Any Catholic pharmacists here? Interested student here

[redbetta]

I am a senior college student applying to pharmacy school right now. I am interested in hearing from pharmacists about what got them into pharmacy, how do they like their job, what is their favorite parts of the job, their least favorite, any ethical dilemmas you might have to encounter as a Catholic in pharmacy, etc. I do not have any pharmacists in my family to talk to and I want to make sure I am making the right decision. I always wanted to do something in healthcare and originally wanted to be a physician, but, I changed my mind after I have spoken to a lot of MDs and researched it more closely.

Also, I don’t know if this is the right place for this thread. Maybe Family Life is better. I don’t know. I anyone thinks I can get better luck on another subforum, let me know so I can move this thread.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mtatum1958]

I remember your prayer intention for the PCATS. I trust they went well.

I am a pharmacist and have been in practice for over 30 years. I spent 6months in a retail setting (not for me) and the remainder in hospital settings: staff pharmacist, clinical coordinator, research pharmacist in a large teaching hospital, and Director at a rural critical access hospital.

Initially, it was a liking for both chemistry and healthcare that led me to pharmacy. The wide range of opportunities was also appealing: retail, hospital, consulting, industry, sales, research, government.

Least favorite parts were the sometimes long hours, regular weekend hours, doubling back and sometime extremely workload with time critical orders. All that is countered with the satisfaction in providing the needed services to patients, nurses, physicians, and other healthcare personnel. In research, it was helping to provide new treatments to help individuals and see a unique beneficial medicine come to market. As Director, the most rewarding part was enabling new staff to succeed.

As a Catholic, dilemmas were the use of contraceptives (supplying and oversight), drug treatment for ectopic pregnancies, and end of life discussions with patients, family,and physicians.

It has been an enjoyable, if somewhat wild journey. Best wishes. Keep your options open and always feel free to ask me any questions.

My wife is also a pharmacist. Most recently, she is working part time in a clinic setting mostly doing diabetic education, but also on other disease states (also a CDE)

 

[redbetta]

So, why did you decide retail is not for you? So you have time for family and other interests? One of the main reasons I opted against becoming an MD is because it seems to take up a person’s entire life and there are so many things I want to do in my life besides my job, like raising a family and being an artist.

Also, how easy is it to transition from one area of pharmacy to another, like clinical to retail to research? You seemed to have done everything.

As for me, I would like to try retail for a few years to see if I like that first and to finally get a break from school and start earning my own money, but I am worried about not being able to find a residency should I decide I am done with retail.

EDIT: The preliminary score report on the PCAT had my well above the 90th percentile for the multiple choice. I am just waiting for the essay score. I am still going to give it one more go because I could have done much better at the math and I was too tired when I got to that section.

 

[Mtatum1958]

Choosing one setting over another is a personal preference. I enjoyed interacting with hospital staff/patients more than people in a drug store, mostly because I judge they see it more as a product than a service. I have friends that greatly enjoyed the retail setting.

Time for family and self? Yes you will. As a staff pharmacist and coordinator it was pretty much 80 hrs/2 weeks. I was a Scoutmaster for 10 years and spent that time with our son. Just make you put your big rocks (family, self, etc.) in the jar first. That’s from a TED talk. In the hospital research arena there was more on call time, but not bad. There is no comparison to physicians who have much much more call, although that is changing with newer MDs.

Transitioning was, for me, just a natural progression. Don’t be hesitant to accept a new challenge, just know your abilities. You can move to hospital without a residency. It is becoming more important for leadership positions in larger institutions or for more clinical positions.

Of note, retail generally has higher salaries initially, and many new grads see this in light of outstanding loans.

 

[redbetta]

So, I am running into a few roadblocks in the application process.

1. I need some letters of recommendation for the application. I know I can get one from a professor and one from my supervisor from the hospice I volunteered at the past few summers. But, some schools would prefer two STEM professors and, to be honest, I have the feeling that most of my past STEM professors hated me because I had a learning disability and am constantly dealing with an abusive parent, so I had needed a lot of accommodations and extra help because of the effects this has had on my performance. I doubt many of these professors enjoy teaching in the first place, so I can only imagine what they think of someone who has so much trouble keeping up. So, I do not know what to do.
2. So, looking at pharmacy schools, they admit 50-200 applicants. Does that mean that everyone enrolled that year takes the same classes, at the same time, in big lecture halls? I am confused as to how this all works.

EDIT

1. Also, I do not know whether I should apply early decision. I am looking for stats on what percent of people admitted are admitted early decision, but cannot find any. Personally, there is no place I am 100% sure I want to go to, but, I am worried about not being able to get in any other way. My PCAT and GPA is strong, but I still have doubts.

 

[Mtatum1958]

A lot of this is my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. I earned my B.S. Pharmacy in ‘84’ and then my Pharm. D. In ‘00’.

1. If it is required, then you will need to search out a past instructor who would be able to give a satisfactory reference. Perhaps there is a class where you did well despite difficulty, or where you excelled in a particular portion of the class.
2. Find the email address of the (an) admission counselor from the colleges you are looking at. They may also be able to put you in touch with a student representative which would be helpful (or maybe it won’t happen). You seem to have a good amount of college courses completed, so there may be less of the large lecture hall experience typically encountered (pchem, organic, biochemistry), but there will be some. That would vary a little based on your past studies, and the individual college.
3. That’s is a little tricky. I don’t know of the relative stats either. Off the top of my head, I’d say apply to the colleges you are most interested in and take the early acceptance if offered. If you really can’t find a clear prioritization, it might do to wait.

I applied at one school in Chicago (would have been a commuter student) and St. Louis. Received early acceptance and agreed to go to St. Louis, then later received acceptance to UIC where I didn’t go.

Best Wishes.

 

[redbetta]

I did well in a lot of my STEM classes, it is just I am worried I left a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of my professors. My biochemistry professor in the spring told me I am famous in the biology department for being a difficult student to work with. I am still crushed from hearing that and made me doubt I could even get a letter of recommendation from anyone.

 

[Mtatum1958]

I get it, and I don’t have any great answer. Perhaps you could focus on the effort you put forth into completing the class or classes. You know, there were probably many students that never bothered to interact with the instructor.