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Getting into Pharmacy School is Now Dangerously Easy

When you were in high school, did you get “strongly encouraged” by your mom or dad to seek a high paying, stable career? My dad was relentless in trying to get my two brothers and me to go to medical school, to become eye doctors or pharmacists. So is going to pharmacy school a good idea in 2023?

Let's get one statistic out of the way: using the most recent available PharmCAS data from the 2021-2022 school year, the acceptance rate for pharmacy school was 87%, down slightly from the record 89% acceptance rate from the year before. It's getting to the point where pharmacy schools will take almost anyone who applies. We look at the long term dynamics for the profession if you're already a pharmacist, and we'll look at what it means if you're considering applying to pharmacy school.

The Cost of Pharmacy School Isn't Slowing Applications as Much as You'd Think

According to the 2022 AACP Graduating Student Survey, the average pharmacist student debt at graduation was $170,444, down slightly from 2021.

As a student loan consultant, I admittedly see the higher end of the debt loads in every profession. In fact, our average pharmacist client has a student debt of $228,000. In other words, pharmacy programs aren't cheap.

That said, I’m hearing stories that should give anyone going to pharmacy school or about to fill out a pharmacy school application pause.

If you’re already a pharmacist with a bunch of student debt after years of college, we can definitely help you get a plan to tackle it. If you owe less than 1.5 times your salary and you work in the private sector, you might just refinance your pharmacy school loans and pay them off.

Neither one of those paths are ideal though. Refinancing to a 10-year (or longer) term or needing a specialized student loan consultant should not be necessary.

It's only happening because forces in the profession care more about their own profit and narrow interests. You can feel free to sound off in the comments about your feelings on that.

If pharmacy stakeholders don't change something soon, they could kill their golden goose. I want to shed light on the misconception that many in the public and health science profession still have that a pharmacy degree program leads to a sure-fire career with a high income and job security. When 5% of the profession signs a petition to #ChangePharmacy, you know you're close to a breaking point.

The Acceptance Rate of Pharmacy School Has Soared Over Time

For any figures in this article, assume that I got the data from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). I also have to tell you that they don’t bear any responsibility for the interpretations or conclusions I make, which are my own.

If you look at the report from the Pharmacy College Admission System (PharmCAS), you’ll see startling trends developing in medicine and the pharmacy world. While applications are falling, the acceptance rate continues to climb, reaching a record 89% for the 2020-2021 school year.

YearPharmacy schoolsApplicantsAccepted% of accepted applicants
2003-20044313,7224,68334%
2004-20054314,4334,57032%
2005-20064514,6504,93234%
2006-20074714,8695,44837%
2007-20085915,9086,58141%
2008-20097216,2468,16850%
2009-20108617,2209,44755%
2010-20119617,45110,42960%
2011-201210317,40510,80462%
2012-201311017,61712,24770%
2013-201411617,22512,43872%
2014-201511916,85813,08678%
2015-201612416,36913,01580%
2016-201712616,20413,18581%
2017-201812915,88613,13983%
2018-201913315,33512,70883%
2019-202013513,99812,14387%
2020-202113413,00611,52089%
2021-202213411,2199,70087%

In 2004, the acceptance rate for pharmacy school was about 32%. In 2021, the acceptance rate for pharmacy school is 89%.

In other words, pharmacy school has gone from a highly competitive profession to one where almost anyone can get in. Basically, if you take the prerequisites and pass undergrad science coursework with a decent minimum GPA, it's possible to get in somewhere.

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How grad plus loans caused pharmacy schools to open everywhere

In 2006, Congress created the Grad PLUS loan program. Under this new type of loan, a student could borrow an unlimited sum to go to a graduate program, up to the cost of attendance.

Suddenly, students had guaranteed access to unlimited federal funds, with only the stated cost of attendance as a barrier.

Universities figured this out, so many of them opened a new school of pharmacy. In my view, they used the GAO report from 2000 and high average salaries as a rationale.

Notice that the number of pharmacy schools and accepted applicants basically tripled over less than 15 years.

Pharmacy School Metrics Keep Getting Worse

Look at this data from the AACP on the average PCAT scores from 2014-2018.

Getting into Pharmacy School is Now Dangerously Easy

Accepted PharmCAS applicants GPA

Here is the data for GPA from 2003 to 2022. You’ll notice that the grades for admitted students, in general, have fallen over the same time frame that so many schools opened.

Overall undergrad GPA for admitted students fell to a low of 3.28 in 2019-2020 and slightly recovered to 3.32 for 2020-2021. While applicant qualifications might have leveled off, they are far below levels from the early 2000s.

YearScience GPAMath GPATotal undergrad GPA
2003-20043.343.263.43
2004-20053.373.313.47
2005-20063.393.443.48
2006-20073.403.453.49
2007-20083.353.403.45
2008-20093.303.373.42
2009-20103.293.373.41
2010-20113.293.613.40
2011-20123.273.353.40
2012-20133.253.333.38
2013-20143.233.313.36
2014-20153.213.283.34
2015-20163.183.263.32
2016-20173.163.243.31
2017-20183.153.243.30
2018-20193.153.223.30
2019-20203.123.203.28
2020-20213.173.223.32
2021-20223.213.253.35

To be clear, getting into certain pharmacy schools is still difficult. For example, getting into law school is now tremendously easy compared to the past, as schools fight overqualified candidates. However, it will always be challenging to get into Harvard Law.

In the same light, the best programs for a pharmacy student will always have to turn away good candidates. They’re just not turning away nearly as many as they used to.

The higher cost schools in pharmacy tend to be the easiest pharmacy schools to get into. After all, the schools have big profit margins and lots of incentives to push becoming a pharmacist as a dream career.

Pharmacists face limited job growth with the influx of new grads

The growth rate of jobs for pharmacists is expected to be 2% from 2021 to 2031, which is less than the average for all occupations, 5%, according to the BLS.

The growth in the number of admitted students over the past 15 years was 7.1%.

Those numbers just don't match up.

The need for pharmacists didn’t expand as fast as the government predicted.

Before the pandemic, the pharmacist job market was in moderate distress, with employers such as Kroger laying off all new hires in 2018 after a short amount of time, as well as in 2019.

Clients pre-pandemic told me that they were having trouble getting full-time hours in many cases.

The pandemic paused many of those trends, but we expect them to return once we return to more normal economic times.

Pharmacy resident programs are a source of cheap labor

Were pharmacy residency programs created because there was an acute lack of knowledge? My belief is that when there was a tighter job market, many pharmacists could learn on the job while earning a high income.

Now, many hospitals and other employers use residents as a source of cheap labor. There are plenty of ways that you can save on your student loans during a pharmacy residency, including signing up for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) or Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE), formerly REPAYE, to build credit towards loan forgiveness. You can even cut your interest rate if you are eligible for subsidies.

Employers can hire two or three residents for what they pay one full salary pharmacist. Hence, I’d expect average residency length will continue to grow and more career paths will require advanced training after pharmacy school.

We've seen “degree and credential creep” in other fields such as Physical Therapy. You used to be able to practice as a physical therapist with a master's degree, until the accrediting body for the profession started requiring a doctorate, with no commensurate change in pay.

Residency programs are a natural outgrowth of an oversupply of pharmacists. Hence, long term, we expect the growth of residency programs will continue.

How did getting into pharmacy school go from hard to easy?

My dad would tell me stories as a high school kid about how someone’s daughter at church was going to make $120,000 a year working four days a week as a pharmacist. He was a teacher making about $50,000, so that sounded like a fantastic lifestyle.

I think the combination of a culture that values high-paying stable jobs with unlimited loan money combined with old-fashioned greed on the part of universities, in relation to tuition costs, got us to this point in the pharmacy profession.

The host of the Pharmacy Leaders Podcast posted these admissions process statistics first on Facebook, where I got the idea for this article.

One experienced pharmacist commented on the thread,

“When I graduated in 2001, the running joke was if you have a license and a pulse, pharmacies throw money at you to hire you. Now it should be “Do you have a pulse and an approved loan application? We'll take you!”

How pharmacists have it better than some occupations

If you could work 20 hours a week as a pharmacist and earn $60,000 or 40 hours a week while bringing work home and make $50,000, which career would you choose? My teacher father would probably have said “pharmacist” as his preference.

The reality of student loan math is that many pharmacists working in the healthcare field cannot pay their student loans back easily with the earnings from their degree.

However, if your income isn’t where you want it to be relative to your debt, you can utilize the student loan forgiveness options available to reduce the cost of your loans in real dollar terms.

If you owe more than two times your household income in student loan debt, you probably need to implement a forgiveness strategy with PAYE or SAVE over 20 to 25 years. If you work at a not-for-profit hospital, you need to get set up with Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

If you have a good debt-to-income ratio in a private sector job in the pharm field, you might consider refinancing pharmacy school loans.

Some pharmacists are still making lots of money and doing well, just fewer than we’d like

Even though the pipeline of new grads leaving campus has flooded the job market with pharmacists, there are still plenty of people with a PharmD degree who are making lots of money, paying down their debt rapidly and doing very well for their families.

Some have been able to boost earnings from the pandemic labor shortage.

If that’s you, I applaud your effort and hard work. The problem is that the dynamics of the profession don’t guarantee that hard work in a PharmD program will be rewarded financially as it did back in the day.

You might need to move where the jobs are. Rural parts of the country still need pharmacists to work in pharmacy practices a lot more than suburban Tampa or Northern Virginia. Many of our highest earning clients live in places like Appalachia, the Midwest or the rural South.

If you keep a full-time job in a highly competitive job market, my suggestion is to have a high savings rate and prepare your finances for anything.

If we have another recession like in 2008 and there's still no reform on student loan rules, I expect even more people will go to pharmacy school or other professional programs.

Incomes will gradually be eroded until fewer pharmacists decide to work for the pay that’s offered or fewer students decide to go to pharmacy school. I would expect inflation level increases at best for pharmacy salaries as a whole.

SLP ad for pharmacy school entrance

How to be financially secure as a pharmacist in 2022

If you’re not already in pharmacy school, hopefully, these stats paint a realistic picture that getting into pharmacy school is now easier than ever. Schools and their admissions committee will be fighting over you if you have good scores.

You should also be skeptical of what admissions offices tell you. They’re locked into a brutal battle, in many cases, to justify their existence.

Many pharmacists want fewer pharmacy schools after all. I’d expect there to be dozens of school closures if anything happened to restrict the flow of federal student debt.

If you’re already a PharmD or working towards one with several academic years under your belt, we’d love to help you make a plan for your pharmacy school debt. The profession is not all doom and gloom. Many of our clients set aside five and even six figures a year in savings as a family, while efficiently tackling their debt.

One of my friends worked in a community hospital and was using the wrong repayment plan and strategy (He should have been utilizing the PSLF program.) His projected savings were over $200,000 after working with us.

More typical findings include filing taxes the wrong way, paying too little on loans that need to be paid off or overpaying on loans that will be forgiven.

Regardless of your path, we’d love to offer more insight and make a student loan plan for your pharmacy school debt. If you want to read more, check out every post we've written for pharmacists struggling with six figure debt.

What do you think these admissions statistics mean for the future of the pharmacy profession? Comment below and share your thoughts.

Comments

  1. Angela Hamilton March 3, 2019 at 8:20 PM

    I was with you on a lot of what you said until you stated that residency is “cheap labor” that’s not true at all. As a residency program coordinator, I take offense to that as we do a heck of a lot to ensure our residents are trainees and learning and are not being used for “cheap labor”. And almost every program, especially those that are accredited do the same.

    • Travis Hornsby March 4, 2019 at 8:31 AM

      I think those who are a bit jaded about the profession would ask if similar learning occurred a decade ago before the proliferation of residencies, but at a much higher salary because the demand for pharmacists was so outstripping the supply. I don’t doubt you care and many professionals in charge of residency programs do. I just think that the explosion of residencies is partly because employers like the unit cost of having a pharmacist for $40,000 to $60,000. For physicians the hospitals have a lot of costs for the first year or two, but they make a large profit on residency and fellowship positions especially the more specialized ones.

    • Layne April 15, 2019 at 9:16 AM

      Residencies are cheap labor. As expected, you’re upset because you’re a residency director. The position that you hold creates an internal bias. A pharmacy resident and a fresh graduate are extremely similar in knowledge base. I often question why the majority of residencies are needed. Pharmacy students attend school for four years, complete a year of IPPE and APPE curriculum, and pass a licensing exam. The NAPLEX is used as a standard competency exam, meaning, students that pass are fully competent in the profession. The students have the knowledge and experience to perform the tasks of the majority of pharmacist settings. Yes I agree, further training may be required. But a year to two years worth? Give me a break. Residencies exist for cheap labor and because hospitals want to train pharmacists at a lower wage than they deserve.

      • Travis Hornsby April 15, 2019 at 10:27 AM

        I think it’s clearly supply / demand related due to labor force market dynamics. To say that no training and learning happens under a residency program wouldn’t be accurate, but it’s clearly accurate to say that on the job training would happen anyway it is just now happening at lower wages because employers can get away with it.

        • Tom S February 6, 2020 at 2:10 AM

          I agree with most of your points, but have to completely disagree on residency. Or at least on my own experience as a resident. My PGY1 residency year in 2011/12, I was payed $36,000. I would estimate my time was split about 33% on typical pharmacist duties (staffing, rounding, etc) and 66% on residency duties (presentations, residency projects, professional meetings, staff education, preceptor meetings, Resitrack, etc). That means that the hospital could have had a full time staff pharmacist at $108,000/year do the same duties. The next year they even increased the PGY1 resident salary to $40,000. I believe the proliferation of residencies (at least in hospital pharmacy) is due to the specialization of pharmacists in clinical settings. It also works to distinguish pharmacists apart from other new grads. The Naplex is incredibly easy and a terrible measure of a pharmacist’s ability.

          • Travis at Student Loan Planner February 10, 2020 at 9:41 AM

            Would there not be more on the job training though if the supply of pharmacists was significantly lower and the acceptance rate for pharmacy school was much higher? That would reduce the dependence on that test to verify a pharmacist is highly competent as most people applying could not get in in the first place. You mention the pharmacist could have had a full time pharmacist do the same duties. Hence it makes sense to pay a residency 40% of what they’d pay a full timer.

    • Mudit Verma, PharmD September 13, 2019 at 12:30 AM

      2018 graduate here- I agree with everything in this article, especially the take on residence being used as cheap labor. It is no surprise that the majority of folks who disagree seem to be residency directors. I perceive the bulk of pharmacy residency to be incredibly exploitative and problematic. The best solution is to branch out to ‘neighboring’ industries such as CROs and non-profit patient advocacy groups (two non-traditional areas I have experience with). It is discouraging to see organic truth being misconstrued as cynicism by “leaders” in pharmacy, we need to think unconventionally and outside the box.

  2. Anonymous March 17, 2019 at 1:32 AM

    As a pharmacist, who is married to a pharmacy resident, I must say I am glad to see a clear description of the changes in future pharmacist career prospects and the economic variables involved.
    Unfortunately, the BLS was quite dilatory in updating the projections it provides on these matters, which may have pushed more students into PharmD programs than would have otherwise entered the field. It is important that the public is aware of these changes, not only for allocation of federal student loans and student career choice, but for pharmacy stakeholders, organizations, and policy makers to make necessary changes to preserve such a valuable patient and provider resource. Automation, mail order and internet pharmacy, and software algorithm development appear to be outpacing disruptive innovation by pharmacists, as well as legislative campaigns, such as the effort to obtain provider status. Lackluster job outlook compared to previous projections seem to bear this out.
    To the point about the use of residents as cheap labor, I can say that several alumni from my graduating class found themselves, in accredited residency programs, being expected to staff their central pharmacies far more often than was listed when they applied. In some cases, these pharmacies avoided using, or even hiring, per-diem pharmacists, and instead have elected to call in residents to cover those shifts. With many newer pharmacists having trouble finding enough per-diem hours to maintain financial stability, I find this troubling; however, this is anecdotal and it is worth mentioning that there are not nearly enough residency programs to meet the surplus in supply of new pharmacy graduates, so the impact on the overall job market is still up for debate. I would be fascinated to see any economic data on this and will continue to follow it closely.

    • Travis Hornsby March 17, 2019 at 9:51 AM

      A pharmacist thought leader mentioned there were thousands of students I think he said that didnt match that now need a job. It’s really intense out there and folks dont like to talk about it. Provider status could certainly help but we’ll see. I think most government forecasting programs dont overlay how employers and employees will respond to new incentives. They rely on the past too much. Clearly employers have a huge upper hand right now. CVS and Walgreens probably view availability of cheaper labor as a big competitive advantage in the battle to keep control of the market.

      • Mark September 20, 2019 at 12:22 PM

        I agree with everything that you say in the article. Residencies are cheap labor for hospitals and unfortunately nowadays seem to be a requirement to getting into the hospital system as a pharmacist. One of the only benefits to it would be that you can continue to do for your loan payments while you were in a residency program and you will get paid a small stipend somewhere in the area of $30-$45,000 a year which can pay your bills for the time being and although you aren’t guaranteed a job you have a better opportunity of getting a job as a hospital pharmacist then a graduate without a residency. On a personal note I don’t see why they are even a requirement because as part of the advanced pharmaceutical practices in the last year of your pharmacy school you are required to spend nearly half the time in a hospital anyway. I spent three of my rotations which equates to three months in the same hospital not to mention two additional months into separate hospitals. And I cannot get a hospital to even consider me for a position. Even the smaller ones. Becoming a pharmacist is not nearly as glamorous as anybody seems to think it once was. You may get a high salary but you’ll be working 12 to 14 hours at a place like CVS where the corporation has no idea how hard Pharmacist’s work and they will run you into the ground until you basically want to put a bullet in your head .

  3. Gerard L. Chezick May 13, 2019 at 2:03 PM

    This is a well written article and speaking as a pharmacist who is about to retire, and works at a university hospital, I agree with all of its conclusions.

    • Travis Hornsby May 13, 2019 at 4:47 PM

      Anything you’d want to share about the employment environment at university hospitals right now Gerald?

  4. Mike June 28, 2019 at 8:39 AM

    Excellent and accurate article. As a pharmacy professor and a top 20 college of pharmacy I feel incoming students need this information to make an informed decision about the profession. I love being a pharmacist and teacher. However, I have felt increasingly uncomfortable with being a pharmacy educator in this climate. I don’t want to prosper on the future suffering and anxiety of incoming students who will be ridden hard by corporate pharmacy in indentured servitude to large loan burden while simultaneously being compensated poorly by a market that is oversaturated (if they can find a job) OR debt ridden and unemployed for the unluckiest.

    • Travis Hornsby July 2, 2019 at 4:30 PM

      Top 20 school should be ok. It’s the other 100 that make me the most worried.

  5. Laura July 5, 2019 at 7:30 PM

    Great article! Also this is now happening, a lot of retail is firing their experienced pharmacists to replace them with new grads for half the salary, very scary. https://www.ibtimes.com/walmart-layoffs-retailer-eliminate-40-percent-its-pharmacists-2803631

  6. Thi July 12, 2019 at 9:31 PM

    As a pharmacy preceptor, I find a portion of my APPE student’s critical and clinical knowledge lacking. I am teaching them things they should have learnt in school.
    Then there students who lack interpersonal skills. This is truly unfortunate because the majority of available positions are in retail.

    The time for change is now.

    • SusanB August 14, 2019 at 9:51 AM

      Why can’t the Pharmacy schools reduce class size as a reflection of market demand? The newer schools knew the over supply could happen and need to reassess their class size. A 10% drop in class size would help all sides. Our new graduates are being asked to carry the weight of a multitude of market inequalities.

      • Travis Hornsby August 15, 2019 at 8:20 AM

        Because right now it’s profitable not to reduce the class size. Classic game theory problem too. If a bunch of schools do reduce the class size but a few schools cheat and don’t, then those few schools stand to benefit hugely. There’s just too much money at stake without having the right incentives on the table

      • Julia October 17, 2019 at 10:22 AM

        I think the quality of applicants and students varies a lot depending on the school. I think it’s exaggerating to say the applicants just “passed” their undergraduate classes. Most of the applicants are very competitive and this is still a source of great stress to undergraduate students. It is the new schools that worry me. I don’t believe the schools that have been around have started accepting lower quality students. It’s the new schools that are trying to get their feet on the ground that are increasing the number of new practitioners and not necessarily the quality.

  7. Steve September 4, 2019 at 4:52 PM

    Came across this article and thought it was accurate. A user made a great point about residency programs and how the NAPLEX is a core competency exam to be employed in a hospital setting. I’ve applied 90 times over to hospitals and they don’t even look at your resume without hospital experience. Wait a second? I spent 2 years doing hospital rotations and I lack experience? Pharmacy schools need to shut down or some sort of stoppage for 15-20 years. Forget #ChangePharmacy, they’re not doing anything and they’re ideas are very erratic. It’s a losing battle going up against corporations. A massive waste of time and resources if anyone is actually doing anything. Working corporate retail is a great job. Take it from me, I left and came back 5 years later. You’ll see the grass is not greener on the other side, especially in Long Term Care who pay below $95k a year. Suck up the 8 hour shifts kids. Take some notes from nursing schools folks. Nursing schools so well keeping the profession in demand and their salaries up, especially if you have a lot of experience.

    • Marilena October 17, 2019 at 11:24 AM

      Steve, I hear you. Big time, but If we are not part of the change we are guilty of keeping the situation as it is.
      Staying 3 months in a hospital as a resident with no responsibilities is not real experience, hope you don’t get offended by this. I need at 6 months to understand my position and to be somehow profitable for the company I work. Take this point in consideration part of your algorithm if you want.
      Now, I do agree with the article and some of your comments. It is tough to get a job right now. We have a group were we are discussing this issue and trying to come up with ideas to change the current situation. Don’t complain, be part of the solution.
      We will love to have you over and hear your points of view

      • Boris March 7, 2020 at 7:40 AM

        Nickelback sucks

  8. Mark September 15, 2019 at 1:48 PM

    Great article! I am a Pharmacist and over 40 years of age and besides what you mention above, age discrimination is also rampant. I have over 20 years of experience in Pharmacy in a variety of settings, have received numerous awards, and still can’t get a job due to competition from new grads who will work for less and will work longer hours.

    The other reason most qualified Pharmacists can’t find employment I believe is due to applicant tracking systems that flags resumes based on keywords etc. or in other words, those who can game the system have a higher chance of getting called in for an interview.

    I also agree that residencies are nothing more than cheap labor. Besides the rampant proliferation of Pharmacy schools there’s also unchecked profiliferation of bullshit certifications that cost quite a bit and don’t get you any closer to employment. If a few hundred pharmacy schools shut down it would level the playing field.

  9. Mary September 18, 2019 at 12:59 AM

    Has anyone considered the safety of the general population to be at risk? We are putting people into the medical field who have a sub-par education. Ever considered the cost of medication errors that could be related to a less experienced work force combined with a flimsy “degree” from one of those money hungry pharmacy schools? I admit that my day to day activities aren’t always rocket science, but at least once a day our sophisticated software fails and we have to use real clinical decision making skills. The average joe turned rph or pharmD is scary at least and a public health crisis at worst. (The cost of medication errors is several billion dollars annually)

    • Travis Hornsby September 19, 2019 at 5:04 PM

      I bet the general public would be kind of afraid to trust their pharmacist’s advice if they knew the acceptance rate data. That’s not to say folks don’t work hard and learn even at schools that accept everyone, but it’s definitely a concern.

      • Julia October 17, 2019 at 10:25 AM

        I don’t think the acceptance rate should matter that much in terms of proficiency if the quality of the program is good. Getting accepted is just the first step. You still have to graduate and pass the same NAPLEX.

        • Travis Hornsby October 17, 2019 at 3:39 PM

          The problem is that you could graduate 100,000 proficient pharmacists a year. If the job market wants 10,000, you’re going to have horrible problems even if the pharmacists are great.

    • Marilena October 17, 2019 at 11:30 AM

      I would love to have a chat with you about this point. I am doing research to write a book and it will be pretty insightful to hear your points of view. Originally the book was going to be about my personal experience as a pharmacist with lots of experience that has to move a lot, and couldn’t get a job. But, I see the need to express other colleagues points of view as well. Travis I hope this is ok with you and maybe you can connect us all. You view on student loans will be invaluable as well.
      Please let me know

  10. Anonymous September 20, 2019 at 1:53 AM

    You made a comment that students of Top 20 programs should have no problem finding jobs.

    Does UNC Chapel Hill qualify as Top 20? Yes it does. The Dean of the Pharmacy schools there was writing AND calling around the REGION canvassing for jobs for his 2019 grads. He wasn’t calling Big Companies, he called and wrote to even small independent pharmacies AND independent job agencies.

    By the way I work at John’s Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore MD and a couple of my former colleagues who resigned because they had to move…to Florida and Minnesota…are having a hard time getting jobs. There’s also a de-facto hiring freeze here by the way. I have 20 years hospital experience and I can’t get hired here today. The situation has also spawned blatant racism in the Pharmacy Department. I actually applied at MD Anderson in Houston 2 years ago and managed to get a phone interview only. They didn’t even call me to tell me I didn’t make the cut.

    Pharmacy is a dead profession for NOW. I remember the dot.com boom and friends that suffered through that…this is our turn I suppose. Maybe it will get better. I’ve managed to save 3 young people from entering Pharmacy School and a life of debt servitude which is today’s reality. It’s the least I can do…thanks.

  11. Laura October 31, 2019 at 4:17 PM

    They recently updated BLS.gov with new job outlook information for pharmacists if you’re interested. (job outlook = 0%, employment change = NEGATIVE 100)
    Thanks for the article!

    Quick Facts: Pharmacists
    2018 Median Pay $126,120 per year
    $60.64 per hour
    Typical Entry-Level Education Doctoral or professional degree
    Work Experience in a Related Occupation None
    On-the-job Training None
    Number of Jobs, 2018 314,300
    Job Outlook, 2018-28 0% (Little or no change)
    Employment Change, 2018-28 -100

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner November 5, 2019 at 9:07 AM

      Unreal. Hope the pharmacy schools start adjusting their pitch.

  12. drew lawrence amendola November 2, 2019 at 8:32 AM

    The latest BLS projections are out and they show no or negative job growth the next 6 years.

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner November 5, 2019 at 9:06 AM

      Pretty brutal I’ve seen a lot of PharmD’s posting about it. Any thoughts?

  13. SG November 18, 2019 at 12:46 PM

    This article is quite horrifying and it’s sad that our profession is heading in this direction. 85% acceptance rate is unheard of in any professional school. I just learned that established pharmacy schools are now taking away the PCAT requirements because their “competition” does not require it and enrollment is down. It’s all a numbers game vs educating quality applications.
    Pharmacist have gotten so far in terms of respect in the medical field and it’s going to be undone with the churning out of thousands of sub-par students.

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner November 20, 2019 at 10:11 AM

      Anytime I hear a program removing a test score requirement that’s not Harvard / Stanford it tells me they’re trying to hide something.

    • John March 6, 2020 at 7:18 AM

      Travis,

      Pharmacy schools are removing the PCAT requirement. All three in my midwestern area have removed it with the last one being removed for the Fall 2020 class.

      Even the best schools are lowering their standards. So I disagree with your the top 20 schools will be fine. I graduated from a top10 school 10+ years ago and when i return for guest speaking gigs the dean told me he couldn’t lower standards any further…..BUT their class sizes have dropped by 30%. His bosses were pressuring him to fill the classes….so he was retired. The fall class of 2020 is now nearly full!

      This past year we had over a dozen residency trained candidates apply for a part-time outpt staff pharmacist position!

      My wife is a pharmacy manager and her complaint when posting a tech job is several pharmacists apply for it. As they are desperate for work but company policy can’t hire a licensed rph for tech job as they would have to be paid as a pharmacist.

      • Travis Hornsby March 13, 2020 at 9:00 PM

        Wow that’s pretty intense. I walk by this pharmacy school on the way to my office. It’s the Taj Mahal and has its own rec center, yet costs are sky high. Definitely seems like a lot of these schools need to close

  14. sfachine November 20, 2019 at 10:32 AM

    The market as always will correct itself.However before the explosion of pharmacy schools and the shortage there was a rough state of equilibrium.The question now is what is it? Is it 7000 per year like it was before the shortage.Thats scary.With no job growth about 70 schools will have to close to reach equilibrium.That aint gonna
    happen overnight.

  15. Justin R January 8, 2020 at 3:40 AM

    I actually stumbled upon this article looking for info on the average debt for the PharmD program for a student. I’ve been a Pharmacist for about 4 years now and this article could not have summed up my concerns about the profession any better. In my graduating class, about half did not have a job lined up after graduation. The market is/was saturated and appears to have only gotten worse. Rather than cut the class size, my Alma mater increase the size. We have so many talented individuals in our profession, but we have done such a terrible job setting up our future for success.

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner January 14, 2020 at 12:41 AM

      Wow half? That seems pretty bad. The only way the profession gets fixed is if the schools are forced to reduce the number of programs and seats, then pharmacists would have more leverage over employers. Hope things get better for you!

  16. Mari123 February 2, 2020 at 11:22 AM

    There are many articles in every pharmacy related magazine, seriously in almost every issue (eg pharmacy times) even in textbooks and PubMed, and they are all start with exactly same sentence: nowadays pharmacy profession is growing, changing and going beyond the dispensing. Then the authors propose new places including non traditional. Then what happened? Schools who are the ones to blame for surplus, think oh well there are more niche for pharmacist exist besides retail and hospital, so it’s not a problem, we will expand the class size, and new jobs will be always created. Then what happened next? Again you see in publications possibility of new creative jobs. It doesn’t end. Unless schools are regulated, the cycle will never stop.
    In my school professors are forcing us to create new ides, writing business plans, etc. instead of studying for therapeutics and memorizing huge amount of info, we break our mind what to do.
    My classmates break their head how to stay competitive. Because they said online in forums don’t study hard, grades don’t matter, do some extra work on the side and get leadership skills to put on resume. I see that people don’t know real simple basic, not something complicated.

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner February 5, 2020 at 4:31 PM

      That’s also a bad sign bc the more creative job paths don’t require a PharmD, you could just argue it might be helpful. In that case, what’s needed are 1 or 2 year master’s degrees that can help accelerate someone’s career in the drug industry or in government. But you don’t need a multi year doctoral degree. Of course the schools will say this bc if they don’t, everyone there loses their jobs when people realize what’s going on and stop coming.

  17. Tom February 15, 2020 at 6:27 AM

    I am a pharmacy student about to graduate in May 2020. My school recently changed admission requirements for admission. Now PCAT is not required and minimum GPA for admission is 3.3. I know that two people in my class have job offers. Our class size is 120. A lot of people from my class applied for residency including me in hope to get a job after residency. It is a sad situation.

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner February 16, 2020 at 9:28 AM

      Is that a decline in the GPA requirement? Wow that should be required disclosure for all the prospective students, but they wont bc then the faculty and administrators would lose their jobs.

  18. Anonymous June 15, 2020 at 2:32 PM

    Man this is so depressing. Was thinking of applying to pharmacy school after completing my masters but now I’m not so sure. What does the future looks like for pharmacist?

    • Travis Hornsby June 15, 2020 at 9:19 PM

      It’s not going to be end of the world bad but it’s something that you shouldnt do unless you’re really into the idea.

  19. Bill July 8, 2020 at 10:30 PM

    I agree with much has been said here, but don’t trust the author’s numbers. For the year 2003-2004, there were far more than 43 schools of pharmacy. The number was 90 or more. When I started pharmacy school in 1970, there were about 70. For more definitive information on this, check this article: https://www.ajpe.org/content/ajpe/80/2/25.full.pdf . As I said, I agree with concept that the pharmacist job market is over saturated, but you need real numbers to be believable.

    • Travis Hornsby July 15, 2020 at 10:31 AM

      That’s fair I just grabbed the data from the PharmCAS system which could easily be limited in scope.

      • Sarah September 1, 2020 at 12:00 AM

        I just wanted to share that some schools are not in association with PharmCAS. Students would have to send applications to those schools separately rather than a batch application with PharmCAS.

  20. anonymous July 26, 2020 at 11:08 PM

    Why would anyone go into pharmacy? People, do your homework. It’s a lose lose situation. I’ve been a pharmacist for 30 years. It used to be “what can I do for you” now it’s ” if you don’t like it, there’s 10 people waiting in line for your job”. So basically, you can’t find a job and if you are fortunate enough to have one, you’re treated like crap by your employer. General public is at risk due to pharmacist being pressured to meet metrics. There is no way, pharmacist can do the job they were doing before. Now, they work filling 350 to 400 prescriptions/day with absolutely no overlap-no tech help-and better just do it-no complaints!

  21. Katherine August 5, 2020 at 12:23 PM

    All of my children have left home and have careers. I am 52 and I feel like it’s my turn to pursue my dream of becoming a pharmacist. It is very disappointing to learn how poorly the pharmacy profession has declined. Should I still pursue pharmacy school?

    • David June 8, 2021 at 8:05 AM

      Absolutely not. Don’t mortgage your future in this way; atending pharm school means financial suicide. Why not consider PA school or something else in healthcare that has a brighter future?

  22. Brandon November 8, 2020 at 12:41 PM

    Hello,

    First off we need to limit the school numbers and the size of the classes. I don’t know how a group would pursue that?

    Second, I graduated in 2011 with 165k in debt. I just paid it off this year. I have worked for a not for profit hospital the entire time but I don’t trust the pay min and get it forgiven strategy esp. with high interest rates of 7%. Seemed like a gamble at the time. I guess I could have had most forgiven at this point?

  23. Meera Patel January 23, 2021 at 11:23 PM

    This article and comments helped me a lot. I am in 1st year of college and was deciding to be a pharmacist after getting my bachelor’s. But now I don’t want to be anymore. Like 50% of people not getting jobs from a particular school, no job security etc doesn’t sound really good.

  24. Carl Sherman, Pharm.D. March 17, 2022 at 2:22 PM

    As an informatics pharmacist with ten years of experience, I am fortunate to be in high demand. There are relatively few of us, and the expertise we provide is technical, specific, and requires years of training (mostly on the job) beyond pharmacy school. The best advice I can give students is to find a way to be unique and indispensable to an organization. Informatics is certainly one way to do that.

    I’ve read most of the comments regarding residencies, and I’d like to weigh in on the discussion. First of all, I am not a residency program director, so I don’t carry that bias. I work in a hospital setting where I provide an elective residency rotation in informatics, and I have an insider view of how our residency program works.
    All residencies are different and it may be the case the some take advantage of their residents. I can tell you that at my hospital, we don’t. The residents work some regular pharmacist shifts in the central pharmacy, but it’s a small percentage of their training overall. They are primarily deployed on the floors in advanced practice settings such as the ICU, ED, Oncology, etc. Our residents graduate fully capable of passing the BCPS exam, which is far, far more difficult than the NAPLEX (which is so easy I’m not sure I would even say it guarantees minimum competency). They have impressive clinical skills that exceed most other pharmacists, even those who have been in the field for years, and because of those skills, the pharmacy profession has advanced at a rapid pace in the hospital setting. This level of skill and knowledge is not regularly achieved by pharmacists who do not complete a residency. While I agree that the Pharm.D. is a good example of degree creep, the residents who graduate from our program are truly deserving of a professional doctoral degree.

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