<p>“I’m still torn between the two mainly because the path to becoming a doctor is SO much longer than being a pharmacist (12+ years for doctor as opposed to 6-8 yrs for pharmacist).”</p>
<p>If you think of it this way, then I doubt that either path is right for you. People who are going to be successful, happy doctors enjoy what they do along the way. Yes, they hate missing sleep, being broke, being at the bottom of the totem pole, etc. But it’s hard for me to believe that someone who isn’t also having fun in medical school, or at least in residency, will enjoy being a doctor. Maybe a future psychiatrist would hate all the procedures, or a future pathologist would hate the clinical years. The successful, happy doctors I know didn’t view college, med school, and residency as some miserable slog with a reward at the end.</p>