Becoming a pharmacist

In the mid 1980s I was an undergraduate student at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Initially I had been a computer science major, but after taking several courses in programming learned what many young people did, which is that it is not all about playing games. At the time I had a friend from high school who was a chemistry major. In high school he and I had taken advanced chemistry together, he doing better. I had liked chemistry and after speaking with him decided to change my major. This worked out well for a couple of years until one day speaking with my friend he said he was really struggling with a physical chemistry course that I had yet to take. At the time, I had been moving ahead in organic chemistry and really liked it a lot. The courses also had many non-chemistry majors so I had learned that there were other disciplines using organic chemistry, which I had decided was my field. That term I followed my friend's anxiety as he really struggled. As he barely passed p-chem, I made up my mind to change to some major that lacked p-chem but still had lots of o-chem... Not the best logic, but there you have it.

One afternoon I got out the University catalog and worked my way through every major paying attention to those requiring plenty of o-chem, while skipping over those requiring p-chem. One major stood out above the rest: pharmacy. At the time I could not ever remember having received a prescription, but it was obvious to me that this must be the best major for me. The next day I walked to the pharmacy school, on the opposite side of campus from chemistry, and asked to speak with one of the advisors. I was introduced into an older professor's office where I proceeded to explain to him my impeccable logic for changing majors. When he finished laughing at me he explained that there is an entrance exam, a reference would be needed from a pharmacist, and it is super competitive to get into pharmacy school. I took this as a challenge but had I known what work was ahead, I probably would have promptly headed to the biology department instead.

I think the pharmacist I visited for a reference must have also laughed all the way home, but in the end, and by a miracle, I got into the program. As pharmacy school moved forward I assumed that I would become a laboratory researcher and not ever become a real pharmacist. However, as the time came to register for extern and internships, I signed up. The first day that I walked into the Professional Plaza 102 pharmacy on the east side of Portland I was scared to death. However, George, the pharmacy preceptor, was kind and realized that I was as green as could be. He worked with me and over my time there I began to realize that this would actually be an interesting career choice. Over the following years I worked many long hours in retail pharmacy and really grew to love the interactions with most (but not all!) patients. Although I can thank some unknown p-chem professor, and my own flawless reasoning for this fortunate series of events, in the end I have never regretted becoming a pharmacist.

Thanks to the profession that has empowered me in so many ways.