What should I do? Pharmacy then Medicine? or Medicine then Pharmacy?

<p>I know it might sound like a stupid question at first but let me explain. My dad owns a pharmacy abroad and it is a really big source of income for the family. But I can't own it unless I'm a pharmacist. If i'm a pharmacist I can own it then do whatever I want with it like employ a pharmacist and take the rest and bla bla. But honestly I haven't been planning on being a pharmacist for the rest of my life. I moved to the US two years ago for my sophomore year and earned a 4.25 gpa during those years and got a 5 on my AP chem, AP french, and AP world exams. I wanna be a doctor, but an additional 10 000$ a month will be pretty amazing. What should I dooo? I wanna save as much time as possible considering how time consuming it'll be anyway</p>

<p>I know two people who did Pharmacy and then Medicine, if that helps. Pharmacy takes less time to complete.</p>

<p>Is that information current, OhioMom?</p>

<p>I thought a PharmD was a four-year graduate degree. I believe you can no longer become a pharmacist in the US without one.</p>

<p>No, sorry, this is not current, from many years ago. Did not think would have changed that much, but certainly could have.</p>

<p>Pharmacy then medicine is the correct order to go. However, why do you want to do both pharmacy and medicine? It would take at least 10 years just to get the degrees even if you get into a straight 6year Pharm.D. program or 7 year accelerated M.D. program.</p>

<p>I dont wanna work in pharmacy but I can actually OWN a pharmacy and make a lot of money from it as long as i have a pharmacy degree. you see?</p>

<p>That plan actually sounds risky to me. In the last 10 years or so, a lot of doctors have come under a lot of scrutiny for referring patients to other medical facilities, such as labs or radiology centers, in which they have ownership. It creates a conflict of interest. I think I recall that some physicians have been prosecuted for sending patients to the doctor-owned facilities without disclosing the details of their ownership.</p>

<p>I think you should choose medicine or pharmacy. I think you should think very carefully about the potential pitfalls in this plan before you put a lot of time or money into it. I also think you sound greedy, and I probably wouldn’t want you for my doctor.</p>

<p>Who said he would be referring patients to the pharmacy? It is in another country. He would own the pharmacy, and he said he would hire another Pharmacist to operate it.</p>

<p>Are you a US citizen?
American medical schools accept very few international students.
I don’t know about permanent residents (Green Card holders).</p>

<p>Has your family considered selling the pharmacy and investing the proceeds in something else?</p>

<p>If you are entering pharmacy and medicine because it offers a lot of money, then it is a bad idea to start with. It looks a rosy picture from far (med and pharmacy schools have painted) but its not worth undertaking just because you want to earn lots of money. You know that pharmacy is not just about dispensing drugs and dealing with insurance, right?</p>

<p>collegebiomed you might be completely right. Should I consider going into pharmaceutical research and stuff like that maybe? I don’t know its a pretty tough decision</p>

<p>Only go into pharmacy or medicine if it’s something you know you will like doing for the rest of your life. If you have no first-hand experience in it, get some. Shadow some docs and pharmacists in different fields (not at you family’s pharmacy) to get a feel for what that career path is actually like, and not just what you think it’ll be like.</p>

<p>I haven’t heard of people doing pharmacy and then med school recently. The pharmacy program is a minimum of six years, if not eight years (two to four years undergrad, four years graduate, a few more years if you do a residency). You’d be better off just doing medicine if that’s what you’re more interested in, and don’t do it for the money.</p>

<p>You can also do bachelors in pharmaceutical science or pharmaceutical business for undergrad. Take you pre-med classes during that period and then apply for med school after 4 years.</p>

<p>Select the 6-yr bachelors/ph.d route for pharmacy as that is the standard. That is a sizeable edge for med school-you might get out of pharmacology courses & the 2 degrees will get you into med school as long as the grades are decent. There are some 7-8 yr undergrad-m.d. Programs popping up now but the med courses will not pre-empt pharma courses. Get the ph.d in pharmacy, own the pharmacy as a fallback, & then if you want meds-you can get it or if you feel you are burnt out you can always try the physician asst. Route.</p>