Should I do pharmacy or medical?

[Ben Fuzze]

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I currently have one more class, which I'm taking now, to graduate with a B.S in Biology. So if I choose to do medicine, for the rest of this year, I would have to focus on my extracurriculars, which I currently have none, and the MCAT. However, I find the field of pharmacy much more appealing- I would rather be an expert in and deal with 'stuff,' in this case substances and drugs, than directly deal with actual, physical body parts.
But the problem is that I have heard from a few practicing pharmacists that the field of pharmacy, specifically retail, which I want to get into, is at a decline. The job market is supersaturated with pharmacists and salaries/benefits are slowly decreasing.
This of course is very worrisome and I would therefore not want to commit myself to pharmacy. But on the other hand, I don't have full passion for medicine except for the fact that it is the best alternative for me (I definitely do not have an interest for anything else).
Would it be a good idea to do medicine either way? Or should I take the risk with pharmacy?

 

[allantois]

Neither career seems like a good choice for you

 

[BC_89]

MD/DO: You need to shadow physicians before even considering the time - frame of years of study or even community service work.

Pharmacy: yes..saturated with high cost of loans equivalent to med students. Without a contingency plan to offset the investment your leaving yourself to intolerable risk.

You’ve painted a rainbow career setting when it seems you’ve never actually stepped foot in retail (at least beyond a short duration of time). Thus the conclusion for you is neither career. You never “settle” for med school and you never want to be an expert in “stuff” dealing with retail if your not sure what the definition of retail-stuff entails.

At least, by this one post that’s how many will interpret this.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

I currently have one more class, which I'm taking now, to graduate with a B.S in Biology. So if I choose to do medicine, for the rest of this year, I would have to focus on my extracurriculars, which I currently have none, and the MCAT. However, I find the field of pharmacy much more appealing- I would rather be an expert in and deal with 'stuff,' in this case substances and drugs, than directly deal with actual, physical body parts.
But the problem is that I have heard from a few practicing pharmacists that the field of pharmacy, specifically retail, which I want to get into, is at a decline. The job market is supersaturated with pharmacists and salaries/benefits are slowly decreasing.
This of course is very worrisome and I would therefore not want to commit myself to pharmacy. But on the other hand, I don't have full passion for medicine except for the fact that it is the best alternative for me (I definitely do not have an interest for anything else).
Would it be a good idea to do medicine either way? Or should I take the risk with pharmacy?

I would choose medicine. Good luck.

 

[steveysmith54]

No. Do paleontology, astronomy, or carpentry ONLY!

 

[chilllpill]

If you have not already done so, you need to get yourself into a position where you can shadow and see the daily tasks of both professions (as others have said). It sounds as if you are approaching both from the theoretical -- what you think you would like -- rather than what you have actually seen and done yourself. Besides dealing with "stuff" versus "body parts," pharmacy and medicine also differ greatly in many other ways like mindset and workflow. For example, physicians have more autonomy (and, therefore, must also have the ability/desire to handle the responsibility of making decisions that determine a patient's course of treatment). Keep in mind that there are a lot of specialties in medicine, so maybe you could find an area that suits you, but do a lot of shadowing and research first because of course medicine is a long enough road when you have passion for the field, nevermind when you don't have passion for it.

School is too expensive to jump into a major field without investing the time to see if it's what you really want to do. See if you can find any free medical or pharmacy clinics in your area that might welcome volunteers? And if neither option seems right, maybe you could reconsider other options like graduate school and pursuing a degree that would allow you to work with "things".... maybe pharmacology or bioengineering (or some other area that really interested you in your undergrad?) But again, as with pharmacy, I believe that job prospects in these areas may not be that widespread and possibility limited to certain geographic areas.... so do your research.

 

[Timbo]

Another thing, forget what the smart decision is financially. Yes, pharmacy's job market is not so hot right now, but your career is for the rest of your life, while the market rises and falls in cycles.

Please no. This is terrible advice. Yes choose what you would enjoy doing is the first step, but the second step is to narrow your choices to which will also give you financial security. The market may fall and rise in cycles for certain fields but I wouldn't put my money on pharmacy rising anytime soon. Look up pharmacy demand indicator (PDI) and you'll see that pharmacist demand has been steadily declining for the past ten years and has just last year fallen under 3 (meaning supply is now higher than demand). Sometimes it's not about doing something you love but doing something you're good at and can tolerate doing that also gives you the time and financial freedom to pay your bills, buy a home, pursue other hobbies, go on vacations.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Choose the field that excites you, but be prepared to forego a comfortable life.

Many artists, teachers, and actors who are passionate about their fields live paycheck to paycheck and have to wait tables or work in other low-paying jobs just so they can pay the month's rent. If you're willing to make major sacrifices to become a pharmacist, i.e. settle down in rural Alaska for the rest of your life or work a 2nd non-pharmacy job to pay the bills then go for it.