Why Pharmacy?
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Why Pharmacy?

• It is one of the hottest fields in the health industry. Pharmacists are on the front line of patient care. There are opportunities for professional growth, exceptional financial rewards, and the chance to help people every hour of every day.
• It's exciting. Pharmacy offers you an excellent opportunity to become an important member of the health care team.
• You're needed! People living in minority communities suffer from higher rates of incurable illness and death.
• It is rewarding! Pharmacy practice is rewarding in personal satisfaction and financial compensation. Pharmacists enjoy substantial rewards for their efforts. The amount varies depending on work responsibility, experience, and geographic location. Pharmacy also offers opportunity for self-employment. Working conditions are generally pleasant and work hours may be flexible.

What it Means to be a Pharmacist

• Pharmacists are the medication experts on the health care team, offering information and advice to help patients successfully manage their medication therapy.
• Pharmacists are among the most accessible health care professionals. Day in and day out, millions of Americans depend on their pharmacist for assistance with their health care needs…ranging from everyday aches and pains to complicated prescription medication therapy.
• For more than a decade, pharmacists have ranked at or near the top of the Gallup Poll survey of ethics and honesty in the professions. As the field of pharmacy advances and pharmacists play a more active role in patient counseling and medication therapy, pharmacists will enjoy greater prestige and respect from patients and other health care providers.
• A career for life. Pharmacy offers the resources, opportunities and flexibility needed to balance a successful health care career with satisfying personal life. Pharmacists can find employment in every state in the nation, from big cities to small towns. Starting salaries are as high as $75,000 a year with the potential for growth.
• Pharmacy offers life long learning-a field in which continuing education gives its practitioners the opportunity to make professional development part of the job.

Cool Jobs

Pharmacy graduates are offered many opportunities, from educating patients about their medication therapy to participating on the front lines of biomedical research. The following is a list of some of the positions pharmacists can hold or places they can work at.

• Community Pharmacist
• Hospital/Health-System Pharmacist
• Long Term Care Pharmacist
• Consultant Pharmacist
• Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing Specialist
• Drug Researcher
• Managed Care Pharmacist
• Universities/Academics
• Local, State, and Federal Government
• Veterans Administration
• Armed Services
• Public Health Service
• Mail Order/Internet Pharmacy
• Market Research
• Medical Communications
• Pharmaceutical Product Manager
• Drug Information Specialist
• Ambulatory Care Clinical Specialist
• Clinical Researcher
• Nuclear Pharmacist
• Quality Control Inspector
• Technical Writer

Why the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University?

• The School of Pharmacy Students study with expert faculty who serve as researchers and consultants for the state's flourishing pharmaceutical and health care industries.
• Fifteen of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world have major facilities in New Jersey, putting Rutgers in the heartland of the pharmaceutical industry The curriculum at the School of Pharmacy is sequential, building a solid foundation in the sciences before applying scientific knowledge in the classroom, the lab, and experiential rotations.

The PharmD Curriculum

Pre-Professional Years

During the first two years, pharmacy students build a strong foundation in the basic sciences. Students also complete required courses in English, mathematics, and economics, as well as elective courses in the humanities and social sciences.

Professional Years

This course work builds on the principles learned in the pre-professional years and allows students to focus on various effects of drugs-their origin, identification, and physical and physiological properties. Students also begin examining career specialty options within the pharmacy profession.

Experiential Program

In the final year of the program, students have the opportunity to translate classroom learning into practice through structured professional experiences. Students complete five-week rotations in patient-care settings, where they discuss patients' drug therapy with attending physicians, review drug profiles, present case histories to health professionals, and observe patients directly. Other rotations take students into various professional locations-including community pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, and the pharmaceutical industry-where they learn about development, manufacture, and distribution of drugs, as well as their therapeutic use in the care of patients.

For Incoming First Year Students

If you are thinking about applying to the EOF program, it is recommeded that you apply as an incoming student. General eligibility for the EOF program is outlined by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education. Students wishing to apply for the Pharmacy-EOF Program, must first submit an application to the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. In addition, prospective students must also submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which can be obtained from your high school or from the Rutgers Office of Financial Aid. Indicate on the FAFSA that you are interested in the EOF Program. You may now even submit your FAFSA electronically over the Internet.

Admission Information for Transferring Students

Students already enrolled in a college at Rutgers University wishing to transfer into the Ernest Mario School of Pharmcay must go through what is called a College-to-College Transfer. Admission into the Pharmacy-EOF program will then require submitting a completed FAFSA indicating a desire to enter the EOF program.

Students enrolled at another institution must go through the usual admissions procedure into Rutgers University. In addition, students must also submit a completed FAFSA indicating a desire to enter the EOF program.

Important Note!! Students who are enrolled in a EOF program at another college or university does not automatically guarantee enrollment into the Pharmacy-EOF program.