I think a lot of it is a quality of life issue and that is one of the PROS when I look at pharmacy. The ability to work 3 12 hour shifts a week, for example, and still have a very comfortable living would be awesome, plus having time to do other things I'm interested in...horses, camping, fishing, hunting, rock climbing etc. And I would imagine that it is fairly easy to get a pharmacy job in a desireable part of the country. Whereas for a doctor, as a generalization, your life tends to be built around your practice. You have far less time to enjoy other pursuits. Not to mention if I went to med school, I wouldn't get out of residency until 34-35 and that is a long time living on bread and macaroni and cheese. I know I want a health-related profession and quality of life is something really important to me. I'm not completely sure yet if I want to go the med school route. That is a major investment in time and money. Pharmacy is too, but not quite on the same scale.
Well - you're talking about a whole lot of things here. You're speaking about quality of life - your hobbies. You're also talking about the time it takes to complete school - your debt & time committment. You're also talking about a huge assumption of job possibilities (easy to get a job....but what job & what KIND of job??).
As Bingham said - you need to do some soulsearching. Is medicine right for you? Is pharmacy right for you? My daughter went the medschool route & was counseled very, very strongly to not apply to graduate school at the same institutions - or any other institutions. (Sadly, for me, pharmacy was never an option for her
🙁).
You've got to decide - what is your goal?
I've always stated here there really, really is a different mindset between a good physician & a good pharmacist. One is neither better nor worse than the other - I really believe this! I am married to a dentist, have a daughter who is 18 months from becoming a physician & I'm a really good pharmacist
🙂p) - and we all see things differently.
You need to look into who you are & what you like. The time & money is indeed a committment. But, honestly, if I had known how much money dentists spend, I'm not sure if I'd committ (just j/k -
😀). There really are differences in how we look at things & how happy we are with what we decide on doing for a livinig.
Our learning & educations is a journey - not an end. You will always continue to learn & spend money on learning. I don't make light of how much I spend on my daughter's medical school committments, but she does not stop camping, fishing, etc....just because she is a medical student. Nor did I as a pharmacy student or a pharmacist.
Good luck!