Is the debt of Pharmacy school worth it?

[Anonymous]

DD is interested, but the cost seem prohibitive. Anyone have first hands experience?

[Anonymous]

Pharmacists make good money and can always find jobs. She can go to state school, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pharmacists make good money and can always find jobs. She can go to state school, too.

k.. but the school she's looking at, by the time she's done would be close to $250k..

[Anonymous]

My wife is a professor at a med school and we know plenty of PhDs, MDs, and pharmacists. Note that pharmacy school is about as difficult to get u to as med school. Obviously it can be done but it needs to be more than a consideration but a real goal. Plenty of prospective pharm students (undergrad, recent post-bac) work/ intern at my wife's med school to get experience. Once out of pharm school, the starting salary isn't far off from MDs, though I imagine that MDs have a higher ceiling, on average. But yes, it's worth it, if that's her goal.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone elaborate on what jobs pharmacists do that pay almost as well of being an md? It can't be true for the retail pharmacist at my cvs, for example. Or can it?

[Anonymous]

DD is 1 semester away from having her PharmD (what is required nowadays for pharmacists) OP, how far along is your DD in her education? I think I could be quite helpful but if I knew more specifics I wouldn't have to type as much

And PP, I'll know more re salary when DD graduates but retail has in the past paid very well (the actual pharmacist has the liability and shoulders the responsibility) There is usually a lot of lower level techs - probably the people you are most familiar with and maybe only 1 pharmacist on duty. Hospital pharmacy is another route. DD is doing patient rounds with the MDs - making suggestions for medication, helping to avoid drug interactions.

The biggest indicator for success in pharmacy school, my daughter says, is how one does in undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry.

Many of her classmates who will have large loans hope to live frugally for 2-3 years to pay them down.

[Anonymous]

Do one of those 5 year combined Pharm/BS programs. (Go to college for 2 years, then Pharm program for 3).

My aunt is a pharmacist at CVS. they make about 125, but there's no increases in pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do one of those 5 year combined Pharm/BS programs. (Go to college for 2 years, then Pharm program for 3).

My aunt is a pharmacist at CVS. they make about 125, but there's no increases in pay.

This is what I make at a similar chain (costco) but before I had kids I would moonlight at another 24/7 pharmacy and make about another 30k a year. I think the pay scale is pretty similar to pediatrician. Ive heard 80k at the low end and 150 k at the high end. If you are willing to moonlight or are offered overtime it can be decent. Finding a full time job that allows moonlighting is hard though...you basically have to find a 9-5 pharmacy which is rare these days.

[Anonymous]

DH is a pharmacist. Has done retail and hospital work. Salary is approx $100K to $125K. Years of experience do not get much more money. Jobs have become much harder to get over the last 3-5 years. Signing bonuses, relocation expenses, etc used to be the norm, but that is all gone. Too many people have entered the field. They are also automating a lot of the tasks in pharmacies. Tech help has been reduced as a result. He would not enter the field again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is a pharmacist. Has done retail and hospital work. Salary is approx $100K to $125K. Years of experience do not get much more money. Jobs have become much harder to get over the last 3-5 years. Signing bonuses, relocation expenses, etc used to be the norm, but that is all gone. Too many people have entered the field. They are also automating a lot of the tasks in pharmacies. Tech help has been reduced as a result. He would not enter the field again.

Every field is overloaded these days.

[Anonymous]

Pharmacist friend just found a job after a 5-year search, and an MPH. She was so frustrated working at CVS for that chunk of time. She was even turned down by the armed forces (a big tradition in her family). She claimed the field is saturated for the time being.

With the future reeking of automation, I wouldn't let a friend or family member do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone elaborate on what jobs pharmacists do that pay almost as well of being an md? It can't be true for the retail pharmacist at my cvs, for example. Or can it?

CVS Pharmacists make good money, $150K. The issue with drugstore pharmacy isn't the pay, it is the hours for the pay.
Source: Friends that are Pharmacists and familiar with practices at CVS, Hopkins, Compound pharmacies, and Kaiser.

[Anonymous]

PP again. Just saw the other posts. I wonder if CVS pharmacy pay varies by location? It is quite a range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH is a pharmacist. Has done retail and hospital work. Salary is approx $100K to $125K. Years of experience do not get much more money. Jobs have become much harder to get over the last 3-5 years. Signing bonuses, relocation expenses, etc used to be the norm, but that is all gone. Too many people have entered the field. They are also automating a lot of the tasks in pharmacies. Tech help has been reduced as a result. He would not enter the field again.

Every field is overloaded these days.

No, not true.

[Anonymous]

Every field is not overloaded, but pharmacy is.