Is it possible? Is it easier than during the school year, or harder?
Working during rotations
- Thread starter charfdorn
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2004
- Messages
- 2,641
- Reaction score
- 757
Of course! There was never a time I didn't work during pharmacy school. Sometimes I worked 2 jobs. I didn't have a choice. Work or starve, I guess that was my choice.
It's not that big of a deal. I even had to take work home with me and students now act like that's a crime. Whiners
It's not that big of a deal. I even had to take work home with me and students now act like that's a crime. Whiners
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
- Messages
- 9,847
- Reaction score
- 1,843
I go to rotations and then work monday and tuesday nights.
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2005
- Messages
- 431
- Reaction score
- 2
Very possible...as long as its really slow retail or an institutional with decent downtime. Pros are you can pay rent, go to midyear, go to Starbucks, and sometimes even get reading and other stuff done. Cons are that you wont have free time or would have a really packed schedule...or none of your friends work so they're poor and don't wanna do anything so its moot.
If you can handle school and work you're fine, the main diff is rotations are usually a 40 hr commitment so its harder scheduling comparatively.
And if it's not a pharmacy job?
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
- Messages
- 9,847
- Reaction score
- 1,843
Work. Make $$$.
I'm thinking about doing bartending part time, but in NYC its rough to be a bartender when you're a male. Apparently, any good looking female with zero experience can take a job away from a male with experience (because guys will buy more drinks from a hot female bartender ????). That and the fact that I don't drink alcohol. Can you be a bartender if you never drink?
Last edited:
No one really can give you an advice whether to work during rotations or not. It depends on a lot of different factors: difficulty of your rotations, your career goals, and required hours from your work.
If you know that you want to do retail, you should definitely work during rotations. Working in pharmacy preferred because non-pharmacy job does not give you any advantage.
If you are planning to pursue residency, it depends a lot on your rotations. If you are "residency-bound", you should really try getting challenging rotations in order to prepare for residency. For my current rotation, I spend about 8 hours per day at the rotation site and at least 2 additional hours per night and several hours on the weekend working on projects, readings, and assignments. So at this point, I am really happy that I don't work right now. Even if I would work it would be so little hours that it would not make any difference in my financial state.
So it just depends on you, your career goals, and what you are really comfortable with.
If you know that you want to do retail, you should definitely work during rotations. Working in pharmacy preferred because non-pharmacy job does not give you any advantage.
If you are planning to pursue residency, it depends a lot on your rotations. If you are "residency-bound", you should really try getting challenging rotations in order to prepare for residency. For my current rotation, I spend about 8 hours per day at the rotation site and at least 2 additional hours per night and several hours on the weekend working on projects, readings, and assignments. So at this point, I am really happy that I don't work right now. Even if I would work it would be so little hours that it would not make any difference in my financial state.
So it just depends on you, your career goals, and what you are really comfortable with.
It'd be hard to be a good bartender if you don't know what a good drink tastes like.
I was really wondering whether it was possible (sounds like it is) and whether people were telling me to do it JUST to keep a door open for a job or for financial reasons, too. My non-pharmacy job pays really well, so it's hard for me to give that up if I don't have to. I don't know whether they can accommodate my rotation schedule, though, so we'll see.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
- Messages
- 9,847
- Reaction score
- 1,843
True, but I guess I can make different formulations, have people try them out and tell me which are the best ones.
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2008
- Messages
- 8,850
- Reaction score
- 673
Pretty sure they'd give you some OJT. Plus, don't they have bartending schools out there? A couple of nights tossing some bottles around and you get a certificate!
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2008
- Messages
- 353
- Reaction score
- 0
I just assumed it was a pharmacy job, if it's not...I hope it pays really really well and a flexible schedule. But you're better off looking for a pharmacy job.
owlegrad
Uncontrollable Sarcasm Machine
Staff member
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 25,393
- Reaction score
- 12,074
Yeah, I can't imagine working a non-pharmacy job at this point. It would have to pay crazy good to be worth it, I would think. I mean why would you want to work a job that is not going to be relevant after you graduate?
If you have a kid and the non-pharmacy job pays like $30/hr and you need the money, you'd go for that instead of a pharmacy intern pay.
owlegrad
Uncontrollable Sarcasm Machine
Staff member
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 25,393
- Reaction score
- 12,074
I don't know though, if you had a $30/hr job + a family would you go back to school at all? And let's say you did go back to school even with the 30/hr job + a kid, shouldn't your focus still be life after graduation? I mean if you made the choice to go to pharmacy school it seems like you would want to help secure a job for after graduation more than anything else.
There are people out there who leave their $20+/hr jobs to go back to school to become pharmacists. They are married and/or have children.
Sometimes they go back to those jobs during the summer to save up some money, or work at them part-time during the school year.
Getting through pharmacy school without going bankrupt or broke would be more important than trying to be concerned about securing a job after graduation. You have to have money to even get to graduation and then worry about a job after graduating. If you don't have enough money and cannot pay for school, it'll seem like a waste.
owlegrad
Uncontrollable Sarcasm Machine
Staff member
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 25,393
- Reaction score
- 12,074
I can think of three people in my class who fit your description (had good jobs, family, still came back to pursue pharmacy) and they all worked as interns over the summer. I won't pretend to know everything they considered when making that decision, but I do know that one in particular found the step down in pay to be quite difficult. She considered it an investment in her future. None of the three work during the school year, I presume they live off student loans during the school year plus spouse's wages. I assume the unmarried ones get child support but of course I consider that none of my business.
Look, I am not saying that no one in pharmacy school should ever take a non-pharmacy job. Of course if you are looking at providing for your family you will do whatever it takes. But even with a family I think most pharmacy students would agree that working in a pharmacy is preferable.
I only know one student who took a non-pharmacy job over the summer. She worked two jobs, CVS and Lane Bryant (sp?). No family, I think she just wanted to stay busy, make money, and maybe she wanted the discount? Oddly in this example we are talking about a minimal wage type job. I know one classmate who worked in the lab over the summer, but who knows, maybe that is what he wants to do?
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2010
- Messages
- 301
- Reaction score
- 40
I don't have any kids, but I'm married and my wife is currently unemployed. My $30+ an hour job helps keep a roof over our head and pays back her MBA school loans while she searches in an awful market. While I would love to work 40 hours/week as an intern instead, the wages wouldn't support us. Also, my drive comes from the fact that a $30+/hour job is easy to leave when it makes you miserable day in and day out.
I do carry a 10 hour/week internship, though, so hopefully that will help to secure something full-time when I am done.
Last edited:
You've stolen my life, sir. Except I do have kid(s). If I don't work right now, we don't eat. I'd rather work myself to death for a few years than take out ridiculous private loans or live in abject poverty. My $30+ job is a dead end with no room for advancement or improvement (it's tips-based), and I don't like doing it, but I can do it for a few more years while that goal is in sight. Also, I expect my wife will eventually find a job with her master's degree, and that will probably open some doors for me. The price I pay for this crazy schedule is that I'm not involved in any organizations, I make Bs and Cs instead of As, and I don't see my family enough. All of that will be worth it in 2013 when I can finally quit my job and start my career.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2010
- Messages
- 301
- Reaction score
- 40
You're llike my brother from another mother. While my job isn't dead end, I just can't stand it. I'm one of the few on this site that actually enjoys working in a retail setting and relish the patient interactions. I put myself through undergrad/Masters working a tip-based job (server/bartender) so I know what you're going through. I'm right there with you on working myself to death right now. My wife and I have set up a plan for saving over the next 2 years so if she is still unemployed by the time rotations come around (God I hope she can find a job by then), then I'll probably have to leave my $30+/hour job and settle for interning since my current job is a 1st shifter. I would love to find 2nd or 3rd shift rotations, but it's looking highly unlikely...especially since my school prefers them to be done during 1st shift. I too could be performing much better in my classes if I didn't have all the other stuff going on, but I'm hoping that it's not going to matter if I prove myself at my internship. I know it's still a ways away, but I remind myself every day of how much closer I am to realizing my true passion in life and it gets me through the hard times. Good luck to you and I know the two of us will make it through. Here's to 2013!
Attachments
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2006
- Messages
- 637
- Reaction score
- 2
Is your wife working a part-time job while she job searches, to help you out?
No, any part-time pay she could earn would be eaten up by daycare costs, so I'd just as soon have her stay at home with the little ones.
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2009
- Messages
- 2,130
- Reaction score
- 208
Charfdorn: Jobs i've worked at, we've had student employees who were 4th years and only came in to work 1 weekend a month or so. That seemed like a pretty good deal.
Yeah, that's not really what I meant... one weekend a month is not going to pay my mortgage.
