Gene Said:

Should you get a career as a pharmacist if your good at math but not algebra?

We Answered:

If you aren't good at algebra, you really aren't good at math... when all is said and done.

It seems that pharmacy takes very little mathematical skill in that area though. Some people get confused by variables. Algebra is one of those courses though where you turn the corner and BOOM you understand it and can understand a lot of other things including the sciences a lot better because you do understand it. So continue to work on that as hard as you can.

Carrie Said:

Looking into a career as a pharmacist..?

We Answered:

Hi, I am a pharmacy major as well. I am a sophomore in college right now. 1st you need to look into different pharmacy colleges in your state that you would consider going to and look up what classes they require for you to complete before you can enter their pharmacy school (known as pre-requisites). The pre-requisites for pharmacy school take about 2-3 years to complete depending on your pace of how you schedule to complete the pre-requisites. 2nd during your 2nd year of taking pre-requisites you will need to register for the PCAT exam in order to be accepted into pharmacy school. The degree program to become a pharmacist is called a PharmD program, this takes 4 years to complete. In total pre-pharmacy pre-requisites take 2-3 years to complete and Pharmacy school takes 4 years to complete. Once you have completed pharmacy school, you take a an exam to become a licensed pharmacist in your state and you can start working. During this 1st year of working pharmacists complete their one year residency.

Cathy Said:

pursuing a career as a pharmacist?

We Answered:

I think being a tech is great experience. I had 2 college roommates who worked at Rite Aid and Walgreens, before becoming a pharmacist. They became familiar with drug terminology, their uses, effects, storage, regulations, proper amounts, ect.

What I remember my roommates saying was difficult was learning organic chemistry, which is the undergraduate study prior to going to pharmacy school. Once you make it to graduate school, they say it wasn't that hard.

Regina Said:

Career as a pharmacist or optometrist?

We Answered:

The pharmacy career is more competitive than an optometrist. College people now a days want an easy and relaxed job with a good pay. Being a pharmacist fulfills those demands because dispensing medicine and mixing medicine is not stressful at all, so the competitiveness is high in that field of work.

Pharmacy school is getting to be the same difficulty of trying to get into med school.Basically when you get to the point of applying to pharmacy school, apply to as many as you can so that you can have the best chance of getting into somewhere. The pre-pharmacy curriculum for some colleges are pretty difficult and there are some that are hard yet possible. You have to take a lot of sciences and math classes. California is the most competitive state. Most of their schools want to see a bachelors. To be competitive you'll need a GPA of 3.4 and a PCAT score of 75. The average acceptance rate is probably between 10-15%.

For being an optometrist, it would be easier, but would still be competitive. However, it wouldn't be as competitive as Pharmacy school. U.S. Optometry School is competitive; but it's perhaps the least competitive of the allied professional professions. It's entirely different that Ophthalmology which requires medical schooling and surgical training.Employment of optometrists is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2014, in response to the vision care needs of a growing and aging population. The acceptance rate for an optometrist is probably on the lines of 20%-35%

Being a pharmacist require competitiveness ,but so does optometry. Pharmacy school is harder to get into than optometry school just by its difficulty. So being a pharmacist is more competitive than and optometrist.

Travis Said:

what should you do after high school in order to get a career as a pharmacist?

We Answered:

thinking about this in 8th grade already is pretty mature of you, unless it's just for the $. some good preparation would be to do your best in high school with math and science and take the highest level courses that your school offers in those areas, i.e. AP or honors if an AP course is not offered. a good chemistry background will be necessary for you to succeed in college later on so try to make sure you understand chemistry when you have that class, which probably won't be until 11th grade or so.

beginning in 11th grade, if you're still serious about this, you should look up schools that have a pharmacy program in your area. there are 8-year programs and 6-year programs, and they are both just as good, but the time difference made an impact on my decision. the 8-year program will require you to get your bachelor's degree (4-year degree) before you apply/become accepted at a 4-year pharmacy school to get your PharmD after that. the 6-year program will not grant you a bachelor's degree, but you will be able to get into a pharmacy program 2 years earlier using this track. the first 2 years of this kind of program is called "pre-pharmacy" and it would be a good idea to go to a college whose pre-pharmacy program will lead you into the PharmD program at that school too (instead of having to apply to another school after pre-pharmacy, which would be fairly difficult).

this all probably sounds really confusing right now, but the best idea would be to talk to a school counselor as soon as you get into high school and they can help you from there with all the technical terms. good luck, man

edit:
you can e-mail me at hln002@drake.edu if you have anymore questions, i would be glad to help