Working non-pharmacy during school?

[sweetage123]

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I've searched a few of these threads, and most of the questions about job experience refer to working in a pharmacy while going to school.

I've been offered a position as a graduate hourly office assistant, 20 hours a week at $17 an hour, but this is not at all pharmacy related. It will however, be leadership skills, as I am supervising a staff of about 60 people.

The building I'm working in is right next to the building my classes are in, so commute is not an issue.

My question to everyone is wondering if this is doable/worth it/a waste of time? I'm stressing about all the negative comments I've read about working during your P1 year.😱

Any advice or stories of a similar experience would be much appreciated!

 

[cycloketocaine]

I've searched a few of these threads, and most of the questions about job experience refer to working in a pharmacy while going to school.

I've been offered a position as a graduate hourly office assistant, 20 hours a week at $17 an hour, but this is not at all pharmacy related. It will however, be leadership skills, as I am supervising a staff of about 60 people.

The building I'm working in is right next to the building my classes are in, so commute is not an issue.

My question to everyone is wondering if this is doable/worth it/a waste of time? I'm stressing about all the negative comments I've read about working during your P1 year.😱

Any advice or stories of a similar experience would be much appreciated!

I wouldn't commit to that type of hour load until you are settled into school.

 

[ChicagoPharmD]

I agree with above. For some people, that is no problem. For others, way too much. Almost impossible to know where you fall in the spectrum until you are there.

As far as the job being non-pharm, I think it would still look good on your CV if you decide it will work for you. Certainly not a waste of time.

 

[sweetage123]

Is there anyone on this forum that has worked 20ish hours a week during pharmacy school and cares to comment on how that worked for you? As far as studying and staying involved and such?

Thanks!

 

[rph3664]

I did, but that was 20 years ago. For most of the time I was in pharmacy school, I worked at a restaurant, and the whole time, there were NO pharmacy students employed there at all. When I started, there was a woman who failed a P1 class and decided it wasn't worth it, but she left that job shortly afterwards because she'd obtained her bachelor's degree (don't remember in what) and got a "real" job. She told me, "Get out now while you still have brain cells" but I didn't, and even though I have made the decision in recent months to do something else, I have no regrets.

 

[Notecard]

Is there anyone on this forum that has worked 20ish hours a week during pharmacy school and cares to comment on how that worked for you? As far as studying and staying involved and such?

Thanks!

I work ~30 hours a week and it's not bad. My GPA remained exactly the same as it did in undergrad but I can't say I was as involved as some of the other people in my class. Not to say I don't have free time, I'd just rather spend it having fun than being super involved. I still volunteer for some random school stuff and I'm in APhA and one fraternity but I'm not exactly the best member lol.

Don't forget that everyone is different. I work 30 hours a week no problem but I know some who have trouble working 8 and some who would never consider anything extra to pharm school. I'd say if you worked a similar amount in undergrad and didn't kill yourself then go for it.

 

[Rx MPLS]

Is there anyone on this forum that has worked 20ish hours a week during pharmacy school and cares to comment on how that worked for you? As far as studying and staying involved and such?

Thanks!

I know people who do this. Some of them can balance it -- they still do well in classes and work hard, but they have to cut somewhere. Usually friends, family, and activities are what gets cut.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Is there anyone on this forum that has worked 20ish hours a week during pharmacy school and cares to comment on how that worked for you? As far as studying and staying involved and such?

Thanks!

In reality its quite doable, just comes down to how disciplined you are. I worked a retail + hospital internship, 8 and 10 hours shifts, alternating weekends + ocassional holes during week evenings. Kept a 3.8 GPA. Was active in 3 orgs, but only chaired one event since work fell on weekends.

P1 was party time! The classes were largely a review of undergrad stuff, so lots of hanging out with buddies, drinking, clubbing, met my future wife, good times. Then P2 hit, getting those A's actually took effort, and then hospital internship came along, the weekend partying pretty much never happened again. It was going classroom to studying at Barns & Nobel until 11 pm every weekday and working on the weekends, do some org activity on weeks that doesn't have more than 1 tests. Social life does suffer, but my future wife moved in with me after P2 and wasn't going to let me go out to meet more girls anyway.

Worked out great for me. Work paid all living expenses, the hospital internship experience was key in getting the residency later.

 

[joetrisman]

Working during school sucks. Like literally, I feel like I've had my soul sucked out of me. Plus the more you work, the more likely you'll miss out on extracurriculars, the related exposure, the service awards associated with, and the scholarships associated with. I have three current internships on my CV, but the only awards I have are dean's list 😳

 

[owlegrad]

Working during school sucks. Like literally, I feel like I've had my soul sucked out of me. Plus the more you work, the more likely you'll miss out on extracurriculars, the related exposure, the service awards associated with, and the scholarships associated with. I have three current internships on my CV, but the only awards I have are dean's list 😳

Interesting. My experience with working was different - I enjoyed it very much. I took it pretty easy during my first two years though during school sessions, so that could explain some of the differences.

I would way heavy experience>most awards, but I could be way off base.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Interesting. My experience with working was different - I enjoyed it very much. I took it pretty easy during my first two years though during school sessions, so that could explain some of the differences.

I would way heavy experience>most awards, but I could be way off base.

Also I don't think work hurt merit based scholarships, if anything it probably helped. Our COP dulled out scholarship using an uniform application, and gave me between $2500 to $4000 each year. Just another reason to keep that GPA up besides for residency. Although the internship money may hurt need based grants.

 

[joetrisman]

Interesting. My experience with working was different - I enjoyed it very much. I took it pretty easy during my first two years though during school sessions, so that could explain some of the differences.

I would way heavy experience>most awards, but I could be way off base.

I think its really hard to compare my experience to most other pharm students with mine being a 3yr accelerated year around program. I hope you're right with heavy experience > most awards 👍

Also I don't think work hurt merit based scholarships, if anything it probably helped. Our COP dulled out scholarship using an uniform application, and gave me between $2500 to $4000 each year. Just another reason to keep that GPA up besides for residency. Although the internship money may hurt need based grants.

I've got a 3.8 so gpa isn't an issue. Its just being involved with a lot of the orgs gives you the face time and experiences with people that have an impact on awards and scholarships, or at least at my school it seems that way. In any event, I'm betting the farm on other things that I think might be more unique than org involvement and are more up my alley.

 

[Notecard]

A prerequisite for almost all of our scholarships is that we demonstrate need. If I worked enough to not take out any loans this next semester does that mean I won't get any of them? I'm wondering if I should just take the loan and pay it off instantly

 

[Ackj]

I've searched a few of these threads, and most of the questions about job experience refer to working in a pharmacy while going to school.

I've been offered a position as a graduate hourly office assistant, 20 hours a week at $17 an hour, but this is not at all pharmacy related. It will however, be leadership skills, as I am supervising a staff of about 60 people.

The building I'm working in is right next to the building my classes are in, so commute is not an issue.

My question to everyone is wondering if this is doable/worth it/a waste of time? I'm stressing about all the negative comments I've read about working during your P1 year.😱

Any advice or stories of a similar experience would be much appreciated!

P1 year I worked at a restaurant because I was not yet an intern and couldn't find a tech job. I put in a lot of hours because, as xiphoid said, it wasn't too tough P1 year. P2 I got a retail internship and only worked the weekend. Keep in mind that the job you're talking about is paying better than most tech/intern jobs. I have a classmate who is a waitress because she can work just friday and saturday night and make double-triple what interns make and work far fewer hours than us. However, she won't have the work experience for a resume, and may not see some of the work-related scenarios.

 

[sweetage123]

Thanks everyone! These replies were very helpful. I'm a pretty hard worker, so I think I'm gonna go for it knowing that I can always quit if it becomes too much 🙂

 

[njac]

Is there anyone on this forum that has worked 20ish hours a week during pharmacy school and cares to comment on how that worked for you? As far as studying and staying involved and such?

Thanks!

I did, but it was in a hospital pharmacy so I did a ton of pharmacy learning while I was there.

 

[samisab786]

I've searched a few of these threads, and most of the questions about job experience refer to working in a pharmacy while going to school.

I've been offered a position as a graduate hourly office assistant, 20 hours a week at $17 an hour, but this is not at all pharmacy related. It will however, be leadership skills, as I am supervising a staff of about 60 people.

The building I'm working in is right next to the building my classes are in, so commute is not an issue.

My question to everyone is wondering if this is doable/worth it/a waste of time? I'm stressing about all the negative comments I've read about working during your P1 year.😱

Any advice or stories of a similar experience would be much appreciated!

I don't have a pharmacy job because I can't find one. If you can find a pharmacy job, then by all means, please pursue it as I personally think it will help you immensely. Doing well in pharmacy school is key, but having experience seems to matter too. Almost all my friends have pharmacy jobs and while I may be doing better than them academically, they also seem to have a BIG advantage at securing a job in the future. Grades only mean so much. We actually had a pharmacy manager from CVS come in and say that, as a C average student himself, if he sees that you have a high GPA but not much experiential activity, then he won't see you as a "practical worker". Which sucks for me lol.

Otherwise, I started working on-campus in my P2 year at the Women's Center, where I also live, residentially. It gave me leadership experience too and I was able to represent them via a paid trip to a Women's Leadership conference in DC, which I enjoyed a lot. If you can't find a pharmacy job, but have another job, that is also great. I would go for it. Yeah, your coursework gets heavy, so you have to find a balance between that and your pharmacy work, but I know people who manage. I know another girl who didn't have a car or transportation, so I think she had very little experience working in a pharmacy off-campus, but she worked on campus at the main desk at the Student Union and was involved in a bunch of other things; it seems like she has a lot of leadership skills to back her up for a lack of a job related to pharmacy.

 

[Rx MPLS]

Does student leadership actually count for anything in the real world (do employers care?)?

Students often seem to think the lack of pharmacy job experience can be negated with leadership experience while in school, but I wonder if that's the case.

If you can't find a pharmacy job, then you can't find a pharmacy job, but I just wonder if leadership experience will really matter that much in the end.

 

[sweetage123]

Does student leadership actually count for anything in the real world (do employers care?)?

Students often seem to think the lack of pharmacy job experience can be negated with leadership experience while in school, but I wonder if that's the case.

If you can't find a pharmacy job, then you can't find a pharmacy job, but I just wonder if leadership experience will really matter that much in the end.

That's what I'm wondering as well. Like in applying for jobs, would they rather have the guy that stuck with his pharm tech job through school, but didn't shine much elsewhere, or the guy that worked outside of pharmacy, but had supervisory experience and participated in organizations?

How much does actual work experience weigh into the decision when looking at the applicant as a whole?

 

[Sparda29]

Does student leadership actually count for anything in the real world (do employers care?)?

Students often seem to think the lack of pharmacy job experience can be negated with leadership experience while in school, but I wonder if that's the case.

If you can't find a pharmacy job, then you can't find a pharmacy job, but I just wonder if leadership experience will really matter that much in the end.

I doubt it. Other than the networking, I don't see the kids who win those national awards at APhA/ASHP getting anything better than the kids who have paid internships at their pharmacies.

 

[Rx MPLS]

I doubt it. Other than the networking, I don't see the kids who win those national awards at APhA/ASHP getting anything better than the kids who have paid internships at their pharmacies.

It's not like I don't think leadership is important. It is, for yourself and for the profession, over the long-term. I just have my doubts as to whether it would help a new grad obtain a job.

 

[CYP3A4]

I worked 20-24 hours a week during pharmacy school as a microbiologist (Medical Technologist). that is what my BS was for and there was no way I was going to give up a job paying me $25/hr to be a pharmacy technician. Besides, although the pay isn't as glamorous, MT is a health care, college degree profession. I wasn't about to throw that away. In the end that experience helped me land a hospital pharmacist position without doing a residency. Working those hours did require alot of discipline. I reduced my hours my P4 year during my extremely difficult rotations (ICU). Then I worked only 16 hours.Good luck!

 

[SeekerofTruth]

How does being a general chemistry TA look for a CV? Also undergrad research in organic chemistry? Are these two useless to put on a CV?

 

[cycloketocaine]

How does being a general chemistry TA look for a CV? Also undergrad research in organic chemistry? Are these two useless to put on a CV?

No.