investment.

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[RxWildcat]

PA school is shorter and cheaper

 

[TemSirolimus]

Hello,

I been accepted to pharmacy school and will be starting this fall. The debt I will graduate with would be around 200K+ including my undergraduate debt. I am really considering taking a year off and working to pay off my loan of undergrad (20K)

My friends and family think that I am dumb to even consider not going to pharmacy school. I want to take the year off and work and also see if i could perhaps finder another career since there is already somewhat a glut of pharmacists.

I guess can you guys tell me if it would be a good idea to take a year off and apply else where (cheaper school) and see what my other options are. It scares me that I might not be able to get in somewhere else or not go to school and just be stuck with a bio-degree. I just turned 24

I love working with medicine, I have been a tech for 4 years. I want to do something that has to do with drugs but really don't know what else except pharmacy, but being 200K+ in debt is not sounding like a very good investment.

This has been beaten to death around here. Unfortunately, none of us can afford the crystal ball and hence cannot give concrete answers. In fact, the situation at the moment looks very bleak to say the least.

Its a chance you have to take. $200K in the red sounds a little steep whether the market is robust or not. The choice is entirely yours.

 

[CUninja]

This has been beaten to death around here. Unfortunately, none of us can afford the crystal ball and hence cannot give concrete answers. In fact, the situation at the moment looks very bleak to say the least.

Its a chance you have to take. $200K in the red sounds a little steep whether the market is robust or not. The choice is entirely yours.

This is good advice, but I have a question for you...

If you didn't go to pharmacy school, what would you do? The alternative career needs to be considered for what it is also. I find it odd that people think that pharmacy is not a career to get into anymore, but fail to consider the alternatives. We are still in a deep recession and many college-educated people cannot find a job, yet we complain that it takes us a little longer to find a job now than it used to. There are still jobs out there (I look on job boards every now and again because I graduate in two years), but pharmacists still want to choose where they live, choose their salary, etc.

The truth is that there are too many factors out there to reliably predict where pharmacy is going. When we come out of this recession, prospects will be better, and some older pharmacists will retire. MTM could take off. Health care reform will create jobs, at least in pharmacy. On the flip side, opening of new schools will weigh heavily on job prospects later on. We just don't know where pharmacy is going to end up after this period of instability.

In my own situation, I will graduate with 200K+ of debt. To me, pharmacy is something I like to do and the money has no effect on that. I will be making enough not to default on my loans...and I don't care about making gobs of money. After all, I could be MUCH worse off.

End of novel

 

[charfdorn]

Hello,

I been accepted to pharmacy school and will be starting this fall. The debt I will graduate with would be around 200K+ including my undergraduate debt. I am really considering taking a year off and working to pay off my loan of undergrad (20K)

My friends and family think that I am dumb to even consider not going to pharmacy school. I want to take the year off and work and also see if i could perhaps finder another career since there is already somewhat a glut of pharmacists.

I guess can you guys tell me if it would be a good idea to take a year off and apply else where (cheaper school) and see what my other options are. It scares me that I might not be able to get in somewhere else or not go to school and just be stuck with a bio-degree. I just turned 24

I love working with medicine, I have been a tech for 4 years. I want to do something that has to do with drugs but really don't know what else except pharmacy, but being 200K+ in debt is not sounding like a very good investment.

Financially, taking a year off and then going on to pharmacy school doesn't make sense unless you can make a ton of money in the mean time, or you think you won't be an employable pharmacist when you graduate. If you think you might go into another career, that makes more sense. It sounds like you have something of a passion for healthcare but not specifically for pharmacy and quite a bit of concern over finances. I think PA school sounds like a good idea. It pays nearly as well, is not as oversupplied, etc., etc.

 

[owlegrad]

This is good advice, but I have a question for you...

If you didn't go to pharmacy school, what would you do? The alternative career needs to be considered for what it is also. I find it odd that people think that pharmacy is not a career to get into anymore, but fail to consider the alternatives. We are still in a deep recession and many college-educated people cannot find a job, yet we complain that it takes us a little longer to find a job now than it used to. There are still jobs out there (I look on job boards every now and again because I graduate in two years), but pharmacists still want to choose where they live, choose their salary, etc.

The truth is that there are too many factors out there to reliably predict where pharmacy is going. When we come out of this recession, prospects will be better, and some older pharmacists will retire. MTM could take off. Health care reform will create jobs, at least in pharmacy. On the flip side, opening of new schools will weigh heavily on job prospects later on. We just don't know where pharmacy is going to end up after this period of instability.

In my own situation, I will graduate with 200K+ of debt. To me, pharmacy is something I like to do and the money has no effect on that. I will be making enough not to default on my loans...and I don't care about making gobs of money. After all, I could be MUCH worse off.

End of novel

I don't want to try to tell you how to live your life, but 200k is sick. How about scholarships/working while in school? That figure would scare me into another field frankly.

 

[CUninja]

I don't want to try to tell you how to live your life, but 200k is sick. How about scholarships/working while in school? That figure would scare me into another field frankly.

I don't care enough about grades to get scholarships. (If grades were truly a barometer of how much you understand the material, I might care.) I do work quite a bit during school. That being said, I'd rather enjoy life with that money I get from work rather than marginally lower the amount I have to pay back when I am finished.

I plan to work for the government, whether it be the armed forces, the VA or the public health service. Most likely, I will enter into some loan repayment contract with them and get the rest forgiven through the public service loan repayment program. Even if I did decide to pay off the 200K balance, I am single and have no kids and could put 35,000/yr towards loans and have them paid off in 8 years.

It's only money IMHO...we just have different perspectives.

 

[rph3664]

I don't care enough about grades to get scholarships. (If grades were truly a barometer of how much you understand the material, I might care.) I do work quite a bit during school. That being said, I'd rather enjoy life with that money I get from work rather than marginally lower the amount I have to pay back when I am finished.

I plan to work for the government, whether it be the armed forces, the VA or the public health service. Most likely, I will enter into some loan repayment contract with them and get the rest forgiven through the public service loan repayment program. Even if I did decide to pay off the 200K balance, I am single and have no kids and could put 35,000/yr towards loans and have them paid off in 8 years.

It's only money IMHO...we just have different perspectives.

You may be single and childless now, but chances are, you won't be that way forever. Think about it.

And you would be surprised how much scholarship money you can get just for the asking. I once got $500 simply because I applied for it.

 

[CUninja]

You may be single and childless now, but chances are, you won't be that way forever. Think about it.

And you would be surprised how much scholarship money you can get just for the asking. I once got $500 simply because I applied for it.

The scholarships are given out by a committee at my school. You do one application early in the spring semester and they consider everyone at the same time at delve out the scholarship money accordingly. I am very involved at the school but I can tell by who did receive the scholarships that grades are weighted heavily in the process.

Are there outside scholarships for pharmacy- probably not a whole ton that don't have strings attached.

And I know that I could get married and have a kid. No offense...but I do have half a brain. I'm just trying to prove the point that finances aren't everything...for some people. You have every right to think I am crazy for going into debt 200K, just as I have the right to be completely fine with it.

 

[type b pharmD]

I'm with cuninja on this one .. im gonna hit somewhere between 150-200k when i'm all done .. plan on using IBR .. and if there are no pharmacist jobs, working as a rural school teacher or enlisting in the military for 10 years to get my loans paid back..

however at this point IHS is at the top of my mind

 

[owlegrad]

I don't care enough about grades to get scholarships. (If grades were truly a barometer of how much you understand the material, I might care.) I do work quite a bit during school. That being said, I'd rather enjoy life with that money I get from work rather than marginally lower the amount I have to pay back when I am finished.

I plan to work for the government, whether it be the armed forces, the VA or the public health service. Most likely, I will enter into some loan repayment contract with them and get the rest forgiven through the public service loan repayment program. Even if I did decide to pay off the 200K balance, I am single and have no kids and could put 35,000/yr towards loans and have them paid off in 8 years.

It's only money IMHO...we just have different perspectives.

Hey enjoy your life.

 

[CUninja]

Hey enjoy your life.

Thank you, you too.

Perhaps my "half a brain" comment was a bit harsh, looking back. I didn't mean to insult your intelligence, it sounds like you were trying to offer help. Thanks for your advice.

 

[owlegrad]

Thank you, you too.

Perhaps my "half a brain" comment was a bit harsh, looking back. I didn't mean to insult your intelligence, it sounds like you were trying to offer help. Thanks for your advice.

I took no offence, I have thicker skin then that. Plus I think I may have confused you with the OP who was asking for advice. Looking back I see you were not soliciting for my advice. Oh well.

 

[PharmaTope]

Financially, taking a year off and then going on to pharmacy school doesn't make sense unless you can make a ton of money in the mean time, or you think you won't be an employable pharmacist when you graduate. If you think you might go into another career, that makes more sense. It sounds like you have something of a passion for healthcare but not specifically for pharmacy and quite a bit of concern over finances. I think PA school sounds like a good idea. It pays nearly as well, is not as oversupplied, etc., etc.

plus you have more versatility as a PA than as a pharmacist. PA's can function in any type of physician practice, see patients, prescribe, round, etc

it is only 2 yrs vs 4 yrs.

 

[bear9288]

This is good advice, but I have a question for you...

If you didn't go to pharmacy school, what would you do? The alternative career needs to be considered for what it is also. I find it odd that people think that pharmacy is not a career to get into anymore, but fail to consider the alternatives. We are still in a deep recession and many college-educated people cannot find a job, yet we complain that it takes us a little longer to find a job now than it used to. There are still jobs out there (I look on job boards every now and again because I graduate in two years), but pharmacists still want to choose where they live, choose their salary, etc.

The truth is that there are too many factors out there to reliably predict where pharmacy is going. When we come out of this recession, prospects will be better, and some older pharmacists will retire. MTM could take off. Health care reform will create jobs, at least in pharmacy. On the flip side, opening of new schools will weigh heavily on job prospects later on. We just don't know where pharmacy is going to end up after this period of instability.

In my own situation, I will graduate with 200K+ of debt. To me, pharmacy is something I like to do and the money has no effect on that. I will be making enough not to default on my loans...and I don't care about making gobs of money. After all, I could be MUCH worse off.

End of novel

i admire you