Having doubts as pre-med, Looking into Pharmacy and Physical Therapy

[phattestlewt]

Hey everyone,

I am a recent college graduate from a mid tier UC school, graduated with a BS in Bio (GPA 3.7).

Up until this time, I've been pre-med. I've been dead set on medical school and never took the time to look into backup career choices or other career choices at all. Now that I have to study for MCAT, I've really been asking myself why I want to do medicine.

I've been doing research for the past 3.5 years with an amazing PI, have gotten a few publications, presented at national conferences.
I know I have great ECs and leadership qualities, and my LORs are there as well.

But I absolutely can't justify 10+years of more studying and the tuition/debt to come out as a bitter physician having to deal with malpractice, tax, and all the nuances that come with it. There's too much grief and bad blood down this path (still yet to take the MCAT, 3 board exams, rotations, matching into residency).

I've been looking into Pharmacy more in combination with an MBA (something that I'd like to get later separately).

Given my past involvements, I could really use some advice from people who went down this same path. Am I sitll going to end up disappointed as a pharmacists as I would a physician? How's the job satisfaction? I've read about pharmacists working in retail, hospital, etc and it really seems that this profession seems to be what you make it, as is everything in life. Some are happy, some are bitter...

If I do choose to go down this path, there are maybe 2-3 more classes that I need to take that I didn't in undergrad. How/Where should I do that? And what should my next steps be so that I start building a strong application for pharm school?

Thanks and sorry for the long post!

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[Sparda29]

I think you won't be happy as a pharmacist especially the way the market is going around here. If you don't want the longevity of the physician's training and all the other headaches, why not consider going to PA school?

 

[phattestlewt]

I think you won't be happy as a pharmacist especially the way the market is going around here. If you don't want the longevity of the physician's training and all the other headaches, why not consider going to PA school?

How's the market doing now? and how is it gonna be in the future?

 

[AlPacino]

Hey everyone,

I am a recent college graduate from a mid tier UC school, graduated with a BS in Bio (GPA 3.7).

Up until this time, I've been pre-med. I've been dead set on medical school and never took the time to look into backup career choices or other career choices at all. Now that I have to study for MCAT, I've really been asking myself why I want to do medicine.

I've been doing research for the past 3.5 years with an amazing PI, have gotten a few publications, presented at national conferences.
I know I have great ECs and leadership qualities, and my LORs are there as well.

But I absolutely can't justify 10+years of more studying and the tuition/debt to come out as a bitter physician having to deal with malpractice, tax, and all the nuances that come with it. There's too much grief and bad blood down this path (still yet to take the MCAT, 3 board exams, rotations, matching into residency).

I've been looking into Pharmacy more in combination with an MBA (something that I'd like to get later separately).

Given my past involvements, I could really use some advice from people who went down this same path. Am I sitll going to end up disappointed as a pharmacists as I would a physician? How's the job satisfaction? I've read about pharmacists working in retail, hospital, etc and it really seems that this profession seems to be what you make it, as is everything in life. Some are happy, some are bitter...

If I do choose to go down this path, there are maybe 2-3 more classes that I need to take that I didn't in undergrad. How/Where should I do that? And what should my next steps be so that I start building a strong application for pharm school?

Thanks and sorry for the long post!

It sounds to me like you would be chosing pharmacy for the wrong reason. If I were you I would do some research on becoming a PA. Half the time it takes to be an MD, pays really well and has a positive job outlook.

 

[phattestlewt]

It sounds to me like you would be chosing pharmacy for the wrong reason. If I were you I would do some research on becoming a PA. Half the time it takes to be an MD, pays really well and has a positive job outlook.

Where do I get more information about the path of becoming a PA?

It seems like SDN forums doesn't have a forum for PAs.

 

[Travex]

I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for resisting a lmgtfy moment... Anyway, check out these links. Also, some schools require an MCAT (they don't expect high scores obviously) fyi.

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Physician-Assistant
http://www.aapa.org/your_pa_career/becoming_a_pa.aspx
http://www.allalliedhealthschools.com/health-careers/article/how-to-become-physician-assistant

 

[Sparda29]

How's the market doing now? and how is it gonna be in the future?

It's pretty bad, know quite a few people who don't have jobs. I have 3 jobs and still I don't feel safe and keep applying to other places.

 

[PharmlyDoc]

The people on here don't know what they're talking about. My father is a pharmacist and the hospital he works for has 4 pharmacist positions open. No matter if you go into medicine or pharmacy you're going to have a lot of studying ahead of you, but we'll all be studying and learning the rest of our lives, the only thing that changes is where we learn.

Don't go the pharmacy or pa route because you think it'll be easier. The only way to be successful is to bust your A** and do it. There's no starting or stopping, just doing. Now go study for the mcat, our country needs more physicians!