<p>Wow, in the 30 years since I received my Pharmacy degree (and state license), things have certainly changed at the education level! At that time, pharmacy was a 5-year degree program. We finished our ‘core curriculum’ requirements for the University in the first two years, but we also started the actual pharmacy requirements in the second year. The Pharm.D was a new degree and was earned via a 2-year post-grad program–and there were only a few schools in the country offering that degree.</p>
<p>We had a more rigorous academic schedule that most of the other students on campus, but it did not prevent any of us from partaking of the campus social scene, joining Greek houses, holding part-time jobs, or taking additional courses outside of the pharmacy major courses. Not everyone did all of those things, but it was, just like with every other major on campus, an individual’s choice.</p>
<p>When I graduated, I made more in starting salary than pretty much any of my friends in other majors. However, within three months, I was quite bored in the hospital pharmacy and took the LSATs at the first opportunity. I put myself through law school by working in pharmacies during the summers and vacations.</p>
<p>The reason I got bored so quickly (after having worked in pharmacies all through high school and college) was that I was over-trained. We learned soooo much really, really cool stuff in school, but used very, very little comparatively in the retail or hospital pharmacies. In retail, it broke my heart to tell the elderly, fixed-income patients that yes, their heart medication had increased in price yet again–each month. In the hospital, it was boring filling medication trays day in and day out. There was none of the ‘counselling’ or ‘collaborative’ opportunities that we spent so much time and effort to learn during school.</p>
<p>Now, I see the requirements for the 6-year degree and can only imagine how much wasted time everyone will have spent once they get to the actual retail or hospital scene and want to apply all that knowledge. Calculus? are you kidding me? One doesn’t need calculus to count to 100.</p>
<p>As far as getting a full 4-year degree as a pre-requisite for pharmacy? Well, I can understand the curiosity of exploring the liberal arts fields. I always took additional courses on top of my required pharmacy courses. Certainly, if one doesn’t start out with an interest in pharmacy that’s a route. But, to deliberately do that (plan on a 4-year degree first) seems silly—and very expensive. A few members of my class had degrees and then transferred in to pharmacy. But those were biology degrees and they found they weren’t practical for their interests. So they came to pharmacy. </p>
<p>More than a few of my classmates graduated with their pharmacy degrees and then went to medical school and a couple to dental school. Not a single one of them were turned down for those schools. So, it is a very nice undergraduate degree for medical school applications. It teaches/requires great discipline and provides a very good grounding for the medical school courses. AND as an added bonus, one can always pick up part-time, vacation, and summer work at hourly rates much higher than most part-time jobs.</p>
<p>I truly enjoyed earning my pharmacy degree and really liked all the information I learned. I did not like, however, how little information I was able to use ‘on-the-job’. We were definitely over-trained for the ‘count and pour’ reality.</p>
<p>I did appreciate that I was able to finance my law degree with my pharmacy license. That was a huge benefit. I do not regret my pharmacy undergraduate degree, but I also wouldn’t make it into more than it was.</p>