Not sure if I'm making the right choice

[Goatsie]

Please don't mark this post as irrelevant: the inquiries regarding residencies and fellowships are at the bottom!

I am currently interviewing for pharmacy schools. The problem is that, I'm not sure if it is the right move for me. I used to strongly believe that medicine was more my flavor, but because of poor performances in college, I thought that it was a dead end trying to pursue it; so, I applied to pharmacy.

Now, that I have done my first interview, and I feel darn good about myself compared to my competition, I feel like there is hope for medical school. I've spent the past several years building up my CV/resume to the point where I feel like I have a legitimate chance to getting into a SMP, which would link me into an MD program.

Thus the question becomes: did you ever have to make this same choice? If so, how did you justify going to pharmacy instead of medical school? Do you regret your choice? I post this in the residencies and fellowship area so that I can pick on the wisdom that exists in those who've been through pharm school, and those that may have similar goals as me.

Before my interviews, I reasoned that what I really wanted to do was research and to be able to teach at the graduate level. When I realized that PharmDs CAN DO RESEARCH after doing fellowships/residencies/post-docs and that it was possible teach as well, well, I wondered if getting an MD would escalate my opportunities for better schools, getting paid more, and praticiing medicine (which, in terms of technical skills, I'd rather have instead of a more narrow, but deep, knowledge of drugs).

The bill for my education in pharmacy would amount to approximately a quarter million dollars, medicine ain't that much more and I feel like you get more in return.

I don't know. Can anyone chime in????

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[GAP2012]

I say follow your heart and pursue the field you want. Dont try to take the easier route just because you feel like you will not get into medical school. You dont want to regret your decision later after spending so much money. I went back and forth between med and pharm school in college. I don't regret my decision to go to pharmacy school, but I always wonder what if. At one point I contemplated medical school after pharm school, but the thought of all that debt definitely discouraged that idea.

 

[mustang sally]

I'm a non-traditional student who chose between pharmacy school vs. SMP plus med school. I already had a family so for me personally I just didn't want to make the commitment to med school in the end. I think I went to a few career seminars where they talked about pharmacy residencies, fellowships, and magical pharmacy unicorns and I got hooked on the idea of pharmacy. I still have a few weeks til I graduate so I can't really comment on whether or not it was worth it for me. I think if I find a non-traditional job or a hospital job I will be pretty happy though. Some of my thoughts on your situation:

1. I seriously would reconsider pharmacy if it will cost you a quarter of a million dollars and your heart isn't in it. I don't think the PharmD is worth going into that kind of debt these days. Check out all of the job market threads if you haven't already.
2. If you are really interested in research, I think an MD degree is vastly superior to the PharmD. Yes, pharmacists do research but it rarely seems to be on par with an MD's ability to do research and secure NIH grants. And yes, I know there are Henry McLeods out there and exceptions to this but they are the exceptions and not the rule.
3. If you do decide on pharmacy, I can pretty much guarantee that you will go through things in school that will make you want to run for the hills because they seem so idiotic/boring/hideous. Academia is not always a good reflection of real world pharmacy, and you just have to power through those moments.