What happens if you fail Naplex?

[vmatts033]

What are job opportunities like or what happens if you just cannot pass NAPLEX? What can you do career wise at that point?

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[sdh02]

You need to re-take it, unless you want to waste your Pharm.D degree down the toilet.

 

[vmatts033]

You need to re-take it, unless you want to waste your Pharm.D degree down the toilet.

Have you already taken the Naplex? If so the newer one?

 

[PharmDBro2017]

You need to re-take it, unless you want to waste your Pharm.D degree down the toilet.

^truth. You need to buckle down and study until you pass, or you've squandered the last several years in school and student loans with no return.... start studying hard. You can do it OP.

 

[gwarm01]

I knew a few people who didn't pass after five attempts. It's hard to say if that is a personal failing or if it should be on the school. You would hope anyone who could graduate could pass that test.

 

[Ra1nMak3r]

There are jobs in pharma where you only need PharmD as qualifications like med info (don't need license since your not really practicing), clinical research, probably insurance company. I haven't really researched this area, but there are opportunities out there for people getting a high paying job without really practicing pharmacy.

 

[Old Timer]

You take it until you pass. In PA if you fail three times you hear from the board. If you fail a 4th time, they make you take some kind of remedial instruction.

 

[Lexington2012]

I heard there was a student from Appalachian College who killed himself after 5 failed attempts. Study hard and don't let this happen to you. Even if you fail there are other options if you prepare in advance. May advice:
Get a Florida intern license. It never expires. It is completely free.
I view it as a form of insurance. You can work as a grad intern indefinitely there.

 

[lord999]

Not good ones. Sure, there are a couple of industry positions that may be available, but even those have dried up now that they can get licensed pharmacists. Clinical research at a CRO almost never will accept a pharmacist who does not possess a license to practice (they will do so in rare cases for MDs without a license) as unlike the MD path to licensure, the pharmacist one is considered trivial. Now maintaining the license in a job that does not technically require one, I've seen a bunch of pharmacists who have made it to FACHE let theirs go. I will never let mine go even though I am in one of those positions not because of the very low likelihood that I'd return to frontline practice for a living, but for the dignity of not having to repeat those 1500 hours of indentured servitude ever again.

However, that may change if the proposed regulatory changes to licensure get passed and we have to reattempt the exam every decade or so or a requirement to be in a frontline practice for X number of hours in order to maintain an unrestricted license. I doubt it will be passed in a way that affects my career, but it may be something to get rid of a bunch of licenses on the books but have not been in active use.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Seriously yes, you need to study and do what it takes to pass.

Otherwise job options, try to get a job as a drug rep, go back and take classes to get credentialed as a teacher, go back to be a lawyer (no don't really do this, their board rate has a far higher failure rate than the NAPLEX), get any kind of general job that requires a bachelor's degree but it doesn't matter what the degree is in.) Your options for using your pharmacy knowledge in a job, without being licensed, are pretty nil.