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!
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!
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