[MrSpitz]

PharmD I assume is the degree you mention.

The career can vary widely, from sitting in the back of Rite Aid / CVS / Whatever commerical pharmacy to specializing and working in a hospital in a specialty (say oncology).

Commericial pharmacists make good money, but they take a lot of shit and don't use 95% of their degree.

Specialized pharmacists make less money and have slightly weird hours but work in patient care teams that can be a lot of fun.

An unspecialized hospital pharmacist sits in the basement of a hospital and makes a little less than the other two, at least in my area.


The schooling is easy enough (actually very easy other then some pharmacokinetic classes), it is getting in that is the hard part. Applicants have flocked to the field because pharmacist salaries have increased so much that you can easily make more than a primary care physician, which is ridiculous in my book but whatever. To get in you just have to nail the two years of pre-reqs, as many A's as possible, and get some experience in research or community pharm. The PCAT isn't too tough and is really only for if your grades are below par, but it varies school by school.

You have a 'residency' which is generally 6 weeks TOTAL at the end of your 4th year and have on the job internships / advanced work end of third until graduation, though it varies as some schools are only 3 years.




Good field but a lot of people are flocking to it as it is much, much easier than med. school and shorter and depending on the area the pay is friggin nuts. I worked in one a long time ago in Buffalo, the boss wanted me to go into pharm and he showed me his YTD earnings about midyear and had 89,000 at Rite Aid.


Edit: As for if you want to go into research for a pharmaceutical company, you can but you will be competing with people who have PhD's in pharmacology and other such fields who have an edge in research based positions.