<p>I can't decide if I want to go to pharmacy school or nursing school. I like the freedom of nursing. And the ability to to travel. But I like the idea of being a pharmacist as well. I have some leg problems so I'm not sure how I'd do walking around to much. Any help???</p>
<p>First, I would look into doing some shadowing and/or volunteering in both pharmacy and nursing. Then you’ll have some first-hand experience as to what each profession entails. I would try to shadow in a few different areas of each profession as well. There’s a wide variety of areas to go into in both pharmacy and nursing, so you won’t want to judge the entire profession based on one given day in one given setting.</p>
<p>In general, pharmacy school with take six to eight years to complete (2-4 years of pre-pharmacy work and 4 years for the pharmD, three years if you do a year-round program) and I think nursing school will take four to five years to complete. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong on the nursing schooling. I do know of people that did nursing programs in less than four years, but I think that four years is pretty average.</p>
<p>Also, the job market for nurses is currently much better than it is for pharmacists, if that matters to you.</p>
<p>Thank you for your help.
Job market is important to me because my sister has a degree in accounting and shes having a hard time finding a job.
Ive read that you can get a nursing degree and then go to pharmacy school. Is that true?</p>
<p>Yes, you could go from nursing to pharmacy (technically you could go from any degree to pharmacy), but I don’t really see the point in that. Nursing classes won’t meet the pre-requisite requirements for pharmacy school, so you would still have extra coursework to do. Try to get some experience in the two fields and see which is a better fit for you.</p>
<p>I have one kid in pharmacy school and one studying for a BSN. Both jobs can require you to be on your feet constantly, so you might want to consider whether your problem with walking can be resolved before you do your clinicals. There might be positions in pharmacy that could accomodate you more easily, once you made it through pharmacy school and got licensed. </p>
<p>BTW, pharmacy schools are even more competitive than nursing schools – and nursing schools are very competitive these days. Pharmacy schools get 10-20+ applications for each spot. It’s very chemistry and math-intense (calculators are not allowed for many tests.) I’m assuming that your credentials are very strong, and that your SAT in math is at least 650+.</p>
<p>In addition to job shadowing, I suggest that you compare the classes required for both programs of study. One curiculum might stand out as being more interesting. My pharmacy kid views pharmacy as being heavily weighted to chemistry. Patient counseling is required, but it’s not as hands-on as nursing. He also misses being able to take liberal arts classes, since the pharmacy track is so intense that there’s no room in the schedule for anything else. </p>
<p>My nursing kid’s focus is on patient contact. She’s tired of hearing “you’re so smart, why aren’t you pursuing being a doctor/a dentist/a pharmacist/a physician’s assistant.” Nursing still doesn’t have the status it deserves. </p>
<p>As you research different programs and do job shadowing, one of them will definitely be more appealing to you.</p>
<p>I feel like I’ve been thrown to the lions some days. Both of these kids lecture me on cholesterol, diet, health habits, etc. I guess I’m their first patient LOL.</p>
<p>^^ they’ll sure take good care of you in your old age!</p>
<p>And another kid is graduating law school, so I’m truly covered! I kind of wish one of them was going to be a contractor or a tax accountant though…</p>
<p>I probably should have had more kids to make sure the family was covered for all eventualities LOL!</p>
<p>You can encourage them to marry plumbers, contractors, or accountants.</p>
<p>but what was ur stats, what did u do, plz give me some tips for getting in these places!(pharmacy)</p>
<p>Pharmacy definitely! My sister’s friend went to pharmacy school and loves it.</p>