Podiatry vs Pharmacy

[Spiderman-ish]

Hi everyone,

I am currently in a gap year between undergrad and graduate school. I applied to both pharmacy and podiatry programs. I was accepted into a 3 year pharmD program today, and I am considering taking it, but I also have 2 podiatry school interviews upcoming. I feel that I may get in to at least one of the podiatry programs, because I received very quick word on interview (The day after I applied).

Which program is more worth it? To preface, I was a biochem major in undergrad, graduated with a 3.4 cumulative, and a 3.2 science GPA, good extracurricular, have shadowed podiatrists and MD/DO, worked in labs.

I am mostly curious what you would pick if in the same situation.

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[Spiderman-ish]

Also, have taken the MCAT, received a 499

 

[GypsyHummus]

You could prolly get into a DO school with those stats.

You will most likely get a Pod acceptance.

Do you wanna be a doctor or a pharmacist? Pharm also has a huge saturation problem right now. Podiatry has its own issues, but Ive never seen an unemployed Pod (who graduated from a residency). If this were me, Id pick Podiatry hands down.

 

[Spiderman-ish]

You could prolly get into a DO school with those stats.

You will most likely get a Pod acceptance.

Do you wanna be a doctor or a pharmacist? Pharm also has a huge saturation problem right now. Podiatry has its own issues, but Ive never seen an unemployed Pod (who graduated from a residency). If this were me, Id pick Podiatry hands down.

Would you mind delving into the saturation problem? I haven't heard much about it, at least from my friends in pharmacy. And what issues would you say are associated with podiatry?

Excuse my ignorance, I haven't truly heard much about these, the biggest problem I've heard recently revolved around the merging of MD/DO files

 

[GypsyHummus]

Head over to both respective forums. Lots have been shown on this topic.

 

[esob]

Moved to prepharm. It could technically be prepod as well but it didn't belong in the community discussion section.

 

[puahate]

u could get into a DO school

 

[projektreverb]

Definitely not pharmacy.

 

[BC_89]

Hi everyone,

I am currently in a gap year between undergrad and graduate school. I applied to both pharmacy and podiatry programs. I was accepted into a 3 year pharmD program today, and I am considering taking it, but I also have 2 podiatry school interviews upcoming. I feel that I may get in to at least one of the podiatry programs, because I received very quick word on interview (The day after I applied).

Which program is more worth it? To preface, I was a biochem major in undergrad, graduated with a 3.4 cumulative, and a 3.2 science GPA, good extracurricular, have shadowed podiatrists and MD/DO, worked in labs.

I am mostly curious what you would pick if in the same situation.

If you have not shadowed or worked as a pharmacy tech I’d strongly advise against the pharmD. My reasoning is because your decision is based off of looking at the BLS salary tool for pharmacists (or a similar tool). If you’d shadowed or worked as a tech, you’d have seen the day to day job of pharmacy and be introduced to what saturation possibly means. Six figure student debt with many places only part-time work but can be rewarding if your willing to start at a BFE location.

So, what’s more worth it? Whatever job you can at-the-very-least tolerate (but hopefully enjoy) that will allot you the money and time for your hobbies. Seems like you’ve shadowed podiatry and enjoyed it. Do podiatry and never gamble your 35+ working career on an unknown (ie didn’t shadow nor work as a tech in any setting).

 

[Doctorishere12345]

Hi everyone,

I am currently in a gap year between undergrad and graduate school. I applied to both pharmacy and podiatry programs. I was accepted into a 3 year pharmD program today, and I am considering taking it, but I also have 2 podiatry school interviews upcoming. I feel that I may get in to at least one of the podiatry programs, because I received very quick word on interview (The day after I applied).

Which program is more worth it? To preface, I was a biochem major in undergrad, graduated with a 3.4 cumulative, and a 3.2 science GPA, good extracurricular, have shadowed podiatrists and MD/DO, worked in labs.

I am mostly curious what you would pick if in the same situation.

DO you take both PCAT and MCAT during gap year?

 

[Spiderman-ish]

DO you take both PCAT and MCAT during gap year?

I applied to a program that did not require PCAT as a back up option

 

[GypsyHummus]

With your MCAT score, you will prolly even get a nice scholarship depending on the school.

I considered Pharmacy for a very brief period of time a couple years ago. PM me if you would like to talk more.

I applied to a program that did not require PCAT as a back up option

 

[tropicalstudent]

Depends on what you want in terms of your lifestyle and career. Both of them can have great upsides and have their issues right now and down the road.

 

[Doctorishere12345]

Depends on what you want in terms of your lifestyle and career. Both of them can have great upsides and have their issues right now and down the road.

I know about pharmacy issues but what bout podiatry. can u explain more?

 

[tropicalstudent]

I know about pharmacy issues but what bout podiatry. can u explain more?

Ask a podiatrist or a student and they will give you a more precise explination. Some do great others struggle a little bit. Depends a lot of factors.
Pro's
Real Independent provider with surgery (Compared to pharmacist)
Good lifestyle
Surgery if that is your interest.
Mix of many specialties focused on the foot.

In general Cons
Salaries and scope of practice vary widely depending on practice setting.
Tuition and student loans in pod schools are rising (not an unique problem but something to consider since there are only 9 pod schools in the country)
Pays closer to a primary care physician than to a surgical specialty.

Podiatry is a great career if you actually want to practice on it just have to want it bad enough.

 

[GypsyHummus]

Pros:
+Still a "doc", and all the pros and cons that come with being a "doc"
+Huge variety of things in the foot. From simple to complex procedures.
+Generally, it is getting more and more mainstream as more pods are graduating with good education.
+3 year residency gives some more credibility to the degree, puts it on par with other medical doctors educationwise (can also be a con for time).
+ Practice of Podiatry itself can be very rewarding. It is very procedural based, so you can help alliviate peoples foot problems instead of trying to tinker with medication.
+ I know of no Pods without Jobs (who have gotten a residency).

Con
-The foot itself is very gross. You are dealing with pus, blood, bacteria, and all sorts of things that are slimy and gross that can splash on you
-The pay is not consistant across all modes of practice. There are associate pods working for other pods that are barley making 100K/year and there are Pods working with multispecilty groups making 350K+. It is all dependent on the contract you get. Pharmacy is much more consistant at low six figures.
-Length of training is long, almost twice that of pharmacy.
-Limited license, so if you end up not liking the actual practice of podiatry, you need to go back to school and get other education
- Degree discrimination/ignorance. There are MD/DOs out there that flat out have no clue what a Pod does or Ortho that likes to snatch up foot and ankle fractures from Pods. You will have to deal with that
- Some pods might not be able to bring in enough surgery to sit for particular boards, and then be relegated to primary care podiatry. Primary care podiatry isnt a bad gig at all, but you wont be doing all of the things you were trained to do like ankle fractures and truama if you cant be board certified.

@DexterMorganSK and @Weirdy can help more with the student side. These guys are top shelf students and bouncing back and forth pros and cons with them might help you make a decision.

I know about pharmacy issues but what bout podiatry. can u explain more?

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Shadow both fields in different settings, i.e. clinics, hospitals, outpatient centers, etc and make a decision. You can't pick a profession based on what we tell you here, go out in the real world and see it for yourself and what is better for you and ultimately what will make you happy down the line.

I was accepted to a PharmD program before going to the Pod route; I only made this decision based on what I saw the DPMs do and what the future holds for the profession; I got very interested in the field and went for it and now in the second year, it was a great decision for me.

If you have a podiatry related question, come to the Pod forum and ask us there. Good luck, OP.

 

[Weirdy]

Sup.