Working in BOTH retail and academia simultaneously?

[SCalumfan]

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I'm pre-pharmacy and currently in a graduate program thinking about switching to PharmD. However, I still want to continue my research after Pharmacyy school and work either in retail or clinical setting. What do you guys think about holding a part-time faculty/researcher position and working at a retail pharmacy or in the hospital?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[p-rog]

People do it. Plenty of my pharmacy professors do that and also several who work part time at a hospital here in town. Just out of curiosity, what grad program are you in exactly? And are saying you want to go to pharmacy school AFTER your finish grad school or just quit and switch? Without finishing the grad program, it's going to be next to impossible to land a position in academia, unless you plan on doing at least 1 or 2 years of residency/fellowship after pharm school

 

[SCalumfan]

People do it. Plenty of my pharmacy professors do that and also several who work part time at a hospital here in town. Just out of curiosity, what grad program are you in exactly? And are saying you want to go to pharmacy AFTER your finish grad school or just quit and switch?

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually in a PhD program in epidemiology (1st year). I've already taken the PCAT, taken pre-reqs but still unsure if I should apply to pharmacy school. My plan would be to get both degree simultaneously. However, I'm sooooooo unsure right now. I really do enjoy research though, but this PhD researcher/professor thing is kinda scary especially seeing some of my professor lose funding and lose salary too.

What are your thoughts?

 

[p-rog]

My plan would be to get both degree simultaneously.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.


Sorry that was mean. But seriously, that's ridiculous man. Unless you stretched out the PhD to like 8 years, you can only do one of those programs at a time. There is just not enough time.\

Edit: in retrospect, I can see where you came up with that crazy idea. It's because lots of pharmacy schools have the dual pharmD/PhD program, right? If that's the case, I see where you're coming from, but you have to realize that those PhD's are ones that have lots of overlapping courses with the PharmD cirriculum. Also, you're looking at a minimum of 6 years with those.

 

[njac]

we had professors who would work once a week (or less) for one of the retail outlets just to keep their foot in that world as well.

 

[SCalumfan]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.


Sorry that was mean. But seriously, that's ridiculous man. Unless you stretched out the PhD to like 8 years, you can only do one of those programs at a time. There is just not enough time.

Yeah, there's a program at my school where it can be done in 7-8 years and I'm considering it. It's a good deal of time but it'll be worth it later. I need to really make my mind up.

Thanks for the laugh. I'll just have to see where I am in my program next summer and I can make a better decision.

 

[p-rog]

Well if you're willing to do that big of a time commitment, it's actually a pretty interesting combo that would open up some unique practice opportunities for you. By the way, PCAT and pre-reqs are great, but I doubt any pharmacy school will accept you without at least a minimal of 100 hours work/volunteer experience in a pharmacy. But really you need to do that anyways so you know if this something you really want to invest four years of your time into.

 

[p-rog]

, it's actually a pretty interesting combo that would open up some unique practice opportunities for you.

FYI, this is what I meant:

http://www.job-search-engine.com/jo...armD&l=United+States&keyword=epidemiology+phd

 

[Sparda29]

Some of my professors work part-time at a retail pharmacy, others work at a hospital.

 

[crazybob]

i know one professor who is a clinical pharmacist at a children's hospital and a part-time professor for therapeutics. she spends most of her time at the hospital and only a little lecturing in therapeutics.

 

[ffpickle]

Well if you're willing to do that big of a time commitment, it's actually a pretty interesting combo that would open up some unique practice opportunities for you. By the way, PCAT and pre-reqs are great, but I doubt any pharmacy school will accept you without at least a minimal of 100 hours work/volunteer experience in a pharmacy. But really you need to do that anyways so you know if this something you really want to invest four years of your time into.

Categorically false. Don't just make things up as reality because you believe that is how it ought to be

 

[p-rog]

Categorically false. Don't just make things up as reality because you believe that is how it ought to be

Well I did say that I "doubt" they would accept you. But pray tell, what schools do you know of that accept students without any pharmacy work/volunteer experience? Mine damn sure won't.

Were you one of those students?

 

[crazybob]

before i started pharmacy school, i did some shadowing and didn't have any pharmacy work/pharmacy volunteering experience. but i did have experience working with customers (for 5 months) and being a chem lab assistant (two labs for a semester), also volunteering with hospice working with patients (for six months), and volunteering with habitat for humanity (for a year). and i was able to talk about everything i learned from shadowing and my interviewer said it sounded like i had been working in retail, so i guess i kicked arse at the interview. lol

 

[njac]

Well if you're willing to do that big of a time commitment, it's actually a pretty interesting combo that would open up some unique practice opportunities for you. By the way, PCAT and pre-reqs are great, but I doubt any pharmacy school will accept you without at least a minimal of 100 hours work/volunteer experience in a pharmacy. But really you need to do that anyways so you know if this something you really want to invest four years of your time into.

I got into pharmacy school with 0 hours of work or volunteer experience in a pharmacy.

 

[SHC1984]

Well I did say that I "doubt" they would accept you. But pray tell, what schools do you know of that accept students without any pharmacy work/volunteer experience? Mine damn sure won't.

Were you one of those students?

There are a ton of people that get into pharmacy school without any pharmacy work experience. However, most of those students have very high gpa and pcat scores.

 

[p-rog]

Interesting. I stand (err, sit) corrected. But I've talked to members of the admission committee at my school and you're not getting into without some work/volunteer/shadowing (same thing as volunteering really) experience in pharmacy. And yes, this really is how it should be.

 

[p-rog]

There are a ton of people that get into pharmacy school without any pharmacy work experience. However, most of those students have very high gpa and pcat scores.

Yeah, I remember interviewing at Mercer and found it odd how they didn't bring up the fact that I barely had any pharmacy experience (only about ~75-100 volunteer hours). UGA makes a big deal out of it so maybe that's why I have a skewed opinion on the matter.

 

[medicalCPA]

Well if you're willing to do that big of a time commitment, it's actually a pretty interesting combo that would open up some unique practice opportunities for you. By the way, PCAT and pre-reqs are great, but I doubt any pharmacy school will accept you without at least a minimal of 100 hours work/volunteer experience in a pharmacy. But really you need to do that anyways so you know if this something you really want to invest four years of your time into.

UNTRUE.

When I applied, I got into 3 pharmacy schools, and I had absolutely zero hours of volunteering, had never worked in a pharmacy, and it was only by the time I was interviewing for the third that I had shadowed a pharmacist (for about 4 hours).

OP, I don't see why you cannot do retail and academia at the same time. That's one good thing about a PharmD - it gives you options.

 

[ffpickle]

Well I did say that I "doubt" they would accept you. But pray tell, what schools do you know of that accept students without any pharmacy work/volunteer experience? Mine damn sure won't.

Were you one of those students?

i think most schools admit students w/o experience. some say they "prefer" it.

yes i was one of those students and so were several of my classmates.

 

[crazybob]

i'm sure experience does help. and PCAT and GPA also help. but i've heard of a person who applied here and got rejected even with a 98 PCAT (dunno what his GPA was or how the interview was) and i've also known another person who got rejected even after working as a pharm tech for 3 years (dunno her GPA or PCAT or how the interview went)

 

[p-rog]

So now I'm interested, how exactly did all of you guys who never worked/shadowed/volunteered in a pharmacy figure out that this was something you wanted to invest 4 years of your life training to make your career?

Was it just a blind leap of faith or what?

 

[crazybob]

So now I'm interested, how exactly did all of you guys who never worked/shadowed/volunteered in a pharmacy figure out that this was something you wanted to invest 4 years of your life training to make your career?

Was it just a blind leap of faith or what?

for me personally it was because i was more interested in dealing with medications and patients rather than doing surgery and running all kinds of tests to figure out a diagnosis. after shadowing, i enjoyed it a lot and knew that it was what i wanted to do. even before all the shadowing, i knew that i wanted to go to pharmacy school, but i figured that i would shadow anyway just to see what it was like. i made the switch from pre-med to pre-pharm a while ago after taking courses like organic and biochem. so that could be something that happens to other people too.

after shadowing other places also, i was even more certain that this was what i wanted to do.

 

[SHC1984]

So now I'm interested, how exactly did all of you guys who never worked/shadowed/volunteered in a pharmacy figure out that this was something you wanted to invest 4 years of your life training to make your career?

Was it just a blind leap of faith or what?

Some people don't have work or volunteer experience but they have parents that are pharmacists or relatives that are pharmacists. That could be a possibility as well.

 

[tackett26]

UNTRUE.

When I applied, I got into 3 pharmacy schools, and I had absolutely zero hours of volunteering, had never worked in a pharmacy, and it was only by the time I was interviewing for the third that I had shadowed a pharmacist (for about 4 hours).

OP, I don't see why you cannot do retail and academia at the same time. That's one good thing about a PharmD - it gives you options.

I'm kinda thinking about this from a very weird angle, but if you think about it you see pharmacists in so many different settings.

To name a few:
retail,
pharmaceutical industry,
managed care,
hospital,
clinical pharmacy,
clinical pharmacy practitioner,
research and development,
pharmaceutical outcomes and policy,
academia

My point is this is a very broad field. It would be impractical to shadow pharmacists and get experience in all these areas of pharmacy before applying. Also just because you have exposure to one of these areas doesn't mean that another area wouldn't be a better fit.

In that respect, experience or not, most of us are on the same page.

What do you guys think?

 

[crazybob]

My point is this is a very broad field. It would be impractical to shadow pharmacists and get experience in all these areas of pharmacy before applying. Also just because you have exposure to one of these areas doesn't mean that another area wouldn't be a better fit.

In that respect, experience or not, most of us are on the same page.

What do you guys think?

I agree with you on that. When I shadowed a pharmacist in a small retail chain, it was just one pharmacist, two interns, and one cashier. I saw how things were relatively quiet and smooth. But when I shadowed at a pharmacy in a hospital, which was located inside a gift shop and also considered a retail pharmacy, I saw how busy they could be with two pharmacists, two technicians, and two cashiers. After shadowing, one of the pharmacists told me to try to shadow other types of pharmacists to get a better view of how other pharmacies are different and also similar to retail. She even said that the other pharmacist had worked in inpatient pharmacy for six years before switching over to this retail pharmacy inside the gift shop.