heccubusiv

I am at the point at my life, which I finally have to make a decision about my future. I graduate shortly from a pharmacy school(6yrs) in Pittsburgh with my pharm D. And have to choose graduate school to get my doctorate in pharmaceutics or work for Walgreen’s and make a good bit of money(100,000+). Right now being a poor student the money is extremely attractive. The six extra years of school would allow for different job opportunities (but the initial salary would be much less), like being an the pharmacy industry. Just seeing if there is any pharmacist here to see if it the job gets easier and better with time, or anyone in graduate school in pharmaceutics or in the industry to see if I could bounce questions off of. Its really not the worst of situations to be in but its probably the hardest decisions I have had to make.

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Fuck Ohio

Siege

Maybe it's just me, I don't see what's so bad about making a 6 figure salary.

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"Your name's Geek? Do you know the origin of the term? A geek is someone who bites the heads off chickens at a circus. I would never let you suck my dick with a name like Geek"

--Kevin Smith

This part just makes my posts easier to find

underscare

No, it's not just you


Well, I think you should ask yourself if the years you would spend more at school are worth its price (hope that's right english ). If you get the chance to work in your dreamjob you should to do it. If not take the money and start to work. I don't know how old you are, but 100,000 dollars a year are definetly not very bad and I think I would start to work. The reason why people study so long is because they want to get a good job with good salasy, right? And I guess you reached that...


I hope you understand my crappy english and I wish you the best with your decision.

underscare


damn 100,000 $......

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I'm German! So please be lenient toward me and correct me wherever I need corrections

abaya

Well, not all of us... I'm on my 4th year of a PhD in anthropology and demography, with 2-3 more years ahead of me... and let me tell you, it's not for the salary I'll get when I'm done!

Then again, I was a high school teacher before this, so I suppose my salary couldn't get much lower (relative to my level of education)... having a PhD in general will boost my salary in any field, unless I decide to start over with a new career when I finish. Which is very likely, given my tendency to get bored with whatever I'm doing after a few years. (I would love to pursue professional photography next! Or massage therapy.)

All that to say, school isn't everything. Once you get past the lower levels of education (e.g. at least a bachelor's), you've REALLY got to love what you're doing in order to make it feel worth your time/salary (opportunity costs, in the social science lingo). For me, I've basically taken 4-6 years of earning in my 20's and displaced them with poverty-level graduate student income, though I'm not paying for school and thus incurring no debt. So it's a win-win situation, seeing as my income as a teacher wouldn't have been more than $35,000 a year, as it was.

Then again, if I was making $100,000 a year and gave THAT up for half a decade of school... well, that's a massive opportunity cost. As I said, it had better be worth it, for you... either personally, or financially (in terms of making an even bigger salary after your next degree). Those are the things to weigh in your mind. For me, my PhD is not worth that kind of money, but I do like what I do... (most of the time) and I'm not losing much by pursuing it.

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And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Glory's Sun

You can't just look at the salary. 100k/year really isn't that much. It might look attractive because you are a poor college student, but you also need to see if there any advancement opportunities available at walgreens. If you stay in school you have to remember that college really isn't about what you learn, it's about who you meet. College provides you with a network of people that can help you out in the long run. You might make lower initially, but in the long run you might end up in a much better job making much better money, working for a much better company.

:shrug:

Bossnass

I've turned down several very lucrative jobs to go back and stay at school. Some days I regret it, some days I don't. I believe that I've lost about half a million dollars of income, neglecting tuition costs and missed opportunities.

Ultimately, it comes down on how much you value your time and what you want to do for a good chunk of your life. My brother is debt-committed to being a lawyer, but right now he hates his articling life and is not optimistic about the rest of his career. I'm pretty sure I'll get an MBA in my 30's, but right now I can't wait to finish my current degree.

spindles

I have a friend who was studying medicine. I think the dilemma is the same, though slightly different. He really wanted to specialise, but knew it meant another X years of study on top of the 7+ years he was already spending. I'm pretty sure he ended up going the specialist route, mainly as the life of your average GP doctor is handing out drug prescriptions to people with runny noses

It really comes back to your motivation - hopefully it is not just about the money, but doing something you enjoy...

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who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?