<p>zero, what year are you in and are you in college?</p>
<p>btw i think if ure gonna go into the med u gotta have a care to help people, i think i'm starting to develop that.... because its all about helping people, thats the job!</p>
<p>and i walked in randomly, i was like what if i had a job... or some experience, so i walked in without asking for a job, thinking i'd get to shadow a pharmacist and be an intern or work for free, next thing i know i'm getting money.</p>
<p>u gotta talk to the pharmacist before u fill an app or else he'll never think to look at one!</p>
<p>i'm a senior in high school. </p>
<p>i think next year i'm gonna go to a pharmacy school. i have to start to develop to care for people i guess although it goes against my nature.... but i know many pharmacist thats only in it for the money and they seem pretty happy.</p>
<p>and when you walked into cvs, did you ask the pharmacist "could i shadow you" or something like that?</p>
<p>dude its pretty simple, say, my name is im a student in [x] year and go to [x] school. i'm intrested in pharmacy but want experience, blach blah blah, do u have a program or something that i could be involved in??</p>
<p>good luck its not hard when the cvs or walgreens or whatever is really busy, trust me they always need people.</p>
<p>Vince,
May I suggest a way to check out hospital pharmacy? If you cannot immediately get a job as a hospital tech, some hospital pharmacies accept volunteers. Of course, you probably would do some menial job, but you could see what it's like. If that didn't work out, you could volunteer at a hospital in a general way (like orderly, mail delivery, etc) and this would let you see the activity in many areas of the hospital, which might even be better. We have tons of kids who volunteer on weekends. The hospital where I work has a central pharmacy for IV preparation, some dispensing, OP Pharmacy and administrative tasks, but there are also three "satellite" pharmacies on the nursing floors where the pharmacist has considerable interaction with patients and staff. We also employ two "clinical" pharmacists who have no dispensing tasks at all. And this is a community hospital; a teaching hospital would likely have even more opportunities.</p>
<p>thanks for the help. i just thought you need alot experience or college to work with drugs. </p>
<p>i didnt think they let anybody like a high school kid behind the pharmacy counter with all the delicate medicine and all. it seem a very tightly guarded place and all with all the cameras and people in white coats.</p>
<p>ever notice how the pharmacist are standing on a higher level floor so you can't see what they're doing.. it makes you feel that they are some kind of genious or something.</p>
<p>i'll try telling the pharmacist or the tech that i want experience.</p>
<p>well i just got back from a tough day... pouring customers.</p>
<p>take pee test-- thats the only thing different from clerk in the front and tech in the back.. so u ever take drugs dont be a pharmacist since they wont let u if u had a drug abuse felony.</p>
<p>--lkf725... thanks for the suggestion but i really can't, i don't have time... the cvs pharm needs me whenever i can work! ... plus i'm paid, at least i'm paid.</p>
<p>the more i work there the more i realize that pharmacy is like drug factory except for the 120 second consulations and conversations with doctors; its all monkey work, count drugs etc etc.</p>
<p>how repetitive is being a pharmacy tech? </p>
<p>someday maybe it will all be computerized and done with robots. person inserts prescription, machine dispenses medicine.</p>
<p>but that would suck for pharmacist since they would lose their jobs.</p>
<p>Technician work is more repetitive than pharmacist work. Retail is more repetitive than hospital.</p>
<p>We have a dispensing robot, and have for many years. We employ more people than ever, because the robot relieves us of routine tasks and lets us interact in a more clinical and professional way. Also, robots are faster, don't get bored with routine tasks and are more accurate than humans.</p>
<p>One reason the retail pharmacy area is elevated is that the pharmacist can better see what's going on in the store, rather than preventing the customer from accessing the pharmacist. This was more important in the days of small mom and pop businesses than it is now when many people work in a giant super store. Many stores, both large and small, are dedicating a private comfortable area to consulting with patients. Some also boost business by offering auxilliary services, such as flu shots, blood pressure monitoring, diabetes testing, etc.</p>
<p>Zerox, I wouldn't go into any field for just the money. Certainly a person who is not empathetic and caring would not like healthcare. The hours can be bad, and face it, sick people are whiney and irritable alot of the time. Maybe you would enjoy the pharmaceutical industry, though (research, manufacturing, etc.) or perhaps pharmaceutical sales.</p>
<p>lkf-- would you say that the job of the pharmacist in the hospital is easier in terms of physical exertion? counseling patients definitely sounds more enjoyable than putting stickers on vials and stapling slips to bags.</p>
<p>how does one get into working in the pharmaceutical industry? say i want to work for merck to develop a new medicine that will cure prostate cancer. how can i get a position? this kind of r&d job must require some kind of degree better than the pharmD, i presume. i asked my boss, the chief pharmacist at cvs, if the school from which you graduate is a factor in employment. i asked him for example, if i graduate from mcv and guy x graduates from shenandoah, which is a better candidate, and he told me "indistinct". he'd hire the guy who got an interview with him first.</p>
<p>does this apply in the hospital also? i'm planning to go to vcu for the guaranteed acceptance program into pharm school at mcv. what is your opinion on the school? i would imagine that since the position is so in-demand (i guess most people don't find the monkey work so endearing) that the school you came from wouldn't matter and the only thing that would is your performance.</p>
<p>besides the pharmacist in the nursing home, the hospital, and the retail store, what else is there for me in pharmacy? if i plan to be in the r&d, should i study pharmacology??? (what is the difference anyway? major books are usually ambiguous when describing the difference between a major in pharmacy and a major in pharmacology.)</p>
<p>I've been admitted to Purdue (with some scholarship), UTexas-Austin, UNC, U of Wisconsin. (all of them as prepharmacy major). I know that all pharmacy schools are really competitive. But I don't know which school would be a better choice for me.
Could anybody give me some advice?
(By the way, I'm an international~)</p>
<p>Vince , </p>
<p>i think you need a PhD to work in the pharmceutical companies. a pharmD is for dispensing drugs in retail, hospitol, etc. </p>
<p>the school probably don't matter if you're going to work at CVS. pharmacist work is probably less repetitive than techs though.</p>
<p>Damn I hate unicru, its damn hard to score well on the test on unicru that give a statement and you press "Strongly agree", "agree", "disagree", or "strongly disagree"</p>
<p>I asked the manager and he says CVS cannot hire you if you don't score well enough on the goddamn test. I liked when they used paper applications.</p>
<p>Any tips on scoring well on the test?</p>
<p>Vince,
I sent you a pm.</p>
<p>I spent a summer as an intern at a major drug company, Abbott Labs. At that time they told me you needed a PhD to do real work. I am sure there are always exceptions. All the people I worked with had their pharmacist licenses and then did grad work. They all worked at outside jobs also. I don't know if they did it to stay in touch with the pharmacy world or for extra money.
One of my friends, a tech, told me recently that I was one of those freaky pharmacists-only works one job.
At our hosp we all do clinical, works out better.</p>
<p>zerox -- you cannot CANNOT work in a busy cvs where you have to have great customer service (includes speed, show of compassion and care, making it easy for the patient/customer) if you CAN'T answer the questions on the unicru. now, if you're from another country and you are not proficient in english/spanish, then i have all sympathy for you. but if you are a senior and are unable to read/comprehend/answer the kind of questions the unicru asks you, then you should not work in a busy cvs until you reach some better level where u are able to answer those questions.</p>
<p>pharmD is for the pharmacist in retail so that he can check over his technician's processing and to verify for controlled substances like oxycontin. another responsibility is that the pharmD (and ultimately the pharmacists' licensure) gives him the ability to provide counsel to patients. a technician (at least in writing---technically) is not legally allowed to give counsel to patients (at least in va).</p>
<p>a retail pharmacist's job is pretty repetitive. its answering phones, answering quick questions, and straightening out things when his little technician can't do it. its advising patients on how to take medicine, and its mixing medicine like amoxicillin solution. and its also a lot of counting pills, filling vials with syrup, and putting stickers on bottles/vials. and trying to distinguish between using the safety cap or the non-safety cap. i feel that on a quiet day, its nice and i'd love to do the job.</p>
<p>but if i'm as busy as the chief pharmacist is during his shift of the most busiest times, i'd rather not. i'd go frickin crazy.</p>
<p>this summer i'm planning to work for cvs whenever i can. maybe i'll look at the hospital and see if i can get any experience there. i think maybe the hospital is better for me, but i heard that its all talk to doctor/fill prescription all day into the computer and make friends with the robot that counts your pills.</p>
<p>IF ANYONE ELSE CAN GIVE ME MORE INFORMATION AS TO WHAT'S IN THE INDUSTRY/ IF VCU/MCV IS A GOOD PLAN. REALLY, DOES SCHOOL NAME MATTER? IS MCV CRAPPIER THAN UMD BALTIMORE OR EVEN UCSF OR UF???</p>
<p>and lkf-- </p>
<p>thanks a lot for your response!</p>
<p>it's interesting that you'd have to be more qualified and be more competitive to get a job in a hospital vs a job at the cvs since the cvs pays more.</p>
<p>i really think i could do this.... i think so... :/... but ringing up people-- something i never want to do, i hate ringing up those people, i hate it more than anything!!
-- ok enough rant..:)</p>
<p>but i'm certainly really grateful that i can deal with medicine, fill it, process it in the computer, understand things like TT po tid... ahh... the pharmacy, a love/hate relationship.</p>
<p>one question i have is: "is it really tough to become a pharmacist?? especially today, when it's supposed to be 'more competitive'? what is the fail/success rate of pharm students?"</p>
<p>-- i guess that was multiple questions. but maybe you could help me. [or anyone else]</p>
<p>I think that if you are good enough to get into pharmacy school, you will graduate. Check with individual schools (or VCU in your case) about their pass rate on the licensure exam. Probably the vast majority pass the first time. Your pharmacy job experience will really help you pass the exam too, although I think you should eventually try to gain some hospital experience also. It's hard to get IV, oncology, ICU, CCU, emergency, etc experience in retail, and the students who have a hard time passing are usually the ones who have no work experience.</p>
<p>School will some math and lots of chemistry . Learn to love chem!</p>
<p>Maybe I didn't communicate well, but you can work in retail or hospital with the basic PharmD degree. I was trying to say that the clinical pharmacists (ie, they only work on "clinical" things rather than the daily dispensing functions) employed by hospitals usually need postgraduate work in the form of a residency. Check out those links I sent to you. </p>
<p>Also, I guarantee you that no big retail establishment is going to pay a pharmacist to ring a cash register. There will be "aids" or "techs" to do that type of work.</p>
<p>PS - Did you notice on those links that industry employs many types of graduates, including scientists and engineers? Maybe there is a niche here for the ambivilant!</p>
<p>"zerox -- you cannot CANNOT work in a busy cvs where you have to have great customer service (includes speed, show of compassion and care, making it easy for the patient/customer) if you CAN'T answer the questions on the unicru. now, if you're from another country and you are not proficient in english/spanish, then i have all sympathy for you. but if you are a senior and are unable to read/comprehend/answer the kind of questions the unicru asks you, then you should not work in a busy cvs until you reach some better level where u are able to answer those questions."</p>
<p>vince,</p>
<p>it is not the comprehension of the questions. i speak english very well and comprehend it as well as anyone. </p>
<p>the problem is those questions were more like personality test questions..</p>
<p>example: You get angry when the court released guilty criminals.
1. Strongly Agree
2. Agree
3. Disagree
4. Strongly Disagree</p>
<p>For that question and alot of other questions, I put Agree.</p>
<p>And for questions like "You like to take it easy at work when you need to"</p>
<p>I put strongly disagree to make me look good. but theres like 100 questions and you have no way of knowing how its scored. all i know is the manager told me that he Can't hire you if you don't get a high score on the "test". DAMN unicru.</p>
<p>any advice?</p>
<p>for those who got rejected from uop, can u tell me why? im interested in going there for the pharm. program, and i m concerned. plz look at my stats and see if im someone who could get accepted.
(im a junior at h.s.)
SATs:1280
SAT II Math Level IC:740
Chemistry:700
Writing:710</p>
<p>Courses taking right now:
English 3 Hon
Italian 2
Italian 3
Pre-cal.
Chem. 2 Hon.
AP Chem.
Amer. Gov't hon/econ. hon
Computer Prog. 1</p>
<p>straight A's</p>
<p>weighted GPA: 4.5909
unweighted GPA: 3.9773</p>
<p>volunteer hrs: 472</p>
<p>EC's:
NHS (11)
MAO (10)
Tutor for both NHS and MAO
library every Sat. 3-5pm (9-present)
TAB(9-present)
Italian Academic Games (11)
hospital(9)</p>
<p>8 out of 700something students in my class....</p>