DPM, PharmD, MD, Help my with me career planning!

[StaphRx]

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Haha-That is one of the funniest things i've read on the forums

Anyways, Just go to a 4 year UG program. You will miss out on alot of parties if you do a 6 year program. And that's what college is about.

Haha, maybe I'm trying to save my own butt here, but I meant everything I said in a nice way. I am not trying to compare or offend anyone here or in the other professions (but it does annoy me to see that some people cannot take/appreciate and see the genuine help, opinions, and advice from people in this forum; jokes aside), and so I was just recommending that anyone not knowing what profession to get into for certain yet to check out the other professional forums. I don't want to get involved with all the critiques and bashing and some of the uneducated verbal talks here. 😛 We all have similar thinkings and want to say certain things (I know I've tried to keep my mouth shut a few times in this thread already, haha), but sometimes, things are better not said, because we know some people are still young, naive and can't take advice too well... 👍

I agree with a lot of the postings in this forum, but sometimes the advice is hidden and all we see are harsh words. 🙂

I love how we may have turned people away from this profession, if they take SDN postings seriously. Less competition, better salary, greater benefits for us- yay! 😉

oops...Darklord, good luck with whatever you choose to do...you might want to go do your 6-year program. You might not find yourself in the typical college experience of socializing- you sound like you're always hanging around much older people (graduates, phDs...), and maybe you're only focused on your studies (which is great, but everyone in a 4 year college can do that too along with balancing social life)...🙂

 

[feets22]

You just got LAWYERED...How I Met Your Mother, anybody?

LOVE it....have you met Ted?


Anyways...Darklord I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I was studying for an LEA exam and your "highschool is hard" ***t just didn't fly. Consider podiatry but don't choose it because you don't think you can get into an MD program while you are still in highschool. It's a profession that deserves way more credit than being called the SECOND doctor. If you really want to be an MD then try for your combined program and then if you don't get in you can go to college, have some fun, get your degree, and then have a shot at an MD/DO program. If you don't get in THEN you can SERIOUSLY determine whether or not podiatry is the best profession for you.

 

[Squiggy]

Wow... I had a lot of fun reading this thread.

OP comes off as an insecure tool having nonstop PMS and I will bet my boat that he is gonna be a crazy arse gunner in college.

Pre-Allo is where it's at my friend...

 

[whiskers]

Pre allo is where it is at??? Are you serious? Have you no idea of the earning potentials of other non medical related careers?

No, where it is REALLY at is about at least 20 full city blocks away from the largest hospital in town. Medicine is not the big bucks and fame like some of you are dreaming it is.

They've been watching too much TV and day dreaming how glorious it is to work at a hospital.

Most medical school grads go off to internal medicine and if you don't get a fellowship, it's the kiss of salary death. What shift at the hospital do you think that the young internist works? The ones I see are working 11-7. Uh huh, just like a factory. Then when they get more seniority you see the middle aged ones working 3-11. Then the old codgers finally arrived at the 8-4.

But people can keep dreaming I guess of the TV stars they will be after med school when they are making a cool million a year and getting all that respect from people who want their birth control and arthritis scripts filled.

Medicine is a job, just another job. It is dirty, hard, stressful and the patients can be difficult to deal with. You will be working with vomit, puke, poo and pee and the smells can be just as sickening at 1st. The patients on TV are always so clean and never are demented.

Some patients may respect you so much and be so happy you saved their life that they will honestly bicker with you over the copays! In fact, they may respect you so much they might just not pay you the 20 bucks they owe you for saving their life. Now where else can you find respect like that?

Anyway, just wait, reality will set in for all you gold/status diggers and you will probably cry and sturggle to find your way into academic medicine to glen at least respect from the students and residents but the pay will suck.

Oh and BTW, some docs NEED Podiatry so much to laugh at because when they don't have residents or students to pick at and see the old pod making 2 times as much, they have to feel snarky and validate their 15 year comittment somehow. These folks are just unhappy with their own choice and aren't making enough money. Seriously. Where else can they take out their frustrations regarding billing and pay and nonpayment and status and long miserable hours?

They did the same thing with dentists 30 yrs ago, now many of the dentists are making more money, Go figure.

In the end who really gives a crap about the status of some job, really, you have to make a living and if you like what you are doing, then you made the right choice.

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/People_with_Jobs_as_Physicians_/_Doctors/Salary

 

[Squiggy]

Lol... I mean pre-allo is usually the forum section for crazy arse gunners.

But the thing with physicians giving dentists crap you mentioned... There are significant differences b/t dentists and podiatrists. Dentistry was a branch of medicine but they separated whereas podiatry evolved separately. Also, dentists have no price controls unless they accept medicaid or insurance and they also have a scope of practice no other professional can touch. Can podiatry achieve the same level of success as dentistry when, like medicine, it is reliant on third-party reimbursements and does not have independent turf?

Maybe, but I think it's on the same boat as medicine.

 

[dpmPOD]

Dentistry was a branch of medicine but they separated whereas podiatry evolved separately.

Not that this matters much, but your statement here is false. Where'd you get this info from?? Father of modern podiatry was an M.D. (Dr. Scholl) Check it out.

 

[Squiggy]

They use to teach dentistry as a branch of medicine and it was a field that medical graduates would branch off into. Not so for chiropody back then.

 

[tracheatoedoc]

Generally it is more difficult to get into med, osteo, or dental school than podiatry. With this economy we will see an increase in apps to all professional schools because they lead to a very secure future.
For the last several years it has been exceedingly easy to get into pod school. The class sizes are way down. It was much more competitive when I went and my roomie had a 2.4 in undergrad and never got above a C in any chemistry course. I think he got a D in organic.

 

[whiskers]

I hate the comparison with dentistry.

Maybe try comparing it with an equivalent in dentistry such as

Oral-maxillofacial surgery.

At which time I will say that we in podiatry have attained an equal status.

 

[tracheatoedoc]

Pre allo is where it is at??? Are you serious? Have you no idea of the earning potentials of other non medical related careers?

No, where it is REALLY at is about at least 20 full city blocks away from the largest hospital in town. Medicine is not the big bucks and fame like some of you are dreaming it is.

They've been watching too much TV and day dreaming how glorious it is to work at a hospital.

Most medical school grads go off to internal medicine and if you don't get a fellowship, it's the kiss of salary death. What shift at the hospital do you think that the young internist works? The ones I see are working 11-7. Uh huh, just like a factory. Then when they get more seniority you see the middle aged ones working 3-11. Then the old codgers finally arrived at the 8-4.

But people can keep dreaming I guess of the TV stars they will be after med school when they are making a cool million a year and getting all that respect from people who want their birth control and arthritis scripts filled.

Medicine is a job, just another job. It is dirty, hard, stressful and the patients can be difficult to deal with. You will be working with vomit, puke, poo and pee and the smells can be just as sickening at 1st. The patients on TV are always so clean and never are demented.

Some patients may respect you so much and be so happy you saved their life that they will honestly bicker with you over the copays! In fact, they may respect you so much they might just not pay you the 20 bucks they owe you for saving their life. Now where else can you find respect like that?

Anyway, just wait, reality will set in for all you gold/status diggers and you will probably cry and sturggle to find your way into academic medicine to glen at least respect from the students and residents but the pay will suck.

Oh and BTW, some docs NEED Podiatry so much to laugh at because when they don't have residents or students to pick at and see the old pod making 2 times as much, they have to feel snarky and validate their 15 year comittment somehow. These folks are just unhappy with their own choice and aren't making enough money. Seriously. Where else can they take out their frustrations regarding billing and pay and nonpayment and status and long miserable hours?

They did the same thing with dentists 30 yrs ago, now many of the dentists are making more money, Go figure.

In the end who really gives a crap about the status of some job, really, you have to make a living and if you like what you are doing, then you made the right choice.

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/People_with_Jobs_as_Physicians_/_Doctors/Salary

Excuse me sir but I think you are confused.
Internists don't work shifts like a factory job.
Generally they have a practice combining outpatient and inpatients.
Typically round in AM, go to clinic, round in afternoon.
There are hospitalists who do only inpatient medicine, but they would work during the day and take call at night.
I suppose, it is possible, that at a very large hospital there would be hospitalists 24/7, but I've worked at hospitals like that and never saw it.
You're comment that docs need podiatry to make fun of especially if they don't have staff to make fun of is absurd.
I'm an MD, and have never heard pods made fun of.
Attendings are generally nice to staff.
Your statement belies a certain resentment and possibly inferiority complex regarding the MD world.
If someone wants to be an Internist they will have a fascinating, rewarding career. Income will depend on location and whether they do colonoscopies, etc.
Your statement about foul odors and such is overblown and the same could certainly be said about podiatry.

 

[cool_vkb]

Excuse me sir but I think you are confused.
Internists don't work shifts like a factory job.
Generally they have a practice combining outpatient and inpatients.
Typically round in AM, go to clinic, round in afternoon.
There are hospitalists who do only inpatient medicine, but they would work during the day and take call at night.
I suppose, it is possible, that at a very large hospital there would be hospitalists 24/7, but I've worked at hospitals like that and never saw it.
You're comment that docs need podiatry to make fun of especially if they don't have staff to make fun of is absurd.
I'm an MD, and have never heard pods made fun of.
Attendings are generally nice to staff.
Your statement belies a certain resentment and possibly inferiority complex regarding the MD world.
If someone wants to be an Internist they will have a fascinating, rewarding career. Income will depend on location and whether they do colonoscopies, etc.
Your statement about foul odors and such is overblown and the same could certainly be said about podiatry.

Dont you think you have a lot of free time compared to other internsits or docs. i dont know i have always seen them so busy that they dont have time for SDN posts (that too twice or thrice a day). this is out of the box.

 

[tracheatoedoc]

Dont you think you have a lot of free time compared to other internsits or docs. i dont know i have always seen them so busy that they dont have time for SDN posts (that too twice or thrice a day). this is out of the box.

As an anesthesiologist I do have a work schedule that allows me freedom to go on a computer in the OR. Also I may do 2 cases with Dr X then wait an hour to start a case with Dr Z. In the leisurely hour between I might get a cup of coffee, do crossword puzzle, chat up a cute nurse, etc.

Anesthesiology is hours of boredom and moments of terror. That's an old saying.

I'm not sure what the gist of your post is but I feel the post I referenced from Whiskers was inaccurate.

I know that any posting which in any way refutes the idea that podiatry is tops and podiatrists are great will make someone's head explode. And apparently when I point out that an antiallopathic post is BS it makes your head explode.

 

[Gryhu]

I know that any posting which in any way refutes the idea that podiatry is tops and podiatrists are great will make someone's head explode. And apparently when I point out that an antiallopathic post is BS it makes your head explode.

my head just exploded.

 

[cool_vkb]

I'm not sure what the gist of your post is but I feel the post I referenced from Whiskers was inaccurate.

I know that any posting which in any way refutes the idea that podiatry is tops and podiatrists are great will make someone's head explode. And apparently when I point out that an antiallopathic post is BS it makes your head explode.

Oh no! i had no bad intentions or hidden attack towards you. I was honestly curious. I have seen residents, Physicians, even 4th/3rd year students so busy that they barely have time to speak people in real life. And here you post regularly twice a day or may be more. So i was really curious.

I am of the believe " I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". You give real world examples and not just blabber some crap. I have nothing against you and i think we should have more people with opposite views so that we have healthy debates and every side gets to present a valid point. This will help all prepods, pod students,etc in their future desicions. Especially to those who are joining this profession as a backup to Medical school.

the other practicing pods, residents like jonwill,etc etc have presented valid arguments to your posts. Its a healthy debate and iam learning a lot from it.

 

[tracheatoedoc]

I reread whiskers post and I guess his real message is there are a lot of fields where you can do well that don't involve 12 years of education. He is off on some statements.
I think IM is a great career, well paying, prestigious. Not the kiss of death.
People should do what they want to do.'
If that is podiatry, great. Medicine, great. Pharmacy, great.
I read earlier that pharmacists make 120k first year, with full benefits, cost of living raises, 401k. How can you beat that with a 5 yr degree?
If you read my post history you will see that I had some misperceptions about podiatry based on my experiences 20 years ago. There is great postgreduate training available and positions in mainstream healthcare. I still sayif you want to be an MD don't go to pod school. Only go to pod school if you really want to be a pod.
This thread started with a high school student who wants to do a 6 year md program. He is considering DPM as a backup. My advice to him is to not accept a backup, to work hard and do eveything to achieve his goal.

 

[Darklord]

Hi everyone,

I sort of got busy with life anyway. I'm just here to defend pharmacy as so many of you passionately defend the pod profession.

tracheatoedoc, (unless I am misunderstanding you, if so than I apologize) but how is pharmacy 5 years long? It is (for competitive schools, not Idaho State LOL: 4 years of undergrad + 4 years of professional) Most applicants to UCSF, Loma Linda, or even Western have better stats than most pod students do.

Pharmacy is a little boring (to me at least) and people on the pharm forum even admit: if you want more than go to med school. Pod students are a little less academically inclined, but get to practice more medicine than them. Therefore, I give a kudos to the pod profession. 😍

I just wanted to defent pharmacy. If I insulted any pod students or the profession then please forgive me.

 

[tracheatoedoc]

A BS in Pharm is 5 years, I thought a PharmD was 6. At Purdue prepharm is 2 years follwed by admission to pharmacy.
FYI you are very unlikely to go 2 years then be admitted to pod school. They should tell you to finish your degree.
Go into allopathic medicine.

 

[Darklord]

Yeah the BS in pharmacy was the old way (you can no longer apply for a pharmacy license with a BS after 2004). Regardless, my plan is as follows:

1. pray that I get into a combined program,
2. if I don't I join the Combined 6 (2 years of pre-reqs and 4 years of professional) year pharmacy program (with the intention of leaving),
3. use the option to do a 3 year undergrduate and get a BS (making it 7 years), take the MCAT, and apply to med school. Try again at allopathic or osteophatic (I really don't care about the difference)
4. Apply to pod school at the same time
5. If I get in yay!, I leave the pharmacy program and in the worst case scenario, I have a seat sitting for me in pharmacy school.
6. Get a PharmD and apply again?? to med school? By the end, I'll be an old fart lol.

Question: I saw on the forum that some pod schools take other tests like the OAT, DAT, do they accept the PCAT? It would be a helpful piece of knowledge to have.

Sorry about any errors, I'm writing this as I have breakfast...

 

[Squiggy]

What's the point of getting the pharmD or taking up space in the pharmD program if you're not going to ever use it? It seems you're just trying to get into any health professional school as early as possible.

Heck, while you're at it, why don't you apply to dental and optometry school as well? They practice human medicine too.

 

[tracheatoedoc]

Yeah the BS in pharmacy was the old way (you can no longer apply for a pharmacy license with a BS after 2004). Regardless, my plan is as follows:

1. pray that I get into a combined program,
2. if I don't I join the Combined 6 (2 years of pre-reqs and 4 years of professional) year pharmacy program (with the intention of leaving),
3. use the option to do a 3 year undergrduate and get a BS (making it 7 years), take the MCAT, and apply to med school. Try again at allopathic or osteophatic (I really don't care about the difference)
4. Apply to pod school at the same time
5. If I get in yay!, I leave the pharmacy program and in the worst case scenario, I have a seat sitting for me in pharmacy school.
6. Get a PharmD and apply again?? to med school? By the end, I'll be an old fart lol.

Question: I saw on the forum that some pod schools take other tests like the OAT, DAT, do they accept the PCAT? It would be a helpful piece of knowledge to have.

Sorry about any errors, I'm writing this as I have breakfast...

Why don't you just chill and find a college near the beach or something and try to hook up with a hot girl from your chemistry course?

 

[Darklord]

Never use a PharmD? (gasp) of course I will use it. I will become a better physician by knowing pharmacology better. Anyway, if your Pod profession ever goes down the **** I will always have a job as a pharmacist. 👍

 

[NatCh]

Why don't you just chill and find a college near the beach or something and try to hook up with a hot girl from your chemistry course?

Ha ha haw! Darklord gets his first taste of dating a University Girl and decides, "I'm going into Fine Arts!"

 

[Squiggy]

Never use a PharmD? (gasp) of course I will use it. I will become a better physician by knowing pharmacology better. Anyway, if your Pod profession ever goes down the **** I will always have a job as a pharmacist. 👍

So you'd take up a seat in pharmacy school which could have gone to someone who would have actually put the professional degree to good use working in retail or as a clinical pharmacist so you can have insurance when you don't get into medical school? Wow... if you're not a troll I have to admit you're one of the foulest personalities I've encountered on this board, and that's saying something.

FYI, I'm not a pod. Just a small business owner who loves his boat and the open sea and a non-trad pre-med as well. If podiatry goes down the crapper I could care less. I don't have to get into professional school to live comfortably.

However, I doubt that this will happen; in fact, I don't think the situation for new graduates could be any worse than it was in the 90's when they didn't have a standardized GME system. Podiatry is growing in strength due to their improving training and the fact that employers such as hospital and medical groups are recognizing this. As a corrollary to this, check out what they're talking about in the pharmacy forum. It seems you can always find a job as a pharmacist, but not in desireable places to live anymore.

I pray that they don't let you in to any school that allows you to become a clinical professional until your attitude improves but knowing the system is what it is, someone ridiculously smart with the personality of a rock can just put up a BS act during interviews and get in. Well, good luck getting into professional school and taking your rightful place in the upper-middle class buddy. Hopefully your future arranged-marriage wife (what every successful desi needs right?) doesn't divorce you when your older and leave you poor. 👍

 

[Darklord]

I was laughing as I read your post man. Anyway, I am not taking anyone's seat at all. If I drop out of the program, then the seat goes to a traditional applicant. C'mon you know the professional school bureaucracy. Anyway, you would probably feel that the traditional applicant with real life experience living on a boat would be better than some snot nosed desi high schooler. 😀

Anyway, I pray that I get into any professional school program so that I practice some sort of medicine- or health science longer than you do (at least twice as long).

As a side note, I will always be upper middle class even if I don't go to professional school. You know us desis, we always have business tricks up our sleeves, some of them even fool proof to the crappy economy.

I currently do not have any views regarding the marriage system these days. I don't exactly have both parents you know.

 

[iceman69]

Squiggy,

You shouldn't get down on a kid because he wants to have a backup plan. There is nothing wrong with the ability to make money on the side by working shifts in the pharmacy or as a nurse or whatever if you had a previous career that was a backup plan for you in the past. Darklord is essentially doing what you did by having a small business, which in his case is a professional degree, you're just bitter because you think he's stealing a seat from someone who slit your throat to get into pharm school and then practice pharmacy exclusively. Besides, who's to say that because you're older and maybe wiser, will make a better doc. You probably can't work harder, longer, or faster than someone half your age. This whole non-traditional student second career in medicine is bull****. You guys are the ones who steal training slots from the young who will put in more time in and utilize their training at a higher level longer. Non-traditional students are not a good use of tax payer's dollars in the long run, as are female surgical residents who over the course of their careers will work part time compared to male colleagues.

 

[NatCh]

This thread is headed somewhere even less good...

 

[Darklord]

I totally agree with Iceman regarding the nontraditional thing. I mean grads from a 6 year program will practice medicine 2-4 times as long.

and like I said, I'm not stealing anyone's seat..... If a combined-program student drops in in his/her undergrad, then the seat will go to a traditional applicant (otherwise the school loses money).

 

[Squiggy]

2-4 times as long? Are you kidding me? Most non-traditionals are in their 30's and very few in their 40's. Hell, I'm not even 30 yet. Non-traditionals will be putting in 20-30 in the profession (we'll need to pay off our loans too). If any of you can put 60 years into your careers be my guest. Plus, non-traditionals will go into the cognitive specialties (like primary care) because the older you get, the lower your physical capacity.

Anyways, how did this turn into something about me being non-traditional. I'm telling the kid to pick a career he likes and dedicating himself to it, not shotgunning apps to anything that pays six-digits on his way to becoming a physician. I understand that every Indian kid will be pretty much disowned by his family if he doesn't become a doctor of some sort but this pathway is rediculous. I'm not bitter because he's stealing a seat to a professional school, if he gets in he earned his admittance. I'm bitter because once he receives the degree he plans on jumping ship, using his training as just a feather on his cap. You know who's worse for society than a physician who practices for 20 years? A pharmacist that works for 5.

I know you'll free up the spot by dropping the seat. I'm criticizing your plan to get your pharmD if your apps to other professional schools falls through. What are you going to do, do pharmacy until you finally get into med school?

Here's a piece of advice kid: if you can get into the 6 year bs/md, great, go for it and have as fun as humanely possible in the two years you have. If you don't get in, do a standard bachelors unless you want to be a pharmacist. People who take up training for other professions just so they can have a fallback drains society's resources and to me shows lack of commitment. Luckily, adcoms agree with me. Take a look at the MSAR and look at the acceptance rates for those with degrees in nursing/pharmacy vs. science/humanities.

 

[Darklord]

2-4 times as long? Are you kidding me? Most non-traditionals are in their 30's and very few in their 40's. Hell, I'm not even 30 yet. Non-traditionals will be putting in 20-30 in the profession (we'll need to pay off our loans too). If any of you can put 60 years into your careers be my guest. Plus, non-traditionals will go into the cognitive specialties (like primary care) because the older you get, the lower your physical capacity.

Anyways, how did this turn into something about me being non-traditional. I'm telling the kid to pick a career he likes and dedicating himself to it, not shotgunning apps to anything that pays six-digits on his way to becoming a physician. I understand that every Indian kid will be pretty much disowned by his family if he doesn't become a doctor of some sort but this pathway is ridiculous. I'm not bitter because he's stealing a seat to a professional school, if he gets in he earned his admittance. I'm bitter because once he receives the degree he plans on jumping ship, using his training as just a feather on his cap. You know who's worse for society than a physician who practices for 20 years? A pharmacist that works for 5.

I know you'll free up the spot by dropping the seat. I'm criticizing your plan to get your pharmD if your apps to other professional schools falls through. What are you going to do, do pharmacy until you finally get into med school?

Here's a piece of advice kid: if you can get into the 6 year bs/md, great, go for it and have as fun as humanely possible in the two years you have. If you don't get in, do a standard bachelors unless you want to be a pharmacist. People who take up training for other professions just so they can have a fallback drains society's resources and to me shows lack of commitment. Luckily, adcoms agree with me. Take a look at the MSAR and look at the acceptance rates for those with degrees in nursing/pharmacy vs. science/humanities.

I'm not committed and I am shotgunning apps everywhere? LOL, Squiggy I am researching. Did you not see the question mark next to my post (the one where I said I would go to MD school after pharmacy school)? My plan is quite solid with different fallback plans if anything goes wrong. Resorting to pharmacy?? That is only if I don't even get into pod school (which is extremely unlikely), which is only if I don't get into MD or DO school the 2nd time around. I am not draining societies resources, hell I'm using the undergraduate scholarships of $500 a semester (lol, nothing).

If I don't get into Pod, DO, or MD school on the second try then screw it. I'll become a pharmacist, practicing pharmacy for the rest of my life. You are stereotyping desis claiming that I will be outcasted. Nowadays, having a PharmD is pretty respectable. It is only that I do not like the generic professional role a pharmacist. If, somehow, I do become a pharmacist then I will specialize and become a cardiology or oncology pharmacist, and I will be happy. God, Squiggy, this is just planning. The chances of me becoming a pharmacist are very slim.

Today, I had the Main Admissions office of the University whose combined MD program I applied to call both me and my high school, claiming that they needed copies of my dual enrollment transcipts immediately. This is a good sign, perhaps I will gain early admission. 👍

Also, if you read the pharmacy forum, you will see that a handful of students do go to med school after they get there pharmd. It actually happens a lot.

Peace!

 

[Gryhu]

I'm amazed that, in about a week, this has turned into the 4th most viewed non-sticky thread in the pod student forum.

 

[tracheatoedoc]

You are incredibly mature in your thinking, and I assume highly intelligent, and I'm sure you will be very successful.
What do you love? I loved science, math,physics, chem, biology. I loved it all.
I think going into pharm with an eye on medicine is perfect. Unless you really love physics. In thast case I would study physics with an eye on medicine. Physics girls are HOT. Photon hot.

 

[iceman69]

You are incredibly mature in your thinking, and I assume highly intelligent, and I'm sure you will be very successful.
What do you love? I loved science, math,physics, chem, biology. I loved it all.
I think going into pharm with an eye on medicine is perfect. Unless you really love physics. In thast case I would study physics with an eye on medicine. Physics girls are HOT. Photon hot.

Seriously dude, you must not have been a physics major...they are not photon hot, unless you went to UCSB maybe.

 

[Darklord]

Santa Barbara...is okay. It's all about USC!

I think it is so funny that as soon as you walk off USCs campus, it is all ghetto (I've been), Santa Barbara has a nice campus, but the school doesn't really have any name in California.

I only know one physics girl (PhD student, my TA), and I think she's gay.

ROFL 👍

So can we start talking about Pod? I'm kind of interested in the jobs. The one podiatrist in my town is doing pretty well and the hospital is letting him expand his practice. Also, what do you guys think about Western?

 

[whiskers]

Dear original poster. I have 3 questions for you.

1. How many drugs do you think are available in the US for use.

2. Of those approximately 3000 drugs, how many do you think are actually used by most clinicians on average?

3. Of those 50-75 drugs most commonly used on average... How many years do you really need to study to learn them?

Or is this more about the typical degree collecting that some people think increases their self esteem?

One final thought, once you do one porfessional degree, the likelyhood of doing another one is very small, especially if they cut the student loan availability like I suspect they will.

Now don't get offended, I am just beind practical here and saving you time and money. Is it good to have back up careers? Yes, should podiatry be your 1st choice, I don't think so. Maybe your 3rd or 4th choice.

Good luck.

 

[tmoney]

Dear original poster. I have 3 questions for you.

1. How many drugs do you think are available in the US for use.

2. Of those approximately 3000 drugs, how many do you think are actually used by most clinicians on average?

3. Of those 50-75 drugs most commonly used on average... How many years do you really need to study to learn them?

Or is this more about the typical degree collecting that some people think increases their self esteem?

One final thought, once you do one porfessional degree, the likelyhood of doing another one is very small, especially if they cut the student loan availability like I suspect they will.

Now don't get offended, I am just beind practical here and saving you time and money. Is it good to have back up careers? Yes, should podiatry be your 1st choice, I don't think so. Maybe your 3rd or 4th choice.

Good luck.

well podiatry was obviously your 4th choice backup plan, and somewhere along the way you were lazy and didnt excel in some aspect of your training. you are now bitter and insecure, which is fine, but going around and telling people to only go into podiatry if they fail to get accepted into their top 3 degree programs, again, as you obviously did, is ridiculous and dangerous.

no matter how much you want to delude yourself and discourage others, many of us, as I did, chose this degree program over all others, we are committed to this profession, and strive for excellent patient care. if you have read any of the recent APMAnews journals (page 40 "vision 2015 update"), or even the recent JAPMA, you would see that we as a profession are moving forward... there are more podiatrists who are eager to be--rightfully so- finally recognized as physicians within our education, training, and experience, than archaic thinking insecure ones like yourself. no matter how much you want to put the profession down as a second rate one (which you are, every one of your posts shine a mildewed shaddow of distaste for the profession), with hard work, the progressive folks are still going to win.

you are entitled to your thinking, but it is just that, yours. you do not represent the new face of podiatry, you represent an old breed who accept defeat instead of striving for parity and success.

 

[dtrack22]

One final thought, once you do one porfessional degree, the likelyhood of doing another one is very small, especially if they cut the student loan availability like I suspect they will.

Good luck.

Of the 50-75 common drugs, how many are you taking?

Barak is president! Cut student loans? Please! I'm going to be attending school for close to free with what little loans I have at 0% interest! YES WE CAN! 😀

Too bad I'll be making $30K as a doctor...damn socialism 🙁

 

[Darklord]

Thank you Whiskers for pointing that out; I do realize that there is really no point in learning thousands of drugs when you will only use the top 100 or so. As a side note I have noticed some pharmacy bashing on the Podiatry thread; some of you guys just defend your own profession and selfishly go on bashing others. Like I have said in previous posts, some pharmacy students have higher statistics than podiatry students. I just ask that you respect the profession.

It seems that Mr. TMoney has just vehemently interjected with no knowledge of what this thread was even about. His post is filled with numerous errors stemming from illogical assumptions. Why the hell would a bloody high school teen be demeaning podiatry online? for his own amusement lol!

Anyway, I have been crawling through these forums to find the answer to this: "...many of us, as I did, chose this degree program over all others, we are committed to this profession," .

I'm obviously choosing this as a 3rd back up plan, but honestly why was Podiatry your first choice? (This question is open to everybody).

 

[bigpharmD]

Dear original poster. I have 3 questions for you.

1. How many drugs do you think are available in the US for use.

2. Of those approximately 3000 drugs, how many do you think are actually used by most clinicians on average?

3. Of those 50-75 drugs most commonly used on average... How many years do you really need to study to learn them?

Or is this more about the typical degree collecting that some people think increases their self esteem?

One final thought, once you do one porfessional degree, the likelyhood of doing another one is very small, especially if they cut the student loan availability like I suspect they will.

Now don't get offended, I am just beind practical here and saving you time and money. Is it good to have back up careers? Yes, should podiatry be your 1st choice, I don't think so. Maybe your 3rd or 4th choice.

Good luck.

This is a completely inaccurate post and is the reason why most pharmacists spend half their day fixing the mistakes of people who dont study these drugs in-depth, know little about what they are prescribing, place patients on brand name drugs with little data to support their use, and use them because of the drug rep dinner they just attended at Ruth's Chris (ie np, pa, some mds etc)

 

[tmoney]

Thank you Whiskers for pointing that out; I do realize that there is really no point in learning thousands of drugs when you will only use the top 100 or so. As a side note I have noticed some pharmacy bashing on the Podiatry thread; some of you guys just defend your own profession and selfishly go on bashing others. Like I have said in previous posts, some pharmacy students have higher statistics than podiatry students. I just ask that you respect the profession.

It seems that Mr. TMoney has just vehemently interjected with no knowledge of what this thread was even about. His post is filled with numerous errors stemming from illogical assumptions. Why the hell would a bloody high school teen be demeaning podiatry online? for his own amusement lol!

Anyway, I have been crawling through these forums to find the answer to this: "...many of us, as I did, chose this degree program over all others, we are committed to this profession," .

I'm obviously choosing this as a 3rd back up plan, but honestly why was Podiatry your first choice? (This question is open to everybody).

haha you must be new to the forums, when you quote someone in a thread, you are responding to them. i was responding to whiskers, whom i quoted, not you. and there was nothing i said about podiatry that was false.

 

[Darklord]

Wow, we even got a pharmacy resident on the thread, welcome!

BigPharmD, can you tell us a little about yourself? Like what you are doing your residency in, how you like pharmacy, how you are treated in pharmacy, ect?

Anyway, I thought that your post was a little weird T-Money. Sorry about the confusion.

You can still answer the question though: why did you chose podiatry over pharmacy, medicine, optometry, veterinary medicine, psychology, ect?

 

[air bud]

go to a pharmacy forum if you have questions for a pharmacist

 

[Darklord]

go to a pharmacy forum if you have questions for a pharmacist

The thread is dying.......🙁

 

[MossPoh]

I feel like the whole driving force of this thread was a well intentioned kid that vastly overstates the difficulty of high school (that's cool...we all did) and is trying to make huge leaps in the educational process without the experiences to really guide him. Don't throw darts blindfolded and hope to hit the board. Spend a little time and clear up what you like and don't like and then go from there. It takes more than a few hours of shadowing a week to know what you want to do. I was surrounded by medicine my entire life. I was taught to read a chest xray and spot abnormal findings ,even if I didn't know what it was, in fourth grade. I explored EVERYTHING else from engineering to information science to linguistics to german lit during my college career before I returned to medicine. Regardless of the hundreds and hundreds of hours I spent in the hospital growing up, I still went and shadowed a multitude of physicians (DPM, DO, MD) for several hundred hours. If you are good enough to be in contention for the BS/MD program now then you are beyond good enough to compete for a spot later. I know people with sub 3.0s that worked their butts off and are in med school now.

The educational process is not a sprint. A class might be hard in high school (although I never really encountered that) but you are largely void of responsibilities and distractions that you have in college. Things have a weird way of becoming much more difficult when you live in a building with several hundred people in your age range and beautiful girls tanning outside in bikinis. I did study abroad programs, clubs, snuck into bars, road trips and everything one should do in undergrad. It has made me the well rounded person I am today and has removed my blinders. We don't suggest you do this stuff to be condescending or demeaning. We tell you to do it because you will truly regret it later on in your life if you don't. I have never met one person that has TRULY regretted taking the (slightly) longer path. I have met tons of people that have regretted rushing their decisions and shooting from the hip with their life. Collect information on your own, shadow, have fun and choose wisely. Once again, it isn't a sprint.

 

[samisab786]

Okay,

Firstly, do you have any proof either? I only have one cousin who was in that situation and went to POD school. The scenarios do make sense podiatry is an excellent back up option. Also the 2nd doctor is actually a complement when you look at it from the Pharmacy Perspective. I do not know of any *Professional* Degree that allows one to practice real human medicine that is not MD DO.

Secondly, yes college is about both classes and experience that is why I want to go there. I know competition is difficult that is why I am working as hard as I can to get into a combined program.not only about the classes, its about the experience. This is the only time you can pretend to be an adult without actually having to be one.

Thirdly, I posted that there were exceptions on the thread okay. California is full of Asians and they very from place to place. We are Asians and people will have different experiences. Also, whatever I posted is because some ***** was accusing me of being an abused teen!

Fourthly, I believe now that I can learn nothing from this thread now. I am better off spending my time in other things. This is probably the worst online conversation I have ever had.

Fifthly, I will obviously not post my personal statement, but I became interested in podiatry after seeing a podiatrist perform foot surgery. I didn't really care much for podiatry before then.

Hey buddy, I think you should relax. I'm a college freshman and got into a 0-6 pharmacy program. I actually wasn't planning on it and don't even remembering applying, but I got in. It's a blessing indeed to be in a program like this, but because I came to college not wanting to commit on a career and am still not committed, it has been for me one of the most difficult decisions to make in life. You need room to breath b/c high school is a horrible indication of where you want to be in life, regardless of how good of a student you are. To know the entire process, you should get yourself settled in college without thinking about these programs. Chances are, if you get into an BA/MD program, you will most likely be able to get into medical school later on. Same thing with pharmacy if you got into the 0-6 year program. Yeah you have to take the MCAT, yeah you have to take the PCAT, yeah...but the benefit of waiting is that you can spend your first few years of college thinking it through instead of getting into something you don't want to be in. You will have longer summers than in high school (like May-September or June-late September) and you don't have to deal with the "AP homework" stress, so you have good opportunities to do tons of shadowing during your college years.

You won't believe how much I know about pharmacy and medicine that I did not know when I was in high school. You're probably doing better than I did, but once I learned actually a lot more of what pharm and medicine involves, I kind of have a bigger picture.

If you wanna know more, send me a PM. I'd love to help you. Haha, and just a heads up, a lot of high school students who get distressed about their careers on SDN are usually ridiculed. It's not nice, I agree, but the thing is, we've floated your boat and realized that planning way too early is not necessary at all b/c you do have time, believe it or not!

 

[PodunkUDPM]

No. Not interesting and I hope the mods take care of you.

 

[Darklord]

Well the news has come:

Today, I was rejected from medical school, but I got into pharmacy school (I found out about pharmacy two weeks ago). Am I going to become a pharmacist? Will I try medicine again? Will I try podiatry? Dentistry (no, yuck!)

I have no clue. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache.

I like the idea of becoming a pharmacist (I'll be done at 22), retiring after 20 years (at 42), by that time I'll have a bunch of assets (I was trained in business at a young age). Then I will travel and enjoy life.

 

[NatCh]

Well the news has come:

Today, I was rejected from medical school, but I got into pharmacy school (I found out about pharmacy two weeks ago). Am I going to become a pharmacist? Will I try medicine again? Will I try podiatry? Dentistry (no, yuck!)

I have no clue. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache.

I like the idea of becoming a pharmacist (I'll be done at 22), retiring after 20 years (at 42), by that time I'll have a bunch of assets (I was trained in business at a young age). Then I will travel and enjoy life.

Sorry to hear about the rejection (honestly). As for the plan to plow through work then defer enjoying life until after you retire at 42...good luck with that.

 

[Darklord]

Hey I can have dreams, can't I?

 

[NatCh]

Hey I can have dreams, can't I?

Absolutely. I think the dream itself is wonky, but we talked about that already.

 

[podpal]

Congrats on acceptance to pharmacy school! My advice as both a pharmacist and podiatrist is to get the highest grades you possibly can in the initial 2 yrs. It may be possible, although difficult, to transfer into an MD program @ 3rd yr.

A pharmacy degree can open a LOT of doors, including teaching, hospital, clinic, home IV, or retail. There are opportunities to "run your own show" at small facilities like drug/alcohol rehabs. In pharmacy practice we do much more "teaching", answering physicians ?s, helping resolve complex medication issues, inservicing staff on topics like TPN, chemotherapy issues, side effects, etc. There are opportunities to work on policy & procedure on many levels (ex. is drug monitoring for long term care residents). What I loved most about pharmacy was teaching. You will also develop a skill for doing viable clinical trials. Financially, you can expect to make about $120,000.00/yr.

While I like pharmacy, I LOVE podiatry. It is amazing! It is hands on, and you will have a chance to evaluate the whole patient with emphasis on the foot. The direct interaction with the patient, combined with the prior knowledge from pharmacy school will make you a very good practitioner. You'll be good at research too, because pharmacy entails reading a great deal of clinical trials. This is a good combination, although a kind of long path, esp now with the Pharm D being 6 yrs. Podiatry salaries are usually about $120,000.00/yr but the range varies.

If you still have time, consider options to get into MD school via an alternate method. Have u tried IVY League schools Harvard Yale Cornell, Univ. of Rochester aff. w/Strong Memorial, or Union aff. w/Albany Med.?

Again, Congrats on your acceptance into Pharm School! If u decide to change schools, there are a pile of students awaiting for those few transfer slots. My pharmacy school had 26,000 applications for about 10 transfer spots, 3rd yr slots last year.