Why you shouldn’t spend money on a pharmacy technician training school?

It doesn’t make sense when federal and state law does not require a formal education for pharmacy technicians. In most states all that is required is to pass the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam.

Passing the exam designates you as a “Certified Pharmacy Technician”. Then you contact the Board of Pharmacy in the state you which to practice in complete the paperwork and send in the registration fee.

Think about this:

These schools want you to take out a $5,000 - $10,000 government loan for a job that starts out at $10.00 - $13.00 an hour and that’s if you can find a job in this economy. Keep in mind you are not guaranteed a job when you complete the training course. In most cases after completion of the program you will not be able to transfer those classes or credits to further your education at a state, community, or private college.

Furthermore, when you leave this program with your certificate in hand. A month later the government will be calling and sending letters to you about this loan. And you will tell them you don’t have a job and they will ask why and you will say to the loan officials.

The employers require 1 -2 years of experience for the position. I just came out of pharmacy technician school and they won’t hire me. So you then realize that even with a pharmacy technician certificate in your hand they require experience and then national certification by passing a board examination at wwww.ptcb.org. In order for you to apply for a job that pays $10.00 - $13.00 an hour. Does this sound nonsensical? It should because it is.

A pharmacy technician training program would only be beneficial to you if it was a 2 year program with transferable college credits with an internship, paid would be great but I am sure that’s too much to ask( to get the experience ) in a clinical setting such as a hospital or a long term care facility(not retail). So don’t take out that loan for any pharmacy technician school.

It’s not worth it in the long run. You will be in debt with no job and searching for away to pay it back.

Most places won’t hire you without experience except the retail pharmacy chains and if you manage to get a hired as a pharmacy associate in a retail setting. It will most likely be part-time under 25hrs a week with no health care benefits. It’s nothing more than a glorified cashier at low pay, high stress.

If you manage to last (survive) in a retail setting for 2 years with all the aggravation such as rude customers, repetitive tasks and pharmacists with god like attitudes. Then that’s your 2 years of experience congratulations because you really earned it.

If you don’t want to go the retail route. The other option is to go volunteer at your local hospital for 2 years with no salary and no health care benefits. Sounds like incredibly to much work to ask of a freshman pharmacy technician straight out of school.

If you are in such debt then accept the retail pharmacy position until something better comes along. Money is money.

I went to one of those "schools" and left after 2 months. The whole thing was hilarious. My instructor had ADD and we learned very little about being a pharmacy tech. We were supposed to learn pharmacy law but she had another class to go to that started the same time as mine ended so we missed the last hour of the five hour day(it was supposed to be taught that last hour) I got an A in a class that I never did any work for or had any tests. When she left due to medical reasons she was replaced by someone who was a medical assistant. He had no experience whatsoever in the pharmacy tech field. He tried and was a way better teacher than the one he replaced. I did learn a couple of new things in his math class(I basically taught myself when it came to the formulas before I started school) but not very much when it came to pharmacy practice. One day I decided to look at some practice exams in some books I had purchased on my own and guess what? I discovered that I would need to know pharmacy practice and law to take the certification exam. So I withdrew from the "school", bought some more books for self study and have learned way more than I did at that "school". I know all about recalls, ADR's-things I should have learned in "school" but didn't. Like the OP said, don't waste your money. I have to pay back about $4000 because I didn't follow my instincts earlier but it's alot better than paying back the $10,000 I would have owed if I had finished. My neighbor went to the same school-she has put in applications in all the pharmacies here and they tell her they want at least a year's experience. I plan on volunteering at a local non-profit to get that experience(don't have to worry about a job now since I have an inheritance in the bank) I know most people are not as lucky as me so why not try to get a job at a local pharmacy like Walgreens. From what my neighbor said the techs they had there never went to school-they just hired them off the streets.

Just stay away from those for-profit schools-they are a rip-off and only care about taking your money.

Tracy in Denver, Colorado said: Just stay away from those for-profit schools-they are a rip-off and only care about taking your money.

I read your story on the forum early this morning and I just laughed so hard it was so funny.