Pharmacy School: The Beginning of A New Chapter

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This post was originally going to be the whole story of getting to pharmacy school. As I was writing however, I realized my story was turning more into a book. So, I decided to break it up into individual posts. Today, I’m going to tell you what led me to choosing pharmacy as my career.

It’s no secret that I have been completely stoked about starting pharmacy school for the past few years. It has been my dream for as long as I can remember to really make a difference in someone’s life, and becoming a pharmacist is the way I want to make that dream come true. But I didn’t always want to be a pharmacist. I’m going to do my best at explaining how I decided to pursue a career in pharmacy. But, I have to warn you, it is unbelievable for some. I haven’t shared this story with many people because I’ve tried to avoid the comments, but I decided now was the time to be completely honest.

Choosing Pharmacy

I was just like many other high school graduates, heading off to college thinking I wanted to become a kindergarten teacher. My freshman year was spent away at college at The University of Akron. I made a ton of memories and lasting connections with many people there. But, I got homesick (and tired of paying tuition) so I moved home.

When I moved home, I transferred to Youngstown State University. I continued with my early childhood education courses and got a job at a local daycare. Although I loved my job, I knew I didn’t want to teach little kids for the rest of my life. So I changed my major to middle childhood education with my focus on math and science. I figured this would be perfect. I get to still shape the minds of the future while teaching my two favorite subjects! Then I found out about the required coursework and my heart was no longer in it.

After that I had to decide what I wanted to do and quick. I was already in my second semester of my junior year of college and had no idea what I wanted to do. This was also happening while I was dealing with a traumatic event that had recently taken place in my life. There were many nights I just cried because I had no idea what to do with my life and I felt like a complete failure. Most of my free time was spent talking with my dad about it and he gave me, what I now know is, the best advice ever: pray about it.

When in Doubt, Pray it Out

Now, as a college student in her early 20s, this sounded so cheesy coming from her Sunday School teacher dad. But growing up with a father who is pretty strong in his faith has taught me that it really can be that simple sometimes.

That night I went home and made a list of all the majors at YSU that interested me. I skimmed over the list and looked at any requirements I would need. I started to knock off some of the jobs I didn’t think would fit my personality. After I was down to a few majors I prayed over the list. I probably spent about 5 minutes in prayer. When I was done, I got ready for bed. I may not be as strong in my faith as my dad, but I knew talking to God wasn’t necessarily instant messaging where I would get the answer in a few seconds.

The next morning I got up and something in my heart said “pharmacy”. In that moment I knew it was God speaking to me. In fact, He was choosing pharmacy for me. I knew I was going to become a pharmacist.

This wasn’t the first time I thought about becoming a pharmacist. In high school my mom suggested it since I am very intelligent and had the brain-power to become a doctor. I decided against it after a women in STEM event I attended through my high school. At that time I thought pharmacists only counted pills to give to patients. Of course now I know this is simply not true.

Wrapping Things Up

I hope you enjoyed finding out why I chose to follow a path in pharmacy. I still have lots of choices left to make about where I want to end up, but I know I am in the right hands. Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever had a similar experience!

As always, if you like this post and want to stay up to date, follow me on Instagram (@averylivinglife) and Pinterest (username: averylivinglife) for news and updates on my adventures!