The Decision to Become a Pharmacist
| The Decision to become a Pharmacist | By John Nguyen | | | |
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When I was younger, I wanted to be many things. I frequently pretended to be a soldier, a doctor, an inventor, the president, and sometimes even a secret agent. As I matured, I began to realize that I couldn’t always pretend, and that one day I would have to ultimately decide on a ‘career.’ It was only within the last few years that I was certain I wanted to be a pharmacist. Some people are in the career for the money, others for the prestige, while some just like to treat patients. As for me, I’m in it for all three, as well as family influence. As a child, I rarely looked up to my sister as an influence, but rather my cousins. They were a lot older than me, and as any child would think of an older cousin, they were ‘cool.’ As I progressed through elementary and middle school my cousins began to go through college and obtain degrees. A few of my cousins majored in engineering, others business, while the majority of them seemed to have some kind of doctorates degree. Being young and naïve, I wanted to be a doctor as well, but little did I know there are many kinds of doctors to be. As I grew older, I began to research more about potential career paths. From what I saw through my cousins, I realized that being a doctor, specialist or not, takes a plethora of time and devotion, not to mention finances. Although these were seemingly good career paths, I decided that I did not have the patience or financials to support such a decision. Still, I wanted to be a doctor. Coincidentally enough, another one of my cousins graduated from Florida A&M University with a degree in pharmacy, so I decided to inquire him about his job and education, and as it turns out it was exactly what I was looking for. I realized I could still help patients, make a good living to support my family, and have some free time to myself in between. As opposed to a twelve year doctors program, I could
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When I was younger, I wanted to be many things. I frequently pretended to be a soldier, a doctor, an inventor, the president, and sometimes even a secret agent. As I matured, I began to realize that I couldn’t always pretend, and that one day I would have to ultimately decide on a ‘career.’ It was only within the last few years that I was certain I wanted to be a pharmacist. Some people are in the career for the money, others for the prestige, while some just like to treat patients. As for me, I’m in it for all three, as well as family influence. As a child, I rarely looked up to my sister as an influence, but rather my cousins. They were a lot older than me, and as any child would think of an older cousin, they were ‘cool.’ As I progressed through elementary and middle school my cousins began to go through college and obtain degrees. A few of my cousins majored in engineering, others business, while the majority of them seemed to have some kind of doctorates degree. Being young and naïve, I wanted to be a doctor as well, but little did I know there are many kinds of doctors to be. As I grew older, I began to research more about potential career paths. From what I saw through my cousins, I realized that being a doctor, specialist or not, takes a plethora of time and devotion, not to mention finances. Although these were seemingly good career paths, I decided that I did not have the patience or financials to support such a decision. Still, I wanted to be a doctor. Coincidentally enough, another one of my cousins graduated from Florida A&M University with a degree in pharmacy, so I decided to inquire him about his job and education, and as it turns out it was exactly what I was looking for. I realized I could still help patients, make a good living to support my family, and have some free time to myself in between. As opposed to a twelve year doctors program, I could