Yes, I listened, and chose to opt out of Pharmacy and switch to Dental

[Slueman33]

Hi,

I've been an avid lurker of pharmacy forums on Reddit and SDN. I'll be completely upfront, I am that below-average 2.75GPA student who is not competitive enough for dental or med, does not want to work corporate entry-level lifestyle, and chose pharmacy. Now I am in a worse spot than most, I have public undergrad student loans, I am 23, and without a degree (I switched from Healthcare management to Bio and didnt do too hot in those prereqs, currently retaking them)

Now I am a family of healthcare, mostly physicians. The physicians of my family knew damn well I would not be competitive enough for med so they advocated Pharmacy from the get-go when I decided I did not want the corporate healthcare lifestyle, but something more professional. I was promised financial freedom. I was promised a high paying salary, a stable job, and a good work environment.

All it took was landing a retail pharmacy technician job for me to realize that this career HAS to be in some sort of a bubble (I am fascinated by markets and seem to draw a lot of parallels with the pharmacy profession, but they are just theories obviously) My PIC is such a sweet guy, but yeah you can tell he is miserable, even though he tries to play it off as the "simple guy" who doesn't care about money anyway. My staff rph is ten years out and without hesitation tells me pharmacy was the worst decision of her life. But just like many of the pre pharmers I am currently in Orgo and other prereq classes with, the denial is REAL. There is no convincing them. Hell, I thought there was no convincing me. When you go to these forums, it seems obvious that this profession is in "max fear" and a blow-off top is coming. That's why any average pre pharmer would believe the "market will correct itself" and the pharmacy profession is still bullish.

But I am not gonna lie. You seasoned pharmacists put up a HELL of an argument. Backed up with undeniable evidence, and convincing anecdotes. My parents still think I am going to be a pharmacist, but I realized all they REALLY care about is me getting accepted to a pharmacy school, so they are assured I am capable of something. Hopefully getting accepted at this point won't be too difficult but after that point is when I will tell them I switched paths a year ago, and have been shadowing a GP Dentist every M,W, and F, and absolutely love it.

Yeah yeah, I'm not competitive enough for dental. Anyone can tell me that, but it won't stop me. I'll take my chances with the DSO take over and all that stuff. When I talk to my dentist, he tells me straight up it's going to be hard as @#^# to get in to dental but might be worth it for me, no guarantees. My PIC sugar coats **** and says "SDN is all trolls" and Pharmacy will be fine. So I took it to the internet to get my advice, and yeah you all convinced me. I am not sure if I will make it into dental school, I pray I do, but one thing I am confident about is pharmacy school is NOT the answer to my current situation.

Special S/O to Pharmacy is a Scam, mentos, stoicheomotrist, BC 89 and others for the relentless posts about dissuading a pre pharmer like myself. I will never know your true intentions as you might be protecting your profession for all I know, but I will take my chances since I don't wanna push pills for CVS anyways.

For the pre pharmers, I know nothing will convince you, you are all in denial, so this post is not for you.

That's it, I will update you all later on my path if this post gets any views.


Thanks again!

 

[BC_89]

Food for thought:

Instead of swaying all your endeavors from one career scope straight to the next, why don't you shadow more professions and get a broad scope of other jobs that may take your interest? Healthcare doesn't have to be one of them. Although not as uptight as the job lay-out as pharmacy, dentists still have their own struggles and battles when it comes to independently own lots or work under corporate / another owner with schedule shifts.

If not for my own mental / physical rehabilitations from military to now (almost at 100%) , I would have enjoyed being a welder from my youth or petroleum engineer. It's never a one career or bust. None of us in undergrad really knew what we "wanted-to-be-when-we-grow-up" (for the most part).

If anything can be taken from your post though, its the importance of shadowing. Glad you got out before it was too late. Tolerance is worth more than a paycheck (that is until you get closer to 8 figures instead of 7....so I hear....)

 

[Slueman33]

Food for thought:

Instead of swaying all your endeavors from one career scope straight to the next, why don't you shadow more professions and get a broad scope of other jobs that may take your interest? Healthcare doesn't have to be one of them. Although not as uptight as the job lay-out as pharmacy, dentists still have their own struggles and battles when it comes to independently own lots or work under corporate / another owner with schedule shifts.

If not for my own mental / physical rehabilitations from military to now (almost at 100%) , I would have enjoyed being a welder from my youth or petroleum engineer. It's never a one career or bust. None of us in undergrad really knew what we "wanted-to-be-when-we-grow-up" (for the most part).

If anything can be taken from your post though, its the importance of shadowing. Glad you got out before it was too late. Tolerance is worth more than a paycheck (that is until you get closer to 8 figures instead of 7....so I hear....)

Like I mentioned, I come from a family of healthcare. It has been ingrained into me that getting paid to help others is the most rewarding thing you can do. I do have other interests, and try my best to take up as much opportunities as possible (I just got a decent sales gig).

Anyways, I had to edit my post to include you on my honorable mentions list, you DEFINITELY played a large role in presenting the evidence for me. Thank you for your service on these forums and off!

 

[BC_89]

Like I mentioned, I come from a family of healthcare. It has been ingrained into me that getting paid to help others is the most rewarding thing you can do. I do have other interests, and try my best to take up as much opportunities as possible (I just got a decent sales gig).

As long as you keep options open and keep shadowing, you'll thank yourself in the long-run. Most other health-fields pay good, just get it at the right cost with student loans. I always say I am an outlier and truth be told if I was in a situation that required a lot of debt I would pass healthcare up and do other endeavors.

Based on your situation I agree that you made the right choice concerning pharmacy.

 

[mentos]

I'm glad you see the light. I wish you luck!

 

[AM77]

I think a career in dentistry is better than pharmacy if that’s what you want to do. Dentists get paid better than pharmacists and have almost the same amount of schooling. Plus they have more flexibility. They can go on vacations. They don’t have to close the clinic at 9pm. They don’t have to worry about pharmacy break ins like we do.
You might also want to look into dental hygiene as well. Keep your options opened. At the dentist I go to, he and everyone at the clinic always appeared happy and loved what they’re doing. As for me and my pharmacy friends, we always complain about our careers whenever we meet up. We’re also thinking about side jobs and completely different business ventures once we pay off our loans.

 

[Lubeckd]

I think a career in dentistry is better than pharmacy if that’s what you want to do. Dentists get paid better than pharmacists and have almost the same amount of schooling. Plus they have more flexibility. They can go on vacations. They don’t have to close the clinic at 9pm. They don’t have to worry about pharmacy break ins like we do.
You might also want to look into dental hygiene as well. Keep your options opened. At the dentist I go to, he and everyone at the clinic always appeared happy and loved what they’re doing. As for me and my pharmacy friends, we always complain about our careers whenever we meet up. We’re also thinking about side jobs and completely different business ventures once we pay off our loans.

Paid off my loans. I'm doing exactly that

 

[DIPEA]

dentistry is bad, and pharmacy is worse.
dental school is more expensive than medical, and pay is generally less. it is common to see fresh DDS graduating with half a million student loan debt.

by the end of day, it's a trade-off between earning potential vs amount of student loan debt. if you can get into some of the cheapest pharmacy schools, you may still fare much better than dentists with 500k debt. if you can't, then go with whatever works for you.

bottom line: all healthcare professions in general just suck, including medicine. physicians in primary care complain about their jobs too. getting the degree as cheap as possible should always be your top priority. if you can choose between getting a pharmd with 40k vs a dds with 500k, pharmacy may still be the far better choice.

 

[mentos]

dentistry is bad, and pharmacy is worse.
dental school is more expensive than medical, and pay is generally less. it is common to see fresh DDS graduating with half a million student loan debt.

by the end of day, it's a trade-off between earning potential vs amount of student loan debt. if you can get into some of the cheapest pharmacy schools, you may still fare much better than dentists with 500k debt. if you can't, then go with whatever works for you.

bottom line: all healthcare professions in general just suck, including medicine. physicians in primary care complain about their jobs too. getting the degree as cheap as possible should always be your top priority. if you can choose between getting a pharmd with 40k vs a dds with 500k, pharmacy may still be the far better choice.

Wow which school gives pharmD for 40k? That's cheaper than an undergrad degree at a state school.

 

[DIPEA]

Wow which school gives pharmD for 40k? That's cheaper than an undergrad degree at a state school.

actually many cheap & extremely cheap pharmacy schools, including some highly reputable ones~

Florida A&M Annual in-state tuition: $5,161
Skaggs School of Pharmacy, University of Montana Annual in-state tuition: $5,182
Texas A&M University Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $7,632
University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $11,998
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $13,455
University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $15,198
University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,794
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University Annual in-state tuition: $13,741
Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Annual in-state tuition: $15,467
University of Toledo College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Annual in-state tuition: $8,052
South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions Annual in-state tuition: $9,432
North Dakota State University School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,380
Idaho State University College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $17,900
University of Georgia College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,310
University of North Texas College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $14,480
James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati Annual in-state tuition $17,600
Marshall University School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $18,402
University of Houston College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $18,662
University of South Florida College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,610
University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $12,002

A lot of these schools also located in a low COL area. With the right budgeting, part-time jobs and maybe some parental support, grads from these schools should have very manageable debt levels.

 

[mentos]

actually many cheap & extremely cheap pharmacy schools, including some highly reputable ones~

Florida A&M Annual in-state tuition: $5,161
Skaggs School of Pharmacy, University of Montana Annual in-state tuition: $5,182
Texas A&M University Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $7,632
University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $11,998
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $13,455
University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $15,198
University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,794
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University Annual in-state tuition: $13,741
Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Annual in-state tuition: $15,467
University of Toledo College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Annual in-state tuition: $8,052
South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions Annual in-state tuition: $9,432
North Dakota State University School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,380
Idaho State University College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $17,900
University of Georgia College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,310
University of North Texas College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $14,480
James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati Annual in-state tuition $17,600
Marshall University School of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $18,402
University of Houston College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $18,662
University of South Florida College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $16,610
University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy Annual in-state tuition: $12,002

A lot of these schools also located in a low COL area. With the right budgeting, part-time jobs and maybe some parental support, grads from these schools should have very manageable debt levels.

Nice list, though I imagine only the first two would be under 40k after "fees".

 

[DIPEA]

Nice list, though I imagine only the first two would be under 40k after "fees".

some scholarships + part-time jobs + grants + summer internships should keep cost under control easily. on average, these schools charge no more than 60-70k total after "fees", still considerably cheaper than many undergrads.

 

[Slueman33]

dentistry is bad, and pharmacy is worse.
dental school is more expensive than medical, and pay is generally less. it is common to see fresh DDS graduating with half a million student loan debt.

by the end of day, it's a trade-off between earning potential vs amount of student loan debt. if you can get into some of the cheapest pharmacy schools, you may still fare much better than dentists with 500k debt. if you can't, then go with whatever works for you.

bottom line: all healthcare professions in general just suck, including medicine. physicians in primary care complain about their jobs too. getting the degree as cheap as possible should always be your top priority. if you can choose between getting a pharmd with 40k vs a dds with 500k, pharmacy may still be the far better choice.

Yeah this makes sense -- except for the fact that learning about pills is alot lamer than helping people smile...lulz jk pharm school is gonna be 150k+ for me anyways. At this point I have realized every career exactly sucks, its more about what you think will make you the happiest. not sure I will be happy about being 500k in debt, BUT if I get anywhere near being close to being admitted into dental school, and it doesnt end up making sense financially, then I'll just take the PCAT and head that route as the back up

 

[DIPEA]

Yeah this makes sense -- except for the fact that learning about pills is alot lamer than helping people smile...lulz jk pharm school is gonna be 150k+ for me anyways. At this point I have realized every career exactly sucks, its more about what you think will make you the happiest. not sure I will be happy about being 500k in debt, BUT if I get anywhere near being close to being admitted into dental school, and it doesnt end up making sense financially, then I'll just take the PCAT and head that route as the back up

it really depends. drugs are clean and sometimes have to be sterile. dentists have to deal with nasty and smelly infected teeth everyday, and that can be a big turn off. I can't imagine myself cleaning someone's nasty teeth for a living for the rest of my life. but for a lot of dentists nowadays, they are trapped by massive student loan debt, and there is no way out other than drilling a lot of root canals.

that's why financial planning is so important. Plus, dentistry is also saturated in metro areas, so by the time you graduate, expect relocation to get the job.

bottom line: it really depends on what makes you happy. the sunk cost for a dentist is far greater than a pharmacist. if a dentist feels trapped and wants to switch career, it will be the worst case scenario financially. with limited debt load (if you can get into some of the cheap schools), a pharmacist still have the time and money to figure things out, get additional training if needed and go into some niche fields, like pharma/biotech, IT, consulting, insurance, drug supply vendors, and the emerging big data/AI health tech. But those opportunities won't be there for dentists. it's only gonna be root canals after root canals day in day out.

 

[Slueman33]

it really depends. drugs are clean and sometimes have to be sterile. dentists have to deal with nasty and smelly infected teeth everyday, and that can be a big turn off. I can't imagine myself cleaning someone's nasty teeth for a living for the rest of my life. but for a lot of dentists nowadays, they are trapped by massive student loan debt, and there is no way out other than drilling a lot of root canals.

that's why financial planning is so important. Plus, dentistry is also saturated in metro areas, so by the time you graduate, expect relocation to get the job.

bottom line: it really depends on what makes you happy. the sunk cost for a dentist is far greater than a pharmacist. if a dentist feels trapped and wants to switch career, it will be the worst-case scenario financially. with limited debt load (if you can get into some of the cheap schools), a pharmacist still have the time and money to figure things out and go into some niche fields, like pharma/biotech, IT, consulting, insurance, drug supply vendors, and the emerging big data/AI healthcare tech. But those opportunities won't be there for dentists. it's only gonna be root canals after root canals day in day out.

yeah, but 70% of the profession is retail. I worked retail past two, three years, hell I'm still employed by CVS as a cpht but tech hours got cut SO hard that only the full-timers there can fight for them, literally haven't been scheduled in at least two months. I guess it's nice that I can work other jobs and keep that on my resume for ****s and gigs.

anyways back to my main point. 3 out of 4 graduates will work retail sometime in their profession as a PharmD. that my friend is a number too high for my liking. not sure about you, but for me, working at a retail pharmacy, whether good conditions or bad, is one of the worst things in the world. I have had literal nightmares after an eight-hour shift. and all of the people there love me, I honestly am great with people, but the place can SUCK your soul.

I can just imagine it in my head "one pharmacy call, TWO pharmacy calls, THREE pharmacy calls...", "hi! pickup!? last name? first name? DOB? your prescription isn't ready sir, WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY PRESCRIPTION ISNT READY, I JUST GOT A TEXT SAYING IT WAS!!! **** OFF *peels out of the drive through*"...." FIVE pharmacy calls!!!"

haha ok yes i know every job has its drawbacks, but god that place is something else.

if getting a pharmD didnt entail a high percent of having to work community pharmacy, I would ATLEAST consider it, despite the current saturation.

 

[DIPEA]

yeah, but 70% of the profession is retail. I worked retail past two, three years, hell I'm still employed by CVS as a cpht but tech hours got cut SO hard that only the full-timers there can fight for them, literally haven't been scheduled in at least two months. I guess it's nice that I can work other jobs and keep that on my resume for ****s and gigs.

anyways back to my main point. 3 out of 4 graduates will work retail sometime in their profession as a PharmD. that my friend is a number too high for my liking. not sure about you, but for me, working at a retail pharmacy, whether good conditions or bad, is one of the worst things in the world. I have had literal nightmares after an eight-hour shift. and all of the people there love me, I honestly am great with people, but the place can SUCK your soul.

I can just imagine it in my head "one pharmacy call, TWO pharmacy calls, THREE pharmacy calls...", "hi! pickup!? last name? first name? DOB? your prescription isn't ready sir, WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY PRESCRIPTION ISNT READY, I JUST GOT A TEXT SAYING IT WAS!!! **** OFF *peels out of the drive through*"...." FIVE pharmacy calls!!!"

haha ok yes i know every job has its drawbacks, but god that place is something else.

if getting a pharmD didnt entail a high percent of having to work community pharmacy, I would ATLEAST consider it, despite the current saturation.

haha, I just finished all my retail rotations so those **** was still fresh. yeah, retail sucks so bad. I totally agree.

I am getting my pharmd very cheap, and I calculated my student loan debt two days ago, and I found I will graduate next year with only <30k federal student loan debt over last 4 years. And I will go after data science/computer science master degree, and graduate by late 2021 or early 2022, while working full-time.

I talked about those niche areas cuz I came from those niche fields before going to pharm school. people think they are niche, but in fact those areas have far more job opportunities and growth potential than retail right now. retail is just starting to crash.

anyways, my point is, do the due diligence and have a nice plan. but always keep the options open. you may like dentistry but it's gonna be totally different 10 years from now. the key is to keep debt load as low as possible so that you won't be trapped and feeling miserable doing whatever you chose, pharmacy or dentistry or medicine. they are all just jobs after all.

 

[Slueman33]

haha, I just finished all my retail rotations so those **** was still fresh. yeah, retail sucks so bad. I totally agree.

I am getting my pharmd very cheap, and I calculated my student loan debt two days ago, and I found I will graduate next year with only <30k federal student loan debt over last 4 years. And I will go after data science/computer science master degree, and graduate by late 2021 or early 2022, while working full-time.

I talked about those niche areas cuz I came from those niche fields before going to pharm school. people think they are niche, but in fact those areas have far more job opportunities and growth potential than retail right now. retail is just starting to crash.

anyways, my point is, do the due diligence and have a nice plan. but always keep the options open. you may like dentistry but it's gonna be totally different 10 years from now. the key is to keep debt load as low as possible so that you won't be trapped and feeling miserable doing whatever you chose, pharmacy or dentistry or medicine. they are all just jobs after all.

<30k debt makes you an outlier, so I would not even be participating in talking down pharmacy in any sense. I seriously find it hard to beleive that those niche roles require a pharmD, except for maybe MTM/consulting, but I do not know enough of about that field to even know its legit. I have a delusional P2 buddy who thinks hes going to skip retail and make 200k+ as a consultant, I mean i hope he does, but the odds dont seem likely, otherwise everyone would be doing it, no?. people in pharmacy school seem pretty oblivious from my experience.

And I do not beleive they are "just jobs". one, you give up a good part of your 20s to attend professional school. two, to spend another MAJORITY of your adult life (Assuming 40/hr work week) not enjoying what you do, day in and day out, is a bigger gamble than taking on large amounts of debt. when you love what you do, you will figure out a way to make it work. if that means IBR for 20 years and paying a massive tax bomb, then **** it, yolo lmao.

 

[DIPEA]

<30k debt makes you an outlier, so I would not even be participating in talking down pharmacy in any sense. I seriously find it hard to beleive that those niche roles require a pharmD, except for maybe MTM/consulting, but I do not know enough of about that field to even know its legit. I have a delusional P2 buddy who thinks hes going to skip retail and make 200k+ as a consultant, I mean i hope he does, but the odds dont seem likely, otherwise everyone would be doing it, no?. people in pharmacy school seem pretty oblivious from my experience.

And I do not beleive they are "just jobs". one, you give up a good part of your 20s to attend professional school. two, to spend another MAJORITY of your adult life (Assuming 40/hr work week) not enjoying what you do, day in and day out, is a bigger gamble than taking on large amounts of debt. when you love what you do, you will figure out a way to make it work. if that means IBR for 20 years and paying a massive tax bomb, then **** it, yolo lmao.

<30k debt makes you an outlier, so I would not even be participating in talking down pharmacy in any sense. I seriously find it hard to beleive that those niche roles require a pharmD, except for maybe MTM/consulting, but I do not know enough of about that field to even know its legit. I have a delusional P2 buddy who thinks hes going to skip retail and make 200k+ as a consultant, I mean i hope he does, but the odds dont seem likely, otherwise everyone would be doing it, no?. people in pharmacy school seem pretty oblivious from my experience.

And I do not beleive they are "just jobs". one, you give up a good part of your 20s to attend professional school. two, to spend another MAJORITY of your adult life (Assuming 40/hr work week) not enjoying what you do, day in and day out, is a bigger gamble than taking on large amounts of debt. when you love what you do, you will figure out a way to make it work. if that means IBR for 20 years and paying a massive tax bomb, then **** it, yolo lmao.

believe or not, a lot of big data/ai health tech and drug supply vendors want that pharmd with another quantitative degree for analytics roles. as data science matures, firms are searching for specialist data scientists, aka the unicorns.

 

[Slueman33]

DIPEA doesn't go to an accredited school. And he tried two years in a row to get in to pharmacy school. Don't listen to anything he says. He went pharmacy school at age 25 in 2016. He lies about everything. He is the last person who should be preaching like this. He is not a seasoned pharmacist of any kind. Make up your own mind and take any advice with a grain of salt from anyone that's not him.

yeah i wasnt planning on taking any advice from a pharmacy student period

 

[Slueman33]

i dont care man

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Hi,

I've been an avid lurker of pharmacy forums on Reddit and SDN. I'll be completely upfront, I am that below-average 2.75GPA student who is not competitive enough for dental or med, does not want to work corporate entry-level lifestyle, and chose pharmacy. Now I am in a worse spot than most, I have public undergrad student loans, I am 23, and without a degree (I switched from Healthcare management to Bio and didnt do too hot in those prereqs, currently retaking them)

Now I am a family of healthcare, mostly physicians. The physicians of my family knew damn well I would not be competitive enough for med so they advocated Pharmacy from the get-go when I decided I did not want the corporate healthcare lifestyle, but something more professional. I was promised financial freedom. I was promised a high paying salary, a stable job, and a good work environment.

All it took was landing a retail pharmacy technician job for me to realize that this career HAS to be in some sort of a bubble (I am fascinated by markets and seem to draw a lot of parallels with the pharmacy profession, but they are just theories obviously) My PIC is such a sweet guy, but yeah you can tell he is miserable, even though he tries to play it off as the "simple guy" who doesn't care about money anyway. My staff rph is ten years out and without hesitation tells me pharmacy was the worst decision of her life. But just like many of the pre pharmers I am currently in Orgo and other prereq classes with, the denial is REAL. There is no convincing them. Hell, I thought there was no convincing me. When you go to these forums, it seems obvious that this profession is in "max fear" and a blow-off top is coming. That's why any average pre pharmer would believe the "market will correct itself" and the pharmacy profession is still bullish.

But I am not gonna lie. You seasoned pharmacists put up a HELL of an argument. Backed up with undeniable evidence, and convincing anecdotes. My parents still think I am going to be a pharmacist, but I realized all they REALLY care about is me getting accepted to a pharmacy school, so they are assured I am capable of something. Hopefully getting accepted at this point won't be too difficult but after that point is when I will tell them I switched paths a year ago, and have been shadowing a GP Dentist every M,W, and F, and absolutely love it.

Yeah yeah, I'm not competitive enough for dental. Anyone can tell me that, but it won't stop me. I'll take my chances with the DSO take over and all that stuff. When I talk to my dentist, he tells me straight up it's going to be hard as @#^# to get in to dental but might be worth it for me, no guarantees. My PIC sugar coats **** and says "SDN is all trolls" and Pharmacy will be fine. So I took it to the internet to get my advice, and yeah you all convinced me. I am not sure if I will make it into dental school, I pray I do, but one thing I am confident about is pharmacy school is NOT the answer to my current situation.

Special S/O to Pharmacy is a Scam, mentos, stoicheomotrist, BC 89 and others for the relentless posts about dissuading a pre pharmer like myself. I will never know your true intentions as you might be protecting your profession for all I know, but I will take my chances since I don't wanna push pills for CVS anyways.

For the pre pharmers, I know nothing will convince you, you are all in denial, so this post is not for you.

That's it, I will update you all later on my path if this post gets any views.


Thanks again!

You know, they teach you that in order to mentally survive retail pharmacy, you have to dwell on the rare 1% of conversations with patients that are positive so that you won’t be worn down by the 99% of conversations you have that are negative every day.

It’s good to know that for every pre-pharm or pharmacy student naysayer about the “trolls” on this forum that there are people we are truly helping out.

Good luck with your pursuit of dental school, you won’t regret not pursuing pharmacy.

 

[Slueman33]

You know, they teach you that in order to mentally survive retail pharmacy, you have to dwell on the rare 1% of conversations with patients that are positive so that you won’t be worn down by the 99% of conversations you have that are negative every day.

It’s good to know that for every pre-pharm or pharmacy student naysayer about the “trolls” on this forum that there are people we are truly helping out.

Good luck with your pursuit of dental school, you won’t regret not pursuing pharmacy.

whats your story man? are you a pharmacist? pharmacy student? im pretty sure ive seen your name on reddit before, not sure if the same or not

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

whats your story man? are you a pharmacist? pharmacy student? im pretty sure ive seen your name on reddit before, not sure if the same or not

Yep same guy. Did all the cookie cutter things I was “supposed” to do as a pharmacy student. Found that once I made it to the top of the proverbial mountain that this profession isn’t what I thought I had signed up for. Was probably in denial up till that point because I was thinking that I “won’t be like the rest of them.” Oh how wrong I was.

 

[Allosteopath]

Mcpickle

As someone who lives in Canada, once you insinuated that his program was unaccredited is where you encouraged me to investigate for myself. Sure, if you're trying to claim that his program is not accredited by a US accrediting body, that's fantastic but also tremendously irrelevant. Most schools in Canada, including Pharmacy schools, are beholden to their own accrediting body, which is not to say they are "unaccredited" in the way in which you claim. Plus, are there not working pharmacists who hold Canadian degrees in the United States?

I'm not saying I know everything about DIPEA's life, story, or prerogatives, or even post history beyond finding out where he went to school. But your post must have taken a great deal of effort.

As a side note, the Pharmacy market in Canada is a bit different than the United States, particularly for those who graduate (where it is definitely cheaper for citizens) and work here, and can vary quite drastically provincially. Overall you make less, but you owe less, and it's not an absolutely measly living compared to the median.

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Mcpickle

As someone who lives in Canada, once you insinuated that his program was unaccredited is where you encouraged me to investigate for myself. Sure, if you're trying to claim that his program is not accredited by a US accrediting body, that's fantastic but also tremendously irrelevant. Most schools in Canada, including Pharmacy schools, are beholden to their own accrediting body, which is not to say they are "unaccredited" in the way in which you claim. Plus, are there not working pharmacists who hold Canadian degrees in the United States?

I'm not saying I know everything about DIPEA's life, story, or prerogatives, or even post history beyond finding out where he went to school. But your post must have taken a great deal of effort.

As a side note, the Pharmacy market in Canada is a bit different than the United States, particularly for those who graduate (where it is definitely cheaper for citizens) and work here, and can vary quite drastically provincially. Overall you make less, but you owe less, and it's not an absolutely measly living compared to the median.

If DIPEA goes to school in Canada then he is not qualified to give advice on the pharmacy job market in the U.S. Plain and simple.

 

[Allosteopath]

If DIPEA goes to school in Canada then he is not qualified to give advice on the pharmacy job market in the U.S. Plain and simple.

I didn't imply anything of the sort.

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

I didn't imply anything of the sort.

I wasn’t affirming or refuting what you said, I was just making a statement.

 

[Lubeckd]

Can we have a calm discussion?

 

[BC_89]

Specific users have been warned and put on a short lease. So much as another thread hijack with defaming another users point of view will result in an automatic ban to the account and IP address.

Absolutely ridiculous to hijack a persons current story for your own benefit of belittling someone else. Those involved have been warned

 

[Lubeckd]

Wow they are both on probation status. Guys keep it civil. seriously, no need to attack another person.

 

[Sine Cura]

I definitely do not have the energy nor interest anymore to comb other people's post history (typical Redditor thing to do) to discredit people, and I used to do that on video game forums (yep)

 

[JustFillIt]

Hi,

I've been an avid lurker of pharmacy forums on Reddit and SDN. I'll be completely upfront, I am that below-average 2.75GPA student who is not competitive enough for dental or med, does not want to work corporate entry-level lifestyle, and chose pharmacy. Now I am in a worse spot than most, I have public undergrad student loans, I am 23, and without a degree (I switched from Healthcare management to Bio and didnt do too hot in those prereqs, currently retaking them)

Now I am a family of healthcare, mostly physicians. The physicians of my family knew damn well I would not be competitive enough for med so they advocated Pharmacy from the get-go when I decided I did not want the corporate healthcare lifestyle, but something more professional. I was promised financial freedom. I was promised a high paying salary, a stable job, and a good work environment.

All it took was landing a retail pharmacy technician job for me to realize that this career HAS to be in some sort of a bubble (I am fascinated by markets and seem to draw a lot of parallels with the pharmacy profession, but they are just theories obviously) My PIC is such a sweet guy, but yeah you can tell he is miserable, even though he tries to play it off as the "simple guy" who doesn't care about money anyway. My staff rph is ten years out and without hesitation tells me pharmacy was the worst decision of her life. But just like many of the pre pharmers I am currently in Orgo and other prereq classes with, the denial is REAL. There is no convincing them. Hell, I thought there was no convincing me. When you go to these forums, it seems obvious that this profession is in "max fear" and a blow-off top is coming. That's why any average pre pharmer would believe the "market will correct itself" and the pharmacy profession is still bullish.

But I am not gonna lie. You seasoned pharmacists put up a HELL of an argument. Backed up with undeniable evidence, and convincing anecdotes. My parents still think I am going to be a pharmacist, but I realized all they REALLY care about is me getting accepted to a pharmacy school, so they are assured I am capable of something. Hopefully getting accepted at this point won't be too difficult but after that point is when I will tell them I switched paths a year ago, and have been shadowing a GP Dentist every M,W, and F, and absolutely love it.

Yeah yeah, I'm not competitive enough for dental. Anyone can tell me that, but it won't stop me. I'll take my chances with the DSO take over and all that stuff. When I talk to my dentist, he tells me straight up it's going to be hard as @#^# to get in to dental but might be worth it for me, no guarantees. My PIC sugar coats **** and says "SDN is all trolls" and Pharmacy will be fine. So I took it to the internet to get my advice, and yeah you all convinced me. I am not sure if I will make it into dental school, I pray I do, but one thing I am confident about is pharmacy school is NOT the answer to my current situation.

Special S/O to Pharmacy is a Scam, mentos, stoicheomotrist, BC 89 and others for the relentless posts about dissuading a pre pharmer like myself. I will never know your true intentions as you might be protecting your profession for all I know, but I will take my chances since I don't wanna push pills for CVS anyways.

For the pre pharmers, I know nothing will convince you, you are all in denial, so this post is not for you.

That's it, I will update you all later on my path if this post gets any views.


Thanks again!

Pre Pharmers: this is one point of view that you have just read.

I’m a pharmacist and every day I’m enjoying boats and hoes. That’s right - boats and hoes.

 

[Lubeckd]

Pre Pharmers: this is one point of view that you have just read.

I’m a pharmacist and every day I’m enjoying boats and hoes. That’s right - boats and hoes.

I did write what's your weekend plans? lol

 

[JustFillIt]

I did write what's your weekend plans? lol

This weekend? Let me check my schedule... oh yea - boats and hoes

 

[JustFillIt]

Now would be the perfect time for someone to chime in on the reducing quality of the pharmacist workforce

 

[JustFillIt]

A

 

[Allosteopath]

Now would be the perfect time for someone to chime in on the reducing quality of the pharmacist workforce

Oh yeah, good idea, the number of low-quality graduates these schools let in is insane, the market is saturated and you will be strapped with loans forever and you won't even be able to afford a pair of socks let alone a roof over your head.

 

[JustFillIt]

Oh yeah, good idea, the number of low-quality graduates these schools let in is insane, the market is saturated and you will be strapped with loans forever and you won't even be able to afford a pair of socks let alone a roof over your head.

Trust me bro - it’s all boats and hoes.

Lubeckd - you can join my boats and hoes party and write about it. I know how you like pharmacy writing.

 

[JustFillIt]

It’s like this:

 

[Slueman33]

this whole thread turned into something from r/pharmacy

i hate plebbit tbh

 

[JustFillIt]

this whole thread turned into something from r/pharmacy

i hate plebbit tbh

Yea dude your definitely way above that.

 

[Rybko90]

Going to pharmacy school makes no sense at the moment. Good for you.

 

[tylenolnumber3]

Just remember worse case scenario you will always be accepted to pharmacy regardless of your gpa or pcat score