Which master’s degree os a better choice if you plan to work in industry/improve your career as a pharmacist

[YuzuSoda]

I graduated with a bachelor in pharma and now I'm working as a retail pharmacist. I was wondering if working as a retail pharmacist. I'm planning to complete a postgraduate degree and work in industry someday. my other choice is master in health science MHS and there is MPH but i was hesitant to apply for it so basically my choices are either 1.msc in pharmacology 2.MHS 3.MPH. I'm seriously lost so I'm asking for your advice guys. Ps: don’t tell me a postgraduate degree is useless because now i’m in a situation that offers me an opportunity to do it. Thank you for reading my post.

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[letsquitpharm]

Neither of the 3 options you mentioned...

MSCS offers the best ROI to my knowledge. A master's in computer science offers nearly unlimited job opportunities across any industry you can think of these days. If you want to stay in retail, CVS and Walgreens are always hiring software engineers and data scientists. If you want to switch to pharma/biotech, they are constantly hiring and struggling to retain IT talents. If you want to try real engineering, go and work for the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, 3M, etc. Financial institutions and banks also offer countless job openings for software engineers and analysts. Lastly, Epic Systems and many hospitals are ALWAYS hiring software engineers to develop/maintain their EHR and IT systems. If you are really good, FAANG is also a possibility...

If you already have a PharmD, why wasting $$$ and time on another healthcare-related masters? Do something better. Unless you get a serious PhD, nobody really cares about those wishy washy paper-pusher degrees that often don't worth the paper it’s written on...

 

[cdpiano27]

For PhD degrees, you can get PhD in pharmaceutical outcomes research from a good pharmacy school which will set you up in HEOR. Biostatistics is another PhD for being a statistician in pharmaceutical industry (I have PhD in statistics but it is 5 years of study, and with just a masters in statistics you will be a SAS programmer (or limited to statistician in CRO company only) which I think is not satisfying compared to software engineering as it is all procedural and about manipulating data). Both will get you into pharmaceutical industry with much better than you can get in retail or hospital but they require 5 years of more study. Of course some people are trying to MSL jobs or pharmaceutical sales jobs with the PharmD, but you have to know someone it seems to get in. Maybe CS is the best bet that doesn't require the time intensity. There is a masters at Brandeis in Boston area that doesn't require prior CS programme, and probably not that difficult ot get into but it is very expensive. There is also Boston University Metropolitan College that offers CS programs for non-majors (and is less expensive than Brandeis). A less expensive (but probably more time consuming path) is to take Georgia Tech's preliminary courses recommended for entry into their online programme, and then apply for admission into MSCS which is cheap to complete but not easy to complete. My guess is the Georgia Tech name would help more than Boston University or Brandeis if you want to get an interview at FAANG. The poster above "letsquitpharm" did this. I think the real options are: either get PhD in pharmaceutical outcomes research or statistics / biostatistics, have a connection with the present PharmD to get in as an MSL / sales rep and/or be lucky to get a fellowship, or the CS route. My guess is the CS route would be the least time consuming. The PhDs would fully fund you with tuition waiver and living stipend but the issue is the 5 additional years needed to complete. I don't think MPH would be helpful as it is too general and doesn't prepare you for any specific job, and MS in pharmacology (without a PhD) wouldn't be looked at very well in pharma industry as everyone else would have PhDs. MHS is also too general. You have to realize that in pharma industry PhD or MD is required (or very strongly preferred) in most roles with the exception of clinical operations, MSL, sales, clinical trial project management.