If you could go back and do it all over again - what profession would you choose?

[redfish955]

Most good engineering companies want you to have a masters or be able to do one part time. If you can't get into an engineering masters program good luck getting hired as anything but a technician to start off.

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[Emmet2301]

Most good engineering companies want you to have a masters or be able to do one part time. If you can't get into an engineering masters program good luck getting hired as anything but a technician to start off.

What time of engineering are you referring to here? If mechanical/civil I might agree tho I don't exactly know.

If CS/ChemE this is completely untrue. Lots of people get jobs with just a BS and sometimes they get it even if it's not a BSCS.

 

[Jbrl]

I can't complain about where the PharmD has taken me, though if I could go back I would love to study Computational Neuroscience. We're only beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible.

From my vantage point, if one is aiming for a mixture of learning and career longevity, pursuing a path focused on the next frontier could lead to some really interesting places, e.g. outer space, the deep ocean, the brain, green energy, cancer cures. I would prefer to think about it in terms of the 20-30 years problems I'd want to solve and let the rest take care of itself.

There's been a great deal of interest in computer science; this field is already colliding with a variety of other fields (e.g., DeepMind - neuroscience, robotics and AI) and one could imagine a future where it is integrated into them as table stakes.

 

[johnpharm01]

Dentists are being bought out by corporations at an alarming rate. Last time I calculated it a couple years ago independents were disappearing in favor of corporates at a rate of 3-4% a year and it was accelerating greatly. Many dentists graduate with $300-$500k loans or more. "Residency" after dental schools requires paying more super tuition for several years and not even getting paid. Some orthodontists are graduating with $1 mill in debt. Imagine graduating with $1 mill in debt with Smile Direct and the dental corps putting dental offices out of businesses left and right with predatory pricing. Aetna is one of the major dental insurers. Guess who owns Aetna now and has Smile Direct locations in their pharmacies? The dentistry profession has already crested and is just starting to begin its freefall. A majority of graduates are being forced to work for corporations now. Dentist salaries haven't increased in a decade. Soon as they continue to take market share the work conditions will deteriorate significantly and wages will plummet. If you're in dentistry right now, you better be growing like wildfire and becoming a corporation yourself, or savings and investing like crazy and hoping you'll last long enough for an early retirement. The sad thing is that dentists have absolutely no idea this is coming. Dentistry for decades has been in it's own little world making ridiculous six-figure salaries for easy, stress-free work. Work 32 hours a week and make $200k+ to talk to patients all day and work on their teeth. I've shadowed multiple dentists and boy, are dentists delusional to what a stressful job actually is. People live in their own little bubble and seldom see the rest of the world/economy. Corporate America finally figured out how to strip the last lifestyle profession of it's dignity. Dentists technically by law are required to own dental organizations. The corps are getting around this by paying a shill dentist to pretend to be the owner and then pocketing all the profits for themselves.

The story in dentistry is the same as everywhere else I'm afraid. It used to be good, but the bill is now coming due. Dentistry was the last profession to hold out.

I toyed with idea of becoming a dentist years ago, my biggest concern was to have good manual dexterity so I wouldn't tear up people's mouths. I was reassured by dentists I work with that after dental school that would not be the case. Dental practices are still consistently profitable and from what I have read their philosophy is more akin to my own. I have seen dental school tuition and fees (obscene) but I have the means to virtual erase those. I am afraid limited opportunity is the story of America right now, so having to battle corporations would be a challenge. I still believe there is a pathway for success there.

 

[steveysmith54]

MD; ROI way better than PharmD.

I think especially if you consider those who end up doing PGY1 and PGY2 residencies. 10 years post high school training/school, ton of loans. We hired a PGY2 for graveyard position at my hospital. The guy was happy to just have a job. I think you work much harder in med school for the most part, but if you went to a decent pharmacy program, you're going to be studying hundreds of power point slides of lectures for exams, as well. The average primary care/family medicine docs who I know are much happier/respected/stable in their careers compared to average retail RPh; not to mention the diffence in wages.

 

[redfish955]

What time of engineering are you referring to here? If mechanical/civil I might agree tho I don't exactly know.

If CS/ChemE this is completely untrue. Lots of people get jobs with just a BS and sometimes they get it even if it's not a BSCS.

This is the issue. You aren't pulling the jobs you want unless you have a masters or more. Big pharma 170k chemical engineer, dod contractor like Raytheon 170k a year mechanical engineer, wall Street econ and math 259k a year. Middle of no where chemical plant working 6 11s for 80k a year.

 

[mentos]

Most good engineering companies want you to have a masters or be able to do one part time. If you can't get into an engineering masters program good luck getting hired as anything but a technician to start off.

You still haven't said what type of engineering requires masters? I know that a master's doesn't even get you a raise for civil/mechanical. I know many successful software engineers who never got a master's as it was not worth it for them. I also know some computer and EE who never bothered with a masters.

 

[deleted562805]

I think especially if you consider those who end up doing PGY1 and PGY2 residencies. 10 years post high school training/school, ton of loans. We hired a PGY2 for graveyard position at my hospital. The guy was happy to just have a job. I think you work much harder in med school for the most part, but if you went to a decent pharmacy program, you're going to be studying hundreds of power point slides of lectures for exams, as well. The average primary care/family medicine docs who I know are much happier/respected/stable in their careers compared to average retail RPh; not to mention the diffence in wages.

I think especially if you consider those who end up doing PGY1 and PGY2 residencies. 10 years post high school training/school, ton of loans. We hired a PGY2 for graveyard position at my hospital. The guy was happy to just have a job. I think you work much harder in med school for the most part, but if you went to a decent pharmacy program, you're going to be studying hundreds of power point slides of lectures for exams, as well. The average primary care/family medicine docs who I know are much happier/respected/stable in their careers compared to average retail RPh; not to mention the diffence in wages.

Not to mention, residency workload and hours for medicine and pharmacy is equal. But, I have heard in medical residency, you can moonlight and get paid extra for each shift. Medical residents get a month off for projects. Also, CMS funds medical residencies, so they can have reasonable amount seats for application. The number of residency spots for medicine is more than pharmacy. And more programs to choose from based on your now STEP2 Ck

I don’t think pharmacy residents moonlight or get paid extra to moonlight. I only know one program in TN that offers pharmacist pay when residents staff on weekends. Pharmacy residency spots at max are 6 spots. Only one hospital has like 10 spots. Education from pharmacy residency is not standardized, while medical residency for the most part is standardized. Pharmacy residency involves doing projects and patient care simultaneously in order to present for Mid year and Serc. Hospitals fund pharmacy residency programs??? Why can’t we negotiate with CMS to fund for pharmacy residency programs.

Another issue, most of the research projects for pharmacy residents have lowered in value. I now mainly see research articles/study on residency burnout.

Medical residency continues to have solid research from publishing case reports, and retrospective studies on disease management, drug therapies, and different imaging techniques etc.

 

[deleted562805]

You still haven't said what type of engineering requires masters? I know that a master's doesn't even get you a raise for civil/mechanical. I know many successful software engineers who never got a master's as it was not worth it for them. I also know some computer and EE who never bothered with a masters.

I think aerospace needs masters, especially if you want to work for Space X or NASA.

Masters for CS is required if you want to be in leadership position in tech companies. A bachelors from a good program like GATech is good enough for FANG corporations.

 

[Emmet2301]

I think aerospace needs masters, especially if you want to work for Space X or NASA.

Masters for CS is required if you want to be in leadership position in tech companies. A bachelors from a good program like GATech is good enough for FANG corporations.

This is false. People move up in tech companies mainly due to experience not by having a MS CS. An MBA helps mainly if you want to get into the business side.

For FANG sometimes even a bachelors from like San Jose State U is enough.

 

[mentos]

I think aerospace needs masters, especially if you want to work for Space X or NASA.

Masters for CS is required if you want to be in leadership position in tech companies. A bachelors from a good program like GATech is good enough for FANG corporations.

Sounds like you're making stuff up. You don't need a master's in CS.

Aerospace is a niche that less than 4% of all engineers go into. Is that what you consider "most good engineering companies"?

 

[allantois]

My friends fiancé works for Boeing but on a NASA project designing the SLS rocket that will take people to Mars. He only has a BS in electrical engineering. Imagine telling people you work on sending people to Mars

 

[deleted562805]

This is false. People move up in tech companies mainly due to experience not by having a MS CS. An MBA helps mainly if you want to get into the business side.

For FANG sometimes even a bachelors from like San Jose State U is enough.

Good to know. My bad.i misspoke. A Masters can help for managerial positions, but it is not required.

 

[deleted562805]

Sounds like you're making stuff up. You don't need a master's in CS.

Aerospace is a niche that less than 4% of all engineers go into. Is that what you consider "most good engineering companies"?

I thought it was required, but based on other sources I have read, you do not need it. Can it help, maybe. Is it required no.
Aerospace: my bad. Didn’t know.

So it looks like Masters is only beneficial for a H1B foreigner who went to a foreign engineering school or for academia, but not in the work atmosphere based from quora

 

[Momus]

I thought it was required, but based on other sources I have read, you do not need it. Can it help, maybe. Is it required no.
Aerospace: my bad. Didn’t know.

So it looks like Masters is only beneficial for a H1B foreigner who went to a foreign engineering school or for academia, but not in the work atmosphere based from quora

The majority employers will not call you in for interview without a CS degree but there are a lot out there that got in without any formal training. You really don't even need a CS degree to be working in faangm. If you pass the coding interview, show you are competent, you are in. Plenty of examples everywhere you see. YouTube, forums, etc.

 

[deleted562805]

The majority employers will not call you in for interview without a CS degree but there are a lot out there that got in without any formal training. You really don't even need a CS degree to be working in faangm. If you pass the coding interview, show you are competent, you are in. Plenty of examples everywhere you see. YouTube, forums, etc.

I think the topic was on Masters. I don’t think one needs a Masters. I can see how it could help H1Bs or people who go to Devry University or if someone wants to pursue Ph.D in CS.

In the work place, Bachelors in CS would be preferred over someone without if the skill set and coding ability is the same

 

[Momus]

I think the topic was on Masters. Bachelors in CS would be preferred over someone without if the skill set and coding ability is the same

Sure, that's exactly what I said on my first sentence.

 

[Hedgehog32]

I would have picked something, anything that leads to a solid white-collar career paying a decent salary, offers a benefits package, and doesn't require you to move to rural BFE just to get ANY job (and for which expressing reluctance to do so doesn't result in your professional colleagues making negative judgments/conclusions about the fundamental nature of your character and work ethic).

 

[redfish955]

Starting Salaries by Academic Major: Master degree - The Graduate School - Purdue University Do a 4+1 program. Work for 4 years. Do a ivy league mba paid for by employer. Earn 10-150 million during your career. OOOH, graduate school is a waste of time. I don't want to build a resume that would allow me to become a senior VP at a fortune 500. I'm happy with a career earnings of 3.5 million.

 

[redfish955]

Meanwhile Chad and Brad earned a 2.55 and a 2.75 gpa. Chad and brad couldn't land prestigous entry level roles or get into grad school so after going jobless for a year they took up roles as technicians at fortune 500s earning 45k a year. After three years Chad and Brad got promoted into engineering roles. 8 years later Brad and Chad got laid off from their 95k a year roles working 65 hours a week job. Chad and Brad weren't cut out for management so they got let go to make room for people who are more likely to advance up the totem pole. There are a few stories in which Chad and Brad make it big but I can assure you there are way more stories in which Chad and Brad struggle. Meanwhile Alpha Allison just returned from a Sloan MBA and instantly got promoted to a 180k a year role at Raytheon. Alpha Allison is exec level material and will get healthy promotions until she is earning 300k a year with a shot at 7 figure roles late in her career.

 

[redfish955]

One thing to take into consideration is that males are a minority in nursing and women are a minority in stem. Males will get into graduate nursing school easier and females will be more likely to climb the ladder with fewer qualifications.

 

[TheBlaah]

Meanwhile Chad and Brad earned a 2.55 and a 2.75 gpa. Chad and brad couldn't land prestigous entry level roles or get into grad school so after going jobless for a year they took up roles as technicians at fortune 500s earning 45k a year. After three years Chad and Brad got promoted into engineering roles. 8 years later Brad and Chad got laid off from their 95k a year roles working 65 hours a week job. Chad and Brad weren't cut out for management so they got let go to make room for people who are more likely to advance up the totem pole. There are a few stories in which Chad and Brad make it big but I can assure you there are way more stories in which Chad and Brad struggle. Meanwhile Alpha Allison just returned from a Sloan MBA and instantly got promoted to a 180k a year role at Raytheon. Alpha Allison is exec level material and will get healthy promotions until she is earning 300k a year with a shot at 7 figure roles late in her career.

One thing to take into consideration is that males are a minority in nursing and women are a minority in stem. Males will get into graduate nursing school easier and females will be more likely to climb the ladder with fewer qualifications.

I'm getting strong incel waves coming from this one.

Isn't there a wage gap in favor of men in STEM careers?

 

[lord999]

I'm getting strong incel waves coming from this one.

Isn't there a wage gap in favor of men in STEM careers?

And a massive candidate numbers discrepancy. The higher tech companies openly want to hire more women and underrepresented (non Asian) minorities but do not easier hire due to few candidates and culture reputation. Besides the public tech bro culture, there's a management consultant style alpha in the background which is outputting to both groups if not outright hostile.

 

[redfish955]

10 Best Colleges Where Being a Woman Gives You an Admissions Edge Those are facts. IMO high achiever women are more interested in doing meaningful work. NP, vet, and etc you directly impact the lives of living organisms. Who wants to code all day when you can become a vet? https://www.vmdtoday.com/news/veter...ear's class, more,market (private and public).

 

[TheBlaah]

10 Best Colleges Where Being a Woman Gives You an Admissions Edge Those are facts. IMO high achiever women are more interested in doing meaningful work. NP, vet, and etc you directly impact the lives of living organisms. Who wants to code all day when you can become a vet? https://www.vmdtoday.com/news/veterinary-medicine-is-a-womans-world#:~:text=In this year's class, more,market (private and public).

What a meaningful link. I guess I should rebutt it with a link to the 10 best colleges where being a man gives you an admissions edge? You know there's colleges that have affirmative action for white male students too right?

 

[Argentium]

10 Best Colleges Where Being a Woman Gives You an Admissions Edge Those are facts. IMO high achiever women are more interested in doing meaningful work. NP, vet, and etc you directly impact the lives of living organisms. Who wants to code all day when you can become a vet? https://www.vmdtoday.com/news/veterinary-medicine-is-a-womans-world#:~:text=In this year's class, more,market (private and public).

At top MBA programs there's very little doubt that being a woman is more helpful than being a man (generally speaking) from an admissions standpoint. Despite that, we can see that outcomes for women lag men around the time of VP and definitely in the c-suite, women are vastly under-represented

 

[Emmet2301]

One thing to take into consideration is that males are a minority in nursing and women are a minority in stem. Males will get into graduate nursing school easier and females will be more likely to climb the ladder with fewer qualifications.

How do you say this? Esp with them having fewer qualifications?

 

[redfish955]

How do you say this? Esp with them having fewer qualifications?

I've never met a struggling low gpa woman engineer but i've met countless struggling males. There are certainly some highly qualified women but there are also doors opened to women that wouldn't typically be opened to men. The same is true for average male nursing students getting into NA school.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Dentists are being bought out by corporations at an alarming rate. Work 32 hours a week and make $200k+ to talk to patients all day and work on their teeth. I've shadowed multiple dentists and boy, are dentists delusional to what a stressful job actually is. People live in their own little bubble and seldom see the rest of the world/economy.

Dentistry is literally "Back-breaking" work. It's not stressful like pharmacy or medicine, but it takes a physical, painful toll on the body. Their job is not easy, and I certainly wouldn't want to do it.

But, mid-levels, "dental therapists" are encrouching on their territory, so dentistry will become saturated in the next few years. Just like pharmacists, and, and just like PA's/NP's who are going to be hyper saturated within the next 10 years. At least, it's cheaper to get a PA/NP degree than a PharmD, but that is probably why they PA's/NP's are going to be far more saturated than pharmacists.

This source from the site Doctors without Jobs. 6% of medical students do not match. 6% equates 1100 per year of American medical students not matching, while 3,700 foreign doctors receive residencies.

Almost every American student who doesn't match, came from a Caribbean medical program.....not matching is a very real risk with these programs, and that goes back to their education. For someone who graduated from an American medical school not to match, it is almost always a a discernible problem, either the person themselves had red flags and/or extremely marginal grades/test scores, or they only applied to top tier residencies.

This has got to be the most negative sub forum on SDN

Probably. I'm Negative Nancy, so that is why I'm here! That, and I'm a pharmacist, so where else would I go?

 

[lord999]

The majority employers will not call you in for interview without a CS degree but there are a lot out there that got in without any formal training. You really don't even need a CS degree to be working in faangm. If you pass the coding interview, show you are competent, you are in. Plenty of examples everywhere you see. YouTube, forums, etc.

One modification, the majority of employers will interview you if you have are incumbent in an existing CS job irrespective of degree. But for the first job, yes, I agree totally.

 

[redfish955]

Who says it's too late to go back?

Online Degrees from the Indiana University Online

With over 120 online degrees at Indiana University Online to choose from, you can advance your career on your own schedule right from home.

online.iu.edu

Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS)

omscs.gatech.edu

Starting salary for a GT CS masters is like 120k a year.

 

[PharmaSex]

Would avoid graduate degrees and pursue something in business or finance. Currently learning how to trade and have days where I make 20-30K in a few hours. So I would take the time machine back and buy myself books on trading and buy an F-ton of Tesla stock (I still remember when you could buy this for 30 bucks)

 

[mentos]

Would avoid graduate degrees and pursue something in business or finance. Currently learning how to trade and have days where I make 20-30K in a few hours. So I would take the time machine back and buy myself books on trading and buy an F-ton of Tesla stock (I still remember when you could buy this for 30 bucks)

Wow how much do you need to be making 20-30k per day? How much are you pulling in per year?

 

[BidingMyTime]

Would avoid graduate degrees and pursue something in business or finance. Currently learning how to trade and have days where I make 20-30K in a few hours. So I would take the time machine back and buy myself books on trading and buy an F-ton of Tesla stock (I still remember when you could buy this for 30 bucks)

Yeah, easy come, easy go. Sure, you have days where you make 20 -30K in a few hours.....how much do you lose on the other days? You sound like gambler bragging that he just won $50,000, but who neglects to mention he spent $100,000 over several years to win that $50,000.

 

[steveysmith54]

Again, dentistry is where pharmacy was 10-15 years ago. There are currently no horrendous working conditions in dentistry, and everyone will continue to tout the "working for all the corporations won't be that bad and it's only a $50k paycut and you work normal full-time hours" nonsense. This has happened time and time again in virtually all industries over the past 40 years. Corporates use economies of scale and predatory pricing to grow and then monopolize their industry. Once they control most of the insdustry/labor market, they can reduce working conditions to impossible (and often illegal) levels. Think Walmart and CVS. When is the last time you shopped at a privately mom and pop owned grocery store? They all went out of business? Other industries including pharmacy have taken their turn. Why are independent pharmacies going out of business to the point of extinction? Because the corporate powers that be (CVS, health insurers) have decided to monopolize the market, literally force customers to use other pharmacies whether they like to or not and then just stop paying the pharmacies or just make up reasons to not reimburse them and take their money back. Walmart and CVS have the most prevalent wage theft labor lawsuits in the country. Do a google search to learn how common it is for Fortune 500 companies to literally just steal wages from their employees. Heck, most of them were forced to sign arbitration agreements so they can't even get wages from class-action lawsuits and so most don't even get their stolen wages back and the lawsuits are a small price to pay for what the company saves.

In dentistry, it will be the same. Older dentists set to retire will stand by and do nothing because they've already made millions and are content selling/closing down within 10 years. Corporates will continue to grow and snatch up all the new graduates with $300k+ in debt. Everyone will say "it's not that bad making $120k a year for 40 hours of work to pay off your student loans {foced labor)." Then the independent dentists will shut down because Aetna (owned by CVS which is starting to incorporate dental services into their business model) stops reimbursing them (reimbursement has already been declining for years), and the predatory pricing and "convenience" of having multiple locations is just too much for patients. Once the industry is owned by corporate, THEN AND ONLY THEN (not now) they'll have free license to start reducing salaries, benefits cutting hours and working conditions. Just like with pharmacy, they'll lay off a bunch of staff and then tell the remaining dentists to work hours past the end of their shift for declining wages. Every aspect of working as a dentist will get worse. Just ask a pharmacist how this has worked out. The profession has already been "retailified" with consumers preferring dental offices in shopping centers close to where they do their errands.

I know all this because I am a pharmacist who has shadowed extensively many dental offices, have done tons of research on the debt, corporate growth, salaries, etc of the industry. I strongly considered going back to school to become a dentist, but the costs after you're 25 and the likelihood of the profession's decline over your career don't make it a feasible decision. Dentists see the world from the perspective of someone who went to school and was very much rewarded for their huge investment. They have not seen the world as it is in most other professions and don't understand. Everyone lives in their little bubble. I have seen the world of dentistry, pharmacy and others, I have an MBA and I can see the trend in dentistry is heading the same route as elsewhere. You have been warned.

Interesting post. Some hope for those cosmetic dentists who specialize in implants, veneers, and orthodontics. But, I agree with you, for the most part things aren't where they were 10 years ago.

 

[Lubeckd]

Would not had chosen differently.
Helped me with my point of view later on in life and made me into the person I am today

 

[LFA20]

Dentists are being bought out by corporations at an alarming rate. Last time I calculated it a couple years ago independents were disappearing in favor of corporates at a rate of 3-4% a year and it was accelerating greatly. Many dentists graduate with $300-$500k loans or more. "Residency" after dental schools requires paying more super tuition for several years and not even getting paid. Some orthodontists are graduating with $1 mill in debt. Imagine graduating with $1 mill in debt with Smile Direct and the dental corps putting dental offices out of businesses left and right with predatory pricing. Aetna is one of the major dental insurers. Guess who owns Aetna now and has Smile Direct locations in their pharmacies? The dentistry profession has already crested and is just starting to begin its freefall. A majority of graduates are being forced to work for corporations now. Dentist salaries haven't increased in a decade. Soon as they continue to take market share the work conditions will deteriorate significantly and wages will plummet. If you're in dentistry right now, you better be growing like wildfire and becoming a corporation yourself, or savings and investing like crazy and hoping you'll last long enough for an early retirement. The sad thing is that dentists have absolutely no idea this is coming. Dentistry for decades has been in it's own little world making ridiculous six-figure salaries for easy, stress-free work. Work 32 hours a week and make $200k+ to talk to patients all day and work on their teeth. I've shadowed multiple dentists and boy, are dentists delusional to what a stressful job actually is. People live in their own little bubble and seldom see the rest of the world/economy. Corporate America finally figured out how to strip the last lifestyle profession of it's dignity. Dentists technically by law are required to own dental organizations. The corps are getting around this by paying a shill dentist to pretend to be the owner and then pocketing all the profits for themselves.

The story in dentistry is the same as everywhere else I'm afraid. It used to be good, but the bill is now coming due. Dentistry was the last profession to hold out.

LOL. Great post. But yeah we are definitely clueless about what stress is... haha

 

[LFA20]

and the most entertaining LOL

This has got to be the most negative sub forum on SDN

 

[Hels2007]

so many people worship at the altar of computer science.

To me that just shows how many people went to pharmacy simply because it was a great combination of high salaries and good job security and not for any other reason. Now that it is no longer true for pharmacy, the same people are flocking to the next best thing, and then will move on to the next...

 

[LFA20]

Honest Starting Salary

Hi Y'all! This is a question that everyone loves to bend and twist and answer in very non straight forward ways. Bluntly speaking, realistically if I did a one year GPR/AEGD and went into practice what could I expect on AVERAGE my first year starting salary to be. Reiterating the the word...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Not sure how true these figures are but if they are correct then it’s pretty weird employed dentists making the same as pharmacy manager in retail. Dentist school has historically been harder to get in and they are tooth doctors and do procedures that make direct impact on patients’ lives. Dentist career wouldn’t be worth it if they don’t make at least $200k.

True but it’s much easier to find employment as a dentist than pharmacist. Also let’s not forget that we can own a practice and sky is the limit

 

[mentos]

Would avoid graduate degrees and pursue something in business or finance. Currently learning how to trade and have days where I make 20-30K in a few hours. So I would take the time machine back and buy myself books on trading and buy an F-ton of Tesla stock (I still remember when you could buy this for 30 bucks)

So if you make like 20k per day that means you're putting in a cool 5.2 million per year?

 

[Flavia28]

I would go back and get a really high GPA in undergrad so I could get into vet school. Deep down, working with animals is my calling. I would do it for free if money wasn't an issue. I wish I could do pgy2 in veterinary pharmacy or something but there are barely any programs out there.

 

[MrBonita]

If I had a time machine. I would have spent the tuition on AAPL and AMZN. THen i would be much better off.

 

[Dred Pirate]

If I was/am able to stay in my current job until retirement (18 years from now) - I would do it again. I really enjoy my day to day job, very little stress, just enough teaching and research to keep my brain active, without putting in long hours and worrying about burnout like I did in my last position.

Looking at the writing on the wall- I don't see how my current salary and benefits are going to stay where they are/keep up with inflation.
I make 160k a year in a mid size desirable area without a crazy cost of living. I work 35 hours a week, get 8 weeks PTO and a good (not great) retirement plan.

I ended up in my position really by accident to.

Knowing where pharmacy is headed I would have done one of two things.
MD - (I scored a 36 on my MCAT so I know I could have gotten into a decent school) and went the route of interventional cardiology or critical care intensivist.

PhD in a biological science area and went on to be a college professor. I would have preferred to probably be in a small college like I went to where it wasn't all about how much you can get published, but were you focused on the education. I loved my small liberal arts college and had great relationships with my professors (no grad assistants)

 

[Dred Pirate]

There is only one thing that I truly ever would have loved being. My true dream profession would be:

A television weather man.

Unfortunately I do not have the hair for the job.

I had a pharmacy student that was a former weather broadcaster.

Honestly sounds like a fun job, except you get crappy working hours - the "good ones" have to do the 10 or 11 o'clock news -

 

[Dred Pirate]

If I got to start all over at 18, probably Medicine - Either EM or Trauma Surgery. I love my job, but I came at in in a weird way. I figured out what I wanted to do a little bit at a time and was already a pharmacist by the time I really committed myself to pediatrics first then EM later. Now, after making several sacrifices to get where I am, I would have been finishing fellowship by now (because that is what the medicine colleagues I graduated with are doing). Being an EM pharmacist is great but wish there was a path that would let me do more that didn't involve going back to med school at 30+. But if I could be 18 again... (also I would by apple stock and then not worry about money).

I am with you on this one - but so many of my EM MD's/ DO's seem very cynical - you really deal with a lot of BS working in the ED (social work, hypodilaudism, and just some of the people that make you loose faith in humanity (abuse/assults/etc)