Is anybody here a pharmacist/studying to be one?

^i'll like to know where you can get a pharm tech job w/o the cert ..... so I could put in my application right NOW
 
cool thread. I took a pharmacology class last semester and it was pretty interesting even though we only learned the basics.
 
Originally Posted by ThuG LyFe

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@ being good in math. sure towards the end you will be taking some compounding/kinetics courses which requires basic algebra to calculate the amount of drug and materials needed to prepare an IV infusion bag or calculate using given formulas which are more like the SAT math problems where you don't have to be brilliant in math, you just need to understand the problem. you will never use calculus (most likely a pre-req. though) or anything like that.

all the courses people are naming as "hard" aren't even real pharmacy classes. yes you need to pass organic chem (which is easy to some and hard to others) but personally i think biochem was the hardest but another "non-pharmacy" class. they are important and all but not really for practice. i'd be more worried about drugs and diseases courses which you will need to take in 4th year that finally teaches you the drugs and what they're used for. it's so much information so it helps if you have a good memory. you definitely dont need to study 24/7, but that doesn't mean you don't need to study at all. heck, i've been on NT 24/7 and i still have > 3.0 gpa.
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don't listen to people telling to you take a pharmacy tech certification (wth would you need that for?
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) instead, get a job as a technician (and no, you dont need a certification) and you will at least get a brief understanding of what you are getting yourself into. honestly i think it's more important to experience it first than to go through all the studying, get a degree, and realize you hate it to death. pm me if you have any specific questions as well i'll try to answer em the best i can.
u know u got the easy way out with St Johns
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. You'repretty much guaranteed a spot once you're accepted into the school (if you put pharmacy as your major). I'm doing pharmacy too at SUNY Buffalo though,trying to maintain that 3.5 for early assurance. Hopefully it all works out in the end, cuz right now in my first semester its *%!#% stressful
 
Originally Posted by KenJi714

Rip to your college life but after you get a job it's basically $$$
College life is nothing. Getting into pharmacy school is the tough part. I always laugh at all the pre-med, pre-dent, and pre-pharm students whojump for joy after getting the BS/BA thinking that life is going to be fun after that. Organic chem courses, Genetics, Microbio, etc. were just pre reqclasses.

In my freshman year, everyone in my Bio class were pre-dent, pre-med or pre-pharm. As years went along, people started to switch majors.

If you're in it just to make money, it's not worth it at all. You gotta do it for the love of it. You're looking at (4-6 years of undergrad,depending how long it takes you to finish), and another 4 years in post school...assuming you get in right away after you get your BS/BA.
 
^yea good luck man. st john's is pretty easy compared to other pharmacy schools. buffalo was rated way above st john's lol. i feel bad for the futurepharmacy students though. pharmacy is becoming the "realistic" dream jobs that replaced doctors and lawyers for asian parents...so the competition iscrazy now. and the schools are toughening up the programs and also possibility of making them longer.

also you can become a "tech" at a pharmacy without any degree. most likely you'll just be a register person though for the first year or so,giving out rx's to patients picking them up. probably the worst part of working at a pharmacy.
 
^doesn't take that long. some schools like st johns has a fixed 6 year program where once you're in, you're in as long as you maintain the requiredgpa. other schools are 2 year "pre-pharm" and then you need to take some test and 4 more years after that so that's 6 years assuming you getthrough everything on time.

also you get a doctorate degree in 6 years...don't think there's another program where you can get a doctorate 6 years after graduating hs. but i dohave some friends that are left back a year mostly because they partied and didn't take it seriously.
 
^^^pretty much. supposedly next year they're making it a 7 year year program ( adding more pre-requisites) but i'm not to sure about that yet.basically there is...

1. 6-0 program (guaranteed position only like 10 schools in nation have this)
2. 2+4 (early assurance (maintain 3.5) 2 years undergrad, apply + interview , 4 years grad)
3. 3+4 (if you dont make 2+4, gives you another year to apply early assurance)
4. 4+ ? (if you dont make the 2+4, or 3+4, you can get your BS in 4 years in a science and apply again)
 
btw OP...

most ppl I know with their PharmD's don't even work retail...they hate it.
most of them work in the corporate env (9-5) or work in clinical research supervising/noting drug interactions, etc.
 
being a pharmacist would take a lot of hard work and dedication. Like wj4 said, alot of people go into this majors their first year, and switch out the next.You have to really want it. And expect to study to the point where you have no social life SOMETIMES
 
Originally Posted by Dirtylicious

btw OP...

most ppl I know with their PharmD's don't even work retail...they hate it.
most of them work in the corporate env (9-5) or work in clinical research supervising/noting drug interactions, etc.
DO NOT go into retail. I work as a technician (almost certified). People are buttholes and the supervising pharmacist has a ton ofresponsibilities outside of actual pharmacy work that it becomes overwhelming. One pharmacist I work with goes on and on and on and on just complaining abouteverything associated with her job
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Originally Posted by Frankie Valentino

Aside from money, whats the real draw to being a pharmacist?
probably stated more correctly... the draw to getting your pharmacy degree.
I'm not sure if they still offer a Bachelor degree...but at Rutgers Pharm....it was a Pharm D program..which is basically a graduate degree, akin to PhD. A graduate level degree puts you head and shoulder above other applicants who have only undergraduate degrees when it comes to jobs.
 
im just warning you, but its gonna be rough. i know some people who study 24/7 with no breaks, no weekends off, no holidays, just constant studying. if yourprepared for that then by all means go for it.
 
im a junior and im in the application process right now. my top choices are arizona, hawaii, and oregon state.
the pre-reqs aren't that bad, i probably would have been able to finish them last year but i switched from engineering at the end of my freshman year
Originally Posted by fac3 tak30v312

^i'll like to know where you can get a pharm tech job w/o the cert ..... so I could put in my application right NOW


you can just be a pharmacy clerk, thats what I am over summer breaks. you just cant do the drug counting and a few other things. just go to each pharmacy inyour area, and ask if there are any positions available. I did that, and the pharmacist took me back for an interview right there. when you tell them thatyou'll eventually be applying to pharm school there eyes will light up.
 
I'm a first year pharmacy student right now. The biggest adjustment that has to be made is that you MUST learn how to manage the courseload. I got my BSbefore I entered pharmacy school and it helped to a certain extent. I'm only in my first year so the classes are not as hard as they will be later butit's still alot of information that you are expected to know. Like most people said, the chemistry classes are not what trips most people up. The toughestclasses in pharmacy school are the Disease State Management (DSM) and Pathophysiology classes that you begin taking your second or third year of pharmacyschool.

I decided to go into pharmacy because being a pharmacist doesn't mean you must be a retail pharmacist. I have absolutely no intention of being a retailpharmacist. There are so many different fields of pharmacy to go into that it is unbelievable. Nuclear pharmacist, poison control pharmacist, operating roompharmacist, etc, etc. You have to be willing to put in the work, time, and effort that it takes to be successful in pharmacist. Sadly, that is the biggestproblem for alot of students that enter the program. Time management is key.
 
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