pharmacy major help

scotchlite5 · 12-16-2007, 04:31 PM

ok, so i got accepted to a school i wanted to go to, so now i want to major in pharmacy. can anyone tell me about this major, I heard it pays good and i like helping people but i just want to know if its worth it? THANKS

lkf725 · 12-16-2007, 11:32 PM

Pharmacy is a great major! There is lots of job flexibility as far as work environment and hours, good security, easy tranfer to other states and very nice pay. Six years is well worth it. You would spend as long getting a graduate degree in some liberal arts area, which would probably be necessary for any promising employment.

scotchlite5 · 12-17-2007, 04:21 PM

cool thanks, if you did major in pharmacy how difficult was it really?

lkf725 · 12-17-2007, 10:46 PM

My experience is old, as I have been a pharmacist for 25 years. Some classes were difficult, but there was a great comraderie and everyone helped eachother. There was no cut-throat competition because we were already "in". There is a lot of chemistry and some math, so it helps to be decent at those, as well as labs. Judging from the interns at work, it's pretty much the same today. (Mostly everybody graduates and mostly everybody passes the state board exam on the first try).

scotchlite5 · 12-18-2007, 10:25 AM

ok lkf725, i am an average high school senior and i applied to St johns university in queens and i chose an undecided major but now i realized that i want to major in pharmacy so i was wondering if you knew what i should do because i dont know if my grades are good enough for their pharmacy school or if im allowed to major in pharmacy since i got accepted. thanks!

OKgirl · 12-21-2007, 05:16 PM

lkf725, do you think organic chemistry is harder than regular chemistry?

lkf725 · 12-21-2007, 11:56 PM

I don't think organic is harder, but there is a greater volume of material to learn. It might seem harder because you had the basics of general chem in high school, whereas organic is new. Organic is easier if you can visualize things in three dimentions (or, get a good molecular model building kit!)

OKgirl · 12-22-2007, 10:59 PM

Do you think it would be a bad idea to try to take it over the summer?

If you had to do college all over again, would you choose the same major again?

lkf725 · 12-23-2007, 10:09 AM

Organic chemistry has a lot of information and might be hard to do over the summer. However, if you are dedicated and willing to spend lots of time on it, maybe it could be done. I think that sometimes summer courses are a little easier. Maybe check with an advisor.

Would I do it again? Hmmm. Good question. I don't know if people are meant to do the same things all of their lives. Here are some thoughts:

What I like about pharmacy: great pay, very flexible hours (can easily keep your profession and manage a family - not something that you can do in every profession), lots of choices of work environment, easy to move and have a guaranteed job, feel part of the health care team, have chances to counsel patients and make a difference, casual work atmosphere, opportunities for both community based and professional projects, always new things to learn, respected, good job satisfaction.

What I don't like about pharmacy: hours can be bad (weekends, nights, holidays), not much room for advancement without going into management, students today are prepared for clinical positions but there are not that many of such positions, work can be routine, work can be like fighting fires (always some new crisis that you have no control over), sometimes difficult to keep up with new stuff and complete continuing education credits.

You will notice that some things are on both lists, and that's no accident. I don't know if I was meant to do the same thing for my whole life. I do like pharmacy, but I sometimes feel like taking a creative plunge and doing something else. But after 25 years, I am allowed! I honestly think I would feel this way no matter what job I did. Pharmacy is a great profession and has been good to me.

virtuoso28 · 12-26-2007, 07:16 PM

hi! I also got into pharmacy recently...and I had been debating between this career and business. In the end, I chose this because of the pros you listed: good career, stability, nice salary, and lots of free time.

But some of those cons, I had no idea of--working on the weekends? holidays? no one has ever said any of that before...how does that work? I thought pharmacy was flexible?

Also...do you think going into management or business after 2-3 work experience after going through the 6 years program is a good idea?

OKgirl · 12-26-2007, 08:28 PM

Of course you'd have to work odd hours. Some pharmacies are open 24/7 and on holidays. The up side to that is that some places will give you more money for the night shift and holidays.

If you double majored in business and pharmacy, you might be able to manage a pharmacy or something.

virtuoso28 · 12-26-2007, 08:50 PM

ohhhh...but you don't have to work in a pharmacy...what if you worked in big companies like BMS or J&J

lkf725 · 12-26-2007, 09:46 PM

Pharmacy is flexible in that you can work all sorts of places and hours. Many pharmacies (retail giants and hospitals), however, are open 24/7. People get sick on weekends, nights and holidays so somebody has to work! Still, you have lots to choose from. If you are young and single and want to work every other week, you can do that. If you are a parent and need to work opposite of your spouse, you can do that. If you want to name your hours, you can work for a temp service. If you want to work part time on specific days, you can do that. If you need total flexibility, you can do consulting and make your own hours.

I like my hospital job, but they are 24/7, which leads to some bad scheduling. It was my choice to stay at this job in spite of the hours. Basically, decide what hours you want and find a job that fits that. If you interview for a job, they will tell you what they need and you can take it or leave it. Or, sometimes you can even bargain for what you want. There are tons of choices and openings out there!

virtuoso28 · 12-28-2007, 08:04 PM

woww...

...thanks for the advice!

patel · 12-31-2007, 05:03 PM

I'm also very interested in becoming a pharmacist. I consider myself "above-average," but I fear that I won't succeed in my goal. However, I'm resolute, and I'm still going to major in Chemistry in college. My fear is since I did poorly on the SAT, even after taking it three times, that I won't succeed in doing well on the PCAT. I'm not good at standardized tests, especially when I'm under a time limit. As long as you study in college and do your best, do you think I'm going to get into pharmacy school and do well in it as well? As I said earlier, I'm determined to succeed. I think becoming a pharmacist would be a great job, and part of why I want to become a pharmacist is to please my parents. It has been their goal to see one of their child go in the medical field. Since I'm the last one and no one else in my family has done it yet, I've decided to. Any advise is helpful.