[I_broke_a_nail!]

Is being a pharmacist all that jazz? (easy going) my dad keeps pressuring me to be one and i heard from my friend that being a pharamcist could be very stressful and i'm wondering, is it?

I depends on where you go with your pharmacy degree.

You could do many things.
- Sales rep
- Retail/Independent pharmacies. **
- Mail order places**
- Industry **
- Hospital pharmacy
... and so much more.

The ones with "**" have special factors that I want to highlight.

1) Retail: My sister is in retail pharmacy for Rite Aid and I worked as a training intern at CVS. Man-oh-man, its like SO stressful. Sometimes it could be like relaxing and you end up chit-chatting with your underlings (when you're a pharmacist) and like bond with your patients. But then all of the sudden like groups of people swarm in where you're like filling 30+ prescriptions per hour, which is alot especially when there's like fudging insurance issues and customers refuse to believe you. OK- and then you have to fill these prescriptions within like 10-15 min. when you have like... 20 prescriptions to fill! well that's CVS. Rite aid, you could just say... "come back in 2 hrs" .. and even if you have nothing to do, you tell them 2 hrs. CVS is so... hard.

**anyways, before I rant= you start making six figures with signing bonus your first year out with is SUPER good. depends where you are. NYC and LA and Florida apparantly have the highest pay.**

2) Industry: I've watched pharmacy videos and it looks pretty relaxing. I'm sure its much more stressful but... even my pharm. professor said its not AS hectic.

**They start you off with like 70,000 (more or less) your first year. But you get annual raises so like you could work so far up to MORE than what a retail pharmacist can make.**

3) Mail order: There's like controversy with this because like... you basically mail the prescriptions to the patient never meeting or speaking to them. Being a pharmacist is all about the bond you have with the patients. But mail order places totally cut that off. Well you basically work in a place like... an office cubicle, and you take your time, causing you to have less stress, lenient schedules, and less prone to making mistakes.




OKAY, well my sister seems to be stressed but she works only like 3x a week, making a 100,000 per year.

But she says that like, if you kill someone because of a mistake YOU made as a pharmacist. (which you see stories popping up in the news) ... its horrible. But as a doctor, same stuff.

IMO, i think pharmacy is pretty stressful. Especially the courses and I'm just in PREpharmacy x__x

[peachesncre4ms]

has anyone hear ever heard of unitek? its a vocational program and their pharmacy technician program is only 7 months. the price is $11,000 though... is it worth it?

does anyone go there? if so, share your experience

[shalala]

How difficult is it to get into the 6 year pharmd program at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Rutgers University or Northeastern university???? Does anyone know the Avg GPA& SAT scores stats for the 6 year programs in those schools?

It would be very helpful if someone could tell me how much more difficult it is to get into the pharmacy program straight from high school opposed to majoring in something else in those schools!

[bttrswt0516]

How difficult is it to get into the 6 year pharmd program at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Rutgers University or Northeastern university???? Does anyone know the Avg GPA& SAT scores stats for the 6 year programs in those schools?

It would be very helpful if someone could tell me how much more difficult it is to get into the pharmacy program straight from high school opposed to majoring in something else in those schools!

i'm a freshman at usp in the pharmD program right now and last year i applied to all 3 of those schools. i got accepted in usp and northeastern's pharmD program but rutgers only accepted me for my 2nd choice major. my gpa was about 3.8 out of 4.0 and sat score was 1920 out of 2400 (or 1280 out of 1600, not including the writing section). i get a $7000 merit grant every year from usp for those scores and our school doesn't even look at essays. that's all i kno hope it helped

[nGk2M]

I had a couple questions about getting a pharm tech job
do i just go to a pharmacy and ask for a application for pharm tech job?
And are there special qualifications to become a pharm tech?
i'm currently a freshman in college with no experience in pharmacy, but it seems like a lot of undergrads are applying for a pharm tech position. thanks
near campus we have many rite aids, walgreens and bartell drugs (WA state drug store). i can't seem to find .any cvs's

[nauqneyugn]

To become a pharm tech, you need to take pharm tech courses (at community colleges etc) and obtain a license. Its not cheap ($10K+) and it takes quite awhile to get the license, so I doubt that many undergrads are applying for pharm tech positions.

If you want experience, get your WA pharmacy assistant's license and start volunteering.

[kuku]

To become a pharm tech, you need to take pharm tech courses (at community colleges etc) and obtain a license. Its not cheap ($10K+) and it takes quite awhile to get the license, so I doubt that many undergrads are applying for pharm tech positions.

If you want experience, get your WA pharmacy assistant's license and start volunteering.

In cali, you can get your license without taking classes. I have 3 credited friends who are pharm techs, and I'm planning on getting my license in 2 months.

[nGk2M]

thanks for the help you guys
nauqneyugn:
so i looked up the information about getting a pharmacy assistant license in WA...
and it seems like all i need to do is fill out the application and do a min. of 4 hours of hiv/aids training?

[v3rmillion]

I was reading through this thread, and I was wondering about some of the stuff you guys wrote
-I got accepted into 6-year programs at a couple schools (UoP, Rutgers, MCPHS). So if I choose to go into any of these programs, does it mean that I'll essentially be stuck in the pharmacy path?
-And is each school's courses geared towards passing the pharmacy license test in their own state?
-Regarding Rutgers - I got waitlisted for the Ernesto Mario school of pharm, but is there really any difference if I go there vs. somewhere else at Rutgers?

How difficult is it to get into the 6 year pharmd program at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Rutgers University or Northeastern university???? Does anyone know the Avg GPA& SAT scores stats for the 6 year programs in those schools?

It would be very helpful if someone could tell me how much more difficult it is to get into the pharmacy program straight from high school opposed to majoring in something else in those schools!

I got into Rutgers' program (but not into the Ernesto Mario school, see above) with 3.7 ish GPA and around 2100 SAT, but you'll have to consider other factors, like extracurrics and me applying as an out-of-state student & whatnot. hope that helped

[kuku]

You aren't truly stuck; you can, instead, get a bachelor's and then run away with it to another grad school. Simple as that. But UOP's science is pretty difficult, it kind of forces you to either stick to the program, or be super smart to be able to apply elsewhere. lol

[je_amourx]

To become a pharm tech, you need to take pharm tech courses (at community colleges etc) and obtain a license. Its not cheap ($10K+) and it takes quite awhile to get the license, so I doubt that many undergrads are applying for pharm tech positions.

If you want experience, get your WA pharmacy assistant's license and start volunteering.

Not all states are like that. The place I used to work stated that you have 2 options, take a class, then exam to pass and certified OR get your Pharmacy Manager to certified you but of course you still have to take the exam. You can make a lot of money and tons of experience especially if you're aiming for Retail Pharmacy. Which I may add is a PAIN. My PM said that Retail gets payed the most but at the same time they're doing 3-4 things all at once.

[nauqneyugn]

Not all states are like that. The place I used to work stated that you have 2 options, take a class, then exam to pass and certified OR get your Pharmacy Manager to certified you but of course you still have to take the exam. You can make a lot of money and tons of experience especially if you're aiming for Retail Pharmacy. Which I may add is a PAIN. My PM said that Retail gets payed the most but at the same time they're doing 3-4 things all at once.

Well, I speak to WA which is where both of us are from.

[akajoe]

can u do two majors or have minor in this??? I really want to do pharmacy and engineering

[soorangee]

can u do two majors or have minor in this??? I really want to do pharmacy and engineering

i'm pretty sure pharmacy is not a major. it's a program where you will get a professional degree.
you can major in engineering and then apply to pharm school.

[nauqneyugn]

Yeah, you used to be able to get a BS in Pharmacy, but the Doctor of Pharmacy programs have replaced it.

[akajoe]

interesting...thankS!! so is it better to start off engineering first and then go to pharm??

[soorangee]

interesting...thankS!! so is it better to start off engineering first and then go to pharm??

It really depends on what you want to do.

Pharmacy
Short way: 2+ years & 4 years of pharmacy school = 6 years
Long way: 4 years BA + 4 years pharm school = 8 years

You would be taking the long way by majoring in engineering. I don't know what you're going to do with engineering and pharmacy, but I'm also thinking of taking the long way. I might possibly be a double major in biochemistry and business (don't know what type yet). After undergrad, I'll apply to pharm. If I get in and survive, I'll work in pharmacy for a certain time. Once I get older, I want to start some sort of business, preferably the restaurant business. Haha...I know those are some pretty big dreams. But, I'm going to try to apply to pharmacy school next year. (I"m a freshie now.)

[mongstaness]

does UCLA have courses that will lead you to being a pharamacist? cuz like UCLA has a lot of science classes, but no Pharmacy major, so wat's up with that?? ne one kno?

[*hannah]

i was reading through this thread and i came across someone mentioning california pharmacy schools not requiring the PCATs. i was wondering if i could get more information regarding the differences between pharmacy schools on the east and west coast. and if you could give me a list of schools in cali that offer pharmacy and how easy/hard it is to get in to each, that would be great. (i'll be finishing my 2 years of pre-pharmacy soon and i'm looking into pharmacy schools). i am from PA so i'm only familiar with and have been considering USP and MCPHS, among several others as my only options.

thanks in advance.

[christine101]

I'm thinking about going to pharmacy school. I'm currently in my senior year in high school and i live in new york so im thinking of either St. John's University or University at Buffalo for pharmacy. I can't decide which one to go to. St John has a straight 6 year program but it is so expensive. Buffalo is cheaper but far away and they have the 2/4 program. I wonder if there is anyone that goes to one of these school and can give me some advice on which one is a better school.