Which one would be a good program, based on education and salary?
Well, this is such a vague question. The question is not really about the program so much as it is about the kind of career that you want. They’re quire different careers.
Pharmacists are health professionals, but they don’t see patients directly. They dispense medication. In theory, pharmacists might also do health screenings and counseling, as well as administer immunizations, but in reality most pharmacists don’t really do that on a day to day basis - I suppose it would depend a lot on where they worked. Your local Walgreens pharmacist probably doesn’t do a whole lot of that, and 50% of pharmacists work in pharmacies, drug stores, and grocery stores. Physician assistants are primary care providers; they provide direct patient care to patients. Under the supervision of a physician, they examine, diagnose, and treat patients. So if you want to provide direct care to patients, being a PA is probably the better route.
Technically, the education to become a PA is shorter - PAs only need a master’s degree whereas pharmacists need a PharmD, which takes 4 years. However, before you can get into a PA program you usually need direct patient care experience - most programs require a minimum of 1,000-2,000 hours, which is about 6-12 months of full time direct patient care experience (or 1-2 years of half-time experience). Often at these programs the most competitive candidates really have between 2,000 and 4,000 hours of patient care experience, which is closer to 1-2 years of full time direct patient care. Shadowing doctors and volunteering at hospitals is not enough; for that reason, most PAs were in other allied healthcare positions before becoming a PA (mostly CNAs, nurses, and paramedics/EMTs). PharmD students are not expected to have that kind of direct experience.
Salary-wise, pharmacists make more on average - the median pharmacist’s salary is around $127K while the median PA salary is about $99K. However, salary is not the only consideration to make because the career paths are so different. There’s also other things, like work environment and benefits and flexibility. I’ve heard from pharmacists that it can be hard to obtain positions especially in urban and suburban areas, whereas with PAs there are often lots of open position at hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices. It kind of depends.