Why Pharmacy?

[hsinkli2012]

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Hey everyone, I'm new 😀. A professor recommended SDN to me as a great resource to have as a healthcare professional. Anyway, I was wondering why everyone here chosed pharmacy as their goal/career?

PS. I know there are probably similar threads like this. Sorry ahead of time.

 

[Storm90]

I've worked as a pharmacy technician for 8+ years and I could not see myself doing anything else. I wanted more responsibility.

 

[Roto]

- 4+ years a tech (I know what I'm getting into)
- Good pay
- Good job security
- Many options (business, research, law enforcement)
- Respect
- A doctorate (see respect)
- I have many hobbies that I LOVE, I do not LOVE pharmacy per se. I enjoy it as a career but I do not dream at night about counting by fives and consulting LOL
- I'm a geek (a cool one at that) and love to learn

I could go on-and-on

 

[twester]

"Choose" is an irregular verb. Don't do that in your personal statement.

I chose pharmacy because I think medications are the coolest thing ever, but wrote other things into my personal statement.

 

[Roto]

"Choose" is an irregular verb. Don't do that in your personal statement.

I chose pharmacy because I think medications are the coolest thing ever, but wrote other things into my personal statement.

Medicinal medications or recreational?

LOL just giving you a bad time

 

[confettiflyer]

Twester is right, the operative word is "chose." If I saw that on a PS, I'd laugh a little in my head and forget what you were talking about.

Anyway, pharmacy. I basically went through it like a differential diagnosis.

I want to go into health care.
I didn't want to touch people...yah, that's nasty.
(counts out MD, DO, BSN/MSN, PA, NP, FNP, CRNA, DDS, DMD, and OD)

That leaves....tadaa....pharmacy.

Plus, I think it's interesting, I like being a surging fountain of knowledge.

 

[AsianGuy26]

Hey everyone, I'm new 😀. A professor recommended SDN to me as a great resource to have as a healthcare professional. Anyway, I was wondering why everyone here choosed pharmacy as their goal/career?

PS. I know there are probably similar threads like this. Sorry ahead of time.

Hm, I chose pharmacy because it will provide me with job stability if the economy goes sour, various op's to do research if I want, and perhaps most important of all... ta da de dum... a family life.

 

[SHC1984]

Twester is right, the operative word is "chose." If I saw that on a PS, I'd laugh a little in my head and forget what you were talking about.

Anyway, pharmacy. I basically went through it like a differential diagnosis.

I want to go into health care.
I didn't want to touch people...yah, that's nasty.
(counts out MD, DO, BSN/MSN, PA, NP, FNP, CRNA, DDS, DMD, and OD)

That leaves....tadaa....pharmacy.

Plus, I think it's interesting, I like being a surging fountain of knowledge.

Same reasoning! 😉

 

[hsinkli2012]

Same reasoning! 😉

My girlfriend's mother is a pharmacist and she tells me that despite the fact that pharmacy isn't medicine, alot of people that come up to get their meds will often times lift up their shirts or foot to show her an abcess or something of that sort. Of course she isn't going to touch it. 😛

 

[pkp]

Twester is right, the operative word is "chose." If I saw that on a PS, I'd laugh a little in my head and forget what you were talking about.

Anyway, pharmacy. I basically went through it like a differential diagnosis.

I want to go into health care.
I didn't want to touch people...yah, that's nasty.
(counts out MD, DO, BSN/MSN, PA, NP, FNP, CRNA, DDS, DMD, and OD)

That leaves....tadaa....pharmacy.

Plus, I think it's interesting, I like being a surging fountain of knowledge.

Ditto x2. After working as a dental assistant for 2 years, I never want to deal with bodily fluids that intimately again.

 

[Sparda29]

That's pretty poor reasoning for choosing Pharmacy. Not wanting to touch people?

How the hell did you guys get through Anatomy class? With the crappy dull scalpels that our school was selling, and the fact that using gloves actually hindered performance, I dissected my cat using my bare hands most of the time. (Small incision to open the area I wanted, then using my hands to peel off any fat and break any bones that were in the way.)

 

[kbv]

How the hell did you guys get through Anatomy class? With the crappy dull scalpels that our school was selling, and the fact that using gloves actually hindered performance, I dissected my cat using my bare hands most of the time. (Small incision to open the area I wanted, then using my hands to peel off any fat and break any bones that were in the way.)

😱. Glad didn't have to take that class.

 

[hsinkli2012]

That's pretty poor reasoning for choosing Pharmacy. Not wanting to touch people?

How the hell did you guys get through Anatomy class? With the crappy dull scalpels that our school was selling, and the fact that using gloves actually hindered performance, I dissected my cat using my bare hands most of the time. (Small incision to open the area I wanted, then using my hands to peel off any fat and break any bones that were in the way.)

Everyone has their own reasons for choosing a specific profession. I'm going to be honest that I'm not very comfortable with touching people or dead/living things for that matter. Hopefully, I will be able to overcome this with time. 🙁 Although I have skinned a cat before and also took part in a small surgery for my cardiovascular lab.

Anyway, skinning a cat w/o gloves, thats what I call hardcore. Although my good friend you should probably wear gloves, if only for your own safety because you don't know what the cat may have.

 

[medicalCPA]

As for not wanting to touch people, when you have to get used to it, you get used to it. I do not, nor have I ever worked in healthcare, but I have had to move (human!) poo/pee, sometimes crawling with fly babies (don't want to use the proper term) and puke. Then the things I've stuck my hands in or even stepped in, I don't think I will mention. All I do is remember that I can scrub my hands and take a very vigorous bath in the end.

 

[confettiflyer]

That's pretty poor reasoning for choosing Pharmacy. Not wanting to touch people?

How the hell did you guys get through Anatomy class? With the crappy dull scalpels that our school was selling, and the fact that using gloves actually hindered performance, I dissected my cat using my bare hands most of the time. (Small incision to open the area I wanted, then using my hands to peel off any fat and break any bones that were in the way.)

Haha, I got through anatomy by knowing that I'd never have to skin a cat in my life again during the course of my duties as a pharmacist.

Besides, I don't think you'd trust me to do a fem stick, urethral swab, or any of that. For me, it's more like...MD, give me the chart/ask me the question, and I'll gladly contribute that way.

I'm really not *that* squeamish...I just don't prefer to do it. Kind of like how one doesn't prefer to eat chicken feet. Funny, I love eating all the "weird" stuff when I travel. Wonder how that didn't translate over to dealing with odd bodily fluids.

 

[Sparda29]

Yeah, I'm actually hoping that pharmacists are soon allowed to do more clinical things.

If not, I think I'm going to work part-time as a paramedic.

 

[Transformer]

Haha, I got through anatomy by knowing that I'd never have to skin a cat in my life again during the course of my duties as a pharmacist.

Besides, I don't think you'd trust me to do a fem stick, urethral swab, or any of that. For me, it's more like...MD, give me the chart/ask me the question, and I'll gladly contribute that way.

I'm really not *that* squeamish...I just don't prefer to do it. Kind of like how one doesn't prefer to eat chicken feet. Funny, I love eating all the "weird" stuff when I travel. Wonder how that didn't translate over to dealing with odd bodily fluids.

Great analogy here.

When I eat at a Dim Sum place, it grosses me out when people order chicken feet. Its kind of a love it or hate it thing.

I skinned two cats in my life. Once in AP Biology and once in Anatomy and Physiology class. In both cases, I used gloves. If I were to do it again, (I hope not), I would use the nitrile gloves, the ones that won't leave powder all over your hands when you take them off.

 

[Sparda29]

I'm hoping that we have cadaver dissection in pharmacy school, or experimenting drugs on live animals.

 

[medicalCPA]

I'm hoping that we have cadaver dissection in pharmacy school, or experimenting drugs on live animals.

If you wanted cadaver dissection, you should have gone to UCSF.

 

[Sparda29]

If you wanted cadaver dissection, you should have gone to UCSF.

Never would have happened with my GPA, and not interested in moving to a warm weather city.

 

[confettiflyer]

I'm hoping that we have cadaver dissection in pharmacy school, or experimenting drugs on live animals.

Sounds like you should have gone to medical school with your interests.

So would it be a fair idea that was your reason for going for pharmacy was that it was the closest doctorate degree to medicine with a lower GPA requirement?

All my friends who had such interests are now in NP, MSN, and PA programs.

SF is a warm weather city? eh? It's usually cold, except maybe it'll top out at 80-85 degrees on a summer day. Beats the hell out of NY's humidity hell during the summer.

And transformer .... nitrile gloves are the best.

 

[Sparda29]

Not the GPA requirement but I didn't want to make that long of a commitment (4 Under Grad, 4 Med School, 4 Residency, 3 Fellowship).

I could never tell someone that they are going to die with a straight face, and I can't fake empathy/sympathy either. And my MCAT scores weren't as good as my PCAT scores.

Winter is my favorite season (I love it when it goes below 20 degrees Fahrenheit) and it starts snowing. Perfect weather for skiing, snowboarding, paintballing, and some football.

I'd love to move from NYC to CA for the summer, but once summer is over, I prefer NYC.

 

[medicalCPA]

Poor OP. His thread has been hijacked.

 

[Sparda29]

Right, and to take it back to the original point.

I'm really interested in drugs and how they affect the human body. Long story short, was playing varsity tennis, got injured, scheduled for knee surgery, experience with anesthesia/pain-killers launched my interest in pharmacy.

 

[kbv]

Doctorate
6-figure income
Nationwide
Seclusion/interaction
Clinical/dispensing
Fixed hours
Travel/station
Etc...

 

[confettiflyer]

Not the GPA requirement but I didn't want to make that long of a commitment (4 Under Grad, 4 Med School, 4 Residency, 3 Fellowship).

I could never tell someone that they are going to die with a straight face, and I can't fake empathy/sympathy either. And my MCAT scores weren't as good as my PCAT scores.

Winter is my favorite season (I love it when it goes below 20 degrees Fahrenheit) and it starts snowing. Perfect weather for skiing, snowboarding, paintballing, and some football.

I'd love to move from NYC to CA for the summer, but once summer is over, I prefer NYC.

Commitment makes sense. I didn't get into school until age 24, granted, I'm still young...but given my GPA, I would have had to throw in another 2 years for a SMP/post-bacc. I'd have been an old, broke man by the time I finished.

Weird, I can fake empathy pretty well...I consider myself pretty adept at emotional detachment...but it's that ick factor I can't get over. Funny, my aunt is a nurse...I liked hearing the stories and whatnot, even the gross ones, but I could never *do* what she did....which is why I'd rather just read the charts/"stories" and make recommendations from there.

And CA...I just realized, the coldest SF gets is 55-60 degrees on a cold/windy night. Haha...the weather lately out here in the east, all us californians in class keep referring to this as winter. I'm usually the one correcting them that this is the fall, not winter.



ok back to topic....anyone out here considering drug repping as a PharmD?

 

[SHC1984]

If you wanted cadaver dissection, you should have gone to UCSF.

good call. I will not apply there or any schools that have anatomy dissections.

 

[SHC1984]

Not the GPA requirement but I didn't want to make that long of a commitment (4 Under Grad, 4 Med School, 4 Residency, 3 Fellowship).

I could never tell someone that they are going to die with a straight face, and I can't fake empathy/sympathy either. And my MCAT scores weren't as good as my PCAT scores.

Winter is my favorite season (I love it when it goes below 20 degrees Fahrenheit) and it starts snowing. Perfect weather for skiing, snowboarding, paintballing, and some football.

I'd love to move from NYC to CA for the summer, but once summer is over, I prefer NYC.

How come you never consider dental? If you don't mind nasty stuff like dissections or anything else then dentistry is a good career for you. PLus the DAT is an easy exam. Dentistry isn'ts a long commitment, and the benefits are great! 😉

 

[hsinkli2012]

How come you never consider dental? If you don't mind nasty stuff like dissections or anything else then dentistry is a good career for you. PLus the DAT is an easy exam. Dentistry isn'ts a long commitment, and the benefits are great! 😉

Actually, the DATs are pretty hard, more so than the PCATs. I have a friend whose becoming a dental student and he showed me his practice exams for the DATs. There are some basic science/math/verbal questions... however there is this part about estimating angles and folding things the correct way so you get a certain figure, the answers are all within a few degrees of one another. Like anything, with study I'm certain you can get it.

 

[Sparda29]

How come you never consider dental? If you don't mind nasty stuff like dissections or anything else then dentistry is a good career for you. PLus the DAT is an easy exam. Dentistry isn'ts a long commitment, and the benefits are great! 😉

No interest in the teeth at all and seems like a really boring job.

 

[SHC1984]

Actually, the DATs are pretty hard, more so than the PCATs. I have a friend whose becoming a dental student and he showed me his practice exams for the DATs. There are some basic science/math/verbal questions... however there is this part about estimating angles and folding things the correct way so you get a certain figure, the answers are all within a few degrees of one another. Like anything, with study I'm certain you can get it.

I hope the PCAT is easier, I am taking it in Jan. I am thinking the PCAT's reading is A LOT harder, DAT does not have a verbal section (which was good for me b/c I suck at verbal), and the PCAT might be harder in math b/c there is Calculus involved. Other then that I am assuming the DAT should be the same as the PCAT. I took the DAT before and thought it was a fair exam.

 

[SHC1984]

No interest in the teeth at all and seems like a really boring job.

I prefer boring jobs over super stressful jobs. Dentistry is better then Medicine b/c the money is better. And its less stressful, less work, so I thought its a pretty good choice.

 

[confettiflyer]

I prefer boring jobs over super stressful jobs.

Oh then retail pharmacy is absolutely 100% the way to go

 

[HSenior]

I prefer boring jobs over super stressful jobs. Dentistry is better then Medicine b/c the money is better. And its less stressful, less work, so I thought its a pretty good choice.

Not being a smartass, just curious. If dentistry is so much better then why are u in pre-pharmacy?

 

[SHC1984]

Not being a smartass, just curious. If dentistry is so much better then why are u in pre-pharmacy?

I was in dental school but switched to pharmacy. I think Pharmacy>Dentistry>Medicine. Thats why I drop dental.
There is something about not having to touch people and see their blood etc that makes a job a lot BETTER OVERALL. 😉

(However, what I was saying before was...**If you don't mind touching/seeing nasty stuff then dentistry is a good career for you b/c of the salary potential.** Dentistry would be better then medicine overall though...less stress & more money.)

 

[SHC1984]

Oh then retail pharmacy is absolutely 100% the way to go

I am aware that there have been a lot of complaints about retail pharmacy. 1) rude people 2) standing up all day 3) insurance paperwork

I am definetly okay (or more like use to) dealing with rude people b/c I have been a waitress before and seen/dealt with all that before...Rude people do not bother me.

Standing up all day does not bother me either....(I hope I still feel that way when I am 40+ though...)

I don't know much about retail pharmacy but so far the major complaints about retail seems like something I can handle. 😉

 

[AsianGuy26]

Thats why you take a staff position @ a hospital... the graveyard shift... money is comparable to retail... yet not as stressful. On the flip side... its night. 😕

 

[jersey9000]

stability

 

[tommyle]

because i like dealing with medicine.
and also alot of my family member are pharmacist, and they make alot of money 😀
and seeing how a pill can effect someone really amazed me,
also i want to do something with my life and help people

 

[HSenior]

Medical Marijuana.
Money.
and i guess to help people?

EDIT -

but seriously though, I feel that careers are there so you can make money to live your life the way you wish. Pharmacy will earn me a decent amount of money and I'll actually have time to spend it on myself and my family. I was thinking hard about deciding between Business/Pharmacy. While business is a great field, I feel that Pharmacy will allow me to actually help people, rather than just make money for owning a franchise or two.

 

[PharmD321]

Medical Marijuana.
Money.
and i guess to help people?

EDIT -

but seriously though, I feel that careers are there so you can make money to live your life the way you wish. Pharmacy will earn me a decent amount of money and I'll actually have time to spend it on myself and my family. I was thinking hard about deciding between Business/Pharmacy. While business is a great field, I feel that Pharmacy will allow me to actually help people, rather than just make money for owning a franchise or two.

I believe that medical marijuana is something we should research more on. It has been known that the hemp oil can help with skin cancer.

Anyways, here is why I want to become a pharmacist:

When I was in brazil back in March (I had no idea what I was going to do about my life at that point of time!), I saw an ad online about classes to prepare for the PTCB. I took the classes and then I found out that pharmacy is actually what I want to do for the rest of my life. I have always been fascinated on how many drugs are out there and that the drugs are so effective that it can save many lives. After I get my PharmD, I want to be in a research team to find more drugs to prevent the spreading of cancer or diseases. My mom even told me that it always has been my destiny to be a pharmacist ever since my grandfather died of cancer back when I was only one year old. This is why I want to become a pharmacist.

 

[tommyle]

I believe that medical marijuana is something we should research more on. It has been known that the hemp oil can help with skin cancer.

Anyways, here is why I want to become a pharmacist:

When I was in brazil back in March (I had no idea what I was going to do about my life at that point of time!), I saw an ad online about classes to prepare for the PTCB. I took the classes and then I found out that pharmacy is actually what I want to do for the rest of my life. I have always been fascinated on how many drugs are out there and that the drugs are so effective that it can save many lives. After I get my PharmD, I want to be in a research team to find more drugs to prevent the spreading of cancer or diseases. My mom even told me that it always has been my destiny to be a pharmacist ever since my grandfather died of cancer back when I was only one year old. This is why I want to become a pharmacist.

reallyy?


your mom destiny or yours?

 

[PharmD321]

reallyy?


your mom destiny or yours?

That was not what I said, I meant that my mom may be a superstitious person and told me that maybe when my grandpa died, the destiny was already made for me to become a pharmacist.

 

[Seeker5]

I am new here too and not really knowledgeable about every step this field will cover, but the reason I chose pharmacy is mainly my interest in chemistry and medicine and how drugs work in my system every times I put a pill in my mouth when I am sick. Even though I like biology, I did poorly in that course for some reason, so I will keep my eyes open and try to learn something valuable from this forum which I have just found out about. Hope everyone can give me advises in the future.

 

[tommyle]

That was not what I said, I meant that my mom is a superstitious person and told me that maybe when my grandpa died, the destiny was already made for me to become a pharmacist.

🙄