<p>I am glad someone else is having the same problem as me. When I was little, I wanted to be a Doctor. I read Anatomica (that huge book from costco) cover to cover when I was 7. I loved the Anatomy class I took in 3rd grade. Who wouldn't want to dissects a brain, heart, liver, and eye???</p>
<p>I am not going to lie. If I were a doctor, it would be for the money. I don't want to not be able to put my kids in Ballet classes, or piano classes, etc... For lack of money. I want to be able to make enough that if my husband decided to cheat on me, that I could leave. lol (There have been 6 doctors in my neighborhood who have cheated on their wives and divorced leaving their wives with nothing in the last 3 years.)</p>
<p>Why I would want to be a pharmacist?
x 8 years of school with no residency. (I would major in Biology)
x I could work part time, if I wanted to stay home with kids.
x I could be a pharmacist by the age of 25-26.
x 100k a year
x More job opportunities, anywhere in the US.
x I could own my own pharmacy.</p>
<p>Why I would want to be a Doctor? (Anesthesiologist)
x 300k a year.
x Being able to work in a hospital.</p>
<p>Why I wouldn't want to be a Doctor?
x On call
x No job flexibility.
x Competitive residency program.</p>
<p>Of course, all the cons make up for the money they make. Who actually needs $300,000 a year though?</p>
<p>I guess... If you were me, what would you choose?</p>
<p>Yeah, those wives got significant alimony I’m sure unless it was a case of mutual cheating.</p>
<p>x I could work part time, if I wanted to stay home with kids. You can do this as a physician, especially in certain specialties like radiology
x More job opportunities, anywhere in the US. - you can work basically anywhere as a physician as well. There is no lack of job opportunities.
x I could own my own pharmacy. - You can own a practice as a doctor/ group of doctor</p>
<p>I have the same problem and am unsure to either become a physician or a pharmacist. I applied to both pharmacy programs as well as bs/md programs. So far I got into the Rutgers and USP PharmD programs. I havent found out anything about the bs/md programs yet, but my goal and dream program is sophie davis. I am still confused as to which path to choose. Which one would you choose?</p>
<p>I was in the same dilemma over the summer, I’m a HS senior right now. I decided to go into a 0+6 pharmacy program (guaranteed acceptance into grad if maintain a certain GPA). I can always apply to med school after 3 or 4 years/ at the end. That way, if I didn’t make it into med school I would always have a great backup. If you don’t get into a BS/MD program (which are EXTREMELY competitive), and lets just say major in biology but then aren’t accepted into med school, you’re kind of screwed. My favorite one is Northeastern because it’s in Boston and has the whole co-op thing, but I’ve applied to URI, Rutgers, and ACP as well. That’s my story</p>
<p>by the way, don’t go into “the game” thinking your husband is going to cheat on you so you will be able to leave him. To consider that as a point to this or that path is ridiculous. marry someone you love, and not at 17 haha</p>
<p>hope that helped</p>
<p>ps. i also like the lifestyle of a pharmacist a lot. i’m the kind of guy that “works to live” and not “lives to work,” like a lot out there. this is what I wrote my college essay on actually. pharmacy gives you the time and what not to do that. also, 100K a year is great money.</p>
<p>To the OP.</p>
<p>There has been a lot of hype over the demand for pharmacists being crazy high. The truth is, it USED to be crazy high. It isn’t anymore. Much of that is due to the hundreds of new pharmacy schools that have opened up. Colleges have figured they can charge crazy amounts of money for students to go to their school and become pharmacists, and colleges have been taking advantage of that. There are many pharmacists with a lot of experience out of jobs in very populated areas in the U.S… The recent recession has put many of them out, and they haven’t been asked back by their jobs. Many of these pharmacists have families that need support, and their only option is to relocate in more rural areas of the Unites States to find work. </p>
<p>That whole topic is very controversial and will require you to form your own opinion about it, but one thing is for sure. . .they aren’t handing out jobs to pharmacists in gold platters anymore. (And don’t forget, we’ve still got 6 years, at least, worth of pharmacists in school. . .). </p>
<p>I was considering, seriously considering, pharmacy as a profession, but at the end of the day, (with all due respect to pharmacists) I want to know that I helped someone more than just pushing a bottle of pills toward them and throwing my hand out for money. </p>
<p>As a doctor, I want to love on my patients. Tell them it’s going to be okay, help them back off of their feet and make their life more enjoyable, etc.</p>
<p>That is how I look at it, but you are not me, and that is what makes this world a beautiful place. =)</p>
<p>With all due respect, I think pharmacy is a really boring job compared to that of medicine. I see pharmacists at Walgreens and I really feel bad for them. Most of the work is done by the doctor anyway, and pharmacists just confirm the calculations. But the pay is great compared to other jobs.</p>
<p>In my family, where everyone is a doctor, being a pharmacist kinda carries a stigma lol</p>
<p>I had the same dilemma but when I looked at my resume I realized that I was better suited for a doctor than a pharmacist. Both professions are in the field of medicine and they both garner relatively the same amount of respect, but I guess in the end its simply the matter of whether you like biology or chemistry and whether you like direct interactions with patients.</p>
<p>ROFL doctors and pharmacists do not get the same amount of respect considering the amount of time it takes to become a doctor and the difficulty of medical school.</p>
<p>There will always be people who look down on others so the best thing to do is choose what you love and not worry about who “feels sorry for you”.</p>