Pharmacy or Nursing? Critical point of my career...

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Hello everyone. I am 23 and just finished a 4 year tour in the Navy. It is critical for me to make the RIGHT decision as I will have Vet Benefits to help pay for my education and I really don't want it to go to waste. Looking at it now, I will probably be around 29-30 when I can achieve a PhD or BSN(ADN faster...). I am obviously highly motivated and love health care and helping people (even though I have an associate in computer science....) but good money and job security is obviously also essential for me just like everyone else.

I have been hearing SO MUCH negatives about Pharmacy job outlook that I am seriously considering RN. I know the pay is not as high for most RNs but at least I will have more job security even if it is for 50k-60k. Plus it might be an easier path unless I get put on a long wait list....

What do you guys think I should do? Please be as realistic as possible. Finishing Pharmacy School + possible 2 more years until I land a real job is going to lead me to have no serious income or personal outlook until maybe I am 33-35? I am reading people who say they have 30 YEARS of experience that can't land a job....

 

[TheWeeIceMan]

I am not a pharmacist (or nurse), but of those two choices, I would go the nursing route and eventually look into NP or CRNA programs. This is simply based on my interpretation of the future outlook of each career. If you think that you would enjoy one career more than the other, than that may change my answer a bit.

Actually, if I were you I would also strongly consider the PA option.

 

[Sparda29]

Nursing is looking kinda bleak too.

 

[radio frequency]

I don't have much to offer as far as pharmacy as predicting the future 4+ years out is pretty difficult, but do talk to some nurses before making your final decision. I've heard negatives about their job prospects, too.

 

[NYCGuy86]

I thought about Pharmacy vs Nursing, and ultimately decided on Nursing (waiting to hear back from schools...). As others said, nursing also has some negatives regarding job prospects too, especially in urban areas. Some of the nurses I work with finally found jobs months to a year after graduation and licensure.

But really, it depends on what you want to do. Do you see yourself in the various roles pharmacists can fulfill, or do you see yourself in the various roles nurses can fulfill? Or something else?

 

[DelPharm]

You should really get a firm grasp of what each role entails and base your decision on that. If you're motivated and hard working, you'll find good opportunities in either field. The va and other govt agencies are required to hire qualified vets before considering any non-vet applicant, so you'll always have opportunities there. I'm a student pharmacist and I love what I do. My wife a nurse and I think the work she does is great, but not for me. Talk to practitioners and shadow and figure out which role you'd love to do.

 

[pharm B]

As others said, each field has its pros and cons. Nurses are very hands-on in their care at times. Is that what you want? Looking back on it, I'm still happy I went with pharmacy. The GI Bill really did make the transition back to being a student (and now to being a pharmacist) pretty easy financially. Either way, healthcare still seems like a good place to be if you play your cards right.

For return on investment, though, you might honestly consider a CRNA or dental hygienist pathway. Hygienists get paid pretty well for having an associates degree.

 

[Jibby321]

I don't have much to offer as far as pharmacy as predicting the future 4+ years out is pretty difficult, but do talk to some nurses before making your final decision. I've heard negatives about their job prospects, too.

I go to school with an RN of 10 years. She couldn't do it anymore. She saw all the other nurses who had done it for 30+ years and how "beat up" they were and decided she needed a career change.

 

[spacecowgirl]

Agree with DelPharm - completely different fields. See if you can do some shadowing or meet with people and talk to them about what they like and don't like, what skills are utilized in each field, etc.

 

[BMBiology]

The whole healthcare professions have changed so much within the last 10 years. It used to be difficult to get accepted but once you have graduated and have your license, you shouldn't have too trouble finding a job.

Now, it is pretty easy to get accepted (except medical schools) but once you have graduated, it is difficult to land a job. There is simple not enough jobs for everyone.

Make sure this is what you want to do and make sure you calculate how much student loans you will need: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/calculated-cost-of-pharmacy-school.989770/

Pharmacy is not like law. Where you have graduated from has little or no affect so you will be competing against some guy from some diploma mill who couldn't get accepted into a "good" school because he had 2.5 undergrad GPA.

 

[BMBiology]

There is already a flood of new grads who have 200 k in student loan debt and can't find full time employment. By the time you graduate, this flood will become a tsunami.

 

[anon89]

Honestly, I program on the side as a hobby and I absolutely love it. I do stuff with ActionScript/C, Java, etc. I think as soon as my loans are paid off, I'll make that a full time thing.

I find it so much more fulfilling than pharmacy and I'm in my happy place when I'm just sitting there coding up an awesome things I came up with. And really if you're in the right place/are good at it, you can get paid just as much as a pharmacist doing it, either right off, or after a couple of years. I know because I have a lot of friends and family that this has happened to.

I've spent the last approx 6 years (pharm school) wishing I had followed my passion 🙁

 

[rxgolfer]

As much as pharmacist complain, I hear nurses bitch about warning people not to become a nurse just as much. Per my dean of my school, nurses have it worse, in terms of saturation. Unless you want to be a nurse anesthesiologist. Make the choice based on which responsibilities you enjoy more. Honestly the profession I haven't heard complain as much is dentist and optometrist.

 

[Jibby321]

As much as pharmacist complain, I hear nurses bitch about warning people not to become a nurse just as much. Per my dean of my school, nurses have it worse, in terms of saturation. Unless you want to be a nurse anesthesiologist. Make the choice based on which responsibilities you enjoy more. Honestly the profession I haven't heard complain as much is dentist and optometrist.

Apperently those are Saturated too.

 

[AJF505]

Honestly, I program on the side as a hobby and I absolutely love it. I do stuff with ActionScript/C, Java, etc. I think as soon as my loans are paid off, I'll make that a full time thing.

I find it so much more fulfilling than pharmacy and I'm in my happy place when I'm just sitting there coding up an awesome things I came up with. And really if you're in the right place/are good at it, you can get paid just as much as a pharmacist doing it, either right off, or after a couple of years. I know because I have a lot of friends and family that this has happened to.

I've spent the last approx 6 years (pharm school) wishing I had followed my passion 🙁

It seems coders get payed more than pharmacist if they are good. One of my frieds is 4 years out of school and makes 90k and consults about 10 hrs a week for 150 an hour. This is in Kansas City which is a pretty cheap area. Granted he has been coding since he was like 12 and has a computer science degree.

 

[Screwtape]

How about PA?

 

[Dred Pirate]

I could NOT be a nurse - as far as I know (at least at my hospital) we are desperate for good nurses. But yes, you do not get paid nearly as much, but more security, but more crap work

 

[PharmtoCS]

Honestly, I program on the side as a hobby and I absolutely love it. I do stuff with ActionScript/C, Java, etc. I think as soon as my loans are paid off, I'll make that a full time thing.

I find it so much more fulfilling than pharmacy and I'm in my happy place when I'm just sitting there coding up an awesome things I came up with. And really if you're in the right place/are good at it, you can get paid just as much as a pharmacist doing it, either right off, or after a couple of years. I know because I have a lot of friends and family that this has happened to.

I've spent the last approx 6 years (pharm school) wishing I had followed my passion 🙁

Absolutely agree. You can earn almost as much as a pharmacist by working for a major tech firm without the $200k+ debt and additional 4 years.

 

[rxgolfer]

Absolutely agree. You can earn almost as much as a pharmacist by working for a major tech firm without the $200k+ debt and additional 4 years.

The lone lady who owns EPIC the e-charts program is a billionaire. She was a computer programer who married a physician. And she probably thought she was the lucky one at the time who married a doctor...

 

[Dred Pirate]

The lone lady who owns EPIC the e-charts program is a billionaire. She was a computer programer who married a physician. And she probably thought she was the lucky one at the time who married a doctor...

screw epic - I already hate it and we haven't even started training 🙂

 

[JoBreeze]

Use Epic for 3 months and then switch to any other EMR; you'll be dreaming about having it back every single day.

 

[anon89]

Absolutely agree. You can earn almost as much as a pharmacist by working for a major tech firm without the $200k+ debt and additional 4 years.

... 🙁 Again. I wish I had followed my passion!! haha

 

[PharmDstudent]

Pharmacy without a doubt. Nursing is a joke.

 

[molyhelp]

Hello everyone. I am 23 and just finished a 4 year tour in the Navy.
I have been hearing SO MUCH negatives about Pharmacy job outlook ......
I am reading people who say they have 30 YEARS of experience that can't land a job....

Solider, allow me to remind you, when you signed up to join the Navy, you agreed to go anywhere to do anything at any hour of the day and you will get the job done. Thank you very much for your commitment and great honorable service. With that, I would like to bring your energy and commitment to the fact that right now, when people discuss about not having pharmacist job, we forget to mention this:

If you are willing to go to any city in U.S.A.
and
If you are willing to work any shift in U.S.A.
and
If you have ACTIVE pharmacist license,
then, you WILL HAVE A PHARMACIST JOB, guaranteed. Especially with work power of military soldier.

If the pharmacist finds job with focus of "I must work to survive", the pharmacist WILL HAVE a job and will have about 100000 dollars a year to pay bill. Then, with experiences and luck, we can move closer to home.

About Nursing option, I heard about 6 Registered Nurses went pharmacy school and all became great pharmacists. Why do that long route when you have the brain and the skill to fly through hardship? Tackle the pharmacy like other soldiers in pharmacy school.

 

[PharmDstudent]

...

 

[molyhelp]

Can I be your friend?

Dear friend, thank you very much for your love and support, I can feel your love over the net. Now....Now...that hug is very warm....I am going to smile over the phone for my patients as I strongly believe patients can hear my smile over the phone...

 

[THE MTL]

First I would weigh the career aspects of pharmacy vs nursing. Both are health care related but entirely different jobs.

The job market is hard but not impossible in either field. I know you read about the one pharmacist with 30 years experience who couldn't find a job but then what about the new graduate who found a job 3 months before he graduated. What I'm trying to say is that if its your passion and what you want to do things will work out. And just cause you heard one story doesn't mean yours will end up like that too.

Nursing and Pharmacy are growing fields and by the time you would graduate in 4 or 6 years, you'll have opportunities in each profession that werent available today.

By the way, I don't think you will have any issues finding a job in either field because you have military experience (4yrs with the Navy) to put on a resume. That will grab the attention of every place you apply!

 

[ibanasiak]

There is much more to consider besides job prospects/outlook. Nursing is physically and mentally tough. You have to deal with unpleasant patients, you have to clean up people's feces/urine if there is no CNA on duty, you have to work possibly more weekends than a pharmacist and it is very stressful. I know this from years of stories from my mother who is a nurse. As a pharmacist, I do find plenty to complain about but nurses, in my opinion, have it much worse in terms of work conditions. I complain a lot about pharmacy..and am considering getting out of the pharmacy world eventually, but it has been good to me as a profession.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Just a thought. Many good pharmacy schools now require or de facto require a BS degree to get in. How about a BSN as undergrad and then apply for PharmD. Extra safety net + marketability for inpatient settings.

Although I still personally think engineering, especially petro/chemical, will give you a bigger bang for the buck.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Dear friend, thank you very much for your love and support, I can feel your love over the net. Now....Now...that hug is very warm....I am going to smile over the phone for my patients as I strongly believe patients can hear my smile over the phone...

....
...
....

...

 

[BestDoctorEver]

I go to school with an RN of 10 years. She couldn't do it anymore. She saw all the other nurses who had done it for 30+ years and how "beat up" they were and decided she needed a career change.

^This... Are you talking about me? Actually, I have done it for about 8 years...

 

[Jibby321]

^This... Are you talking about me? Actually, I have done it for about 8 years...

We will never know if I'm talking about you or not! That's the great thing! But likely not. Lol