Dentistry vs. Pharmacy???

[DrCure21]

Hello everyone:

Now my debate is: Dentistry vs. Pharmacy??? I have been accepted to both type of schools, but I am having a hard time to decide which career path to pursue. Any suggestions, inputs, and comments are appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards,

DrCure21

 

[Audio]

Hello everyone:

Now my debate is: Dentistry vs. Pharmacy??? I have been accepted to both type of schools, but I am having a hard time to decide which career path to pursue. Any suggestions, inputs, and comments are appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards,

DrCure21

Depends what you're looking for in a career. To me, it's not even a question. Dentistry is the best profession in the world. PERIOD.

 

[howui3]

I suggest thinking back to your experiences in each of the fields, and I hope you were wise enough to spend time looking at each of them before applying.

Look at what dentists do and what pharmacists do after graduating....

ask yourself, how much patient interaction do you want?

go back to your interviews and look where you felt like you would belong.

 

[duh?]

Hello everyone:

Now my debate is: Dentistry vs. Pharmacy??? I have been accepted to both type of schools, but I am having a hard time to decide which career path to pursue. Any suggestions, inputs, and comments are appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards,

DrCure21

What do you expect from the majority of the people here?
DENTISTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take some time to find out what you want out of your career and for your future.
There's really no comparison 😀 DENTISTRY is the choice to go with. 😀
I think I'll name my first child Dentistry.

 

[drhobie7]

The fact that you cannot decide between dentistry and pharmacy indicates to me that you are in no position to enter dental school. These two professions are so different that I'm surprised you even applied to both of them. I question whether you have an accurate picture of each profession. My advice: defer you acceptance to both and spend several hundred hours getting some real life experience in both fields. Otherwise you might as well flip a coin.

 

[Yah-E]

Hello everyone:

Now my debate is: Dentistry vs. Pharmacy??? I have been accepted to both type of schools, but I am having a hard time to decide which career path to pursue. Any suggestions, inputs, and comments are appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards,

DrCure21

Definitely do Pharmacy! Pharm was my first choice, I applied 3 times and didn't get in. As last resort, I applied to dental! Pharm is so much better! 😕

 

[bkwash]

Definitely do Pharmacy! Pharm was my first choice, I applied 3 times and didn't get in. As last resort, I applied to dental! Pharm is so much better! 😕

??? 😕

I think it depends what you are looking for. Pharmacy has some positive aspects to it, however the managed care, long hours (if you want to do retail) and monopoly of chain drug stores was a turn off for me. However, some people like the security that a salary can afford you. I would say that you shadow both a dentist and a pharmacist to get a better idea of which work enviroment suits you.

 

[cdpiano27]

What do you like better? You have to remember that most of the jobs in pharmacy ARE IN RETAIL!!! Of course there is the hospital setting, but getting in there you need to do a residency. This is just as difficulty to get into in pharmacy as specializing in dentistry.

So I recommend the following?

Look at the GENERAL career not clinical pharmacy versus orthodontics, endodontics, etc.

DO you want to eventually open your own office and have a LOT of patient interaction and perform oral work that is almost, in some ways quite artistic and self-satisfying?

OR on the pharmacy end?

Do you want to work in a store such as Walgreens, WAL-MART, know the drugs inside-and-out, and counsel some people while others might think that you are just a glorified clerk!

PROS of DENTISTRY

More patient interaction, work is more artistic (not just dispensing drugs and providing counseling), chance to run your own business

PROS of PHARMACY

Can move anywhere in the US, lots of retail jobs, can work overtime to earn more income, etc, do not need to incur expense of managing own office

However, consider this with pharmacy versus dentistry>

TOO MANY SCHOOLS OF PHARMACY, IN MY OPINION HAVE OPENED UP!!!! I THINK THE WHOLE PHARMACIST SHORTAGE IS JUST A MYTH LIKE COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS!!! Within the next five to ten years there will defiitely be a shortage, and I BET THAT MANY SCHOOLS WILL HAVE TO CLOSE DOWN JUST LIKE DENTAL SCHOOLS IN THE 90's (remember emory, georgetown, northwesten dental schools?) And clinical is reserved for top students in the top pharmacy schools (UNC-Chapel Hill, UCSF, UF, etc)

WITH DENTAL SCHOOLS, there are more and more applicants too. However, very few new schools are opening up to the logistic costs of opening a dental school. There are only three schools that have opened in the last ten years, NOVA, Arizona, and Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (this next year).
So getting into dental school is probably more difficult since so many pharmacy schools are now out there. If you apply to enough pharm schools, including some of the newer schools like Findlay in Ohio which DOES NOT EVEN HAVE A WEB PAGE, you will most likely get in.

But go with what your true calling is! PHarm school is more biochemistry based than dental school. Dental schools is more hands on for sure. So go with what YOU think you like better? By the way, did you apply to different schools for pharm and dentistry? Otherwise if you apply to let us say a school like NOVA with both a pharm and dental school, they will probably both reject your admission when they see you applied to both professions!

 

[aphistis]

The fact that you cannot decide between dentistry and pharmacy indicates to me that you are in no position to enter dental school. These two professions are so different that I'm surprised you even applied to both of them. I question whether you have an accurate picture of each profession. My advice: defer you acceptance to both and spend several hundred hours getting some real life experience in both fields. Otherwise you might as well flip a coin.

I have to agree with this. The two professions don't have much in common at all. If you aren't familiar enough with either profession to realize how different they are, it's probably best to get some more exposure to both before making a lengthy & expensive commitment to professional school. Good luck.

 

[SirShagaLot]

Depends what you're looking for in a career. To me, it's not even a question. Dentistry is the best profession in the world. PERIOD.

4 sure. It makes me want to freak the hell out knowing that there are people out there getting accepted to dental when they don't even know what the hell it is all about. I would give my left nizzut to be accepted to D-school. My advice, don't go to D-school, then mabye others like myself will have a better chance to pursue their dreams.

@!@!@!%%^&%&^*#&**)$!@)@$@#)%$#)^)&@

 

[gel1681]

i had this dilemma back when i graduated high school and was accepted into a pharm program vs goin for dentistry...

i worked in both pharmacies and dentists' offices up to that pt and in the end i decided to go for dentistry...

basically, i chose dentistry b/c i would have a much greater impact in a person's healthcare and would have a greater challenge in my job than i would as a pharmacist where i would just be giving drugs others prescribed...

6 years later i never looked back and reconsidered pharmacy as an option again even tho i had to go through grad school to finally get into d-school... i definately agree with the other guys in saying that if at this point u still dont know what you want to do with ur life, u need to try to defer ur acceptances and work in each field... u need to go out and follow each field as a pharm tech or shadow a dentist and see which one appeals to you more... for me, it was dentistry... for u, it could be pharmacy...

if you go to dental school and find out u dont have the passion for it, best case scenario is you lose a year's tuition (over 40k) vs worst case u still become a dentist and are miserable the rest of your life...

 

[Dutchboy]

However, very few new schools are opening up to the logistic costs of opening a dental school. There are only three schools that have opened in the last ten years, NOVA, Arizona, and Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (this next year).

You forgot UNLV. Not to mention that the University of Utah is looking to get a dental school in the next couple of years. 👎 👎 😡

 

[Fat_Man]

Well, I get the best of both worlds. My wife is a pharmacist and she loves it. I'm gonna be a dentist.

Some advantages of pharmacy might be less debt and guaranteed a job after you grauduate (Walgreens offers $20,000 sign on bonuses). You will have job offers up the butt.

Disadvantages might be that it can be boring (unless you work in a hospital) and there is less patient to patient contact (depending on where you work).

I don't wanna sound sexist, but if you want to be a mother, pharmacy is the way to go. You can have a kid, take a year off, and then get a job any time you want making good money. My wife loves it because she can get out of the house a couple days a week and make $50/hour while she's doin it.

 

[fightingspirit]

I can understand someone trying to choose among allo medicine, osteo medicine, dentistry, and podiatry. They all involve patient care in an intimate way. But choosing between dent and pharm is just troubling! You’re applying to both. Why not apply to culinary school also? Then you can increase your options. It is unfortunate that you were able to get away with this. Clearly, for you, it’s not a matter of passion. It’s not a matter of creativity. For you it’s all about convenience. Like some SDNers said, you don’t deserve to be a dentist. Please go to pharm. Good job contriving those answers that made you nail your interview at d-school. What a shame people like you get accepted.

 

[Gargamel]

I agree with the moderator that you are in no position to enter dental school or pharmacy school for that matter. Fortunately, you still have the better part of a year before this becomes an issue. I don’t agree that your predicament is troubling, somehow makes you a bad applicant, or that you have “gotten away” with something. The decision of what you are going to do for the rest of your life is not one that should be taken lightly. There is no question that many on this forum and on the pharmacy forum are very envious of your position. It is likely that you have accomplished great things to this point allowing you these options. Now it is time to take the drive and intellect you must possess and determine which field if any provides what you believe is your best match. Ask questions, talk with dentists and pharmacists, shadow some more, do what ever is necessary to make the best decision you can. If you are still uncertain come the end of July then enquire about deferment for a year. Some students find they love the dental profession while others do not. Some finish dental school and go onto rewarding careers, others hate their chosen profession while others drop out after realizing dentistry is not really their calling. You still have time to make a great decision (dental, pharm, neither) use it wisely. Good luck!

 

[SunnyDay]

I can understand someone trying to choose among allo medicine, osteo medicine, dentistry, and podiatry. They all involve patient care in an intimate way. But choosing between dent and pharm is just troubling! You’re applying to both. Why not apply to culinary school also? Then you can increase your options. It is unfortunate that you were able to get away with this. Clearly, for you, it’s not a matter of passion. It’s not a matter of creativity. For you it’s all about convenience. Like some SDNers said, you don’t deserve to be a dentist. Please go to pharm. Good job contriving those answers that made you nail your interview at d-school. What a shame people like you get accepted.

Fightingspirit,

I bet you have not been accepted to dental school yet. Your response is so cynical, almost like you are jealous this person has been accepted and you have not. Have you been accepted yet? Please correct me if I am wrong. The original poster might have strong reasons for entering both professions despite the large difference between the two. You are not them, so don't judge them. To the original poster, I recommend doing an enormous amount of shadowing over the next few months to decide which career you would most enjoy. No need to defer an entire year, school starts in August which is several months away. You can do plenty of shadowing till then. Good luck.

 

[aphistis]

Fightingspirit,

I bet you have not been accepted to dental school yet. Your response is so cynical, almost like you are jealous this person has been accepted and you have not. Have you been accepted yet? Please correct me if I am wrong. The original poster might have strong reasons for entering both professions despite the large difference between the two. You are not them, so don't judge them. To the original poster, I recommend doing an enormous amount of shadowing over the next few months to decide which career you would most enjoy. No need to defer an entire year, school starts in August which is several months away. You can do plenty of shadowing till then. Good luck.

Sorry, but this isn't good advice. Classes may not start until next summer, but schools require tuition deposits within a few weeks of acceptance in order to secure your place in the class. You can't just shadow until Labor Day and then show up to one school or the other on the first day of class.

But, er, someone who's already been accepted should have already known all of that. Right? 😉

 

[Gargamel]

Sorry moderator I’m going to have to disagree. Let’s see a few thousand in tuition deposit or a mistake that might cost $30,000+ for a years tuition and/or a career that you hate. I’m going to have to go with the few thousand in tuition deposit. It you can afford it this seems like a no brainier to me. I’m certain that someone who has been accepted KNOWS this.

 

[SunnyDay]

Sorry, but this isn't good advice. Classes may not start until next summer, but schools require tuition deposits within a few weeks of acceptance in order to secure your place in the class. You can't just shadow until Labor Day and then show up to one school or the other on the first day of class.

But, er, someone who's already been accepted should have already known all of that. Right? 😉

I said this with the assumption that the poster would realize that they would have to put down deposits for both dental and pharmacy school until classes started before withdrawing one of their acceptances (pharmacy or dental) at the last minute when they made their decision. Obviously, this costs more money, but this is somewhat similar to pre-dental students putting deposits down to two dental schools until they have made their decision on which school to attend. This is not something I would ever do, but it is not uncommon from what I understand. If you are not allowed to do this, please let me know. Anyway, this would allow the person to shadow both professions until classes started if they put down all the required deposits for both schools.

 

[fightingspirit]

SUNNY, you are right. i have not been accepted yet. am i cynical? no...am i jealous? not really. Am i indignant? YES....sorry, but before you fill up that AADSAS and build that awesome Personal statement, you should have thought of what career you wish to pursue. for those who got accepted, i am always happy. i congratulate wholeheartedly anyone on SDN who gets accepted to D-school. however, all of those seem to have a genuine interest in dentistry and seemed to have thought out their career options in advance. but yes, i am indignant when it comes to those who just get accepted and then say, "oh well, let me think ........dentistry or pharmacy..."..
..these people do not have an apprecation for an acceptance letter, and it is difficult for me to state that those who dont appreciate the value of an acceptance letter still deserve to get one....

 

[anonymuz]

whats up with th myth about the high suicide rates for dentists? or is that for real?! 😱

 

[Audio]

whats up with th myth about the high suicide rates for dentists? or is that for real?! 😱

not real at all!

 

[JohnUNLV]

I attending pharmacy school for a year, the failed HICP. And I can tell you from first hand experience that I am actually happy that I was steered in the right direction (dentistry). I was always looking at pharmacy because, to be honest, its the easy and lazy way out. I just wanted to get out of school, have an easy job and make some money. After the extremely humbling experience of HICP, I now see that I should thoroughly enjoy my career otherwise I wont be happy.
Dentistry has tons of more positive qualities about it compared to pharmacy. Some of the big cons about pharmacy are the fact that you will be working for a corporation of penny pinchers forever. These people makes pharmacists and especially pharmacy managers' lives hell. Constant ridicule and policy changes. In dentistry, however, you can do whatever the hell you want if you own your own practice and you don't have to answer to anyone. This autonomy is a HUGE factor for me.

 

[philicity]

I said this with the assumption that the poster would realize that they would have to put down deposits for both dental and pharmacy school until classes started before withdrawing one of their acceptances (pharmacy or dental) at the last minute when they made their decision. Obviously, this costs more money, but this is somewhat similar to pre-dental students putting deposits down to two dental schools until they have made their decision on which school to attend. This is not something I would ever do, but it is not uncommon from what I understand. If you are not allowed to do this, please let me know. Anyway, this would allow the person to shadow both professions until classes started if they put down all the required deposits for both schools.

I agree with this option. Sacrifice a few hundred dollars and use the few months you have left to explore both fields. It's not financially practical to defer your acceptance and lose that extra year of practice. To the very least, I hope you find both professions to be enticing and have many positive points. In that case, with whichever school you choose, you won't be too disappointed with your decision.

 

[aphistis]

I said this with the assumption that the poster would realize that they would have to put down deposits for both dental and pharmacy school until classes started before withdrawing one of their acceptances (pharmacy or dental) at the last minute when they made their decision. Obviously, this costs more money, but this is somewhat similar to pre-dental students putting deposits down to two dental schools until they have made their decision on which school to attend. This is not something I would ever do, but it is not uncommon from what I understand. If you are not allowed to do this, please let me know. Anyway, this would allow the person to shadow both professions until classes started if they put down all the required deposits for both schools.

What you're saying here makes sense. I'm in the same position as you (I wouldn't hold spots at multiple schools for the sake of my own convenience, while I spend an extra few months doing the job research I should've done before I applied anywhere in the first place), so I hadn't realized that as an option when I wrote my response above.

 

[DIRTIE]

You forgot UNLV. Not to mention that the University of Utah is looking to get a dental school in the next couple of years. 👎 👎 😡

U of U to open 2009!

 

[MC Wiggles]

University of Utah Dental......sounds like a real party school in the making. 🙄

 

[blotterspotter]

I'm actually getting my PharmD in May, and I'll be going to D-school in the fall so I guess you know what my choice is. I definetly agree that you should go for what you like. Pharmacy's a great profession, but it doesn't give you the great patient interaction that you can get from dentistry unless you work at a few specific places. I also love the manual work that you do in dentistry. But hey, that's just me.

 

[maryanne213]

Hello everyone:

Now my debate is: Dentistry vs. Pharmacy??? I have been accepted to both type of schools, but I am having a hard time to decide which career path to pursue. Any suggestions, inputs, and comments are appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards,

DrCure21

Which Dental School did you get into?

 

[E. coli]

Hello everyone:

Now my debate is: Dentistry vs. Pharmacy??? I have been accepted to both type of schools, but I am having a hard time to decide which career path to pursue. Any suggestions, inputs, and comments are appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards,

DrCure21

Seriously, this is a very easy answer: CHOOSE DENTISTRY!!!!!!! I am surprise someone even asked this question. Dentistry is just a more exciting field (prestige, autonomy, more money, manual dexterity, patient interaction, better work environment and also get to run your own business).

I don't know much about pharmacy, but I would never chose pharmacy over dentistry. I have heard a lot from my pharmacist friends that it's a very boring job, you do the same thing every day. But the pros is that you get paid a lot ($40 to 50 an hour) and it's a stress free job and you can actually enjoy your life after work. Seriously, can someone tell me why a pharmacist makes that much money 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕???????? Just a note: In Canada, it is very easy to get into pharmacy schools, but it is extremely difficult to get into dental schools.

Anyways, how the heck did you write your personal statement and convinced your interviewer that you are actually devoted to dentistry? Did you even mention about your pharmacy school application in your AADSAS application? If you have not decided about dentistry yet even after your acceptance, maybe you shouldn't go to dental school and give those who are truly interested and devoted about dentistry a chance.

There's still time to think about this. Go shadow a retail pharmacist and a dentist to see what the field is about. The decision is still up to you, No one can make this decision for you. Just make sure you make a wise one.