Shadowing is a great idea, I have know quite a few people who went into pharmacy and ended up hating it and have switched professions.
What i have heard from many people was that it was boring and very repetitive. But same can be said for dentistry by some. (EXACTLY, about people in both professions find it boring - you are going to find this in every profession. You really have to look at why someone went into the profession, what type of research they did about the profession before they went into it, etc. before you conclude that a profession is or is not right for you based on what others have said about their profession.)
I would just try and find what you like:
Pharmacy ( assuming general pharmacist at a local store - problem with this comment is that you are making an assumption on only part of a profession. Clinica, nuclear, and hospital pharmacy open up a whole different set of possiblilities compared to retail pharmacy as you are assuming. No further specializing is needed to be a clinical or a pharmacist at a hospital. Plus, you can also work for drug companies ): CHEMISTRY, analyzing effects of drugs, customer interactions, working for companies, good money, no real possibility for advancement <-- ( This is actually a false statement. There is a possibility for advancement, just as there is in most companies. It just depends on what you want to do, how much administrative work you want to do, etc. There will always be store managers, district managers, regional managers, company managers for the pharmacists. Opportunities for advancement are ther. Most pharmacists choose not to go that route.), You can also have direct patient care. If you work in a clinic, there are pharmacists that specialize in managing Coumadin levels, Insilin levels, and other drugs for patients who need regular check-ups for modifying their dosages. Also, cliincal pharmacists at hospitals, if they are dong their jobs, are also reviewing medical records for patients making sure that the medical staff is dispensing the correct meds at the appropriate dosages and making suggestions for corrections in type of meds and dosages when needed.
Dentistry: Working with hands, diagnosing oral diseases, patient interactions, being your own boss, short work week (depends on where you work!), great money (not always - especially right out of school for most people), always possibility to go further. i.e expand business (always a possibility, but very few people expand) and specialize - there is specializing in pharmacy too - just not to the extent we think of in dentistry or medicine.
Personally, i obviously like dentistry, I think pharmacy would be a little dry and repetitive. dentistry is the same, but you can always expand the services you provide.
Good luck, i spent two years debating medicine and dentistry before i decided. Just do what you will enjoy the most
