Ask a PHARMACIST turned MEDICAL STUDENT anything (except medical advice)

[DrAesthetics]

hope op is still alive since this is a 1 year bump. would like some advice.
Currently have my sights on pharmacy school after getting a BA in chem. Worried about the job market/saturation like you said though. Should I make a career change and if so could you recommend something similar?
Please pm me if you can too as I have other questions

100% do not do pharmacy. Checkout studentdoctor and indeed pharmacy section.

Student doctor mods falsely hide the people posting about no pharmacy jobs though. The move all threads into a "sky is falling" thread. Lots of pharmacists without work. The guys I work with always say they regret going to pharm school.

It isn't a good profession. Try to talk to some local pharm guys.

[my.self]

how did u decide about ur future career and what u wanted to do?

atm, im 20 and working on my undergrad bachelors in kinesiology. ive already decided that im going to stay away from the sports side and go into more of the healthcare side such as physical therapist, nursing, or something like that. OR go for my masters in kines. however, i dont really know which path way to choose. im partially turned away from the healthcare because i know i would have a crap load more pre-reqs to complete and i would be stuck in undergrad for 5.5 years. im not trying to rush out of college, but 5.5 is quite long for bachelors and pre-reqs. what would u do? would u let something like this deter u?

[john146504]

Good job on advancing your medical career. Great thing about the medical field is their is always room for advancement. Never stop learning.

[drekkage]

why do all medical students have to have some reference to studying medicine in their username or sig?

[DrAesthetics]

Lemmings...




All the good names about Facial Aesthetics were all taken lol.

Reality: most in medicine LOVE to brag or know something you don't. It's real messed up.

Only a handful of people know I'm in med school. Never put school on ********. Never posted online about anything medical before.

[DrAesthetics]

Good job on advancing your medical career. Great thing about the medical field is their is always room for advancement. Never stop learning.

Thank you!

That's what they say. Having the two degrees will def open doors. Not a lot of physicians have two doctoral degrees. So hopefully I can get some unique experiences.

[KangarooMD]

I dropped out of a PharmD program in September only because of the job market. I was there for 2 days and decided it wasn't work the money (200k+ for pharmacy school).

Now I'm lost. Don't know what to do brah. Help a brah out. Pharmacy was my career choice, but after finding out about the job market and the ridiculous price tag, I decided to drop. Any thoughts? (and yea, Studentdoctor network was one of the reasons).

[SillieBazzillie]

I work in healthcare finance and can confirm that most pharmacist make $100k or less. The retail ones who make bank ($150k or so) are most likely managers and work tons of overtime.

If I were going to be a doc these days, I'd try to get hired by a hospital as soon as possible. Hospitals cover your malpractice, give you plenty of options to share call, and take care of most of the administrative bs involved with running an office (billing, scheduling, etc).

As far as salaries for new MDs, here's an approximate of what I see for docs without an existing practice:

Primary Care $200k
OB/GYN $180k
General Surgeon $250k
Vascular (or other specialty) Surgeon $300k
Anesthesiologist $350k
Radiologist $350k

The life of a doc employed by a hospital is not bad these days.

[Negbro]

I'm graduating pharm school in 2 months, going to be working for a chain.. definitely don't want to do it for the rest of my life. I am planning on living at home and paying myself my intern salary, banking the rest.

[KangarooMD]

I work in healthcare finance and can confirm that most pharmacist make $100k or less. The retail ones who make bank ($150k or so) are most likely managers and work tons of overtime.

If I were going to be a doc these days, I'd try to get hired by a hospital as soon as possible. Hospitals cover your malpractice, give you plenty of options to share call, and take care of most of the administrative bs involved with running an office (billing, scheduling, etc).

As far as salaries for new MDs, here's an approximate of what I see for docs without an existing practice:

Primary Care $200k
OB/GYN $180k
General Surgeon $250k
Vascular (or other specialty) Surgeon $300k
Anesthesiologist $350k
Radiologist $350k

The life of a doc employed by a hospital is not bad these days.

I'd love to be a radiologist and find it really interesting. Thing is that I had a 3.45 overall GPA in college with a B.S. in Molecular Bio...and there is just no way I could even remotely have a chance at a med school in the US. Caribbean? Maybe.

Feelsbadman.

[DrAesthetics]

I work in healthcare finance and can confirm that most pharmacist make $100k or less. The retail ones who make bank ($150k or so) are most likely managers and work tons of overtime.

If I were going to be a doc these days, I'd try to get hired by a hospital as soon as possible. Hospitals cover your malpractice, give you plenty of options to share call, and take care of most of the administrative bs involved with running an office (billing, scheduling, etc).

As far as salaries for new MDs, here's an approximate of what I see for docs without an existing practice:

Primary Care $200k
OB/GYN $180k
General Surgeon $250k
Vascular (or other specialty) Surgeon $300k
Anesthesiologist $350k
Radiologist $350k

The life of a doc employed by a hospital is not bad these days.

Being an employee of hospital is one of the worst things you can do for yourself and the medical profession. Hospitals are big on RVU. The numbers you give are reported "baseline".

By joining hospital you give the hospital leverage to put the smaller dr practices out of business. This is exactly what pharmacists did. They got lazy and let CVS and Walgreens hire them and ultimately screw them.

In private practice and group doc practice you are forgetting the excellent tax breaks and other things that come with it. Plus the hospital is run by nursing administration. They will abuse you to make numbers and ultimately you will not be satisfied with the care and relationship you have with patients. Plus that 350k number for radiology can be WAY higher in private. You can also Do radiology scans at home and be done by noon.

If you became an "employee" of hospital that would never happen. Having been a hospital employee before I'd never do it again.

The employee physician life is quite ****ty. Private practice all the way.

[DrAesthetics]

I'm graduating pharm school in 2 months, going to be working for a chain.. definitely don't want to do it for the rest of my life. I am planning on living at home and paying myself my intern salary, banking the rest.

Ya I would suggest that. Salaries have been dropping in retail. Hospital pharm won't even see people without residency. The big trend is to hire tons of per diem so they don't have to give insurance.

Bank all your money so your student loans don't cripple you. I knew I didn't wanna do pharmacy my whole life. I'd they money wasn't there I wouldn't do it.

There are areas of medicine I truly like 100% independent of the money.

As a young graduate you will face hour abuse by employer. If you work for CVS and walgeens you will be workif earlier than your shift without pay to meet the metrics. They do metrics now that are not possible to meet so they can terminate you at anytime by saying you didn't meet metrics. I am sure you have heard this now.

Just save that cash so they don't have power over you. I would also do per diem anywhere so your income is diversified if you can land per diem.

[chirashi]

I just wanted to say thanks for the valuable insight in the thread, especially to Draesthetics.

I'm an incoming MS1 and it's refreshing to hear a no frills, no BS talk about med and pharm school.

[gymnast06]

I have been a pharmacist for less than a year and am already extremely BORED with my career choice. I provide MTM & CMR services for Medicare Part D beneficiaries in the managed care setting. If you are the type of person who needs to be intellectually stimulated to be happy, I would suggest medical school. I am half way though my MBA with the hope this additional degree will help me land a more challenging position with my current employer. We'll see what happens.

[tinvic]

just wanted to say hes not the only one with the same feelings towards the profession of pharmacy - PharmD here going into 4th year of medical school. Going into ortho.

[DrAesthetics]

just wanted to say hes not the only one with the same feelings towards the profession of pharmacy - PharmD here going into 4th year of medical school. Going into ortho.

Congrats!

We should talk and exchange numbera

[DrAesthetics]

I have been a pharmacist for less than a year and am already extremely BORED with my career choice. I provide MTM & CMR services for Medicare Part D beneficiaries in the managed care setting. If you are the type of person who needs to be intellectually stimulated to be happy, I would suggest medical school. I am half way though my MBA with the hope this additional degree will help me land a more challenging position with my current employer. We'll see what happens.

Let guess you are doing over phone MTM from a call center?

I seem those positions. It's like Office Space. I hope it works out for you. Are you doing an executive MBA? Best of luck

[krazy33]

Just based on your knowledge about the disparity in life between the wealthy and the low-income families.. I'm assuming that you didn't have enough money to do exactly what you wanted, and I saw that you took out loans.. Here's a problem I've been having and i may make a thread of my own

But. How were you able to come up with the money in order to pay for these decisions? My parents credit is so poor that I can't borrow at this point either

[DrAesthetics]

Just based on your knowledge about the disparity in life between the wealthy and the low-income families.. I'm assuming that you didn't have enough money to do exactly what you wanted, and I saw that you took out loans.. Here's a problem I've been having and i may make a thread of my own

But. How were you able to come up with the money in order to pay for these decisions? My parents credit is so poor that I can't borrow at this point either

Medicine is a field for the wealthy. The cost of board exams are around 2,000.

Poor people cannot afford expensive board review classes or the ability to take 3 months off from a job to study.

Explore every loan place you can. Take out federal loans if you can. I never could qualify for private loans. My family never had the money to qualify as a cosigner.

In order to be a qualified cosigner you need an income of at least 18,500 and good credit score.

I worked throughout school. I abused my body heavily. If you want it you will fight for it. Working as studying is harder.

I will warn you. Medicine is a wealthy person field. You will be competing against kids with no problems in their life. The whole First World Problems type. They have no bills and family pays for all they need. Just keep pushing if it is what you

People need good docs. Poor people need a good doctor they can rely on to help them not these guys saying "I did medicine to help people......as long as it pays for a Ferrari".

The world needs people that legitimately want to better others. You need ask are you that person?

[diffrentiable]

y are u wasting your time?

[DrAesthetics]

y are u wasting your time?

What you may see as a waste of time may be just the opposite to someone else.

Why are you wasting your time with 2,600 posts on a message board, in the Red, with spartan signatures when you can be using that time to better yourself and others around you? Why spend so much time posting on forums when you can use that time do do habitat for humanity or some volunteer work that spreads good karma vs the me me me mentality of today's world?

You need to change your perspective.

[Duolicus]

What are the two names of the veins that lead to first pass metabolism prior systemic circulation in uranus?

[DrAesthetics]

What are the two names of the veins that lead to first pass metabolism prior systemic circulation in uranus?

Lol are you serious? Get an anatomy book.

Anything that goes portal will go to first pass metabolism. This is how suppositories work. PR dosages allow for absorption above the dentate line. The vein is sup rectal vein. Goes up the Inf mesenteric vein and into portal.

Not sure if that was a homework question? Lol

Example diazepam suppository is going right to the liver.

[Sublyminal]

This has been an eye-opening post. Thank you...

I have a 3.0 in a non-science BA. After injuring myself as a firefighter and being forced to retire i went back and earned a 4.0 in an executive MBA progam. I have ~ 7 years experience as a pharmacy technician, and another 6 years as an EMT/firefighter. I'm also an Army veteran... I'm 34 years old.

Q: Is there anything I can realistically do with a 3.0 undergrad GPA to get into med school? I am in the process of going through a post-bacc pre med program (at U Penn), but am worried that anything less than a 4.0 will leave me with a very expensive pre-med education that will never be good enough to get into actual med school... I've considered pharmacy school as a back-up plan, but have had reservations akin to all the negative posts. Within this thread. Should i forget about medical school with such a low gpa? Thoughts/advice?

[ekk110391]

Hi:

First thanks for sharing info about yourself, it's very helpful. I'm a pharmacist applying to medical school. My question is, did you start with first year of medical school, since pharmacy school counts for all prerequisites? Did medical school waive any classes for you, since you took pharmacology, pharmacotherapy in pharmacy school already? I've been working as pharmacist for 5 years, what can I do to better prepare for med school, besides taking MCAT, etc.,? Please email me seva36792@gmail.com, I don't really check this forum. Thanks in advance

[dnart21]

go for it.

PharmD here, completed a residency, worked as a clinical pharmacist and taught pharmacy students. Now a current Medical student. I figure I can give some good information to people...

Hi, i just found this thread while googling and thought it would be very helpful. i'm a working pharmacist for 2 years now and this pharmacy field has burnt me out (not fulfilling, overworked, and being treated like a slave). After 7 years of retail experience, i finally left my comfort zone to try something different, which is mail order. From the look of it, i'm not sure that i'm liking it either. With all the uncertainties and dissatisfaction with pharmacy field, why not try medical school? i had harbored this thought for a while now, even before starting pharmacy school. frankly, i can relate to what you're saying. Your post encourages me to pursue something that i'm scared of because of the "what if" question.

i hope you can help me outline the process i need to do to apply and some insights.

did you do a post-bach program or retake any pre-req?
can recommendation letters come from co-workers or managers?
what can i do extra to increase my chance in getting into medical school? volunteer?

[DrAesthetics]

Hi, i just found this thread while googling and thought it would be very helpful. i'm a working pharmacist for 2 years now and this pharmacy field has burnt me out (not fulfilling, overworked, and being treated like a slave). After 7 years of retail experience, i finally left my comfort zone to try something different, which is mail order. From the look of it, i'm not sure that i'm liking it either. With all the uncertainties and dissatisfaction with pharmacy field, why not try medical school? i had harbored this thought for a while now, even before starting pharmacy school. frankly, i can relate to what you're saying. Your post encourages me to pursue something that i'm scared of because of the "what if" question.

i hope you can help me outline the process i need to do to apply and some insights.

did you do a post-bach program or retake any pre-req?
can recommendation letters come from co-workers or managers?
what can i do extra to increase my chance in getting into medical school? volunteer?

Good luck. Don't get letters from coworkers they will usually be haters. I had a lot of them as I work as a pharmacist all thru med school.

Getting in is all numbers. They only care GPA and Mcat then interview. Get ur Mcat done.

Retail sucks so does mail order. Couldn't imagine doing that my whole life. Now I'm interviewing for some of the most competitive specialty to finally do something I enjoy. Never been happier. Well worth it. Would do it again. Med students are complainers so don't listen to them. Make the right decision for you only you can do that.

[MiscterJones]

Hm most medical schools decline applicants who already have other professional medical degrees and licenses due to the applicant displaying a lack of dedication, but that's funny op because PharmD here, completed a residency, worked as a clinical pharmacist and taught pharmacy students. Now a current Medical student. I figure I can give some good information to people...

[irmocool]

Why should we have free clinics...I'm sure you pay for your healthcare. Why shouldn't others?

[MiscterJones]

I work in healthcare finance and can confirm that most pharmacist make $100k or less. The retail ones who make bank ($150k or so) are most likely managers and work tons of overtime.

If I were going to be a doc these days, I'd try to get hired by a hospital as soon as possible. Hospitals cover your malpractice, give you plenty of options to share call, and take care of most of the administrative bs involved with running an office (billing, scheduling, etc).

As far as salaries for new MDs, here's an approximate of what I see for docs without an existing practice:

Primary Care $200k
OB/GYN $180k
General Surgeon $250k
Vascular (or other specialty) Surgeon $300k
Anesthesiologist $350k
Radiologist $350k

The life of a doc employed by a hospital is not bad these days.

Absolutely not true...they pay a portion. An example from an anesthesiologist I knew: if your annual malpractice is $45,000, the doctor will pay $15,000. Plus, the individual doctor is still unprotected civilly.