Becoming a Pharmacist - How and why I became a Pharmacist by Sheri Edwards

 



How, and Why I Became a Pharmacist

I always thought I wanted to be a doctor, like many young people, I aspired to one day become one. From the time I was nine or ten years old, when I read my first encyclopedia, my mind was open to all the possibilities of my imagination. I was always fascinated with the human body and how it functions. I hoped to one day be able to serve others as a doctor. So, I always thought I would be a doctor.


I spent most of my childhood and secondary education preparing to be a doctor. The medical field is a vast area of study, thus, there are many careers that don’t end with a MD before your name.



After taking my SAT’s and receiving pretty decent scores, I got a lot of offers to a lot of great schools. This made me realize that I could probably do just about anything that I wanted to do, but I still had my heart set on becoming a doctor. After much consideration and realizing that I could help my parents out, I decided to attend Florida A&M University. I still had my heart set on becoming a doctor. But, after doing some research and talking with friends and guidance counselors, I learned that FAMU was known for graduating the most Black pharmacists in the country. My counselor told me that it was possible for me to get a pharmacy degree and still go on to medical school. I thought that was a great idea because it gave me a backup in case things didn’t work out. But as way led on to way, my dreams of becoming a doctor began to fade, and becoming a pharmacist was being birthed.



The plan was to go to Pharmacy school for 5 years then go to medical school for four years and have both degrees work for me some kind of way.

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. After five years of Pharmacy School, I was needless to say burned out on school. So, I decided to take a break from school for a year, work as a pharmacist and study for the MCAT exam. But in the first three months of being a pharmacist, I had already been let go from one job and had to find another job. I figured I had better get into medical school as soon as possible.



I did it. I got into medical school. But I was still burned out. I did not perform well at all. So, that’s when things changed for me. I took myself out of medical school and threw myself into becoming a great pharmacist. I had never quit my job at Walgreens while I was in medical school. I only worked part time. So, I went back to working full time as a pharmacist until I was ready to study again to be a medical doctor. I am still waiting.



Being a pharmacist has been good for me. One of the reasons that I became a pharmacist was because of the flexibility at that time to do many different things in pharmacy. As with anything you have to make it be what you want it to be. I was a staff pharmacist for many years and having trained several other pharmacists, who went on to become pharmacy managers. I decided to throw my head into that ring and I did that too. For ten years. But I wasn’t happy. So, I stepped down and I’m now enjoying being a full-time staff pharmacist and preparing for retirement.





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