Yay, pharmacists coming out of the woodwork. I figured there had to be a few of us here :)
Before deciding, I would recommend shadowing at a pharmacy, or talking to someone in person who is a pharmacist and ask them all sorts of questions (I suppose this is partially fulfilled by posting here!). Some people figure out halfway through pharmacy school that they absolutely hate it, and you don't get tuition refunds :)
I absolutely love my decision to be a pharmacist. I will admit I had a lot of luck with finding my job after graduation in 2011. A great hospital in an "over saturated" market in the largest city in the area that I wanted to be had one applicant over a few-month time span - me. Hired by default. I started at $96k/year, three years later now at $125,000+ OT/bonus/night and weekend differential, etc (in 2014 I grossed $151k). Every year since I was hired in 2011, we have had job openings that sit open for 3-6 months before getting a handful of applicants to consider (even though reports that we are saturated continue).
You can (and should!) be a pharmacy intern through school. You can learn a lot, and the pay is pretty decent (at least in my area, Midwest). This also allows networking opportunities. I was able to intern in both hospital and retail, and figured out quickly that I am made for hospital pharmacy.
The school sounds expensive - if you are willing to move, you can find much more affordable tuition. I understand there's some $$ saved by living with parents, but that's something to consider.
Even if it DOES cost $150k, IF you get a job, your salary will be plenty to pay it off over a very short time frame (also reference above, about making decent wages as an intern, to cut down on the amount of debt you have to take out). You could also pick up a part time gig (if able), to make even more. Be willing to work odd hours (works nice with no kids/spouse, or spouse with flexible schedule, etc). Also be okay with moving (at least temporarily) to find a job after graduation.
If you want to do hospital, that is moving toward requiring a one+ year residency (pay in this area ~$40-50k/year, pretty low cost of living area) after graduation. Also, at least at my hospital, I work my shift (maybe stay an hour late every few weeks), then LEAVE and forget about all work-related things. This is by far the most spectacular part of my job. We are also heavily staffed, unlike most retail stores, so that dramatically cuts down on stress. I personally work overnight shifts, seven 10 hour shifts in a row (then 7 off!). Some nights I'm basically paid to surf the internet, other nights I feel I REALLY earn my salary. I DON'T have to deal with insurance or crabby patients directly (for the most part).
In my opinion, it takes a special person to survive retail for an entire career (definitely not my cup of tea!), but those special people do exist, and more power to them. The other great thing about pharmacy is all the other things you can do outside of hospital and retail - we have a mail order pharmacy in town, nuclear, and specialty compounding.
Finally, I've found that being surrounded by 60+ other pharmacists who make as much as I do, can be difficult sometimes. Most blow their entire paychecks on lifestyle, etc. I like to fraternize with the technicians (who sometimes spend more than me too!! Ha!), because you don't have to hear about how much the new way-too-big house they're building is, how much that new fancy truck cost (almost as much as our house!), etc. Techs are usually much more grounded people as well. But this will vary.
I am so thankful for finding this community before the $$ started rolling in!
Good luck with your decision, and keep us updated!
