Do a Double Take — Britni Montague

TTUHSC students succeed in earning dual degrees

• By Suzanna Cisneros
• May 25, 2016

Today, becoming a health care professional requires being multidimensional and an intense dedication to serving others. A growing number of students are taking that dedication to another level by completing dual degrees.

 

Britni Montague’s family may describe her as an overachiever. In eight years, she has earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and now a dual degree with a master’s in business and a doctorate degree in pharmacy.

 

“I am way more competitive than what is healthy,” Montague laughed. “My family will attest that I hate to go bowling because I won’t win, and it will upset me. When I was about five to eight years old, I made my little brothers play “school” with me, in which I always had to be the teacher. Growing up I had perfect attendance. I cried when I forgot my homework one time in fifth grade and had to turn my card from green to yellow for the first time. So I guess school was always an instinct for me. School is definitely not for everyone. But every person needs to find something they love and work hard at it.”

 

As an undergraduate, Montague prepared to attend medical school. She knew she wanted to work in the health care field, but throughout her undergraduate studies, she learned more about other health care options and made the decision to become a pharmacist.

 

“Being a pharmacist is the perfect fit for me,” Montague said. “I wanted a career, but I also wanted a personal life with a family. I wanted to work in a small town. I wanted to be an accessible health care provider. I can be all of those things as a pharmacist.”

 

Originally, Montague headed into pharmacy school with the desire to work as a retail community pharmacist. But her education at TTUHSC opened the numerous opportunities the pharmacy field has available. She learned the options within the pharmacy profession are infinite.

 

“There are so many different avenues that a person can travel,” Montague said. “I decided a little over a year from graduation that I wanted to practice more on the clinical side of pharmacy. I am interested in managing chronic adult disease states like diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol. There are many different focuses in pharmacy such as pediatrics, geriatrics, community or veterinary pharmacy. My dream job is a couple days per week at the chronic disease state management clinic, a couple days per week at the community retail clinic and a day or two at the compounding pharmacy for veterinary clients.”

 

Montague said the education she received at TTUHSC prepared her for the numerous sides of the pharmacy profession. A memory she will take away from this school is how passionate each and every preceptor and pharmacist that she interacted with was about their job.

 

“People look at me funny and say, “Ok, yesterday you were making a paste for a horse, and today you are in here starting me on a new diabetes pill, is that right?” But if I have learned anything from my school, I have learned that the sky is the limit and yes, if that is what I want to do, then it can be done. And I thank my school so much for letting us have those aspirations.”

 

Montague explained she enrolled in the MBA program because initially she wanted to either open an independent retail community pharmacy or buy one from a retiring pharmacist.

 

“With the MBA, I feel I have the fundamental tools to be able to be successful at that task, should I take it on,” Montague said. “At the end of the day, pharmacy is a business just like everything else and to be successful at it, one must learn to understand that, sometimes complicated, aspect of pharmacy too. If that need ever arises in the pharmacy realm, the MBA has again given me that foundation and confidence that I could take on such a role.”

 

Working on a dual degree was all about balancing her time and academics. In pharmacy school, students get the first three summers off. It was during those three summers that Montague spent enrolled full time in MBA courses. A night course during the fall and spring semesters also was a requirement. Although her schedule has been busy, she said she would not go back and change one thing.

 

“My motto in life is that you make the time for things that are important to you,” Montague said. “It is like a budget. It is not that hard if you carve out time and stick to it. And that is what each and every one of us did to get through it! We made time for it. Make it a priority, carve out time and make it work!”