i've graduated pharmacy for over a year now. working almost a year and a half. i honestly don't care to speak much for the curriculum, considering that the new pharmd program is completely different from the bscpharm that i graduated from. i want to speak more about the job prospects, which is really what prospective students care about, right?

imo the job is what you make of it, and a lot of it also to do with who you're working for. 80% of the jobs out there are retail. you know, the shoppers, walmarts, rexalls, and the like. some people find the corporate pressure to hit targets is too much - do X medication reviews, Y scripts an hour, and such. some places you won't even get a proper lunch break. speaking for myself, i work in retail for a chain store, but i feel like my environment is as good as it'll get - we have lots of staff, giving me plenty of time to use my clinical skills.

about clinical skills, it depends on which province you practice in as well. ontario is pretty behind the times. the pharmacists' association is only recently starting to talk about adding in pharmacist ability to perform injections other than flu shots recently. just a lot of talk. i'm sure it'll happen, but it'll be a long dragged out process. i practice in alberta, and the terrific thing is that there's a compensation model for every clinical service we provide - medication renewals, injections, medication reviews and such. i can even apply to be a prescribing pharmacist - the ability to initialize patients on therapy without them ever speaking to a doctor, based on how comfortable you are with the disease state and management. for example, somebody complains about a UTI, i can write a cipro or macrobid prescription after i have a chat with them. cold sores, valtrex. and so on and so on. the expanded scope of practice here is a huge reason why i moved.

and oh yes, job availability. if you're looking to stay in the GTA, good luck. find another field to study if that's your ultimate goal, because pharmacist jobs are razor thin in that area. most people i know in my class (and this year's grad class as well) had to move away. nature of the beast. unless you're happy with getting one or more part-time jobs.

i can go into more if anyone likes, this is the thoughts i can dump out of my head right now.