Even if pharmacy school were free, you would still lose

[mentos]

Pre-pharms, please Google "opportunity cost". The chances of getting a job as a pharmacist anywhere near civilization in the year 2024 and beyond is so low that it's not worth attending pharmacy school even if it were free.

Do you know what you can accomplish in those 4 years?

For example you can get an RN at a community college in 2 years or less and have 2 years work experience after that. By the time you have worked for 2 years as an RN, you'd have made enough to pay off your student loans, start your retirement accounts with free matching, and save enough for a down payment towards a house. Not to mention you can live anywhere you want, you'll get raises and bonuses each year, and have plenty of opportunity to advance whether it be working in the operating room, ICU, becoming a nurse practitioner etc. When Covid is over you can be a travel nurse and live in a luxury beach condo for free and live it up after work. Or if you're married you can go on your spouse's health insurance and work locum and nearly double your hourly wage.

That is just ONE example of a field that is low cost, high demand, low risk, high rewards. There are many others.

Compare that to losing 4 years in pharmacy school with NO job and nothing to show for it. At this point pharmacy is high risk, NO reward.

Many places pay $15 min wage now. If you were to work a min wage job, you would still come out ahead vs attending pharmacy school because there are simply no jobs and no demand for pharmacists. The mass layoffs have barely begun.

The student mod here will try to sweep the truth under the rug. You pre-pharms are smarter than that. Read the main pharmacy forum, the hidden forum, Redit, watch Paul Tran on YouTube, go to your local CVS and ask to speak to the pharmacist and see the look of despair in their eyes. Then ask them if they are hiring pharmacists and see what they say.

Please stop saying you want to become a pharmacist because it's your "passion" and you want to "help people". Quit kidding yourself, no one is passionate about working in a pharmacy - that is the last place any pharmacist wants to be.

I hope a few pre-pharms see this before the student mod censors this to the hidden forum or bans me.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[PharmtoCS]

One of the few examples I can think of which you could graduate pharmacy school "debt free" is if your family pays for your schooling.

Now imagine your family paying for all your schooling only for you to end up unemployed or not being able to use your degree at all. How embarassing would that be?

 

[BC_89]

Yes pre-pharms by my all mighty power I am hiding the truth

But since the title of this has a twist I'll go ahead and entertain the thought of being debt free and still going to lose. If anything I need a good read to distract the day to day adventures we call life. Anyway...

Since I am a fulltime student and have no debt, a wife who no longer works, and two kids (third and first grade upon graduation), I'll put myself to the test.

After high school, I had some fun working and saving money and figured out quick that the best years of life is spent doing something you enjoy and you might as well get paid doing it. I did some travel overseas and saved some cash to pay for my undergrad and then thought "Well if I need to learn a trade I might as well get paid for it." So I joined the military and got paid to earn certifications (from EMT to pharm tech certs).

After some savings and investing and some entertainment, I decided to go ahead and take advantage of the VA paying for my doctorate. Since they're paying for my education, they also decided to pay for my housing with a direct deposit well above what I actually pay for living expenses. Since I invested some time in the military I also collect a nice monthly compensation.

Should I graduate and have absolutely no opportunity for fulltime employment in any of the 50 states, I suppose I'll settle for part time that pays 43k salary ($45 an hour at 20 hr weeks). Between fishing, hunting, and hanging around with the fam on my time off, I suppose I'll try to get serious and find more hours. If competition says I must be willing to work at a low salary to secure more hours well where do I sign? If I have nothing else to do with the rest of my time I guess I need to grow up and get more hours.

If pharmacy is truly so dry that not even one hour in the country can be spared anywhere: Students would eventually stop attending school, schools in turn would crash and burn, and overtime the profession would slowly correct itself. All the while I'll just be a glorified science teacher with summers off and more fishing with the family. Yes I am an outlier for your thread example, but you'd be surprised how many of "me" exists out in the world. It's not about the high salary its about how much free time one can get with a minimal threshold of money. Having no student loans is a huge plus for that factor.

Some call it a loss, some call it an advantage. Take your pick.

 

[mentos]

Should I graduate and have absolutely no opportunity for fulltime employment in any of the 50 states, I suppose I'll settle for part time that pays 43k salary ($45 an hour at 20 hr weeks).

20 hours per week at $45/hr is a big assumption. Walgreens just laid off thousands of pharmacists. There are thousands of unemployed pharmacists right now who cant get a single hour of work because they're already unemployed. New grads are offered $45/hr right now, some even less. It will not be that high by the time you graduate, probably $40/hr or less in a few years.

 

[zNoodlez]

One of the few examples I can think of which you could graduate pharmacy school "debt free" is if your family pays for your schooling.

Now imagine your family paying for all your schooling only for you to end up unemployed or not being able to use your degree at all. How embarassing would that be?

I would take that 200k and open a laundromat instead.

 

[BC_89]

20 hours per week at $45/hr is a big assumption. Walgreens just laid off thousands of pharmacists. There are thousands of unemployed pharmacists right now who cant get a single hour of work because they're already unemployed. New grads are offered $45/hr right now, some even less. It will not be that high by the time you graduate, probably $40/hr or less in a few years.

I do agree with the variation and assumptions of what future wages will be (as we see that a declining factor is currently taking place and undeniable). I also agree (hard to believe but it is true ) that pharmacy is definitely a goal that needs to be walked very cautiously to the point of reconsideration. For most, they need to walk away indefinitely and ignore the $ sign before taxes and see what the reality take home pay will be.

A calculator for pre-pharms is already in the making to assist with the true value of debt + compounded interest rate against take home salaries with the appropriate (and approximate) tax brackets and other life bills.

Just for the sake of conversation I suppose I would define a true lose scenario of someone having high debt despite potential income when compared to someone having absolutely zero debt and slight possibilities for part time or complete career changes without the chains of loans dragging one to their knees. Either way, opportunity cost is permanent in everyday living but more so for those making a house payment with little to no income.

To the same token, I would still argue that trade schools have the highest returns of payment vs any college institution no matter the degree (Especially over the span of 10 years to as much as 30+ years to reach a break even point).

 

[BC_89]

I would take that 200k and open a laundromat instead.

Bait Shop. Hands down and no joke.

I would fill my shop and pay the overhead along with maintaining large "bass pro shop" edition sized aquariums consisting of crappie, walleye, largemouth / smallmouth bass, catfish, rainbows and browns that I personally caught.

I will either sell out to a business for a pretty mint or start my own franchise throughout the mid-west. Or go bankrupt....

Either way the entrepreneur in my heart only sees success.

 

[mentos]

I do agree with the variation and assumptions of what future wages will be (as we see that a declining factor is currently taking place and undeniable). I also agree (hard to believe but it is true ) that pharmacy is definitely a goal that needs to be walked very cautiously to the point of reconsideration. For most, they need to walk away indefinitely and ignore the $ sign before taxes and see what the reality take home pay will be.

A calculator for pre-pharms is already in the making to assist with the true value of debt + compounded interest rate against take home salaries with the appropriate (and approximate) tax brackets and other life bills.

Just for the sake of conversation I suppose I would define a true lose scenario of someone having high debt despite potential income when compared to someone having absolutely zero debt and slight possibilities for part time or complete career changes without the chains of loans dragging one to their knees. Either way, opportunity cost is permanent in everyday living but more so for those making a house payment with little to no income.

To the same token, I would still argue that trade schools have the highest returns of payment vs any college institution no matter the degree (Especially over the span of 10 years to as much as 30+ years to reach a break even point).

I have always touted the trades. I got an estimate to upgrade our electric panel to 200amp from the local vocational school electrician teacher - $4520 if we pay cash. This guy is the local teacher, not a professional contractor so he should be on the cheaper side.

 

[Xenophylia]

Plus- and often overlooked- the skills learned in trade schools are very useful in "real life" as far as working on your own home, etc. The only thing that pharmacy has ever done for me outside of work is giving me the dubious joy of having complete strangers come up to me and ask me random, generally stupid personal questions ("look at this rash"....ugh). That's why I NEVER volunteer to anyone what I do for a living....

 

[mentos]

Plus- and often overlooked- the skills learned in trade schools are very useful in "real life" as far as working on your own home, etc. The only thing that pharmacy has ever done for me outside of work is giving me the dubious joy of having complete strangers come up to me and ask me random, generally stupid personal questions ("look at this rash"....ugh). That's why I NEVER volunteer to anyone what I do for a living....

I hate this too. When things were normal, my pickup basketball group would all ask me stupid questions about the flu, vaccines, genes, marijuana, their foot pain, immune system, the opioid crisis. I just wanted to play basketball to forget about work for an hour.

We've put like 80k into our home since moving in. New floors, windows, boiler/water heater, painting, patio and landscaping. If we had the skill to do it ourselves it probably would have cost under 20k. Of course, it would have taken years and years though.

 

[Marzapan]

Plus- and often overlooked- the skills learned in trade schools are very useful in "real life" as far as working on your own home, etc. The only thing that pharmacy has ever done for me outside of work is giving me the dubious joy of having complete strangers come up to me and ask me random, generally stupid personal questions ("look at this rash"....ugh). That's why I NEVER volunteer to anyone what I do for a living....

Yep. I am in a gaming group with a bunch of strangers. When I shared with my guild that I was a pharmacist, I started getting DMs about medical questions/advice for peoples' sex lives. Oh how quickly you learn things you never want to...

 

[NorthTexasPharmacist]

Yes pre-pharms by my all mighty power I am hiding the truth

But since the title of this has a twist I'll go ahead and entertain the thought of being debt free and still going to lose. If anything I need a good read to distract the day to day adventures we call life. Anyway...

Since I am a fulltime student and have no debt, a wife who no longer works, and two kids (third and first grade upon graduation), I'll put myself to the test.

After high school, I had some fun working and saving money and figured out quick that the best years of life is spent doing something you enjoy and you might as well get paid doing it. I did some travel overseas and saved some cash to pay for my undergrad and then thought "Well if I need to learn a trade I might as well get paid for it." So I joined the military and got paid to earn certifications (from EMT to pharm tech certs).

After some savings and investing and some entertainment, I decided to go ahead and take advantage of the VA paying for my doctorate. Since they're paying for my education, they also decided to pay for my housing with a direct deposit well above what I actually pay for living expenses. Since I invested some time in the military I also collect a nice monthly compensation.

Should I graduate and have absolutely no opportunity for fulltime employment in any of the 50 states, I suppose I'll settle for part time that pays 43k salary ($45 an hour at 20 hr weeks). Between fishing, hunting, and hanging around with the fam on my time off, I suppose I'll try to get serious and find more hours. If competition says I must be willing to work at a low salary to secure more hours well where do I sign? If I have nothing else to do with the rest of my time I guess I need to grow up and get more hours.

If pharmacy is truly so dry that not even one hour in the country can be spared anywhere: Students would eventually stop attending school, schools in turn would crash and burn, and overtime the profession would slowly correct itself. All the while I'll just be a glorified science teacher with summers off and more fishing with the family. Yes I am an outlier for your thread example, but you'd be surprised how many of "me" exists out in the world. It's not about the high salary its about how much free time one can get with a minimal threshold of money. Having no student loans is a huge plus for that factor.

Some call it a loss, some call it an advantage. Take your pick.

This is a very rare case. I admire your courage but I bet 99% of pharmacists do not have the same luxury.

OP has a very good point in that RNs or NPs would have much broader scope of practice which translates into much better job security and opportunities. Same goes for PAs and obviously MDs/DOs. Pharmacy seems to be very limited to one or two specific area(s) and the skill sets you gain from those experience cannot be translated into another.

Pharmacist Ranks Among Best Jobs of 2020

See how pharmacist stacks up against other occupations.

money.usnews.com

I remember a time when pharmacists were top ranked profession in the nation or in health care but it now has dropped to #27. Not sure how long this decline will continue or how much longer it will take for us to bounce back up but if you're a student right now, the future of this profession is very bleak.

 

[PikminOC]

This is a very rare case. I admire your courage but I bet 99% of pharmacists do not have the same luxury.

OP has a very good point in that RNs or NPs would have much broader scope of practice which translates into much better job security and opportunities. Same goes for PAs and obviously MDs/DOs. Pharmacy seems to be very limited to one or two specific area(s) and the skill sets you gain from those experience cannot be translated into another.

Pharmacist Ranks Among Best Jobs of 2020

See how pharmacist stacks up against other occupations.

money.usnews.com

I remember a time when pharmacists were top ranked profession in the nation or in health care but it now has dropped to #27. Not sure how long this decline will continue or how much longer it will take for us to bounce back up but if you're a student right now, the future of this profession is very bleak.

Mid-level is better as you can change fields whenever you want to open up a new skill set. Physicians are stuck in just their field

 

[deleted562805]

Hello pre Pharms listen to this podcast on Tony PharmD breaking down BLS -3%

 

[Marzapan]

Hello pre Pharms listen to this podcast on Tony PharmD breaking down BLS -3%

The guy is delusional. He makes some valid points but it is extremely cringe-worthy when he gets on his rant about how pharmacy students should start looking for other careers that can benefit from a PharmD trained individual, accept much less pay for these positions and call yourself a "non-traditional pharmacist." Call a spade a spade -- that is, if you go down that path then you've essential had made a career change, and any pharmacy students or pre-pharms listen to his come out of his mouth should be TERRIFIED because it is an open admission that the PharmD is a non-versatile, non-transferrable degree. Of course, Tony himself is a failure of sorts so I don't blame him for giving this advice since he's probably just trying to rationalize and compensate for his own failures. What was he again, a PGY-2 trained pharmacist who couldn't find any job so ended up teaching at a CC or something?

 

[deleted562805]

The guy is delusional. He makes some valid points but it is extremely cringe-worthy when he gets on his rant about how pharmacy students should start looking for other careers that can benefit from a PharmD trained individual, accept much less pay for these positions and call yourself a "non-traditional pharmacist." Call a spade a spade -- that is, if you go down that path then you've essential had made a career change, and any pharmacy students or pre-pharms listen to his come out of his mouth should be TERRIFIED because it is an open admission that the PharmD is a non-versatile, non-transferrable degree. Of course, Tony himself is a failure of sorts so I don't blame him for giving this advice since he's probably just trying to rationalize and compensate for his own failures. What was he again, a PGY-2 trained pharmacist who couldn't find any job so ended up teaching at a CC or something?

I wouldn’t cast a stone and say he is a failure. he mentioned prior to pharmacy that he had a successful real estate business, before the housing crisis of 2008 in his last video when he told residents to look for “a job.”
He couldn’t get a job in a hospital after a PGY-1, so he decided to work in higher education teaching gen chem and pharmacology at a CC. He says that he is happy where he is working at a CC.

However, after watching this video, I would take his career approach with a grain of salt. I agree that his advice comes of as disingenuous especially for those who have done 2 years of residency, looking for a hospital job. He says that there is some growth in hospital pharmacy, but then tells residents to start thinking about higher ed jobs where a PharmD+ 1-2 years residency makes you overqualified. Basically, his motive is to promote that pharmacists should apply to higher ed jobs.

If you pursue higher ed, you are not a pharmacist in the literal sense. I agree with that instead of sugar coating or beating around bush about the job market, he should have said the Profession of Pharmacy is over and it is time to look for a job to survive.

 

[Gombrich12]

Higher ed is just another declining field anyways so trying to become a teacher at a community college may not work out.

Why do we barely see these unemployed students and residents posting on SDN or reddit? At a minimum I would guess 35% of the recent class is unemployed. You would think there would be all sorts of posts asking about how to find jobs or how to move onto other occupations.

 

[deleted562805]

Higher ed is just another declining field anyways so trying to become a teacher at a community college may not work out.

Why do we barely see these unemployed students and residents posting on SDN or reddit? At a minimum I would guess 35% of the recent class is unemployed. You would think there would be all sorts of posts asking about how to find jobs or how to move onto other occupations.

Almost every high skilled field is declining. Even physician job growth is declining at 4%. Nursing at 7%. Only the low skilled relatively speaking compared to docs, PAs and NPs are in demand in health care.

Higher ed is average at 9%.
Point is any field is better than pharmacy right now

 

[O.State]

Good hypothetical. If I knew what I know now... I dont even know if Id have taken a free ride. But to each his own

 

[deleted562805]

Saw a post on linked in that this girl who got a PA job was one of 10% of her class that had a job since graduation. 90% did not.

Did she do a residency

 

[Marzapan]

Why do we barely see these unemployed students and residents posting on SDN or reddit? At a minimum I would guess 35% of the recent class is unemployed. You would think there would be all sorts of posts asking about how to find jobs or how to move onto other occupations.

Guilt, shame, or blind thinking that "there is no problem with this profession and the naysayers are just trolls," "it'll just take some time due to [fill in the blank] but I'll eventually get a job," etc. Much easier to be part of the silent majority than the vocal minority...

 

[O.State]

Guilt, shame, or blind thinking that "there is no problem with this profession and the naysayers are just trolls," "it'll just take some time due to [fill in the blank] but I'll eventually get a job," etc. Much easier to be part of the silent majority than the vocal minority...

I wish lurking would be quantified and recorded.. the list of scared to death prepharm + graduates perusing these forums for answers would be ungodly

 

[rxkrafted]

I wish lurking would be quantified and recorded.. the list of scared to death prepharm + graduates perusing these forums for answers would be ungodly

many of these prepharms aren't scared to death because they think we're trolling. the only thing scaring them is if schools will accept their low (optional) PCAT score lol

 

[Marzapan]

Yeah it's obvious that the pre-pharms think we're just trolls. I mean look at how many users have been banned/silenced due to these prepharms reporting their posts. Look at the fact that pre-pharms who silently complain to the mods thru PMs that they're getting annoyed at all the incessant negative/job saturation posts get rewarded with the creation of a hidden job market forum to further censor everyone from the truth.

Credibility, tenure and contributions to this forum are obviously not respected because that all goes out the window with a simple downvote. Just like how they're censoring everything over there on Reddit too.

 

[OIN23]

Yeah it's obvious that the pre-pharms think we're just trolls. I mean look at how many users have been banned/silenced due to these prepharms reporting their posts. Look at the fact that pre-pharms who silently complain to the mods thru PMs that they're getting annoyed at all the incessant negative/job saturation posts get rewarded with the creation of a hidden job market forum to further censor everyone from the truth.

Credibility, tenure and contributions to this forum are obviously not respected because that all goes out the window with a simple downvote. Just like how they're censoring everything over there on Reddit too.

Probably admin from pharmacy schools. At this point, everyone knows there is a super saturation. If they decide to go then that is their problem.

 

[mentos]

I hope a few pre-pharms see this before the student mod censors this to the hidden forum or bans me.

Why was this moved?? This is for the pre-pharm forum not the hidden forum!

 

[Xenophylia]

Don't rain on the snowflake's parade! Shame on you!!!!

 

[owlegrad]

I hope to find this mythical hidden forum one day. It sounds fun!

 

[Sine Cura]

I've been infracted only a couple times (even had an old post modified like 6 weeks later). I doubt pre-pharms actually care that much

Reddit has its uses but most Ledditors are trash (not just pharmacy) and the downvote system is garbo

 

[sfachine]

Everyone here complains about the market(me too) but we have no hard data.What is pharmacist unemployment or underemployment rate?Why can't academia or the Apha or the states BOP give us the data?Is it out there?Until we see the data then people have a legit complaint that this forum is filled with pharmacist trolls.

 

[OIN23]

Everyone here complains about the market(me too) but we have no hard data.What is pharmacist unemployment or underemployment rate?Why can't academia or the Apha or the states BOP give us the data?Is it out there?Until we see the data then people have a legit complaint that this forum is filled with pharmacist trolls.

This can be done by looking at tax return. Post stats for each school at year 1, 3, 5 and 10 after graduation. Every student has the right to know how graduates are doing.

 

[sfachine]

This info should be a required for a pharmacy school to get accredited.It isn't.

 

[jacksmith228833]

Probably admin from pharmacy schools. At this point, everyone knows there is a super saturation. If they decide to go then that is their problem.

Amen...pharmacy schools doing social media marketing....anyone remember that guy from Chapman?

 

[rxkrafted]

Everyone here complains about the market(me too) but we have no hard data.What is pharmacist unemployment or underemployment rate?Why can't academia or the Apha or the states BOP give us the data?Is it out there?Until we see the data then people have a legit complaint that this forum is filled with pharmacist trolls.

Is the job outlook statistic on the BLS not good enough to validate all these pharmacists' claims about saturation? Other professions even know about our gloomy market outlook right after they find out I'm a pharmacist lol.

 

[rxkrafted]

A lot of these students don't look deeper into the statistics either. If you look at the supposedly "#1 pharmacy school in the nation" UNC, they actually show the statistics on their website of their 2018 graduating class: ~50% got in residency, ~10% retail, ~1% hospital, ~20% no position/no response.
So after residency, how many of these students fail to get a full-time job? this number + (20% no position/no response) is a high number for a pharmacy school that boasts #1 in the nation.

 

[deleted562805]

A lot of these students don't look deeper into the statistics either. If you look at the supposedly "#1 pharmacy school in the nation" UNC, they actually show the statistics on their website of their 2018 graduating class: ~50% got in residency, ~10% retail, ~1% hospital, ~20% no position/no response.
So after residency, how many of these students fail to get a full-time job? this number + (20% no position/no response) is a high number for a pharmacy school that boasts #1 in the nation.

Now some schools are taking advantage of students who are not looking at school statistics or BLS stats. They are getting away with fraud by positing old 2014 BLS stats

https://www.usj.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Sheet_SOP_Job-2016-01927-FIN-2020.pdf

 

[sfachine]

Is the job outlook statistic on the BLS not good enough to validate all these pharmacists' claims about saturation? Other professions even know about our gloomy market outlook right after they find out I'm a pharmacist lol.

It is not enough.We know how many are coming in but we dont know how many leave.

 

[rxkrafted]

Now some schools are taking advantage of students who are not looking at school statistics or BLS stats. They are getting away with fraud by positing old 2014 BLS stats

https://www.usj.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Sheet_SOP_Job-2016-01927-FIN-2020.pdf

That is one of the most grimiest things ive ever seen. I actually emailed them about this just now to see what they have to say lol.

 

[ValeRx]

Some schools are still posting old info from 2012. They should be required to update all job prospect information on a yearly basis.

 

[rxdawg21]

That is one of the most grimiest things ive ever seen. I actually emailed them about this just now to see what they have to say lol.

So did I, BLS has been updated AT LEAST twice since their posted information. Stuff like their advertisements should be illegal/cause them to lose some lawsuits. Especially praying on HS seniors with the 0-6 program.

 

[deleted562805]

So did I, BLS has been updated AT LEAST twice since their posted information. Stuff like their advertisements should be illegal/cause them to lose some lawsuits. Especially praying on HS seniors with the 0-6 program.

Most of the high schoolers end up jumping ship to medical school after the bachelor portion of Pharmacy of the 0-6 program, and I hope they just use the program as means to get into med school, just the Bpharm

 

[PharmtoCS]

A lot of these students don't look deeper into the statistics either. If you look at the supposedly "#1 pharmacy school in the nation" UNC, they actually show the statistics on their website of their 2018 graduating class: ~50% got in residency, ~10% retail, ~1% hospital, ~20% no position/no response.
So after residency, how many of these students fail to get a full-time job? this number + (20% no position/no response) is a high number for a pharmacy school that boasts #1 in the nation.

I wonder where the 50% that got into residency ended up after they finished. Word is that even residency grads are having trouble finding jobs.

 

[Xenophylia]

Yeah the way I understand it, residency just prolongs having to look for a job for a year or so. Once residency is over many join the ranks of the unemployed... But it sounds a lot better to say you're doing a residency than driving for Uber/Lyft or running pizzas.

 

[deleted562805]

Yeah the way I understand it, residency just prolongs having to look for a job for a year or so. Once residency is over many join the ranks of the unemployed... But it sounds a lot better to say you're doing a residency than driving for Uber/Lyft or running pizzas.

Well, then they need to pursue a fellowship..... lol. They can become career coaches and to help P4s get a residency

Academia is trying to create fellowships and hospitals are talking about PGY-3s to address the PGY-1 and PGY-2 saturation

I was being sarcastic with the fellowships.

 

[O.State]

Academia is trying to create fellowships and hospitals are talking about PGY-3s to address the PGY-1 and PGY-2 saturation

nightmarish. at least for me.. I couldnt wait to leave school

 

[Xenophylia]

Yeah it's funny. When I was in school, I wanted out. But once I got out, I wanted back in. The real world kinda sucks, and you get used to the kind of clear cut gratification (such as grades) in academia. Out of school, it's more just matter of daily survival, especially in retail.

 

[DH1987]

Yeah it's funny. When I was in school, I wanted out. But once I got out, I wanted back in. The real world kinda sucks, and you get used to the kind of clear cut gratification (such as grades) in academia. Out of school, it's more just matter of daily survival, especially in retail.

A big part of me just wants to say "f--- it all" and just quit for a couple of years. But then that means taking a chance on not being able to get another pharmacy job again, and have fun trying to explain that employment gap. And even if you find another pharmacy job, it's likely you get hired at a substantially lower rate. It would be very possible that you'd have to go back to school, start all over again, and possibly end up in the same boat with the next profession that gets oversaturated, except you're now 5-10 years older with nothing to show for it.

"Hey, what did you do for those 2 years?"

"I was physically and mentally exhausted and needed a break, but now I'm recharged and ready! (big fake smile)"

"...." (Is this guy gonna quit on us when he gets tired? Let's just hire the new, hungry grad who's $300k in debt, we can abuse him more...)

I've spent way more time ruminating on this than I care to admit. F---ing capitalism. I try to be grateful that I have a job, but still...f---ing capitalism.

I should just go find a sugar mama...

 

[Xenophylia]

Sadly, sugar momma (or daddy, for those that roll that way) is your best option. Any profession is a crap shoot with as f*cked up as the world is anymore and usually not worth the time expenditure/debt. Something that looks good now could suck by graduation day. Most of those people I know that have kids don't know what to tell them. But the kids that seem to be doing the best are the ones that avoid college all together. Those that learn a trade (electrician, mechanic) avoid all the needless debt and are much more valued. The world today is clearly over educated. Those that learn the basic trades are the ones in demand these days.

 

[mentos]

Sadly, sugar momma (or daddy, for those that roll that way) is your best option. Any profession is a crap shoot with as f*cked up as the world is anymore and usually not worth the time expenditure/debt. Something that looks good now could suck by graduation day. Most of those people I know that have kids don't know what to tell them. But the kids that seem to be doing the best are the ones that avoid college all together. Those that learn a trade (electrician, mechanic) avoid all the needless debt and are much more valued. The world today is clearly over educated. Those that learn the basic trades are the ones in demand these days.

I can't get an electrician to give me the time of day. I just need a common wire installed for my Nest thermostat but it's not worth their time. They're too busy working on 4-5 figure jobs.

 

[jacksmith228833]

Sadly, sugar momma (or daddy, for those that roll that way) is your best option. Any profession is a crap shoot with as f*cked up as the world is anymore and usually not worth the time expenditure/debt. Something that looks good now could suck by graduation day. Most of those people I know that have kids don't know what to tell them. But the kids that seem to be doing the best are the ones that avoid college all together. Those that learn a trade (electrician, mechanic) avoid all the needless debt and are much more valued. The world today is clearly over educated. Those that learn the basic trades are the ones in demand these days.

Any sugar-mamas out there? I am willing to hit the gym and OD on viagra...