Dentistry vs. pharmacy

[dentite24]

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I have decided that I would enjoy doing either pharmacy or dentistry. Money and job outlook and now the deciding factors.

For pharmacy, is this career outlook great? There are a lot of pharmacists and pre-pharm students in the country right now, will this make it more difficult to get a job? And more difficult to to get paid as high as you want?
Dentistry looks like a great career on a lot of levels; flexibility and salary in particular. However, there is a lot of debt that you must pay before you even think about making money. First, most dental schools are longer and more expensive than most pharm schools. From what I've seen, after 4 years of undergrad, and 4 years of dental schools my debt could be as high as $300,000 in loans. While, a six-year pharmacy school looks like only about as high as $200,000 in loans (not to mention that I get out in the workforce two years earlier than I would if I would be a dentist, so I would be able to pay off some of debt with my salary those two years). Second, my plan is to start a practice with my brother (who's 5 years older than me) within 5 years out of dental school, this is another probably $300,000-500,000 in loans I must pay. In pharmacy my plan would be to just find a job, I wouldn't have to buy a practice, I wouldn't have that debt like in dentistry. Lastly, dentists have to buy their own health insurance (probably about $10-20,000 per year now). Pharmacists are most likely given benefits.

So, what is the better financial decision, pharmacist (less salary, less debt, questionable outlook) or dentist (higher salary, more debt, more financial responsibility)?
Also, since a lot of people saw how good of a job pharmacy was and then everyone started going into pharmacy (making too many pharmacists than needed), will the same thing happen to dentistry?

 

[zelman]

I have decided that I would enjoy doing either pharmacy or dentistry. Money and job outlook and now the deciding factors.

For pharmacy, is this career outlook great? There are a lot of pharmacists and pre-pharm students in the country right now, will this make it more difficult to get a job? And more difficult to to get paid as high as you want?
Dentistry looks like a great career on a lot of levels; flexibility and salary in particular. However, there is a lot of debt that you must pay before you even think about making money. First, most dental schools are longer and more expensive than most pharm schools. From what I've seen, after 4 years of undergrad, and 4 years of dental schools my debt could be as high as $300,000 in loans. While, a six-year pharmacy school looks like only about as high as $200,000 in loans (not to mention that I get out in the workforce two years earlier than I would if I would be a dentist, so I would be able to pay off some of debt with my salary those two years). Second, my plan is to start a practice with my brother (who's 5 years older than me) within 5 years out of dental school, this is another probably $300,000-500,000 in loans I must pay. In pharmacy my plan would be to just find a job, I wouldn't have to buy a practice, I wouldn't have that debt like in dentistry. Lastly, dentists have to buy their own health insurance (probably about $10-20,000 per year now). Pharmacists are most likely given benefits.

So, what is the better financial decision, pharmacist (less salary, less debt, questionable outlook) or dentist (higher salary, more debt, more financial responsibility)?
Also, since a lot of people saw how good of a job pharmacy was and then everyone started going into pharmacy (making too many pharmacists than needed), will the same thing happen to dentistry?

I know nothing about dentistry, but I would avoid pharmacy.

 

[fauxden]

Eh. I have a bro in law thats a dentist and an uncle thats a dentist. Doesn't seem so great. Okay.. but whatever.
As far as pharmacy- you'd be an idiot to jump on this sinking ship.

 

[trailerpark]

If you can get into both schools do dentistry.

 

[Digsbe]

I think you misunderstand the 4 + 4 vs 6 years. For both programs you do 4 years of graduate schooling, and for those 4 years you will accrue more debt than your undergrad. Compared to my total debt my u-grad is only 10% of what I've borrowed (I did 4 years of undergrad and got my BS). Not all pharmacy schools are 6 years either, most cali schools (from what I understand) require a bachelors and many private schools and state schools have requirements that will at least take 3 years or 2 years with full time summers to fulfill (and summer school can be expensive). The 6 year thing is just the bare minimum amount of time for a handful of programs.

Just look at the tuition for your in-state PharmD program and DDS program and look at the loan costs to start a dentistry practice. Each field has its pro's and con's.

 

[Travex]

Almost all pharmacists will be stuck making ~100-120k for most of their career. I only know a few dentists but they all make >200k after a few years of experience. Seems like an easy choice if you only care about the $.

 

[Dred Pirate]

Dentist - pro's - a much much higher topside (think cosmetic etc). A lot less physical stress/work (I actually timed my dentist last time I was there and he spent <60 seconds on my routine cleaning - they have hygenists/assistants do most of the work.

con's - I would hate to work on nasty people's teeth, it is the one healthcare professional that never interested me - but that is me.

pharmacy - ugh - outlook not very good. I have a good stable, relatively stress free job. But if I graduated today I would not be able to get my job with a minimum of a PGY1 and even likely a PGY1 plus 3-5 years experience, or a PGY2. I was lucky - and I only graduated 10 years ago