DO NOT ENROLL IN ANY PHARMACY TECH SCHOOLS!! WASTE OF TIME!!!

I'm a certified pharmacy tech, have more than 4 years experience and I think all of these schools are SCAMS!! Why would you pay thousands of dollars to go to a school when you can get a position without ANY training?? I feel so bad when I watch commercials advertising pharmacy tech programs because they are wasting innocent people's time and money!!

If you want a easy way to get started in pharmacy, do this:

-Go directly to a Walgreens (in person) and tell them you are interested in a position in the pharmacy. Talk to the manager.

-The manager will have you fill out an application on the computer.

-Most likely he will call you a few weeks later. They will not always put you in your desired store and you might be shuffled once or twice.

-Start working in the pharmacy as a cashier.

-If there is no opening in the pharmacy, just work in another department and do an awesome job there. People call out in the pharmacy all the time, so tell the pharmacist beforehand that if people call out, you're willing to cashier. After a few months, you will likely be transferred to the pharmacy. There is a lot of turnover, because most workers are college students who are just waiting to get into pharmacy school.

-When you start working in pharmacy, it will really suck because you will probably get stuck at register for like 4 hours a day. At the same time, you will be doing a lot of training on the computer so it can be very stressful. But....once this training is over (about 2 weeks) it will become really routine and easy.

-After 1 year, Walgreens will pay the $120 to take the PTCB exam and you will get a 50 cent pay raise. But sometimes it is a pain to get the pharmacist to file the documentation. Don't wait for him (like i did), just pay for it out of pocket whenever you feel confident about the exam and you will make up the money after a month.

I started off at $7.80 in 2004 (my first job), then i got up to 10.50, then 11 then finally 12.25.

By the way, pharmacies are really unfair about compensation. I found out a guy who started two years after me was making $13/hr, which was really unfair. They knew I had no choice but to keep working, so they would not give me my raise, which I was due for because I had gotten my certification.

Personally I would only work as a pharmacy tech if I was in college (it's a good way to meet other ppl and you do learn a lot) or if I was pre-pharmacy. I could never imagine doing it as a lifelong career. Even though it was a good job, I wish I worked less hours.

There are many other attractive options in the allied health fields as careers; pharmacy tech is not one of them.

Sidra in West Palm Beach, Florida said: By the way, pharmacies are really unfair about compensation. I found out a guy who started two years after me was making $13/hr, which was really unfair. They knew I had no choice but to keep working, so they would not give me my raise, which I was due for because I had gotten my certification.

Personally I would only work as a pharmacy tech if I was in college (it's a good way to meet other ppl and you do learn a lot) or if I was pre-pharmacy. I could never imagine doing it as a lifelong career. Even though it was a good job, I wish I worked less hours.

There are many other attractive options in the allied health fields as careers; pharmacy tech is not one of them.

You can't honestly make blanket condemnations about all schools because you had a bad experience.

TimothySkowronek420@msn.com in Indianapolis, Indiana said: You can't honestly make blanket condemnations about all schools because you had a bad experience.

They are scams-at least the for profits are. Community colleges are different.

And LOTS of people have had bad experiences in these "schools"

Tracy in Denver, Colorado said: They are scams-at least the for profits are. Community colleges are different.

And LOTS of people have had bad experiences in these "schools"

I agree Tracy, so why do they keep advertising these schools that claim they will train pharmacy technicians then find them a job. It's so bogus, when all you have to do is do your research on the internet.