Is it too late to do something?

[CJS98]

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Quick background, I am currently a high school senior and received all but one of my acceptances. I was accepted into three 0-6 programs (LIU, St. Johns, Albany College of Pharmacy.) The remaining schools are for pre-med (NYU(still waiting) and Stony Brook.) Then I have one school for either petroleum engineering (like the field) or pharmacy. I do know that I would prefer to go into medicine and the only exception would be petroleum engineering.
I am leaning towards pharmacy but after reading more on these forums and online as well as giving it more thought, I am not too confident in that field. The general consensus on here is that there are too many grads for the current market (This has been the consensus for over a decade) and that there is a great potential for a large salary drop. (Down to below six figures-80-90k). I am not in it for the money (even though it was nice), but more so enjoy the classes and the potential opportunities. However, I cannot justify going through pharmacy school and the loans for 80k a year which I can easily make with a lesser degree or even without one.
My other options would be anesthesiology or becoming a crna. I think that I would like anesthesiology, however, 12 more years of education seems difficult, as does the many unknowns ( a lot of debt, no guarantee of success in medical school, potential of not getting a good job upon completion.)
Honestly, what should I do in this situation?

 

[BidingMyTime]

By anesthesiology, I assume you mean MD/DO (as opposed to AA?) If you do mean AA, they have been pushed out by CRNA's in many areas, so probably not the best choice, but that may differ depending on the area you expect to practice in after graduation. MD/DO is always a good choice, but there are so many variables with getting into medical school and then actually getting the residency of your choice--its not as simple as deciding to be an anesthesiologist and then just signing up for that, the one would sign up to be a pharmacist, or CRNA or AA. The vast majority of doctors will end up as general practitioners (family practice or internal medicine), not specialists. So going to medical school only wanting to be an anesthesiologist makes as much sense as going to pharmacy school only wanting to work clinical. Great if it works out for you that way, but statistically it won't.

As for 80K per year, currently pharmacist make considerably more than that (although there is good reason to think that may not continue indefinitely...reality is, no one knows the future) And the vast majority of people do NOT make 80K per year, so thinking you could make 80K per year with a lesser degree or with no degree is unlikely to be true for you (it's true in that a few outliers do make 80K per year with a lesser or no degree, but statistically the vast majority will not, and that includes you.)

I guess my feeling from reading your post, you need to be doing a lot more research and study on career options, before making a major career/schooling decision.

 

[CJS98]

I think you misunderstood the 80k part. I am fully aware of how much a pharmacist makes. The reason I put 80k out there is because that is what I read on here and elsewhere that salaries may have the potential to drop that low for new grads in the next decade. I do not want to go just clinical for pharmacy either, it's an option. The real question is as a current pharmacist do you recommend going into pharmacy? A lot of people on this forum say no, but those who I spoke with in the real world say to go for it. I don't want to go to school to graduate with a degree that get's me nowhere.
As for the CRNA, AA part, if I want to go anesthesiology then I might as well go to medical school.

 

[Amicable Angora]

I think you misunderstood the 80k part. I am fully aware of how much a pharmacist makes. The reason I put 80k out there is because that is what I read on here and elsewhere that salaries may have the potential to drop that low for new grads in the next decade. I do not want to go just clinical for pharmacy either, it's an option. The real question is as a current pharmacist do you recommend going into pharmacy? A lot of people on this forum say no, but those who I spoke with in the real world say to go for it. I don't want to go to school to graduate with a degree that get's me nowhere.
As for the CRNA, AA part, if I want to go anesthesiology then I might as well go to medical school.

Pharmacy is an extremely poor choice now. Just over the past few years Target and Riteaid are basically gone/merged. Who knows how much worse pharmacy will become over another 6 years?

 

[PharmtoCS]

Your take-home pay is already comparable to professions that pay around $80k (i.e. engineering, computer programming, accounting, PA, etc.) when you take pharmacy school loans into account. There is still much potential for the gross salary to drop further as more new grads enter the market.

 

[Deleted member 747898]

You don't have to justify your professional choice to anyone. You do you and the money will follow through eventually (especially if you go into the health profession). No one knows what the job market will be like in the future and the possibility of a salary drop should NOT stop you from pursuing what you really like to do.

My only advice at this point is to explore. Don't decide pre-undergrad what you want to be if you have 3+ choices that you have not even explored yet. And I don't mean "explore" like researching on this forum; actually put yourself out there and find internships/shadowing opportunities/volunteer positions to see what it's really like working in those environments. If you somehow have those experiences already, then I'd imagine you wouldn't even have this dilemma.

What you should do in your situation is to assess the situation again and choose a school that can help you (resource-wise and opportunity-wise) explore all three of the choices you're interested in, instead of choosing accelerated programs just for pharmacy and regretting it later on. Congrats on getting into those schools btw!

 

[rph3664]

Go to the school that's your first choice, and if you still want to be a pharmacist a year from now, get a job in a pharmacy. It could be a drugstore, hospital, long term care facility, etc. but get some experience before you proceed any further. If you're interested in being a physician, find out if there's a free clinic in that area and volunteer for them. You'll find out very quickly if you want to pursue it any further.

Best wishes for you!

 

[BidingMyTime]

I think you misunderstood the 80k part. I am fully aware of how much a pharmacist makes. The reason I put 80k out there is because that is what I read on here and elsewhere that salaries may have the potential to drop that low for new grads in the next decade.

Well if we are speculating, salaries could drop even lower than that. Once you are past minimum wage, salaries are mostly determined by demand vs supply, if supply keeps growing, then there will be no bottom to the salaries (since most pharmacist jobs are standarized and don't require much creativity.)

 

[BidingMyTime]

As for the CRNA, AA part, if I want to go anesthesiology then I might as well go to medical school.

Accept its a gamble with medical school. With AA, you are guarenteed anesthesia. With CRNA, a bit more risky, since you have to get your BSN first, and there is no guareentee that you will get into CRNA school, but your chances are far higher than getting a MD/DO in anesthesia. With medical school, statistically you won't be accepted (the vast majority of people applying aren't), and even once accepted its statistically unlikely that you will end up with anesthesia as your speciality.

So if its anesthesia you really want, the surest way to get it is to go AA or CRNA. Only go the medical school route, if you would be happy being a general practitioner.

But like others have said, I think you really need to be doing job shadowing to start getting a picture of what these jobs look like. What the day to day job is like, if often far different from the classwork, while enjoying the classwork is a good start, that is not a guarantee that you would actually enjoy the job.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Awful advice. Don't try and do something because it's hard

It's realistic advice, you think its a good idea for someone to go into debt hundreds of thousands of dollars to get an MD degree, if they have no desire to work as a primary doctor? I'm not telling them not to be a doctor "because its hard", that would be ridiculous, I'm telling them not to be a doctor when they have no interested in being any kind of doctor but an anesthesiologist. It's bad advice to tell someone to put all their eggs in one basket without a contingency plan.