Pharmacy or CS?

[jballer91]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello, HS senior here trying to decide between pharmacy and Computer Science; yeah i know, completely unrelated fields..lol. But I can honestly say both have elements that I enjoy and am good at.

I got into the CS program in the college of engineering at U of I, the 6 year Pharm D program at Butler, and am waiting on a 6 year program with Midwestern University's pharmacy program and Loyola. I guess it's down to these 3 schools (U of I for CS and either Butler/Loyola for pharmacy). I guess I'm somewhat worried about what the job outlooks for the future will be. I know right now pharmacy is doing well right now but 5-10 years from now will places like the chicagoland area be over saturated? CS isn't the most stable area either, but I feel like there are so many different sub-areas I could pursue so there should always be some type of job opportunity.

Salary I guess would be higher in pharmacy which is a plus. Then there's the actual college experience: CS at U of I doesn't sound too bad as compared to pharmacy where I'd have to maintain a specific GPA for undergrad and probably go crazy during Pharm school.

Yeah, I'm just rambling and trying to decide...any tips or suggestions would be great. Thanks.

 

[chrslbrt]

Hello, HS senior here trying to decide between pharmacy and Computer Science; yeah i know, completely unrelated fields..lol. But I can honestly say both have elements that I enjoy and am good at.

I got into the CS program in the college of engineering at U of I, the 6 year Pharm D program at Butler, and am waiting on a 6 year program with Midwestern University's pharmacy program and Loyola. I guess it's down to these 3 schools (U of I for CS and either Butler/Loyola for pharmacy). I guess I'm somewhat worried about what the job outlooks for the future will be. I know right now pharmacy is doing well right now but 5-10 years from now will places like the chicagoland area be over saturated? CS isn't the most stable area either, but I feel like there are so many different sub-areas I could pursue so there should always be some type of job opportunity.

Salary I guess would be higher in pharmacy which is a plus. Then there's the actual college experience: CS at U of I doesn't sound too bad as compared to pharmacy where I'd have to maintain a specific GPA for undergrad and probably go crazy during Pharm school.

Yeah, I'm just rambling and trying to decide...any tips or suggestions would be great. Thanks.

I would say pharmacy to be honest. But I'm going to college for pharmacy, so thats kind of biased...

As for job outlooks, it is a possibility that pharmacy jobs could be flooded. It depends on the location. I know the demand is high here, where I live, so its a safe option. But with this new healthcare, there is going to be increased demand for medicine that was previously unaffordable to families. In such case, they supply of pharmacists would increase, but so would the demand, basically keeping the demand roughly the same as its current level. Computer Science on the other hand is getting to be like IT. Alot of people flood into those tech and business fields thinking they get tons of money, which may be the case, if you even get a job. With so many people already dedicated to CS, and more people pouring into the market, and little room for innovation, CS will recede. In my opinion, if you want to do computers, do computer engineering. Its basically CS with a hands on approach. You're results will be concrete, rather than abstract. Engineer jobs do get outsourced sometimes, but there is still always a job for an engineer. This is all my projected opinion, however I believe its a reasonable one, but don't shy away from you're career choice based on anything I said. Its all up to you. This is just advice.

As for subareas in pharmacy, theres plenty too:
-Pharmacology
-Pharmaceuticals
-Pharmaceutical Rep.(Endorses products by wine and dining doctors, hospital CEO's, etc)
-Pharmacy Writer(Writes labels)
-Clinical Pharmacist(Pharmacist in a doctor type role)
-Private Practice
-Academics, teaching, etc.

If you go to college just to party, you probably won't be too successful. Any undergrad pre-health will still have PLENTY of free time, even after extra-currics, shadowing professionals, volunteering, etc. You have time parties, drinking, women, and I hope that's it. Pharm school is going to be hard, but guess what. You'll be making 100K for the rest of you're life.

So, IMO, I think pharmacy outclasses CS in every category you listed.

 

[bacillus1]

I'm a 4th year student in a 6-year PharmD program. It's really not as crazy as you think. I'd say that on average last semester I studied about 10-14 hours a week on top of class (I went to almost every class, so this is the reason it's relatively low). Yeah pharmacy is becoming flooded, but CS has been flooded for ages. I grant you that the social life would probably be better getting an actual college degree than in a 6-year pharm. program, but it's not like you will have no life all 6 years. You will probably come out with more loans as a pharmacist, but you'll be paid more too. Also keep in mind that you'll need to pursue a residency after your PharmD for any clinical position (I didn't really think about clinical pharmacy as a career pathway until my 3rd year, but I decided it's worth an extra year or 2 of residency).

I wish I knew SDN existed when I was in HS. I would still have done pharmacy, but maybe I would have chosen a different school (I don't go to any of those you specified).

 

[ecrofom]

Okay so I'm in a similarish position...

I'm at UIC in the GPPA Pharm program. I'm not much of a fan of it since it now REQUIRES you to get a degree to go to Pharm school. I figured since it'll take me 8 years to get a PharmD, I might as well get a decent degree in something I enjoy.

At first I thought Bio, but... yeah not much out there for a B.S. in bio... that would seem like a waste of 4 years of undergrad

So then I decided maybe I'll go for CS since I already have the basics down (taught myself some time back) and I love CS (even more than Pharm 😛)

Plus while I'm in Pharm school for 4 yrs I can start working to pay off debt. So I was wondering... is this a good idea? Are there any high paying jobs I can do that combines both degrees? I've never heard of anyone with a PharmD with a BS in CS... are there any out there?

 

[ecrofom]

any advice or comments?

 

[bacillus1]

Okay so I'm in a similarish position...

I'm at UIC in the GPPA Pharm program. I'm not much of a fan of it since it now REQUIRES you to get a degree to go to Pharm school. I figured since it'll take me 8 years to get a PharmD, I might as well get a decent degree in something I enjoy.

At first I thought Bio, but... yeah not much out there for a B.S. in bio... that would seem like a waste of 4 years of undergrad

So then I decided maybe I'll go for CS since I already have the basics down (taught myself some time back) and I love CS (even more than Pharm 😛)

Plus while I'm in Pharm school for 4 yrs I can start working to pay off debt. So I was wondering... is this a good idea? Are there any high paying jobs I can do that combines both degrees? I've never heard of anyone with a PharmD with a BS in CS... are there any out there?

Look up pharmacy informatics. Not sure how common these jobs are, but they are out there.

 

[ecrofom]

Look up pharmacy informatics. Not sure how common these jobs are, but they are out there.

lol it doesn't look like it pays well... meh I <3 CS enough to get a degree in it. I'll go for it even if it's for nothing 😀