<p>I am equally attracted to both these majors/careers, so I need some help in deciding which to purseu. I can honestly say that there is not too many things that seem bad about the career of a pharmacist. You only need 6 yrs of school (including pharamcy school), get a license and PharmD, have good working hours, good job prospect (will most likely never be jobless), and have an average starting salary of about $90k to $100k. HOWEVER, what's pushing me away from pharmacy and toward an Accounting or some type of 'business' degree is my preference for classes like Economics, Accounting, Statistics, and such classes in high school over classes like Chemistry, Biology, etc. I know I shouldn't base my future on high school classes, but even my parents seem to think I am more fit for business than pharmacy. Yet accounting/business doesn't offer the same job security/stability that pharmacy offers, which is making me hesitant about a business-type major. What are your inputs on this?</p>
<p>I would definitely do pharmacy if I were you. The entry-level pharmacists where I work start out at 120K and their job is pretty laid-back.</p>
<p>Well, they are different jobs that really can’t be compared. However, I will tell you that the upside for pharmacists isn’t what it was. Typically, a pharmacist had the opportunity of opening up their own pharmacy and could make a LOT of money. Today ,small pharmacies are coming under tremendous competition from large firms, which is forcing many pharmacists to work for these firms. There are still some opportunity for small, independent run pharmacies, but these opportunities for this is being curtailed.</p>
<p>Also, I really know what I am talking about since one of my clients is a pharmacy consulting firm who is trying to show pharmacists how to survive the onslaught of the big firm encroachment.</p>
<p>OoovooO,</p>
<p>It seems that you are attracted to a pharmacy major just becuase of the money it offers. If you are not strong in science, don’t even think about pharmacy, for you will not be able to get a good GPA, and even get into a pharmacy school. Moreover, I think that a pharmacist’s work is mad boring. Pharmacists have to be in one room and count pills for the rest of their lives, unless they are developing drugs, which is way more interesting, but still tedious work at a laborotory without seeing a day light.</p>
<p>Now lets talk about money. Yes, pharmacists start out higher than anyone in business, but in the long run, they have a limit, which business majors do NOT have. You can open up a business and become richer than any existing pharmacist, or you can even open up a pharmacy and hire a pharmacist :)</p>
<p>Pharmacists don’t even count pills, their techs do that. Pharmacists do health screenings, give advice, educate the public, do statistical analysis, conduct research, stay up-to-date with laws and regulations, study market and research data, manage others, and are responsible for the profitability of their department/firm. Seriously, if all a pharmacist does is count pills then all an accountant does is count money. And what the hell is wrong with working for a big firm for a few years and then becoming an independent or group-based consultant like taxguy’s friend? Sounds like an awesome career path for someone who is into pharmacy.</p>
<p>What happens if they make a one single mistake? They might lose their license and will work as technicians themselves.</p>
<p>@Toshtemirov, so what’s the alternative, look for a field where there is little to no demand? Where you cant find a job upon completion? And please anyone can start a business, you do not necessarily need a business major to have a successful business. A lot of successful companies were built by non-business majors. What most people forget is you need money to start a business too and unless you come from a wealthy home or have major connections to get funding cuz banks sure aren’t lending, you need a good job to fund your business.</p>
<p>I would suggest shadowing in each area to get a first-hand perspective of what each job is like. Also, less and less schools are offering 6 years programs. The average time spent in school is more like 7 or 8 years, plus a decent chunk of those students go on to do one- or two-year residencies after obtaining a PharmD.</p>
<p>Also, you are far from guaranteed a job. If we went back in time 10 years, then yes, you would be, but with the opening of new schools due to the now long-gone shortage, there is a borderline surplus of pharmacists out there. Job availability varies depending on what type of position you are looking for and where you are located. Some places are extremely competitive whereas others are not too bad. After all, the majority of people have a hard time finding a job in this economy. Pay rates are also starting to go down a bit. Yes, people will always need their meds, but because of large corporations squeezing out the little guys (amongst other things) pharmacy is not the relatively low-stress cash cow that it used to be.</p>
<p>Side-note: I also loved this statement from Inmotion12: “Seriously, if all a pharmacist does is count pills then all an accountant does is count money.”</p>
<p>However, “I would definitely do pharmacy if I were you. The entry-level pharmacists where I work start out at 120K and their job is pretty laid-back.” I would say that the “laid-back” part is not the norm for most retail or CVS/Walgreens/Rite Aid sites (and retail and community pharmacies make up roughly 70% of the pharmacy jobs out there). Yes, some of them are slower, but the majority are understaffed and it can be a struggle to get all you need done. The work is by no means unbearable and sure beats the work that many others do, but it’s no cake-walk. Starting at $120k is mostly true, but it’s becoming more common for large companies to only hire part-time pharmacists so they don’t have to give them as many benefits, and they are paid hourly so your potential earning decreases quite a bit. Your salary also generally caps pretty early, and for some people that means they have less motivation to improve. That being said, I’ve also heard of people working 60 hours a week because they’re willing to float for extra shifts. There’s no one way that pharmacies are run, but these are the trends that I’ve heard of lately. This is my perspective from working for one of the three largest pharmacy companies out there, so other fields can be much different but I think it’s fair to say that my experiences are representative of a large chunk of the pharmacists out there.</p>
<p>I tend to encourage people on College Confidential to check out the pharmacy section of Student Doctors Network. It has more pharmacy information posted in a day than CC does in a year. You may have to do quite a bit of wading through the information to find the quality stuff (and there’s a lot of negativity), but if you are willing to sort through it all it can be a good source of current information… taken with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Although my post may seem that way, I am in no way trying to discourage you from pharmacy because there are many great aspects of the field and I love my job as a pharmacy intern and do not regret going into pharmacy at all. Just make sure you know what you’re getting into before you take the plunge.</p>
<p>If you have more questions regarding pharmacy, feel free to send me a personal message. I am only a pharmacy student, but I have insight that the general public doesn’t have.</p>
<p>is that true that the pharmacist struggling to find a job or they cant find a job for now coz of too many pharmacy schools gets opned wich mean a lot of graduate pharmacist and the matket its seems to be saturated,coz am interesting in this carreer and am still comfusing,pleaz i need help from you guys.</p>