<p>i overheard a conversation between a 24 year old university of wisconsin graduate and someone else where someone said, "if you would have majored in pharmacy you would have been making 80,000 a year at 24". how true is that, and how much would a pharmacy major make after 20 years? over 200,000, can some give an estimate?</p>
<p>They start in the high 80's to low 90's. Your salary won't increase substantially by working at Wallgreen's, no matter how much experience you have. You will never make 200k working in a Pharmacy. You'll need to do something drastic like open your own pharmacy, or something similar, if you ever hope to gross 200k.</p>
<p>The only people I know that make near the 150K-200K+ marks are those that own multiple pharmacies, or you work overtime on weekends. Anyway I had a question, If you don't get into the 6 year PharmD program, can you still become a pharmacist getting a BS degree and applying to pharmacy school? I want this as my backup in the event that I don't get into medical school</p>
<p>Working in a chain pharmacy, yes you probably wont' make 200k...</p>
<p>However there is a LOT of jobs out there for PharmD's that will make that much...The pharmaceutical companies for certain. If you want to work your way through a hospital pharmacy (reaching to become Chief of Pharmacy - usually leads to getting involved in hospital administration) you can also earn a lot. My roommate and many of his pharm friends are earning their MBA at the same time, and that is going to open a lot of doors for them as well as increasing their earning potential.</p>
<p>The vast majority of people don't get into guaranteed 6 year programs so don't think that is the only way to pharmacy school. You can apply to any "normal" pharmacy school after 2 years if you want, or after three years, or after getting a bachelors degree (even a BA). However Pharm school is becoming increasingly competitive, and putting pharm school as a back up to med school is not going to cut it. You need to have demonstrated interest in pursuing pharmacy some way to have a chance. They will see right through if you are simply using phram school as an alternate b/c you didn't get into medical school.</p>
<p>Well I feel that Pharmacy is very closely linked with the Medical Field so the activities and interests of mine will overlap. I mean besides interning at a pharmacy, how much of a difference can you show that you want to go into Pharmacy instead of medicine. As for competitveness, I know that with each year, the competition increases but I know some people who might be a little lower than me in acdememic achievement yet they got into the 6 year PharmD program. I know I shouldn't take any professional job lightly but I'm actually split between Pharmacy and Medicine. Biology bores me unless we do dissections and I found physics insanely interesting when I took it in my HS. </p>
<p>On A side note, can you get into an MBA program if you didn't get a bachlor's in Finance? For example your friends(hypotheical situation), let's say they majored in chemistry, how would they get into/survive an MBA program if they didn't take the proper courses to understand the basics?</p>
<p>Ah damn If I decided to use Pharmacy as a backup I would not only have to prepare for the MACT's but also the PCAT's. I just realized this and I'm back into my pinch again <em>sigh</em>... Do the materials on the two exams coincide? I'm guessing the PCATS are more chemistry oriented.</p>
<p>Yes pharmacy school is not as competitive as medical school at least from an academic sense, but what I'm trying to point out is not good to think that you can just waltz into pharm school. There are many kids who are pre-pharm from day one and do a lot to learn about it (shadowing a pharmacist, working as a pharm tech, attending conferences and seminars etc), and because pharmacy schools are aware that they are viewed somewhat as "second tier" to medical school, that some students who really aren't all that interested in pharmacy try to use it as an alternate route.</p>
<p>My friend was a nutrition and excercise science major, and is currently taking a few pre-req courses (econ and such) online through the local community college. Another friend who was a MechE is now getting his MBA - I know he thinks his MBA classes are really easy, but I'm unsure of any pre-reqs he had to take. My other friend who was a ChemE and actually worked a year for as a peteroleum engineer didn't seem to have much trouble getting accepted to KU's MBA program. Finance is actually a stripped down Econ major. But no you don't have to be a business major to get an MBA.</p>
<p>As for the PCAT topics, they do overlap - just no physics, and more testing of verbal stuff. Not sure what the actual question types are. Again, my roommate didn't really prep for the test and he got a very good score.</p>
<p>You don't have to prepare for PCAT's if you apply in California ;)</p>
<p>Yes I have read that PCAT is only required by some schools and not others. Nevertheless Pharmacy school is 4 years right? Seems like that would be the only reason people applyafter 2 years of college so that they can consider it to the 6 year program. I know that Pharmacy is a great field in the US due to the fact that medicare thrives on drug companies and old people, but is this the same in other parts of the world ie. Middle East etc.? </p>
<p>Also although there is always the option of opening your own pharmacy, how successful do you think that will considering that almost every retail chain is integrading a pharmacy into their stores. ( and the fact that the stores are popping up EVERWHERE)</p>