Becoming A Pharmacist Tips

Interested in becoming a pharmacist?  If so, I’ll think you’ll find this site not only useful, but unique.

I’ve designed this site with two goals in mind:

(1)  To help you improve your chances of getting into pharmacy school.  And, maybe more importantly…

(2)  Help you decide if pharmacy school is the right decision for you.

I see too many potential pharmacy students getting into the profession strictly for money.

And yes, money is important in life.  To paraphrase Sophie Tucker, “Honey, I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor…I’d much rather be rich.”

So, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money.  I want to make good money.  But, as grow older and gain more experience (and hopefully wisdom) I’ve come to realize that aligning your natural talents and personality with a profession that embraces those talents and personalities is critically important.

You and I have all read the stories of Hollywood icons or millionaire athletes who are miserable.  I’ll discuss my recommendations in this site.  But, suffice it to say, while pharmacy may be a good career it may not be the best career for you.

Hopefully, I can help you figure that out.

Good Points

At the time I write this I’ve been in pharmacy for 13 years.  Four as a student and nine as a practicing pharmacist and I can tell you a few things.

First, the good things:

– You can make good money.  By good I mean grossing a low six figures.  That puts you into the top 10% of income earners in America.

– You have prestige.  Most people look at pharmacists as being very intelligent and give you re-spect.

– You are in demand.  Really, this is tied into the point above because as the baby boomers keep aging and are put on more prescriptions the demand for pharmacists is rising.  Employers treat you well because of this.

– Again, tied to demand, is the fact that employers chase you – not the other way around.  I regularly (monthly, many times weekly) receive calls from executive recruiters trying to fill vacant positions.  Many offer sign-on bonuses.  Almost all offer moving expenses.  I’ve been told that some employers are even offering to buy cars and such – although this has never happened to me.

In short, as a pharmacist you make good money, are in demand, are respected by most folks and this trend does not appear to be letting up anytime soon.

Update 3/2011: the points I originally made about a pharmacist being in demand are slowly starting to change. I believe from my own experience and talking to other pharmacist that demand – as I defined it above – is decreasing. There’s a couple of factors driving this, which I’ll write more about in the near future. In short, the “Golden Age” for pharmacists is over.

Ain’t all a bed of roses

But, like any job pharmacy has its share of bad points too.

I want to talk about these and let you know because you’re trying to make a decision about what to do with the next six years of your life (and maybe the next 40).

Not only that, this is going to be a $50,000+ decision to pay for school.  So, you better know what you’re getting into.
In short, the things I don’t like about pharmacy:

– If you end up working retail (chain pharmacy like Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens, etc) you can end up getting into a job that is a ‘prescription mill’.  Meaning, it’s all a numbers game.  Get as many prescriptions out as fast as you can without hurting anyone.  This is one of the reasons why retail also pays substantially more – because they have a harder time talking folks into working there.

– Technology will eventually change the field of pharmacy – and maybe not for the better.  I recently read that a company in America is trying to develop a machine that essentially replaces the pharmacist.  You put your prescription into the machine – it deciphers it (I’m assuming the prescription is on a computer generated form) – fills the pills from bins and then a computer generated pharmacist appears on the computer screen to explain your medications to you.  This may seem far-fetched, but the automatic filling-from-bins-part is already a reality.  I still think this technology is a good 10 years out.  But, the point is, eventually, the pharmacist may be re-placed is some settings.

This is one of the reasons why I’ve taken advantage of technology while, at the same time, using my existing knowledge base. You can look at my site that answer drug questions.

– Employers view you not as a revenue-producing asset, but as a cost.  I’ll go into detail about this later in the book.  But, when you are viewed as a cost bean counters like to ‘cut’ costs.  This is one of the reasons why pharmacies are almost always short-staffed.  It’s expensive to pay a pharmacist.  It’s a cost they generally don’t want to pay until they absolutely have to.  It also contributes to pharmacists’ dissatisfaction with their jobs.