<p>You already have a thread on this, why make a second one asking the exact same thing</p>
<p>My answer then was this </p>
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1st, pharmacy can be only 6 years, but for many people it's 8. Unlike medical school in which a bachelor's degree is basically required, pharmacy schools will let you apply after 2 years of undergraduate work assuming you've taken the correct courses (this is the 2+4 model, in contrast to the 0-6 model in which you're admitted directly out of HS). There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to the 0-6 and 2+4 programs, and I'd certainly have you look past the time issue. Many people doing the 2+4 model will actually go to college for 3, 4 or even 5 years, and many will get their bachelors degree. My former roommate and fraternity brother went this route. He loved undergrad and didn't see a need to rush through it. Not everyone sees it that way, but I know that he has zero regrets about going this route (in part b/c he didn't know if he wanted to be a pharmacist until late in his sophomore year).</p>
<p>Now as far as the MD/PharmD question, realize that becoming a physician requires you to complete a residency program after you've graduated, in order to become knowledgeable in your chosen field of medicine. This is another 3-7 years (depending on your choice) in which you're working 80 hours a week and making between 45k to 50k. There are residency programs in pharmacy, but they're optional, and if you're okay with being the pharmacist at Walgreen's or CVS, then you don't have to go through that process. Pharmacy residency programs are 1 or 2 years, with similar pay scales to medical residents.</p>
<p>Now as far as the knowledge base required for each. The analogy I like to use is that doctors are sort of like the decathletes of the medical field - they have to be pretty decent (have a basic understanding at a minimum) at most everything that professionals around them do, whether it be pharmacists, nurses, physical therapists, radiology techs, or lab technicians. But these specialists are like the single event runners on a track team - they're VERY good at what they do. Pharmacists, because their actually doctors of pharmacy, are certainly at a higher level than a microbiology lab tech, and have to have a wider knowledge base, but they have to have fantastic knowledge of medications.</p>
<p>As a medical student, I can attest that we as doctors have to know our drugs, when to use them, what their side effects are, how to manage dosing and that sort of thing, but when we're stuck - we turn to the PharmD's. They have a much deeper understanding of the chemistry, why certain drugs interact with each other and so on. On the other hand, a pharmacist will know a good amount about a lot of different medical conditions, but they're not going to be able to pick up the uncommon presentation of an uncommon illness if you put the patient in front of them, even though they'll know how to treat it. Likewise, they're not going to be as comfortable in making decisions like which lab test to order, and why test A is a good choice in one situation but not in a different one...</p>
<p>I hope that made sense. I was trying to keep it very general and avoid specifics that would be over your head.</p>
<p>Since you're undecided, I personally think that it would be a good idea for you to just go through a regular undergraduate experience, getting experiences in both fields and seeing which you prefer. Also seeing how you perform in your college coursework would be powerful in making sure that either field is right for you.
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<p>Some other things brought up in this thread that need to be addressed.</p>
<p>It's a horrible idea to go through a pharmacy program with the intent on that leading to medical school. It's horrible for so many reasons - time and money being chief among them. If you want to be a doctor, be a doctor. If you want to be a pharmacist, be a pharmacist. Other reasons include that med schools are going to be extremely reluctant to take someone with a PharmD. I say extremely reluctant because I do know two pharmacists who did end up going back to medical school. HOWEVER, they did so only having been practicing pharmacists for 4-5 years and discovering that there were things they wished to pursue which required an MD. No medical school will take you directly out of pharmacy school, because it throws up red flags all over the place - chiefly "Why aren't you using your pharmacy degree?" </p>
<p>In talking with my colleagues who went back to medical school after getting their PharmD's, they've both said it was a challenge to convince schools that they should be taken over other students who have always wished to be doctors and there were many schools that flat out said, "There's no way We can accept you, you have a PharmD already, use that degree, we can't contribute to a pharmacist shortage by pulling already trained pharmacists out of the job market". Only because they had been out of pharmacy school for a while could they demonstrate why they needed to go back to school - experiences you don't have directly out of pharmacy school. </p>
<p>Neonzeus, no offense to your son, not only do I think it a horrible idea to "take the MCAT...just in case..." but he also doesn't understand what it's like to be in medical school if he thinks he's going to work during it. He'll be able to do it the summer between M1 and M2 but that's it. </p>
<p>It's also an awful idea to major in nursing, thinking that will help in being pre-med. The nursing shortage is even worse than the pharmacist shortage. Plus there's even less overlap between the pre-med and pre-nursing requirements.</p>