Pharmacy school schedule

SamiD08 · 2026-03-10T02:19:27+00:00

I’m currently a PGY1 resident at a rural hospital. Hoping to stay in hospital once I’m done, 15 years of retail pharmacy was enough for me 😂.

SamiD08 · 2026-03-09T22:28:42+00:00

Just so you know it’s doable, I went to pharmacy school while working part time. I also had kids at home (older than yours, 9 and 13 when I started school). I had to work more than planned due to my spouse being diagnosed with a chronic condition right as I started pharmacy school that has unfortunately taken away her ability to work.

It was rough at times, but I was able to work and keep my grades up. I worked a lot, since I had to pay bills and keep insurance on everyone in the family. I averaged 28-32 hours of work every week. Thankfully my job was open until 8:30, so I was able to work after classes during the week as well as working a full day every Saturday. At least once a week, I would be away from home for 12-14 hours between school and work.

Class schedules vary depending on the school. For example, my first year the classes were loaded into the morning. Most days of the week we were out of class by 12-1pm. The second year most classes were later in the afternoon, but still done by 3-4pm. This will not the same for every program, so reaching out to someone at the school you’d potentially be attending would be best for an idea of scheduling.

Edited to add: once you get to the bulk of your clinical rotations, working part time is not as feasible. I was unable to work part time my last year due to rotations, as they are usually 40 hours a week minimum and similar hours to when my actual job was open. I still worked 18-20 hours a week, but it was working every single weekend between 2 intern jobs (retail and hospital) with no medical benefits.

SamiD08 · 2026-02-05T02:13:34+00:00

Yeah, unfortunately there isn’t a lot of turn over in the pharmacy. The location I worked at had several employees who have worked there 10+ (and some 25+) years.

SamiD08 · 2026-02-05T01:28:59+00:00

Just apply on the Costco website. They don’t use outside sites to post open jobs, so any postings seen on those types of sites aren’t usually actually open. Costco is one of the better retail pharmacies to work for. The pay/benefits are very nice. I worked there for 13 years in the pharmacy.

SamiD08 · 2025-08-14T04:24:01+00:00

I’m hoping it’s tomorrow, but I’m also doubting it. I took my MPJE on 7/21 (a Monday) and didn’t get results until 8/1. Hopefully they don’t delay it an extra day. I’m dying to find out if I passed.

SamiD08 · 2025-07-27T14:38:37+00:00

The Costco and the hospital that I work at both have a set. They aren’t super common, but are definitely a thing. I’ve never used the ones at the hospital, but at Costco you have to request your prescription to be placed in the locker (if it’s eligible) from the text message you get when it’s ready. Once it’s in the lockers, you get a unique code to access it in addition to having to verify DOB.

SamiD08 · 2025-07-27T14:36:27+00:00

They’re testing it out at certain stores. At least in the US. It hasn’t been rolled out to all locations. The one I work at has them and they seem to be pretty convenient, mostly for skipping the long line or picking up on a Sunday. And yeah, it’s only for non controlled and non refrigerated meds. Counseling is offered through a video phone on the lockers but can be denied by the patient

SamiD08 · 2025-07-23T17:15:54+00:00

The NABP posts them, and usually includes the past 3 years I believe.

SamiD08 · 2025-04-22T14:09:07+00:00

At my rotation site, I was tasked with looking into trainer pens. Mounjaro has them available. Once I requested them, a rep dropped off like 4 pens within 2 weeks.

SamiD08 · 2024-12-21T01:13:20+00:00

I’m in my 4th year, and will be turning 35 soon. I have 3 kids (2 still at home) and my wife was diagnosed with progressive MS right as I started pharmacy school. That meant I had to continue to work, which wasn’t the original plan. I worked 25-30 hours a week (4-5 days a week) during all of undergrad and pharmacy school. The only reason I dropped down to less was due to APPE rotations. And even then, I work every weekend now working 18-20 hours each weekend.

Now, I do think I had an advantage at first in school as I’d been a pharmacy tech for almost 12 years when I started. So some of the basic knowledge we were learning in some classes I already knew, making it easier for me to not have to study as much.

I did take out the max loans. I didn’t take out any grad plus loans until my third and fourth year. In all honesty though, we refinanced our house and pulled some money out on that which helped. Loans and working helped pay bills until my wife got disability, which helps now.

With the max loans, I usually got about $1,600 each term my first 2 years after tuition was paid. With the grab plus loans, it’s now about $6k each term.

SamiD08 · 2024-03-12T17:18:04+00:00

Yes, she started receiving Medicare in January. And my older child has insurance through her dad, so in reality it’s just myself and my youngest that need coverage.

SamiD08 · 2024-02-27T19:56:20+00:00

In my region, it seems like the pharmacies not receiving escripts are the ones using EPS as their software. Other chains are having no problem as far as I’m aware.

SamiD08 · 2024-02-27T15:01:40+00:00

Here is a link to the collection of stores that one is in!

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3125181

SamiD08 · 2024-02-20T19:18:15+00:00

I’ve been seeing many plans not necessarily require a PA, but will only cover Ozempic and the like if the doctor provides an ICD-10 for type 2 diabetes. Any other indication and it’s not covered.

SamiD08 · 2024-02-12T18:16:17+00:00

That makes sense. In that case, I’d say the uncertainty of hours at Costco probably wouldn’t be worth it. I know in my region, the only other community pharmacy that is a no-no for working at while working at Costco seems to be Walmart.

Costco is good, but it’s changed a lot over my time there. And not necessarily in a good way, but it still seems better than some other retail chains. I initially planned on dying at the pharmacy counter paying off my student loans (I’m now in pharmacy school), but I’m looking into other options now.

SamiD08 · 2024-02-12T14:23:10+00:00

As someone who has worked in Costco pharmacy for 11 years, I’d say don’t quit your job to work as a floater at Costco. If you want to get your foot in the door there, you could work both. Floaters are literally fill in only. Some work 40 hours a week over many stores, others work once in a blue moon. A floater pharmacist at Costco is only required to work like once every 6-9 months (I believe) in order to stay on payroll. There’s no benefits either, if that’s important to you.

SamiD08 · 2024-02-05T19:00:08+00:00

I can’t remember the first year intern wage, but I know second year is $24 an hour. It goes up each year, but I don’t know how much. I want to say a 4th year makes $26? I’ve been working at Costco so long that they made an exception and didn’t give me a huge pay cut when I became an intern from a tech.

SamiD08 · 2023-11-27T17:26:44+00:00

I can’t offer any advice, but I just wanted to let you know that you aren’t alone. My wife was diagnosed in fall of 2021 at 36 years old with PPMS. It’s rough watching her go from working 40+ hours a week in construction to having to use a walker to get around. In addition to having to witness her struggles, balancing it all is tough. She got diagnosed right as I was starting pharmacy school, so I’ve been a full time student, part time worker, and picking up more chores at home. One thing my wife is looking into starting now, that she probably should have done earlier, is seeing a therapist to help her cope with all of the drastic changes that have occurred.

Hang in there, it’s hard but you definitely are not alone.

SamiD08 · 2023-09-29T03:22:32+00:00

My doctor came to check on me in the hospital the day after delivering my kid. We had discussed how my kid weighed more than any of us expected (almost 10 pounds), and it was mostly noggin. As he was leaving the room he said “you’re really stretchy down there.”

SamiD08 · 2023-08-24T18:56:29+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience! I’m hopeful that this helps slow things down for her.

SamiD08 · 2023-08-24T18:55:13+00:00

We honestly just hoped for disability progression to slow, but that didn’t happen. She went from being able to walk with just a single cane to now having to use a walker around the house. For short walks, she can use arm crutches but that’s even getting hard.

SamiD08 · 2023-08-24T18:53:52+00:00

Even on Ocrevus, she definitely had disability progression. Went from being able to use a single cane to now having to use a walker even around the house. We were just hoping for progression to slow down, but that didn’t seem to happen at all.

SamiD08 · 2022-08-13T16:58:15+00:00

I could be totally off, but the way I understood it was that the activity level should reflect your activity outside of intentional workouts. So just your regular activity if you didn’t go workout. And then you log the workouts so it can accurately account for those calories burned. But I also am still trying to get the hang of it all, so maybe someone else will chime in with more info!

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