Aspiring for a career in Pharmacy?

Pharmacy seems to be the hot field nowadays. Almost every other student wants to pursue a career as a pharmacist.
Why Pharmacy?
Among the large number of benefits of pursuing a career in pharmacy, some are:
Depending on the requirement in a particular area, even a fresh pharmacy graduate can earn a salary ranging from $75,000 to $150,000.
Work schedules of a pharmacist are extremely flexible. One can work anytime during the day, evening or the customary 9-5 timing. You can also decide to work for the entire week and then keep off for a few days as per your comfort.
Pursuing a pharmacy course puts a far less burden on your bank accounts.
You can be a licensed pharmacist soon after graduating as there is no compulsion of completing your residency for this purpose.
A pharmacist does not need to handle blood.

How to start preparing?

1.Keep updates of the various institutes running a pharmacy course:

High school pharmacy aspirants must have a good knowledge of the various health schools providing professional degrees in pharmacy. It is usually a 6 year course. Some good institutes in this regard are:

Pharmacy School of the University of Pacific (Stockton, CA) runs the shortest pharmacy program spanning over 5 years.

Albany College

Hampton University located at Massachusetts - Boston

Duquesne University

A & M University located at Florida

Northeastern University

Rutgers University

Northeastern University

There are a number of other universities as well, such as the universities of Ohio, Philadelphia, St. John’s, Connecticut, Findlay, Missouri( Kansas city), Rhode Island, Texas(Austin), Pacific, Pittsburgh and St. Louis Pharmacy College to name a few.

2.Find out about the various admission tests required:

You must find out, if there is a general entrance test or is it institute-specific.
Students in the high school aspiring for this course must have good GPA and SAT scores above a certain minimum. Some Pharmacy schools may also ask for an interview. Once you complete the 2-year coursework which is a pre-requisite, with good marks, you can get admission into a pharmacy school. Once the student completes the 3-4 years coursework in the pharmacy school, he can either go for a 1 year residency or practice pharmacy.

College/non-traditional students will have to take a PCAT and apply to their preferred pharmacy school.

Once a student decides to pursue a pharmacy course, he will have to face a number of questions like how to prepare, which college is better, which degree or specialization to opt for?