I need everyone's opinion on what I should go for

[magnetman224]

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Hey all, so for about my whole life, I've always wanted to be in the medical field, it always interested me to help people. Now, I'm deciding between two colleges, one in which I got into the Pre-Pharmacy program and the other in which I got into the Pre-Med program. My question is, which is more worth it in the long run, salary wise? Benefit wise? Time-wise? Etc. If I do choose to go for a doctor, I do not plan on becoming a big time surgeon or anything (shaky hands), probably one that would do short/minimally invasive surgeries(dermatologist, family doctor, pediatrician, sports medicine, etc.) This is tearing me apart and I need to make a decision fast, since my time to choose a college is ticking. Thanks in advance.

 

[SpeedySavior]

Salary wise - Medicine
Benefits - Medicine
Time - Pharmacy
In the long run - Medicine

I'm going into Medicine anyway, so I'm a little (a lot) biased towards medicine.
No disrespect to pharmacy, I appreciate what they do. Shadow both a pharmacist and a family practice doctor if you can, and see which is better for you.

I shadowed both when I was a freshman, and honestly, I was bored by both. I knew pretty quickly an outpatient doctors office type area wasn't for me.

 

[da8s0859q]

For context: I'm an emergency doc, finishing my second year of residency and going into my third/final year in July.

No reason to have this tear you apart. You have plenty of time.

Salary: medicine
Benefits: depends on specific jobs
Time invested: pharmacy
Long run: depends on you

Consider it fortunate that MD/DO programs and PharmD programs share many college prerequisites.

Google around / look around SDN and see what you think of pharmacy versus physician jobs. First thing's first: figure out whether you want to be a physician or not. "Helping people" is not a good enough reason.

 

[efle]

There is no "getting into" premed/prepharm...? Can you elaborate on what that means? All you have to do to be either is take a year of each science plus an entrance exam. Would the colleges not allow you to take the prerequisite science classes unless you were in their Pre-X Program or some such?

 

[efle]

"Helping people" is not a good enough reason.

Funny, because according to SDN that's the ONLY reason! "You have to feel it's a calling" "If anything else could make you happy do that instead" "It isn't worth it for the money/interest, you have to be in it for the patients" etc etc

 

[Law2Doc]

If you are focused on $ or free time don't choose medicine. Medicine is a horrible path to choose for the money. You will be doing 4 years of medical school and 3-7 years of residency before you see any real money, and will very likely emerge into a healthcare system that is less lucrative than it is today. And student debt is rising at an absurd rate such that by the time you get your first attending-level job, you'll probably be $300k in debt. Most of your friends will finish college and get jobs and buy houses and cars and start investing long before you even start servicing your student loans. Yes your salary in 15 years will be a lot higher in theirs but you will be pretty old before your salary outpaces their earnings. Not to mention that the job market in multiple specialties is a bit ugly right now and more fields are likely to fall victim to declines in reimbursement. So no, you don't do it for the money, you do it only because you think you'll enjoy it more than other options. It's a Good career for some, bad for others, but certainly not the smart choice if your primary goal is $.

As for free time not even a Contest. Medicine is one of the time intense professions. you'll work 50-100 hours a week in most specialties, with some overnight and weekend work. And you'll be expected to read and keep up with things in your "free time". It's truly a path of lifetime learning. Some workaholics like that. Being a doctor is part of your identity and you wear that hat most of the awake hours of your life. But if you are already focused on free time in terms of selecting your career, maybe it's not the right choice. It's like having to eat a gallon of ice cream in one sitting; many people like the idea of medicine conceptually, but only a select group are still going to be as happy with those last couple if spoonfuls. The folks who say you can dabble in medicine and not work too hard are either very late in their careers and bleeding their younger colleagues, or they are simply lying to you.

Finally, no you don't have to make the decision fast. There's no rule that says you have to go straight from college to med school. Sometimes it's smarter if you don't. Lots of people do postbacs, even prior careers before medicine. And have a Lot less angst about their decisions as a result. Sometimes med school is easier if you aren't wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence because you've already lived over there.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

Hey all, so for about my whole life, I've always wanted to be in the medical field, it always interested me to help people. Now, I'm deciding between two colleges, one in which I got into the Pre-Pharmacy program and the other in which I got into the Pre-Med program. My question is, which is more worth it in the long run, salary wise? Benefit wise? Time-wise? Etc. If I do choose to go for a doctor, I do not plan on becoming a big time surgeon or anything (shaky hands), probably one that would do short/minimally invasive surgeries(dermatologist, family doctor, pediatrician, sports medicine, etc.) This is tearing me apart and I need to make a decision fast, since my time to choose a college is ticking. Thanks in advance.

Honestly, in this paragraph you have written you show no interest in pharmacy. For me, Pharmacy is like a LAST resort. Doctors do better in terms of money, but depending on the specialty, your schedule in terms of time could be horrible. (Some doctors may have to be on call for an entire night.) Think about what you want. Happiness is the most important thing. Do you want to fill prescriptions and advise customers to use a certain medication, or do you want to diagnose an illness? The choice is yours.

Good luck with what ever you go with.

 

[Law2Doc]

... (Some doctors may have to be on call for an entire night.)...

I'd say at some point in EVERY doctors training, if not career, he's going to be on call for an entire night. Consider overnight work part of the deal for this career. During intern year you might be doing at least several months of night float. Residents can do 24+ h call and in many fields do that pretty regularly. And after residency there are no duty hour limits. Young attendings often have to pay their due to their practices and take on the lion share of call and overnight/weekend obligations. Many doctors continue doing overnight call throughout their entire careers. And many others function a nocturnists -- not doing call per se but rather working the night shifts (so the practice/hospital doesn't have to have someone taking call). Patients aren't only sick during the daytime -- medicine needs to offer 24/7 service. So I think you are underselling this by making it a Parenthetical and using the word "some.". You WILL be working all night at some point in this career.

 

[magnetman224]

Thank you to all of you who have responded. Maybe the way that I worded my question made it seem as if money was the reason to go for this career. What I meant is, I love medicine, I HAVE shadowed a doctor, but not a pharmacist. I have to say, I loved watching the doctor work and really felt as if I wanted to tend to the patients myself, haha. The only reason I brought up money and etc is because if I ever tell anyone I want to go into medicine, I always hear "that's great, but all of the doctors are in debt, not earning as much, overworked and underpaid, just go for pharmacy". I'm willing to put in the work in order to be a doctor.

On a side note, even if I want to go for a less surgically demanding medical career such as a family doctor, dermatologist, or sports physician, will I still need to be on-call, overnight, etc?

 

[Dreamstoo]

My pre-pharm friends seemed far less stress out than pre-meds although pre-pharm reqs are no joke. I do remember their pre reqs are far more intensive but if I remember correctly to be competitive GPA wise, the averages are lower.

Salary wise, I would say medicine honestly BUT a pharmacist tends to make more than the average doctor if they are able to open multiple pharmacies.

 

[Blackjack7]

Rationally, I hear from many many people that I am close to, that medicine is never worth it. Kinda like the military. It sucks. You do it because you really want to. If not, you will have a bad time.