PharmD comparable to a Masters?

[jimychoo]

Masters - 4 year bachelor's degree + 2 years graduate school = 6 years

PharmD - 2 years prerequisites + fours years professional school = 6 years

Medical school - 4 year bachelor's + 4 years of graduate school + 1 to 4 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 12 years

PhD - 4 year bachelor's + 4 to 7 years of graduate school + 1 to 2 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 13 years
😱

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[crazybob]

Masters - 4 year bachelor's degree + 2 years graduate school = 6 years

PharmD - 2 years prerequisites + fours years professional school = 6 years

Medical school - 4 year bachelor's + 4 years of graduate school + 1 to 4 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 12 years

PhD - 4 year bachelor's + 4 to 7 years of graduate school + 1 to 2 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 13 years
😱

It's a Doctorate that takes the same amount of time as a Masters. It's much better than a Masters.

 

[BMBiology]

Masters - 4 year bachelor's degree + 2 years graduate school = 6 years

PharmD - 2 years prerequisites + fours years professional school = 6 years

Medical school - 4 year bachelor's + 4 years of graduate school + 1 to 4 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 12 years

PhD - 4 year bachelor's + 4 to 7 years of graduate school + 1 to 2 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 13 years
😱

First, 6 years is the minimal. In fact, the vast majority of pharmacy students have a bachelor degree before entering pharmacy school.

Second, medical schools do not require a bachelor degree, just as long as you finished the prerequisites similar to pharmacy schools

Third, many pharmacists now complete a 1-2 year post-graduate work.

If that is the way you look at it, then dentistry is also similar to pharmacy. However, that is a simplistic way of looking at things. Not fair to dentistry and certainly not fair to pharmacy as well.

 

[Humper]

Masters - 4 year bachelor's degree + 2 years graduate school = 6 years

PharmD - 2 years prerequisites + fours years professional school = 6 years

Medical school - 4 year bachelor's + 4 years of graduate school + 1 to 4 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 12 years

PhD - 4 year bachelor's + 4 to 7 years of graduate school + 1 to 2 years of post-graduate work = 9 - 13 years
😱

Pharm.D. is a professional degree; it is not an academic degree.

If you compare in term of time to complete, then, Pharm.D. equals to a Master

If you compare in term of earning, then, it is better than most kind of academic degree (Master or Phd) except the Phd of some industrial science (engineering, pharmacology, Chemistry, Physics, nano.....)

 

[jimychoo]

First, 6 years is the minimal. In fact, the vast majority of pharmacy students have a bachelor degree before entering pharmacy school.

Second, medical schools do not require a bachelor degree, just as long as you finished the prerequisites similar to pharmacy schools

Third, many pharmacists now complete a 1-2 year post-graduate work.

If that is the way you look at it, then dentistry is also similar to pharmacy. However, that is a simplistic way of looking at things. Not fair to dentistry and certainly not fair to pharmacy as well.

A bachelor's is implicitly required for entry into medical school. I have not heard of anyone that gets in without it. I have heard of some students getting into pharmacy after one year of college. Because they get their prereqs by taking AP courses in highschool.

 

[aboveliquidice]

It's a Doctorate that takes the same amount of time as a Masters. It's much better than a Masters.

Don't feed the troll.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

You can get into medical school with 3 years of undergrad. I know people who have done it.

Honestly, both pharmacy and medical school should result in BS degrees. The idea that you have a doctoral level of knowledge in either of those subjects upon graduation is pretty laughable. Hence, the requirement for a residency and typical uselessness of new graduates in both fields. Good 'ol degree inflation.

 

[jimychoo]

Don't feed the troll.

posting the term "troll" implying that you have nothing significant to say. Great avoidance mechanism.

 

[bananaface]

Some medical specialties might also require a fellowship. All of this just shows how you pharmacy is a great doctoral level health care profession to get into from a time standpoint.

 

[Humper]

You can get into medical school with 3 years of undergrad. I know people who have done it.

Honestly, both pharmacy and medical school should result in BS degrees. The idea that you have a doctoral level of knowledge in either of those subjects upon graduation is pretty laughable. Hence, the requirement for a residency and typical uselessness of new graduates in both fields. Good 'ol degree inflation.

Actually, a doctorate level is needed for medical grad, because no body like having a physician, having only 4 years of education, curing them.

Pharmacy, in the other hand, doesn't need a doctorate.

Why don't you get a Phd in Pharmaceutical science. I think that field is very lucrative.

 

[jimychoo]

You can get into medical school with 3 years of undergrad. I know people who have done it.

Honestly, both pharmacy and medical school should result in BS degrees. The idea that you have a doctoral level of knowledge in either of those subjects upon graduation is pretty laughable. Hence, the requirement for a residency and typical uselessness of new graduates in both fields. Good 'ol degree inflation.

It will be interesting when P.A.'s are required to have a doctoral degree. I wonder how that will work...

 

[bananaface]

jimy, how does your "roomate" feel about this issue? Or, is he out eating at White Castle?

 

[joetrisman]

Don't feed the troll.

👍

 

[Its Z]

In Before the Ban..

 

[Its Z]

boy...he didn't last very long did he...

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Actually, a doctorate level is needed for medical grad, because no body like having a physician, having only 4 years of education, curing them.

They don't give them doctorates in the UK and nobody seems to care...

Why don't you get a Phd in Pharmaceutical science. I think that field is very lucrative.

A few of my professors actually told me to get a PhD in pharmacology...

 

[joetrisman]

In Before the Ban..

I think you may of missed it by a hair

 

[GamecockPharmD]

pharmacy is a doctoral level profession because the curriculum is far more intense than a master's program. with the amount of material they cover in pharmacy school, the 4 year professional program could easily be extended by at least another year. just because someone does it in 6 years doesn't make them equivalent to having a master's. wasting two more years in undergraduate studying plant biology or whatever isn't going to make anyone a better pharmacist. undergrad is a joke anyway. and many medical and dental schools do not require an undergrad degree. many just have credit hour requirements in addition to the appropriate prerequisites.

 

[bacillus1]

I get this question all the time. I answer that it's not a master's degree. It's a professional degree comparable to physical therapy (DPT) and law (JD). Notice that those two also have "doctor" in them, without really being doctorate degrees.

 

[GamecockPharmD]

I get this question all the time. I answer that it's not a master's degree. It's a professional degree comparable to physical therapy (DPT) and law (JD). Notice that those two also have "doctor" in them, without really being doctorate degrees.

In the hierarchy of academic degrees, the PharmD is equivalent to MD, DO, DMD, DDS, DPT, JD, DrPH, DC, AuD, OD, etc. The highest academic degree is a PhD. So if you say that PharmD, DPT, JD are not really doctorate degrees, then you must extend this statement to MDs, DOs, DMDs, etc. The ones that really deserve to be called doctor are the PhDs. Don't take anything away from the PharmD by saying that it isn't a real doctorate degree, because it is. Just clarify that it is a professional doctorate. Many physicians think they are the only people entitled to use the title "doctor." However, I will agree that it is inappropriate to use the title in certain settings that would cause someone to be confused with a physician. The title doctor should not implicitly mean physician, but unfortunately it does in the United States. In my opinion, this takes away from the achievements of other professionals. By the way, one of my classmates I graduated with has a brother that is both a PharmD and a MD. He said that medical school is a little more difficult than pharmacy school, however pharmacy school is definitely no joke. Hopefully this will make other PharmDs a little more comfortable with the "D" part of their degree, since this comes from an almighty MD.

 

[PharmaTope]

actually id compare a pharmd to an mba..... every jackass has one these days and neither is doing **** for you in the long run....

 

[owlegrad]

actually id compare a pharmd to an mba..... every jackass has one these days and neither is doing **** for you in the long run....

 

[PharmaTope]

i also forgot to throw in that every school under the sun is offering both degrees as well 🙂


hooray pharmacy

 

[aboveliquidice]

i also forgot to throw in that every school under the sun is offering both degrees as well 🙂


hooray pharmacy

cool story bro...

 

[sleazye]

unfortunately, the pharmd is an inflated masters. not to say that it is easy, but it doesnt need to be 6-8 years + 1-2 years post grad to do the actual job. however, being highly educated isnt necessarily a bad thing, just not time efficient.

 

[FruitFly]

boy...he didn't last very long did he...

He lives on in this thread. lol

As my favorite poet Shakespeare once wrote: "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones."

Perhaps that's why this troll thread is still here. To remind us of that unfortunate truth.

 

[VCU2011]

unfortunately, the pharmd is an inflated masters. not to say that it is easy, but it doesnt need to be 6-8 years + 1-2 years post grad to do the actual job. however, being highly educated isnt necessarily a bad thing, just not time efficient.

You're making the mistake of generalizing the degree to community pharmacy. If you are going to do critical care in a large teaching hospital you better believe you need 6-8 years + post grad training

 

[type b pharmD]

a few thoughts

it's not 95% of pharmacy applicants who have Bachelors degrees..

When i applied two years ago, i think 30% of my incoming class is or was without bachelors, and this is at a well known state school that has few others competing with it. Personally i attended technical college for a lot of my prereqs.. so .. that makes pharmD a little different than masters, phd's and even med school (you cant deny the prestige/difficulty of a program is on the whole a little less when they accept technical college credits)

Also, I know two people first hand who have gotten into med school without an undergraduate degree.

The requirement of a bachelors for med school is similar to pharmacy school - it doesnt usually exist.. however med schools have stringent language strongly suggesting or recommending them and maybe only 2-3% of people get in without them. However i've heard this is going to be the case at some pharmD programs in the future too (coastal powerhouse schools ? a few selective state schools in the midwest??)

my thoughts on the issue itself : pharmD is somewhere in between masters and phD in terms of difficulty (obviously this is literally the case when examining length of program)

some masters degrees are wayy easier than pharmD's, judging by being acquainted with people in easy masters programs who do nothing but slack off.. on the other hand there are some phD's out there that are comparable to pharmacy school in workload depending on how much effort you put in. On the other hand, if you are at an elite program in a competitive field, even a masters may be more difficult time wise and material wise than the pharmD. . To me the biggest difference between the programs is that in a phD or masters, the program is very much what you make of it .. extremely hard workers who want to actually get a job when they're done will put in TONS of work , probably moreso than a pharmD candidate.. whereas pharmD is majority didactic, straightforward, lecture and multiple choice exam format, and if you put in a bit above the minimum effort you will get through fine -- the fact that most pharmacy students work an off campus job 10-20 hours per week says a lot about the priorities, difficulty, and focus of the pharmD program. Work experience with future employers is not something that is standard at masters and phd's .. and so a lot of the time and effort that makes up a pharmD n my opinion involves building good connections with industry and employers. (this level of committment counts towards overall difficulty but is not recognized by the academic or general public). however this lack of academic research and publishing etc, makes pharmD a much more "technical" degree and less prestigious, which may contribute to some people's view of it being an easy or not a "real" degree.

 

[GamecockPharmD]

PharmD is a professional doctorate. End of story. ODs get called doctor and many of them do not do a residency. Its called a doctorate because of the intensity of the program. Sure it doesn't contain a research component, but many professional doctorates do not. How many MDs do you know that have written a dissertation? We have already established that many professional doctorate degrees including MDs do not necessarily have to have a bachelors to get in. We just need to let it rest. No, the PharmD is not as prestigious as MDs or PhDs, but it's pretty much on the same level as an OD and other professional doctorates. The prestige comes with reputation and how much work you put in. Someone with a PharmD after doing 6 years of school doing community pharmacy, like myself, is not going to be treated with the same respect as someone with 1 to 2 years plus of residency and being board certified. And rightly so. I'll never asked to be called doctor. I don't want to be. It just pisses me off when I see people call it an inflated masters because it's a helluva lot more difficult than most masters programs. It's true that you don't need a PharmD to do community pharmacy, but powers that be decided to make it required because of the almighty dollar. They could charge more for school and extend school out, and it is unfortunate because it did take some value away from the degree. I guess since the shortage is over they just need to start making a bachelors required + a year of residency even though their aren't enough residency spots. Maybe everyone will quit their crying then.

 

[Sparda29]

You can get into medical school with 3 years of undergrad. I know people who have done it.

Honestly, both pharmacy and medical school should result in BS degrees. The idea that you have a doctoral level of knowledge in either of those subjects upon graduation is pretty laughable. Hence, the requirement for a residency and typical uselessness of new graduates in both fields. Good 'ol degree inflation.

Perhaps. Maybe like if you have 10 years of experience after graduation, you can have the title Doctor.

 

[charfdorn]

Perhaps. Maybe like if you have 10 years of experience after graduation, you can have the title Doctor.

"Doctor" used to just be a sign of respect within a profession or recognition that an individual was a master in his field. Samuel Johnson comes to mind.