5 Reasons Why Pharmacy School Is Not For You

In today’s article, we’re actually going to talk about why pharmacy is just not for you. How do you know if you should actually go to pharmacy school? A lot of people compare it with going to med school or PT school? Why should you become a pharmacist? Or rather, why shouldn’t you so in today’s article, I want to highlight why pharmacy school might actually not be for you.

Maybe you’re recently inspired into pursuing a career within pharmacy and going to pharmacy school here in the internet world or by something you read the list goes on. But maybe you’re thinking about it. And I just want to highlight reasons why pharmacy school might not be for you. Because again, I don’t think it’s for everyone. And although I think it’s a very exciting industry. Again, it’s not for everyone.

So I’m just going to go ahead and list all the reasons why I think pharmacy school is not for you. I kind of alluded to this. But the first reason is.

1. If you want to become a Doctor

If you want to be a Doctor, Pharmacy School is not for you: if you have your heart set on being a doctor, and you are somehow mentally replacing that with becoming a pharmacist, and by doctor I mean practicing physician and MD, DO, etc. I’ve personally heard many times that it’s almost seen as an alternative.

If you don’t want to go to med school, oh, I’ll just go to pharmacy school. But honestly, the job roles are completely different overall, in very, very simple terms. The job function of a doctor is to diagnose whereas the job role of a pharmacist is to treat and maintain that treatment over time.

Of course, there’s an overlap between the two not only in job function and working as a team, but also in the knowledge that you gain. Doctors still have pharmacology courses, and pharmacists still have to understand diagnosing the basic anatomy and the pathophysiology of diseases.

But again, the job functions overall are completely different. And how that translates to you is that your day to day as a doctor versus a pharmacist can look extremely, extremely different.

So you really have to understand where your love of science, where your love of medicine actually stems from, do you want to help people by being the expert in diagnosing and helping care that way, or by being an expert in medications in treatments, and helping patients in that realm.

Entrance Scholarships at Cape Breton University, Canada.

So again, overall, if you want to be a doctor, pharmacy school is not for you.

2. If you want Easy Carrier

Pharmacy school is not for you as if you’re looking for some kind of easy way out: while still maintaining a career in the medical field, but not wanting to commit to 4 years of undergraduate school, four years of graduate school, and 2 – 4 years of residency or fellowship.

Now I say this, because a lot of people have come up to me specifically and been like, Oh, you did your pharm D in 6 years, that’s so easy. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor; I’ve always wanted to be in the medical field. But that’s so much shorter, I should just do that. Now. First of all, I wouldn’t say that pharmacy school is necessarily easy.

So definitely be aware on that side of things. But second of all, all those 6 years might seem short in comparison to again your 8 years 10 years, you still have to understand that 6 years is a big chunk of your life.

By the time I was in my 3rd out of 6 years of pharmacy school, I already felt like I was there for so long. And by again my 5th and 6th year. It really did feel like aeons I was in school for a while all of my friends who did 4 year degrees were in and out within 4 years, and I still was in school.

So don’t only compare it to again, either medical school or any other type of graduate school, but compared to the reality of time. And I think this is where your own priorities were really set in.

And this is where you have to understand how much time you want to invest in something like school for your career, and then make decisions based on that.

Moreover, touching upon the not so easy part of pharmacy school pharmacy school, of course gets more and more challenging throughout the years. And you are expected to know a lot, there are a couple really difficult years in pharmacy school where I even personally did not do anything besides school.

So again, it is not an easy way out and if you think that and go to pharmacy school with that mindset, you will definitely feel otherwise while you’re studying. Another thing I want to quickly mention here is that depending on what route you decide to take with your career after pharmacy school, you can actually still spend 1,2,3 years in postdoctoral training, whether it’s a residency to work in a hospital or clinic, whether it’s a fellowship to work in the pharmaceutical industry, all of those training programs do exist on top of your 6 years of pharmacy school, if you get into a 6 year program.

So again, you just have to keep these things in mind, there’s no true easy way out.
Now my third reason is pretty self explanatory. But if you personally have no desire to pursue any job that a pharm D would, then you definitely should not be going to pharmacy school.

Again, I think pharmacy school has gotten more popular within the last few years at least, that’s the transition that I’ve seen from when I first started school too, when I graduated. But again, overall, you really have to compare it to what you want. And if you just can’t picture yourself performing any of the job functions that any pharm D could do, then there’s no reason for you to pursue pharmacy school. But there are still so many career choices that a pharm D can make.

You don’t have to work as a retail pharmacist, you don’t have to work in a hospital, there are a lot of options, so many different personality types, many different people can fall within the category of wanting to pursue a job within the realm of pharmacy. Again, the range is pretty big. But if you don’t fall into any of those categories, then again, pharmacy school just isn’t for you.

3. If you want just the Cash

Pharmacy school is not for you if you are going in for the Money: whether you like to accept it or not, a lot of your decisions are driven by the fact of how much money you are going to earn or are currently earning. That’s the whole point of college; you want to go to college to earn a degree to get a job to make good money.

Now, in the past, when I’ve told people that I’m in pharmacy school, so many people react, like, oh, you’re gonna make so much money when you graduate. And it seems like that’s the idea that people have in their head. But if that’s the only reason you’re going to pharmacy school, then it’s definitely not for you.

Again, like I just explained, you’re going to put in 6-8 years of your time of your life pursuing pharmacy school. And then as with any career choice, it does take time to get off the ground, get into a job role that you really want and see yourself in for the future. So bottom line, it’s going to take a lot of time, effort and energy.

So you really have to make sure that this is something you’re okay with putting that much time, effort and energy into. And if your only motivation is something like money, then honestly, it’s not going to take you really far and you’ll burn out a lot quicker.

Canada Provincial Government Student Assistance Scholarships

4. To Gain Doctorate degree

Pharmacy school is not for you if you are doing it just for the doctorate title: Yes, Pharm, these are doctorate and you can do the little pretty signature of Dr. Divyanka got that, but of course, if that’s your only reason as to why you’re even going to pharmacy school and pursuing a pharm D, then get out.

Now again, going to pharmacy school takes a lot of time, effort and energy not only on your part for everyone around you, so don’t just do it for something superficial like that. Is it a nice bonus? Yes. But again, it comes with being an expert in pharmacy. And that expertise takes a lot of studying.

5. Due to Parental Pressure

Now, this generally goes for any career field, if you are getting parental pressure or pressure from any external source for that matter. And that is your only motivator to pursue whatever it is you’re pursuing, then, of course, that is wrong.

That’s not how it should be, you need to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons that you’re motivated in the right ways. And pressure from any external source, even if it’s family is incorrect, you have to reason with yourself as to why you actually want to pursue something.

And if it falls in line with the hopes and dreams of let’s just say your parents, then great, but if it doesn’t, then that is something that you need to take charge for and prioritize yourself, your parents or any other external family members or friends, will not be pursuing the career will not be going to school for you, will not be taking your exams for you will not be job searching for you.

And we’ll definitely not be performing your job for you. So again, at the epicenter of it all you need to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.

So overall, those are my few reasons as to why pharmacy school just might not be for you. There are many great career paths out there. And I’ve definitely seen pharmacy become more popular within the last few years.

But again, if this is something you’re thinking about pursuing, really understand your intrinsic motivation as to why you want to do this because it’s going to take a good amount out of you whether it’s in the form of time, effort, or energy, which are all extremely valuable. All of our time is valuable, so make sure you’re putting it towards something you actually want to do.

As always, I hope this article was helpful for you guys. If you guys have any questions feel free to email me or leave a comment down below.
And I’ll be sure to comment back.