Pharmacy versus Optometry...which would you choose?

[1plus1]

Hi everyone,

This post isn't meant to get any controversy started! It’s simply to get people's opinion concerning two great professions.

As the title would suggest, I'm in a real bind. I have to make a very difficult decision between pharmacy and optometry as a career. Both schools are in Ontario, Canada and I am planning on remaining in Ontario once my schooling is completed. There are a few older posts asking this question (optometry versus pharmacy), but none take the recent cuts that are taking place in community pharmacies of Ontario into consideration.

What is your opinion, which career would YOU go for if YOU had the choice? And why?

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[chemguy79]

I worked in an optometrist office for 4.5 years while I was in undergrad: While I enjoyed working as an optician and an optometric technician, optometry wasn't what I really thought about pursuing because of the scope of practice. I'm more interested in clinicial research and development and pharmaceutical optometric research isn't something readily pursued by optometrists.

Besides, the thing that jumps out at me is that they are ENTIRELY different fields. Not to be TOO snarky, but if someone is trying to decide between optometry and pharmacy, they really don't know s*** about either profession. IMO, one should gain SUBSTANTIAL experience in either field (I'm not talking shadowing a family friend who is an O.D./Pharm.D for a day or two) before having to choose between the two professions since they are night and day.

On a lighter note, the fact that the OAT requires Physics would frighten the heck out of me. I did fine in the classes, but the practice tests were cringeworthy.

 

[deleted329060]

seeing how you posted in a pre-pharmacy forum, i think the answer is obvious. i never even considered optometry as a career choice.

 

[1plus1]

I posted this question in the pre-pharmacy forum as well as the pre-optometry forum. I didn't want to get a biased opinion by only choosing one of the two forums.

And chemguy79, i agree that they are very different fields. But understand that I am considering the grand scheme of things, which is the health care field. In the health care field I was able to narrow it down to these two professions, and now I have to make this last decision.. but thank you for your input!

 

[chemguy79]

I posted this question in the pre-pharmacy forum as well as the pre-optometry forum. I didn't want to get a biased opinion by only choosing one of the two forums.

And chemguy79, i agree that they are very different fields. But understand that I am considering the grand scheme of things, which is the health care field. In the health care field I was able to narrow it down to these two professions, and now I have to make this last decision.. but thank you for your input!

OP ... What is your previous work/shadowing experience in both fields? If you haven't worked in either type of a setting, I'm rather impressed that you could narrow it down to two professions where you apparently have no working knowledge aside from the fact that you'll be a member of the health care profession

Furthermore, if you have gained experience in both fields, you would have your answer incredibly fast. Otherwise, it's pure conjecture deciding which one you would enjoy without even setting foot in an office or speaking with optometrists & pharmacists in different settings.

 

[1plus1]

OP ... What is your previous work/shadowing experience in both fields? If you haven't worked in either type of a setting, I'm rather impressed that you could narrow it down to two professions where you apparently have no working knowledge aside from the fact that you'll be a member of the health care profession

Furthermore, if you have gained experience in both fields, you would have your answer incredibly fast. Otherwise, it's pure conjecture deciding which one you would enjoy without even setting foot in an office or speaking with optometrists & pharmacists in different settings.

I've shadowed an optometrist and i've worked in a pharmacy. I have friends that are now liscenced pharmacists and others that are pharmacy students, i ask them plenty of questions. I've also talked to my optometrist about many aspects of his career. So, i've done my homework. I wanted a more broad opinion which is why i posted this thread: original question was "why would you choose one over the other"

 

[chemguy79]

I've shadowed an optometrist and i've worked in a pharmacy. I have friends that are now liscenced pharmacists and others that are pharmacy students, i ask them plenty of questions. I've also talked to my optometrist about many aspects of his career. So, i've done my homework. I wanted a more broad opinion which is why i posted this thread: original question was "why would you choose one over the other"

OP,

What types of pharmaceutical practices have you worked? What types of optometric practices have you shadowed? I worked at a private OD that joined a corporate practice and the environments were quite different.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

We all clearly chose to pursuit pharmacy. Not sure what the point of asking us is.

I guess its a question of which means of belittlement seems less harsh - pill counter or knob turner...

 

[1plus1]

OP,

What types of pharmaceutical practices have you worked? What types of optometric practices have you shadowed? I worked at a private OD that joined a corporate practice and the environments were quite different.

I've worked in a community pharmacy and shadowed a private practice OD..

 

[UNMorBUST]

seeing how you posted in a pre-pharmacy forum, i think the answer is obvious.

This.

 

[rxlea]

I think optometry would be boring to me. I haven't looked that much into optometry but it seems that a PharmD is much more versatile. There are so many things you can do with a PharmD whereas (it seems) that options are more limited with optometry. I just see them as such completely different careers that it would be hard to compare them. I suppose if you really like direct patient care and don't want to do community pharmacy or something like that, then optometry might be good. It certainly gives you a lot more autonomy than working at, say, a CVS where corporate is breathing down your neck. If you have your own practice in optometry, you pretty much call the shots like a family med doc would. Similarly, if you open your own pharmacy, you're the boss and what you say goes I guess for me, I like the whole "saving people's lives" bit with pharmacy...

Either way, both careers improve the quality of life for their patients and if you are fulfilled in doing that, however that may be, then either would be a good option.

 

[delano2000]

In my biased opinion, I would say PharmD over OD.

 

[CanPharm]

As others have said, I think versatility with the pharmacy degree really puts it ahead of optometry (although I honestly don't know too much about optometry). With a pharmacy degree you can go into community, hospital, industry, government, drug benefits, etc. The degree is general enough that you won't be cornered into something specific (unless you want to specialize). You can add an MBA or health management degree and compete for institution management positions, add a clinical epidemiology degree and you can get into research, do a post-grad pharmD and become clinical specialist. Since drugs are so important to health care, having a pharmacy degree will likely be a benefit in any position in the healthcare field. I like the fact that if I'm bored with doing one thing for a few years, I have the option to switch into something complete different without starting from scratch and investing a huge amount of time/money.

 

[type b pharmD]

pharmacy.. for the reason that drugs are cool and that there is an entire INDUSTRY devoted to them.. .. the opthalmic industry is pretty small i would assume by comparison. the drug companies are the current titans of american industry.

so many opportunities for pharmDs... make it much more worth it in the long run to me .

I wanted to work in drug manufacturing and distribution .. i suppose one could do that with an OD degree but there's that pesky fact that a lot of times pharmacist license is required to perform or oversee certain tasks.

while pharmacists most directly supervise *small scale* manufacturing aka compounding .. there is still significant opportunity to get into the business end in industry too and get involved on that end,.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Pharmacy by a long shot...

All of my friends and family come to me about prescription and medical questions which I dont think I could have helped as much if I have an OD degree. I believe that we are also in a better position to make a difference in patient's life since we see them more and are more involved with their lifes. Just making that simple phonecall before a patient goes in for chemo after spending 30 minutes faxing non stop paperwork to get approval for meds so the person has one less thing to worry about, or spending 5 minutes on a patient although the patient sees that you are extremely busy is a life changer... Stuff that I did YESTERDAY.

Then again, helping somebody with their ability to see is important which is why you are comparing apples to oranges.

 

[FeedthisCat]

if you are planning on making one or the other a life long career I strongly suggest you work in both optometry and pharmacy before making a decision

whichever one you enjoy doing most is the right one for you

you can have the greatest job in the world but it would be equivalent to the worst job you can think of like flipping burgers if you don't truly enjoy what you are doing

you're just gonna carry out the motions over and over again and not care then it'd be no different from a job you dislike

work/ volunteer in both fields and whichever one makes you most happy is the one for you, if neither makes you happy/ content then look elsewhere

 

[IndustryPharmD]

Well, with an optometry degree, as far as I know, all you can do is be an optometrist. With a pharmacy degree you can work in a great variety of settings and functions. But if you know you enjoy working directly with patients - then that difference is not really relevant for you and just choose one which best fits your interests. If you want to own your own business, it's probably easier being an optometrist...

 

[SHC1984]

Hi everyone,

This post isn't meant to get any controversy started! It’s simply to get people's opinion concerning two great professions.

As the title would suggest, I'm in a real bind. I have to make a very difficult decision between pharmacy and optometry as a career. Both schools are in Ontario, Canada and I am planning on remaining in Ontario once my schooling is completed. There are a few older posts asking this question (optometry versus pharmacy), but none take the recent cuts that are taking place in community pharmacies of Ontario into consideration.

What is your opinion, which career would YOU go for if YOU had the choice? And why?

I like pharmacy better, but right now Opto will provide better job security and you will never have to worry about having a surplus of Optometrists etc. Pharmacy however there are already a surplus of pharmacists, so getting a job is much more diffcult. (You already seen the 10000000 threads on here about the surplus so I should haven't to elaborate on that) There are only 17 Opto schools in the United States, so if you are an Opto you are guarntee a job upon graduation...pharmacy you might or might not have a job depends on your connections. Good luck.

 

[UNMorBUST]

I like pharmacy better, but right now Opto will provide better job security and you will never have to worry about having a surplus of Optometrists etc. Pharmacy however there are already a surplus of pharmacists, so getting a job is much more diffcult. (You already seen the 10000000 threads on here about the surplus so I should haven't to elaborate on that) There are only 17 Opto schools in the United States, so if you are an Opto you are guarntee a job upon graduation...pharmacy you might or might not have a job depends on your connections. Good luck.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=721407
Same issues are happening in optometry. Saturation, oversupply, trouble finding jobs, new school opening. Yes there are few opto schools. However, the need for optometrist is less then pharmacists.
**** Oh yea and they have to deal with insurance which is not doing to well right now for any profession.

 

[jinga]

I like pharmacy better, but right now Opto will provide better job security and you will never have to worry about having a surplus of Optometrists etc. Pharmacy however there are already a surplus of pharmacists, so getting a job is much more diffcult. (You already seen the 10000000 threads on here about the surplus so I should haven't to elaborate on that) There are only 17 Opto schools in the United States, so if you are an Opto you are guarntee a job upon graduation...pharmacy you might or might not have a job depends on your connections. Good luck.

Wrong. There is an oversupply of optometrists. I see a Pharm.D. as a more dynamic degree.

 

[PharmOl]

Did you post this in Pre- Optometry too? Or you're counting on us to talk you out of Optometry and into Pharmacy?

 

[Zekecb]

Did you post this in Pre- Optometry too? Or you're counting on us to talk you out of Optometry and into Pharmacy?

I posted this question in the pre-pharmacy forum as well as the pre-optometry forum. I didn't want to get a biased opinion by only choosing one of the two forums.

And chemguy79, i agree that they are very different fields. But understand that I am considering the grand scheme of things, which is the health care field. In the health care field I was able to narrow it down to these two professions, and now I have to make this last decision.. but thank you for your input!

I suppose it would be kind of cool to write prescriptions, but a career in optometry just sounds boring.

 

[1plus1]

Did you post this in Pre- Optometry too? Or you're counting on us to talk you out of Optometry and into Pharmacy?

Yea i did post this in the optometry forum also! I'm trying to keep the opinions as un-biased as possible..

 

[UNMorBUST]

Yea i did post this in the optometry forum also! I'm trying to keep the opinions as un-biased as possible..

You should have posted it in the dental forum then.

 

[PharmOl]

You should have posted it in the dental forum then.

Lol, exactly my point.

 

[medicalCPA]

OP, unfortunately you will get few, if any, unbiased responses. I'm willing to bet that the majority of those on this board did not consider optometry, and those in the optometry forum did not consider pharmacy. Asking people to make a judgment about a career they did not even consider will give you lots of well-intentioned but ignorant responses.

I would suggest that a better way to make your choice would simply be to ask, "why did you choose pharmacy/optometry?" This question has been answered countless times -- at least on this forum, and I suspect in the optometry forums as well -- and the responses will give you material to help you make your decision.

 

[xjackster]

There are so many things you can do with a PharmD whereas (it seems) that options are more limited with optometry.

Same reason why I don't like Dentistry, Veterinary, or Podiatry. It's not as flexible as Pharmacy. With a PharmD you can specialized, do research, or work in clinics, etc.
Also, I don't like direct patient care.

 

[SHC1984]

Same reason why I don't like Dentistry, Veterinary, or Podiatry. It's not as flexible as Pharmacy. With a PharmD you can specialized, do research, or work in clinics, etc.
Also, I don't like direct patient care.

That's the reason why I choose pharmacy.