Question by Tailor: Could a pharmacist please tell me all the steps they went through to become one?
I am very very interested in becoming a pharmacist. I need to know exactly what classes to take to get into pharmacy school. And what college i can take them at? Or are there any 6 year programs i can do instead? I live in Fort Worth, so i need to go to a college around that area. Please help me, thank you soo much!! 🙂

Best answer:

Answer by Gregg DesElms
Please understand that pharmacy is REGULATED by the state, in every state. And each state’s rules are different. You say you’re in Fort Worth, which is, of course, in Texas. So it is Texas’s “State Board of Pharmacy” whose opinion matters to you… not the opinion of anyone here (er… well… you know… except for MY opinion, at least until you finish reading this).

You need to go to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy web site at…

http://www.tsbp.state.tx.us/

…and read through pretty much every word of it. Every single one of your questions here, as well as the six gazillion you’ve not even thought-up yet, will all be answered there, by hook or by crook. You should proabaly begin, in any case, on this page:

http://www.tsbp.state.tx.us/infocist/Licenselink.htm

The ACPE-accredited pharmacy schools in Texas are listed here…

http://www.acpe-accredit.org/students/programs.asp

…just key-in the security code, then on the resulting page, select “Texas” (or scroll down to it) to see that state’s list of pharmacy schools approved by the State Board of Pharmacy.

Not all programs approach things identically. Some of them are six-year programs (presumably such as that to which you referred in your question), and others are just four-year programs (leaving the first two years for you to complete on your own).

The easiest way to understand it all is this: Until the “PharmD” degree was created, the normative degree to become a pharmacist was a “Bachelor of Pharmacy” (or some variation thereof… such as “Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy” or “Bachelor of Pharmacological Sciences,” etc.). They were, most of them, five or six year programs, depending on the state’s requirements. The easiest way to think of them was as long bachelors programs… a year or two longer than the typical four-year bachelors program.

Then along came the “PharmD” which, like most professional degrees, sounds higher and more important than it is… just like the “Juris Doctor” (JD) degree for lawyers. Neither degree is actually at the academic “doctoral” level (like a PhD would be). However, the US has always traditionally allowed the academic accreditors and professional societies which educated and then oversee those in certain professions to call their degrees whatever they want as long as they’re accredited by agencies approved by the US Department of Education (USDE) and/or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

The “Doctor of Pharmancy” (PharmD) degree is still pretty much the same extra-long (six-or-so-year) bachelors level degree that the old “Bachelor of Pharmacy” (or any of its variants) was. However, as with the “Juris Doctor” (JD) degree for lawyers, it simply has “doctor” in its name…

…presumably just to impress.

That doesn’t mean that pharmacists aren’t impressive. They are… and always have been. What they learn in pharmacy school, and the professionalism and knowledge they have and must maintain in their careers, is no small thing. Most pharmacists know more than most physicians when it comes to drugs and the effects they can have on people. Physicians (at least the smart ones) routinely consult with pharmacists before prescribing. And physicians don’t consult with people who aren’t impressive.

But that still doesn’t make the “PharmD” an actual “doctoral” level degree… and wishing by the pharmacy school accreditors (and other stakeholders in the profession) won’t change that.

Still, it’s a tough degree that will require a lot of work; and there are lots of very smart people who can’t cut it. So just because the PharmD is really just an extra-long bachelors degree that dares to have the word “doctor” in its name, don’t underestimate it. It’s not for sissies.

If the PharmD program will allow it, you might be able to save money by knocking-out the first two years of the six-year PharmD at your local community college. You see, the first two years of any six-year PharmD program are really just exactly the same as the first two years of any four-year bachelors degree; and what one gets at a two-year community college is nothingmore than exactly that: The first two years of any four-year bachelors degree. So save your money and get a two-year Associate of Science (AS) in something… something, preferably, like chemistry, biology, bio-chemistry (that would be best) or mathematics.

And even if the AS degree is in something else, just make sure that you take all the math and science that you can possibly take during those first two (the freshman and sophomore) years. The math and science you’ll have to take in the PharmD program will be pretty tough, so you’ll want to lay the groundwork for that by taking all the math and science you possibly can in high school, then all the math and science you possibly can in the first two (freshman and sophomore) years of college (or during the entire two-year AS degree, if that’s how you do it).

After that, you’ll want to make an important decision. You’ll want to ask yourself if you want to go straight into a PharmD program from there (after you’ve gotten that AS degree is bio-chemistry), or whether you’d like to go on and finish your bachelors degree, and THEN enter the PharmD program.

Many PharmD degree holders have full four-year, 120-semester-credit-hour, typical US bachelors degrees. Still others take advantage of the fact that most PharmD programs will admt students who have completed just half of a typical US bachelors degree (just sixty semester credit hours, or the equivalen of just the freshman and sophomore years of a bachelors degree), and they go straight into the PharmD program immediately after having completed their sophomore year of college, or after having completed a two-year AS degree from a local community or junior college. It all just depends on what the student thinks s/he can handle, and what the pharmacy school will allow.

If you think you’d like to go straight into the PharmD program as soon as you can, then you’ll want to begin preparing for the PCAT exam in your very first year of college. You’ll need to do well on the PCAT, or no pharmacy school will take you seriously. And since you’ll be taking the PCAT during your sophomore year of college if you expect to enter a PharmD program as soon as you can, then you’ll want to start purchsing study guides and practice exams — maybe even taking a PCAT exam prep course — during your very first year of college.

Personally, I like my pharmacists to have four-year bachelors degrees under their belts before they enter pharmacy school. And I would most STRONGLY recommend that in your case, too. Yes, it means that you’ll have had to have gone to college for two years longer than pharmacists who went straight into a four-year PharmD program right after their second year of college, but you’ll be a more well-rounded and better-educated person if you get a full four-year bachelors degree BEFORE you enter a PharmD program. It’s up to you, of course, but that’s my advice.

Once you enter the PharmD program — whether that’s right after your sophomor year or a two-year AS degree, or whether it’s after a full four-year bachelors (BS) degree — you’ll be in said PharmD program for four years. For ARDUOUS and academically RIGOROUS years… so don’t take it lightly or screw around… or you’ll flunk out.

And… oh, yeah… another thing: GET STRAIGHT A’s from here on out. Pharmacy schools fill their seats from the pool of their applicants who have both the highest PCAT scores, and the highest GPAs in college. So you’ve got to be among the best in your college class, and have among the highest PCAT scores, if you expect to get into a good pharmacy school.

Once you’ve graduated from the PharmD program, you’ll have to take, depending on the state, from one to thre years of fellowship or residency (in some states, it’s one year of internship and one or two years of residency, but, again, that just depends on the state). You’ll find the precise requirement on that “Texas State Board of Pharmacy” web site to which I earlier referred you.

Most states also require budding young pharmacists (and even old tired-out ones who are just getting started in the profession) to take the “North American Pharmacist Examination” (NAPLEX), as well as the “Multi-state Jurisprudence Examination” (MPJE). Some states add their own exams, including an ethics exam… it just depends on the state. Again, you’ll find the precise requirements on the Texas State Board of Pharmacy web site.

Once you’ve done all that, and have obtained some malpractice insurance… maybe also posted a bond… signed a bunch of stuff… taken an oath…

…you’ll finally be given a state license and you’ll be able to go out and find work as a full-fledged, licensed pharmacist at a drug store, or in a hospital, or at a Wal-Mart, etc., etc.

Hope that helps!

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