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Why won't you have debt after 4 years of pharm school?
I think you should become a rapper instead.
100-200k? OUTRAGEOUS!!!
Allow me to ask you this. What would you rather do?
opportunity cost and earning potential.......... all I'm sayingI am a junior who is majoring in biology and is expected to graduate next fall of 2013. I am SERIOUSLY thinking about switching to pharmacy since the cost of dental school is just outrageous. Here is my 2 options:
1. Pharmacy
I am now currently enrolled at a 4 year university who has a pharmacy school that normally admits their students via 6 year program. I have done all of the prerequisites to get into the pharmacy school (at CC) but I just finished my 1st semester here at the university and still maintained a good GPA(I even took 1 class that P1 pharmacy students have to take and did well in it). Even though it is hard to get in as a transfer, I feel I that I can do it ( I have a very high GPA, but I still need to take the PCAT). If I decide to stick with this option, I would have to spend fall 2012 and spring 2013 completing the rest of the prereqs(only a bunch of non sci electives) and hopefully matriculate in the fall of 2013. After that its another 4 years. I will also be graduating with zero debt with a pharmD.
The con for this option is that if I go ahead and complete the rest of my prereqs for pharmacy(a bunch of non-science electives). I would be wasting time IF I don't get in since I could be completing upper level science classes instead which are required for my bio degree.
2. Dental
I will be graduating with a bio degree after the fall of 2013 which means that the soonest I can matriculate will be fall of 2014. I will most likely have to take out loans (100-200k).
What would you do? I know you all are pre-dental students but
I hate being a pharmacist (worked as a pharmtech at CVS for 3 months and quit, maybe if I worked at walgreens instead It would have been better.)
I want to be a dentist because it pays higher and I get to use my hands to work on patients as opposed to pharmacist who just talks behind the counter.
But the debt really scares me. I don't want to go through all of this schooling just to work like a dog and have 3/4 of my check cut out to pay for loans.
I'm not as knowledgeable on some of these topics as the other members of SDN, but from what I've gathered, very few dentists have a hard time paying back loans and living a better than average lifestyle. That being said, if money is your motivating factor you'd probably be better off going the Pharmacy route. I'm not sure what dental school you're interested in going too, but tuition costs for the dental school I'm attending were released today and I'm looking to be about 300K in debt by the time i graduate. It's a hard pill to swallow, but I'm sure I'll be able to pay that back and live comfortably. It will just take several years of living responsibly and doing what I have to do to get rid of the debt I have taken on. At the end of the day though, I'll be doing what I wanted to do
The problem is that I don't know for sure if I am guaranteed to get into my state school (NJ). I most likely have to apply to some OOS and private school which costs can easily rack up to 60-70k a year for tuition alone. Do these students take into consideration when taking that much loans? 3-400k of debt? what about the interests? I am gonna be honest here but money is one of my motivations.
Also living comfortably to me is to have at least 3-4k/month left after all expenses(student loan, mortgage, car, utilities, etc).
I am a junior who is majoring in biology and is expected to graduate next fall of 2013. I am SERIOUSLY thinking about switching to pharmacy since the cost of dental school is just outrageous. Here is my 2 options:
1. Pharmacy
I am now currently enrolled at a 4 year university who has a pharmacy school that normally admits their students via 6 year program. I have done all of the prerequisites to get into the pharmacy school (at CC) but I just finished my 1st semester here at the university and still maintained a good GPA(I even took 1 class that P1 pharmacy students have to take and did well in it). Even though it is hard to get in as a transfer, I feel I that I can do it ( I have a very high GPA, but I still need to take the PCAT). If I decide to stick with this option, I would have to spend fall 2012 and spring 2013 completing the rest of the prereqs(only a bunch of non sci electives) and hopefully matriculate in the fall of 2013. After that its another 4 years. I will also be graduating with zero debt with a pharmD.
The con for this option is that if I go ahead and complete the rest of my prereqs for pharmacy(a bunch of non-science electives). I would be wasting time IF I don't get in since I could be completing upper level science classes instead which are required for my bio degree.
2. Dental
I will be graduating with a bio degree after the fall of 2013 which means that the soonest I can matriculate will be fall of 2014. I will most likely have to take out loans (100-200k).
What would you do? I know you all are pre-dental students but
That's ridiculous. Choosing what you'll do for the rest of my life based on how long you'll pay your school loans...
Sorry but I don't think that is ridiculous. Loans should be one if NOT the determining factor. You can say that but wait until you are faced with 3-400k worth of loans.
A friend of mine just got admitted to 5 out of 9 schools she applied to... WITHOUT a degree. So it sounds like you are very concerned about money so think about what she did. Saved one year of undergrad tuition and pharm school is 3 years I think, correct me if I'm wrong. You posted that pharm school is 20K so there you go. But you have to remember money is money. You won't have it when you die and sure 200k in debt sucks but it will be just a payment. I think the lifestyle of a dentist is much more rewarding, people are a lot happier when their teeth look great compared to picking up drugs.....well on the other hand people love drugs lol. Best of luck on which you decide my friend!!!
OK. Let say I graduate with 300K debt. How much would I be paying including interest and for how long? 20? 30 years? Thats ridiculously long
Sorry but I don't think that is ridiculous. Loans should be one if NOT the determining factor. You can say that but wait until you are faced with 3-400k worth of loans.
You're a recipe for disaster. If you don't go into either profession with at least a little bit of passion you'll be miserable. As a pharmacist you'll be pushing around pills all day, as a dentist you'll be in mouths all day. Money is only part of the equation....hopefully you realize that sooner rather than later.
you need to learn more about yourself and about these careers. There really shouldn't be much of a decision between these two if you actually do some research and some shadowing as there isn't much in common.
you're a recipe for disaster. If you don't go into either profession with at least a little bit of passion you'll be miserable. As a pharmacist you'll be pushing around pills all day, as a dentist you'll be in mouths all day. Money is only part of the equation....hopefully you realize that sooner rather than later.
Take a sabbatical. At the present, you have the maturity for neither.
Yes, student loans should be the #1 determining factor. I hope my 2 young kids (who are 7 and 9) will think like you and will be just as responsible as you are right now. If your parents can afford to pay ~$80k ($20k per year....as you said on your earlier post) for your education and you really want to be a dentist, then you should go for dentistry. There is a huge difference between $320k in debt and $400k in debt.Sorry but I don't think that is ridiculous. Loans should be one if NOT the determining factor. You can say that but wait until you are faced with 3-400k worth of loans.
Yes, student loans should be the #1 determining factor. I hope my 2 young kids (who are 7 and 9) will think like you and will be just as responsible as you are right now. If your parents can afford to pay ~$80k ($20k per year....as you said on your earlier post) for your education and you really want to be a dentist, then you should go for dentistry. There is a huge difference between $320k in debt and $400k in debt.
There are downsides of being a dentist as well. Here are just a few:
- Back pain and sore hands from sitting and working long hours
- When you work for a dental chain or for a busy private office, you have to deal with rude office managers and assistants. Jam-packed schedule .no break, no time to eat lunch.
- Dealing with the PITA patients who have unrealistic expectation. Dealing with dental phobic and medically compromised patients.
- Dealing with insurance companies that try to avoid paying you. Low insurance reimbursement.
- High overhead. Dental equipments are expensive. You will need about $200-300k to set up an office .and there is no guarantee that you will succeed.
- Fierce competition among dentists due to the opening of new dental schools.
Im such a great troll
Yes, student loans should be the #1 determining factor. I hope my 2 young kids (who are 7 and 9) will think like you and will be just as responsible as you are right now. If your parents can afford to pay ~$80k ($20k per year....as you said on your earlier post) for your education and you really want to be a dentist, then you should go for dentistry. There is a huge difference between $320k in debt and $400k in debt.
There are downsides of being a dentist as well. Here are just a few:
- Back pain and sore hands from sitting and working long hours
- When you work for a dental chain or for a busy private office, you have to deal with rude office managers and assistants. Jam-packed schedule….no break, no time to eat lunch.
- Dealing with the PITA patients who have unrealistic expectation. Dealing with dental phobic and medically compromised patients.
- Dealing with insurance companies that try to avoid paying you. Low insurance reimbursement.
- High overhead. Dental equipments are expensive. You will need about $200-300k to set up an office….and there is no guarantee that you will succeed.
- Fierce competition among dentists due to the opening of new dental schools.
I agree with you that dentistry is a much better profession. I even encourage my niece, whose mom is a pharmacist, to pursue dentistry. I just dont think borrowing $400k for a DDS degree is worth it. The reason I still tell my own kids and my niece to pursue dentistry is I know neither my kids nor my niece will have to borrow that much for their education.My cousin's a pharmacist, and no offense to those folks, but I don't envy her at all. It seems like it would be an interesting endeavor for a little while, but I can see myself becoming bored of it very quickly. Way back when I worked at Costco, I still wouldn't have traded jobs with the pharmacists and they made probably five times what I did...
Yes, there is a huge difference. But in order to make $40-50k more per year, one may have to work in a more stressful environment such as working for a busy dental chain instead of working at a slow-paced private practice. To make $40-50k more, one may have to work 6 days week and misses all of his/her kids soccer matches. Wouldnt be nicer to owe less in student loan so you dont have to work as hard and have more time for your family? So you can save money to set up your own practice some day?There's also a huge difference between say $100k - $110k income and $150k - $160k.
I agree with you that dentistry is a much better profession. I even encourage my niece, whose mom is a pharmacist, to pursue dentistry. I just dont think borrowing $400k for a DDS degree is worth it. The reason I still tell my own kids and my niece to pursue dentistry is I know neither my kids nor my niece will have to borrow that much for their education.
Yes, there is a huge difference. But in order to make $40-50k more per year, one may have to work in a more stressful environment such as working for a busy dental chain instead of working at a slow-paced private practice. To make $40-50k more, one may have to work 6 days week and misses all of his/her kids soccer matches. Wouldnt be nicer to owe less in student loan so you dont have to work as hard and have more time for your family? So you can save money to set up your own practice some day?
It wasnt our great income (which was many times more than $120k a year) that helped us pay off our $450k student loans in 5 years. We were just very lucky that we bought two of our houses at the right time and sold them at the right time.
You will later see that paying back the student loans is just a small part. We also have plan to save enough money for our kids education and for our own retirement. I dont want to end up like many 70-80 yo orthodontists who cant retire because of their bad financial planning.
With $400k in student loans, it will be hard for a dentist to retire comfortably at 65.
You can join a program with the U.S. army that will also cover full tuition, provide you with a $20,000 cheque sign on fee and slightly over $2,000 a month with benefits and bonuses during holidays. The flip-side is that you must work four years as a dentist for the army upon graduating, starting at a base salary of about $58,000 a year annually and increasing thereafter.
Why dentistry and not pharmacy? Less hours, more money, more freedom.
When you agree to join this army program, will you be sent outside of the US? I am just scared if I will have to be at places where there is a war, etc. To be honest, that option isn't that bad. Where I can find more info about this program Thank you.
You said you don't like being a pharmacist yet you'd rather do that b/c of earning potential and less loan debt? You'd rather be a dentist b/c "the pay is higher?" Honestly, that kind of attitude disgusts me.
Why are you even looking into the health profession if you care more about money than the profession itself? There are hundreds of stable careers out there that require less debt and provide equitable salary to dentistry. Hell, be a nurse anesthetist if you want an easy job that pays well.
As Plato said, "The physician of whom you were just speaking, is he a moneymaker, a collector of fees, or a healer of the sick?"
Be a dentist to be a dentist, debt and all. Or you can choose an unfulfilling career and discover the hard way that money doesn't buy you happiness.
You wanted serious advice? There it is.
go to pharmacy. you'll be less stressed and make a decent living as well.
Apparently your car doesn't get up to 88 MPH!!.. jk