You want to be a Pharmacist?

To this day one of the most read posts is "10 Tips of making it through your first year of pharmacy school" Long title I know and not that creative might I add. I always feel so scattered. Every other day I try to talk myself into deleting this blog. I just can't seem to bring my self to do it.

At first I wasn't a mom, who was blogging about getting ready to be a mom.
Then I was a mom blogging about mommy stuff.
( I mean I am still a mom, just a less figured out one)
Next a pharmacy student writing about student stuff.
Now I'm a pharmacist, and well I'm not all that sure what I write about at this point.

So, this morning when I logged to see how the blog was doing. Who's reading, if anyone is reading, and what exactly they're reading. I decided, "Hey why not put a new spin on an old topic" What do I have to lose, right?

Ok, can I first say I am pro-pharmacist because I think from this moment forward it may not exactly sound that way.

1. If you are thinking about pharmacy school...Don't do it, turn around and go the other way. Now why would I say that about a career I love so dearly?

Supply and demand.

I recently had a lot of interviews, and I mean a lot. The market is not looking all that great. I've had many interviewers tell me, "the market is so saturated, I really have the ability to hire who I want and pay what I want. Because students need jobs."

Whoa! At present I am compensenated really well. Just to put you in a range I make upwards mid-sixty/hourly. Now I can tell you out of the 8 interviews I had NO ONE willing to A. match my pay and B. Come within $8 of it. I think the lowest I've been offered is $40/hourly by a company who claimed I was highly recommended to them. They were really interested and even offered to give me $5 more hourly than the initial offer. Financially, I just couldn't do it. I am over $200,000.00 in debt. I do have a 4 year old. And most certainly I must live.

This whole situation has been frustrating and frightening. I love my job. I love being a pharmacist. I volunteer my time as a pharmacist to my community because I enjoy. While, I realize money isn't EVERYTHING. It does take money to do most things.

I want students who are interested in being pharmacists to really understand what that means, to understand the commitment.Financially. Years ago people would say "don't become a pharmacist just for the money" Well now the money isn't there like it was.

So, You want to be a Pharmacist?

Ask your self what's the plan if I graduate and I don't receive a full-time job offer?

Or

What if I have to move away from my family or thousands of miles from where I thought I was going to live?

What is my game plan if it takes a year or 2 for me to find employment? What will I do if I can only find part time employment?

What will I do if I get in $120,000.00 of debt from student loans and I thought I would be making $100,000-$150,000/yearly but I find myself making $55,000-$90,000.00?

If you still want to be a pharmacist, if you still have the passion and you feel like a pharmacist is who you were created to be. Go for it, and be the very best pharmacist you possibly can. Change lives, hell change the profession. Be eager and enthusiatic to make the world a better place. Just know the flavor of the tea, before you sip it.

Pharm. D. to Rph

Cheesy picture I know, but it's the most beautiful picture I've ever seen in my life!

Whew, I PASSED the NAPLEX!! Four years of pharmacy school seemed like a piece of cake compared to the "THOUGHT" of taking the naplex. In hindsight, much emphasis on hindsight, it's actually pretty funny. I was stressed beyond belief about a single exam, which was standing directly in front of my future.

I gained so much weight, shed so many tears, and experienced so many breakouts. Fortunately, I didn't have to do it alone. My best friend stuck by me through it all, well we stuck by each other. We got on each other nerves, argued, and most certainly had lots of fun in the process. Everyone at my church dealt with my constant emotional crisis. For their prayers, I am most thankful. I'm most appreciative for their unwavering support and confidence in me even when I didn't have it in myself.

It didn't take long after graduating to realize that my Pharm. D. didn't mean much wihtout being followed by Rph. Quick rewind, I took a 2 week vacation after graduating, which may not have been the smartest idea. I think altogether, I ended up studying mid- May, June, July, and August. Nearly  4 months. Which was absolutely aggravating.

My advice...

Start early, I know after working for free on rotation and then working for money, you are tired. However, if you could commit to going through 3-4 chapters of rxprep a week (during your P4 year) you would really be doing yourself a favor.

I like rxprep. Notice I didn't say love. I feel like rxprep is a good review, very comprehensive, but I'm not sure I feel that's all you need to pass.  Take that with a grain of salt considering all I used was rxprep, and I passed. During the prenaplex, there were questions I felt, if I had the time and resources, I wouldn't have picked the correct answer.

Definitely, utilize the entire rxprep course when that time comes: the videos, the book, and the quizzes. Then if you get down on time just the quizzes. I personally feel as though rotations are close to the best resource, especially if you have good preceptors. I know the thought at that point is to basically, get it done and graduate. From personal experiences, I met a lot of knowledgable people who were willing to help prepare me for the Naplex for FREE, so if you find yourself in a similar situation, use it to your advantage.

Take the prenaplex. It helped to familiarize me with the Naplex format and scoring. Remember, napb says the score isn't a representation of the number of questions you answer correctly. I took the prenaplex twice, my first score was a 96 and my second score was a 87. While my overall score was a 110.  I felt as though both of the pre-tests I took were much more difficult than the actual exam. I'm not sure how accuratley prenaplex scores correspond with the real naplex scores, I've talked to several people who scored in the low 60's both times they took the prenaplex, some passed the naplex and some didn't. So, I'm not sure.

Each exam is supposedly different.

I think considering all of the questions that required some sort of math I only had maybe 10-12 calculations.

It was very random.

I didn't get too many questions from anyone subject.

I don't know how adaptive the exam is, I didn't feel as though it got any easier or harder. There were questions I thought were easy and I knew, some that I had no idea and had never seen before, and then others I simply couldn't remember.

Timing is extremely important. I'm a fast test taker, so that wasn't an issue for me. I would say it's important to remember the exam isn't scored in a way that you have to get every question correct in order to pass. You need to be able to determine in a matter of seconds if you are able to get the question at hand correct, if you can go for it. However, if you can't let it go, don't waste your time...literally...

Lastly, I didn't think the exam was impossible. I thought it was fair. I was nervous because so many people said they felt terrible about the exam and later found out they passed. I didn't feel terrible, I was feeling neutral, which later made me nervous. So, if you are preparing to take the Naplex fret not, study smart and hard. Pray, have faith, and don't let it consume your life like I did. You got this!

And then finally Vacation

I would say 4 long years but, actually it has been much longer since I've been on an actual vacation. Growing up my family never really went on vacation together. My mother was always working, so I would go to Maryland for part of the summer to live with my aunt and uncle. I grew up watching Full House and Family Matters on fridays (I lived for TGIF) and in my mind that's the way family was supposed to be. However, it wasn't anything like how my family actually was. I always told myself, when I got older I would have the perfect family. I would put in place all sorts of family traditions. Unfortunately Evander is not big on holidays or traditions, but Ems and I force him into participating anyway.

 In efforts to spark up traditions, we planned a 2k16 Reid's Family Vacation. I've always wanted to do a cruise, I've had a few friends to do cruises and they loved it. I didn't really know where to start with trying to find the best "deal" on a cruise. The only thing I knew for certain was that I didn't want to only vacation for 3 days. I visited  several different cruise lines and the prices seemed relatively reasonable, however by the time I got to checkout the total was nearly 3 or 4 grand. I was overwhelmed and disencouraged, while Evander was saying we really weren't going to be able to do a vacation this year. Something, that we had talked about doing for over 4 years, was really about not to happen. We argued a lot about this.

 What ended up happening though was actually pretty cool. Reid's Vacation 2K16 ended up being 12 days on 2 different cruises with a pit stop in Palm Beach, Florida. How? Groupon. But the highlight of our trip,was the Escape. We spent 7 days on the Norwegian Escape and it was absolutely wonderful: the room, the staff, the food selection and entertainment. I don't think we could have planned a better time. The only complaint is related to the excursions, they were really poorly put together and the prices are ridiculous. Being as cautious as we are, we decided to book our excursions through Norwegian if only because we knew the ship wouldn't leave us. The excursions were really unorganized and cost us nearly $700.00. We could have done the same things for half the cost. We drove to Florida, which I like driving because it gives us a chance to talk, sing, and bond.


We've been back home for 2 weeks and we are ready to plan our next adventure. Its back to reality for now. I have to study for the Naplex, which has me just beside myself.

The goal that I have set for this blog is to always post something meaningful. So, if I don't have anything meaning to write, I don't post. Simple. So in an attempt to be meaningful: Life goes by so fast. I look at my baby Emsley and it feels like just yesterday that she was 6 months old. We get so caught up in the future, that we forget to live for the now. We don't cherish the learning experiences and opportunities (especially if they aren't glamorous) we face right now. We want the glory and fame but not the glow up (the process of getting to the glow). Trust the process. Trust life. Trust Destiny. Spending time with our families is so important. I encourage everyone to take a vacation. Be it one day or one month. It's so simple to do, planning and saving are essential. We choose to afford what we want to afford. Take the time to see the world and if you have children then take the time to show them the world. We get so complacent with seeing life, the same way each and every day. Go somewhere, anywhere and offer your mind some expansion and different perspectives.

XOXO,

Charity