Would love some advice, pretty please...

[Kitt Lee]

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Hi, I'm planning on applying for pharmacy school but I have a few questions that I should have figured out long time ago. I'm so stressed out and can't breathe sometimes because I'm also taking two intensive summer classes which I'm close to be failing. I would really appreciate any helps!

1. Differences between retail and hospital pharmacist. How are they jobs descriptions different, pros and cons?

2. What do pharmacy schools actually teach, what should I be expecting?

3. If I take 16 credits of classes for the next two semesters, I'll get a bachelor's degree in spring 2017. I was told when you get a doctorate degree of pharmacy, no one cares about you bachelor's degree......is it true...?

Thanks in advance for any advice! 😉

 

[lane one]

1. Differences between retail and hospital pharmacist. How are they jobs descriptions different, pros and cons?

I could type pages about the differences but I'll keep it short. Retail is mainly about catering to customers to keep them happy, while meeting the demands of your employer without adequate resources. The hours and working conditions are the worst in the industry, but the money is better than hospital and the jobs are more plentiful. I believe something like 70% of pharmacist jobs are in the retail sector.

Hospital pharmacists jobs vary a great deal depending on your institution and how much training you have. Staff pharmacists (terminology may vary) mainly verify orders, answer questions from nurses and supervise dispensing in the pharmacy. Some places will have pharmacists on the floors, so your duties are the same minus the supervising technicians portion. Clinical specialists round and do mostly clinical work without any dispensing. These jobs require 2 years of residency, are incredibly competitive and don't really pay any more than the staff pharmacist in the basement. Either way, the working conditions are far superior to retail and many people feel like working in a hospital is more cerebral and rewarding than dispensing in retail.

2. What do pharmacy schools actually teach, what should I be expecting?

My pharmacy school was 90% BS and 10% useful information, packaged into a doctorate program to scam you out of every last dime. I would estimate 50% of my knowledge was gained through 4th year clerkship, and 25% post-grad, meaning the first 3 years are nearly pointless. Some people on here will tell you pharmacy school is easy, but its not. The course load can be overwhelming. The material wasn't difficult for me, but the volume of information is staggering.

3. If I take 16 credits of classes for the next two semesters, I'll get a bachelor's degree in spring 2017. I was told when you get a doctorate degree of pharmacy, no one cares about you bachelor's degree......is it true...?

True. Unless you're planning on attending a dual degree program for MBA or other masters certificate then prior degrees do not matter. Possibly help your chances of admission, but with all the schools opening up you should be able to slide right in.

Now brace yourself because everyone on this forum will try to talk you out of going to pharmacy school, and for good reason. The job market is bad and getting worse. By the time you graduate, you may not even be able to get a full-time position right away. I don't regret my decision to become a pharmacist like some people on this forum, but I absolutely WOULD NOT do it again if I had to start right now. Pharmacy school costs too much, there is no salary growth and there are simply too many pharmacists already. This gives employers all the power. Search the forums for "CVS" and you'll see the result...

 

[PAtoPharm]

1. Differences between retail and hospital pharmacist. How are they jobs descriptions different, pros and cons?

I could type pages about the differences but I'll keep it short. Retail is mainly about catering to customers to keep them happy, while meeting the demands of your employer without adequate resources. The hours and working conditions are the worst in the industry, but the money is better than hospital and the jobs are more plentiful. I believe something like 70% of pharmacist jobs are in the retail sector.

Hospital pharmacists jobs vary a great deal depending on your institution and how much training you have. Staff pharmacists (terminology may vary) mainly verify orders, answer questions from nurses and supervise dispensing in the pharmacy. Some places will have pharmacists on the floors, so your duties are the same minus the supervising technicians portion. Clinical specialists round and do mostly clinical work without any dispensing. These jobs require 2 years of residency, are incredibly competitive and don't really pay any more than the staff pharmacist in the basement. Either way, the working conditions are far superior to retail and many people feel like working in a hospital is more cerebral and rewarding than dispensing in retail.

2. What do pharmacy schools actually teach, what should I be expecting?

My pharmacy school was 90% BS and 10% useful information, packaged into a doctorate program to scam you out of every last dime. I would estimate 50% of my knowledge was gained through 4th year clerkship, and 25% post-grad, meaning the first 3 years are nearly pointless. Some people on here will tell you pharmacy school is easy, but its not. The course load can be overwhelming. The material wasn't difficult for me, but the volume of information is staggering.

3. If I take 16 credits of classes for the next two semesters, I'll get a bachelor's degree in spring 2017. I was told when you get a doctorate degree of pharmacy, no one cares about you bachelor's degree......is it true...?

True. Unless you're planning on attending a dual degree program for MBA or other masters certificate then prior degrees do not matter. Possibly help your chances of admission, but with all the schools opening up you should be able to slide right in.

Now brace yourself because everyone on this forum will try to talk you out of going to pharmacy school, and for good reason. The job market is bad and getting worse. By the time you graduate, you may not even be able to get a full-time position right away. I don't regret my decision to become a pharmacist like some people on this forum, but I absolutely WOULD NOT do it again if I had to start right now. Pharmacy school costs too much, there is no salary growth and there are simply too many pharmacists already. This gives employers all the power. Search the forums for "CVS" and you'll see the result...

Great post; when you mentioned the volume of information you had to learn in pharmacy school being staggering, could you provide a bit more info about that? Is it the same volume of material a medical student would cover and be expected to memorize?

Also, when you mention there being no salary growth, don't pharmacists get annual raises in both the retail and hospital settings?

 

[lane one]

Great post; when you mentioned the volume of information you had to learn in pharmacy school being staggering, could you provide a bit more info about that? Is it the same volume of material a medical student would cover and be expected to memorize?

Its like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. Most of the material moves so quickly that you really don't have time to comprehend it until you see it all again on rotations. I've never been to medical school but yes I think the didactic portion is probably similar to medical school. Medical students of course do more "clinical things" on top of the didactic work.

Also, when you mention there being no salary growth, don't pharmacists get annual raises in both the retail and hospital settings?

Yes salaries typically grow with inflation. What I mean by no growth potential is that pharmacists do not continually get raises based on performance. Engineers for example may start Engineer I at 50k per year, but may move up to Engineer III making 80-90k within 5 years of graduating. That growth doesn't exist in pharmacy. There is no Pharmacist I,II and III. You start where you start and you gain slowly to keep up with inflation. There is no incentive for companies to pay talent to keep them around because they can be replaced by younger, cheaper labor.

 

[Humble Sloth]

Its like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. Most of the material moves so quickly that you really don't have time to comprehend it until you see it all again on rotations. I've never been to medical school but yes I think the didactic portion is probably similar to medical school. Medical students of course do more "clinical things" on top of the didactic work.



Yes salaries typically grow with inflation. What I mean by no growth potential is that pharmacists do not continually get raises based on performance. Engineers for example may start Engineer I at 50k per year, but may move up to Engineer III making 80-90k within 5 years of graduating. That growth doesn't exist in pharmacy. There is no Pharmacist I,II and III. You start where you start and you gain slowly to keep up with inflation. There is no incentive for companies to pay talent to keep them around because they can be replaced by younger, cheaper labor.

It goes engineer > Senior engineer> Principal engineer > manager > Director > Vice prez > senior vice prez

Pharmacy goes

Pharmacist > PIC > regional director

or

Pharmacist > independent pharmacist owner

 

[zelman]

Physicians are presented with a lot more content than pharmacists. They learn every "-'s sign" and "-'s syndrome" named after the person who discovered it. We learn that every "-olol" or "-pril" is mostly the same within their class. They also learn A&P while my school only teaches P.

 

[mentos]

Great post; when you mentioned the volume of information you had to learn in pharmacy school being staggering, could you provide a bit more info about that? Is it the same volume of material a medical student would cover and be expected to memorize?

Also, when you mention there being no salary growth, don't pharmacists get annual raises in both the retail and hospital settings?

Volume: There were usually at least 2 major exams every other week, scheduled two days apart. So say a Monday and a Wednesday. Each exam consisted of six 2-hour lectures. Do you spend the week before studying for Monday exam, then cram for Wednesday exam on Monday night (after being exhausted from Exam 1) and Tuesday? The thing is, before you even get to exam day they would move onto material for the following exam. So you can either try to absorb the new material and risk forgetting stuff for tomorrow's exam, or skip class to study for the current exam and learn today's stuff later. You're constantly behind. I guess in a way this prepares you for retail where you will be constantly behind due to lack of adequate help. That's just one example with 2 classes, now imagine that with 4-6 classes that you'll have all at once. Throw in some BS assignments like group projects and journal clubs due in-between exams days and it gets pretty ridiculous.

No salary growth: The standard raise is 2% now at CVS. That is less than inflation I think. Everyone in my district go the same raise, regardless of performance. So the slow lazy people got the same as the hardworking, fast people who bust ass and clean up their mess. It kinda feels like socialism. Some people got higher bonuses based on the stores's scores but the difference is negligible.

 

[Sine Cura]

Get a retail pharmacy job and see if you can handle the "stress"

 

[ldiot]

Great post; when you mentioned the volume of information you had to learn in pharmacy school being staggering, could you provide a bit more info about that? Is it the same volume of material a medical student would cover and be expected to memorize?

Also, when you mention there being no salary growth, don't pharmacists get annual raises in both the retail and hospital settings?

Most of my classes in my first year of pharmacy school were taken with med students, including biochemistry, physiology, immunology, and neurology. Sometimes they have dental/grad students in classes too. For me it was obviously the same volume as med school because we were in the same classes. The material is easy, it just requires a lot of time to get through it all and keep up because there is a lot of volume. The actual material, in my opinion, is much easier than the upper level science classes that I took in undergrad, there is just 5x more of it. To be fair I went through a very tough undergrad while some of my classmates graduated from joke schools with a 4.0 so it's hard for me to describe/compare the difficulty level.

In all though pharmacy school is not as difficult as people make it out to be, it's easier than I expected, but at the same time it can seem overwhelming due to volume.

Look at it this way; you don't have to be smart to memorize a phone book, you just have to put in time and effort. Medical and pharmacy school, to a large extent, is like memorizing a phone book. Easy but time consuming.

And regarding you last question from my experience pharmacists get yearly raises and bonuses depending on performance (at least in retail). An average pharmacist will at least get enough of a raise to match inflation.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Your goal for retail is to get a store that does around 300 to 400 never more but less is fine. If you do more you will not be able to interact with customers as much as you want which should be the reason you go into pharmacy, to help others.

If you do less you will end up being bored especially on weekends and at night.

Your typical "staff hospital pharmacist" who sits in a basement and stares at a computer is exactly for that type of person, one who doesn't want to interact with people and the day goes by slow. That is the big difference between the two whether or not you want to directly help people. People that complain about retail are those stuck in these huge script stores.

The goal for everyone should be to get these "clinical" positions since they truly use what you are trained to do.

 

[Kitt Lee]

1. Differences between retail and hospital pharmacist. How are they jobs descriptions different, pros and cons?

I could type pages about the differences but I'll keep it short. Retail is mainly about catering to customers to keep them happy, while meeting the demands of your employer without adequate resources. The hours and working conditions are the worst in the industry, but the money is better than hospital and the jobs are more plentiful. I believe something like 70% of pharmacist jobs are in the retail sector.

Hospital pharmacists jobs vary a great deal depending on your institution and how much training you have. Staff pharmacists (terminology may vary) mainly verify orders, answer questions from nurses and supervise dispensing in the pharmacy. Some places will have pharmacists on the floors, so your duties are the same minus the supervising technicians portion. Clinical specialists round and do mostly clinical work without any dispensing. These jobs require 2 years of residency, are incredibly competitive and don't really pay any more than the staff pharmacist in the basement. Either way, the working conditions are far superior to retail and many people feel like working in a hospital is more cerebral and rewarding than dispensing in retail.

2. What do pharmacy schools actually teach, what should I be expecting?

My pharmacy school was 90% BS and 10% useful information, packaged into a doctorate program to scam you out of every last dime. I would estimate 50% of my knowledge was gained through 4th year clerkship, and 25% post-grad, meaning the first 3 years are nearly pointless. Some people on here will tell you pharmacy school is easy, but its not. The course load can be overwhelming. The material wasn't difficult for me, but the volume of information is staggering.

3. If I take 16 credits of classes for the next two semesters, I'll get a bachelor's degree in spring 2017. I was told when you get a doctorate degree of pharmacy, no one cares about you bachelor's degree......is it true...?

True. Unless you're planning on attending a dual degree program for MBA or other masters certificate then prior degrees do not matter. Possibly help your chances of admission, but with all the schools opening up you should be able to slide right in.

Now brace yourself because everyone on this forum will try to talk you out of going to pharmacy school, and for good reason. The job market is bad and getting worse. By the time you graduate, you may not even be able to get a full-time position right away. I don't regret my decision to become a pharmacist like some people on this forum, but I absolutely WOULD NOT do it again if I had to start right now. Pharmacy school costs too much, there is no salary growth and there are simply too many pharmacists already. This gives employers all the power. Search the forums for "CVS" and you'll see the result...

Thank you very much for the comment! It's very helpful!