Pharmacy, Admission Essay Example

Throughout my education and professional career, two main values have infused my journey: 1) A love for the health sciences; 2) An interest in teaching and helping other people. These collective values heavily influenced my decision to read for health science degrees as an undergraduate and graduate student. They also played a key role in shaping my professional career: a career that has thus far focused on mastering the technical fundamentals of pharmacy technology.  After having studied the material and worked in field for the past 6 years, my career goal is to purse a Ph.D. in pharmacy in order to become a pharmacist.

Pharmacy has gradually emerged as my main professional passion. After graduating with an undergraduate degree in clinical health promotion from Liberty University, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in human service, with a specialization in health and wellness specialization.  Overall, my education laid the intellectual foundation for pursuing more rigorous graduate study in the discipline of pharmacy.  I have not only studied the main prerequisite classes needed such as chemistry and physics, but I also studied the quantitative processes and analytical frameworks associated with clinical trials- a valuable skill in understanding the pharmaceutical industry.  As a graduate student, I deepened my understanding of health science issues through a master’s degree that focused on understanding the metrics and performance indicators of health.

From a professional perspective, I have a rich background working in pharmacy-related jobs that should serve as an asset in the doctoral program.  I have worked as a certified technician at the CVS Pharmacy in Lynchburg, Virginia since 2004. This job gave me a solid base to understand the pharmaceutical profession: I dealt with core operational issues on a daily basis such as prescription processing, inventory control, and assisting the pharmacist on-duty with a variety of tasks. I also served as an instructor at the Old Dominion Jobcorp Center from 2007-2010.   I truly enjoyed this experience where I was able not only to teach students the basics of pharmacy technology, but also developed a new curriculum for the pharmacy technology program.  Indeed, it was during this process that I first understood my desire to pursue further education in order to become a pharmacist.

Overall, my decision to pursue a doctoral degree is based upon two main reasons.  First, I understand the basics of the field and want to deepen my understanding further in a more rigorous academic context.  I already have basic working experience in a pharmacy; I also have experience in teaching pharmacy-related topics. Second, my long-term goal in pharmacy is not only to serve as a researcher, but also to teach the subject and help other students understand the subject matter in a more compelling manner.