i’m torn between these three career choices. they all really appeal to me. what’s the workload like for each in college? are they hard? which one seems more worth it?
i forgot to mention that i have somewhere around a 3.5 gpa. i tooks my sats for the first time today so idk how i did on those. but i took my psats and my guidance counselor predicted that i would get a combined score of around 1600
I’m a current nursing student, and I have little experience with anyone in optometry school, and no experience with anyone who’s in/applying for pharmacy so I can’t weigh the pros and cons of all the fields, but I can tell you the benefits to nursing that I’ve seen so far.
My big pros are that 1) You get to start your education for your career in college, rather than be a ____ major going pre-pharmacy/ applying for graduate school. There’s a comfort in know that 2) I don’t have to go to graduate school to get a good paying job. Not only that, if I decide not to become an NP I will not have nearly as much student debt. 3) There still is the option to pursue NP later on. 4) I can be a nurse for 10 years, work well and earn money and /then/ go to graduate school if I wanted. That flexibility is nice, so I can plan ahead and save up money. You can still have your own practice as an NP in many states as long as you have a supervising physician you can consult if ever necessary. 5) You don’t have to worry too much about college grades and GPA, since you’re already in the program you can just focus on learning, not grad school applications.
My big cons would be 1) You have to work holidays often. Otometrists see more like a 8-5 job, but of course I don’t know that for sure! 2) The uncertainty of the NP status right now, there’s a big push moving NP programs from master’s level to doctorate level programs, which sounds like more time and money to spend on the education. 3) You can’t fool around in college, because all of the skills you learn are necessary to know
Hopefully someone else could give you more insight as to pharmacy or optometry, I’m sure they have a lot of pros and cons to consider as well!
I have heard that many optometrists do not like their job.
They seem vastly difference in terms of experience with the patient.
Nursing would likely have the most variety in opportunities - you could work in a doctor’s office, a hospital, or at a company.
Optometry is the most different - you really don’t need to know very much at all, even if you would be checking whether someone needs glasses.
I think you need grad school to be a pharmacist.
There are BSN/RN programs out there, that might be your best bet.