Nursing School vs. Pharmacy School

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I was hoping you guys could tell me what you would do in my situation. I know that I am the one who must decide, but I'm looking for advice.

I have just found out that I could complete pharmacy school in 6 years. My ultimate career goal is a six figure salary. I am a people person and that is what attracted me to nursing. I was interested in being a CRNA. It would take me about 7.5-8 years to be a CRNA if they accepted me in the school with minimum work experience. I am a single parent and I want to be able to support both of us with a good salary, but I also want to have decent work hours. I have heard that pharmacists work 40 hour weeks, have good pay, and can still have the patient contact that I feel I need in a career... I always had the misunderstanding that Pharmacists stood behind the counter counting pills all day (boring!). I have good grades and I am good at Chemistry. I'm just not quite sure what to do. How should I make my decision? Thanks

The thing is that most folks aren't already in that position. If you weren't already on a pre-med college track, you'd have a lot more ground to cover.

If in high school you are already thinking about the possibility of med school or something like that, you'll have taken the advanced math and science courses and be well-placed heading into college. Then if you start in on that coursework from day 1, are a full-time student, and are able to get into the classes you need, then you might be able to finish all those pre-reqs in 2 years.

But if you look at it from the perspective of someone who only just started looking into the health science and never took more than the bare minimum of math/science courses before, it's a different picture. Do-able? Yes. But it will take longer. And nursing school pre-reqs, if you can get into the classes, would be faster to complete than med school (pharm school, PT school, etc) pre-reqs.

For example, in order to take certain chem and physics courses, you have to take advanced math classes as pre-reqs. But you might have to start all the way back at intro to algebra depending on your school and your skills. That could add another year or two right there to one's educational pursuits, not even counting the chem and physics courses themselves.

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The requirements for the pharmacy school are actually the same as for medical school. They are WAY more, from your list, than what is required for nursing school. It's actually 74 hours from your list b/c there aren't hours listed for the Speech and Economics courses. You also, don't have to complete a degree to apply to medical school either. Your GPA and MCAT weighs the most, the same for Pharm school with the GPA and PCAT.

Physics..is 8 hours...that is two semesters of work.

Organic Chemistry...is 8 hours...two semesters of work.

Biochemistry...which is one semester

General Chemistry...and extra semester on top of what is already required for nursing school...8 hours and two semesters TOTAL.

Oh yeah...that is a ton more of work, to me there isn't much comparison.

The only difference between the two is that the "fluff" subjects are left off and that cuts down the hours, but no way someone could complete that in two years.

Like I said before, medical school is out of the question. Longer hours, plus you have to have a bachelors degree at my local medical schools. In fact there is only one school where you don't have to have a bachelors degree, but it does say on their website that those with bachelors will have a better chance of acceptance. Not to mention my location has the top medical schools, so they are very hard to get into. (ie. JHU, Georgetown, etc) For me to get a bachelors degree at my school I have to have 124 credits... That would take me another 3 years. Then add on the 4 years of medical school, and a minimum of 3 years of residency.... 80 hour work weeks.... no thanks.

I already have most of the courses done. It would take me two more years of part-time school to finish the prereqs for pharmacy school.

It will take me one year of full time school to finish the prereqs for nursing.

Then you have to compare the outcome. It would take me 3 years to get a BSN (1 more year of prereqs and 2 years of nursing school). Then with a BSN my salary will be around 50k.

2 years of prereqs for pharmacy school and 4 years of pharmacy school would take 6 years. That salary is around 90-100k. (I live in Washington DC so the salary is pretty good here.)

I am pretty sure that I am going to choose nursing because of what some previous posters mentioned. I think I would get sick of doing pharmacy work. Even though I am good at chemistry I love the big picture. I am more fascinated the whole "organism." Nursing also has more options. I am currently researching consulting, CRNA, and I am going to shadow a pharmacist next week.

If I do choose nursing I know it will be the right choice, because I will have researched every other option. It just may take longer to get that six figure salary that I dream of...

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the thing is that most folks aren't already in that position. if you weren't already on a pre-med college track, you'd have a lot more ground to cover.

if in high school you are already thinking about the possibility of med school or something like that, you'll have taken the advanced math and science courses and be well-placed heading into college. then if you start in on that coursework from day 1, are a full-time student, and are able to get into the classes you need, then you might be able to finish all those pre-reqs in 2 years.

but if you look at it from the perspective of someone who only just started looking into the health science and never took more than the bare minimum of math/science courses before, it's a different picture. do-able? yes. but it will take longer. and nursing school pre-reqs, if you can get into the classes, would be faster to complete than med school (pharm school, pt school, etc) pre-reqs.

for example, in order to take certain chem and physics courses, you have to take advanced math classes as pre-reqs. but you might have to start all the way back at intro to algebra depending on your school and your skills. that could add another year or two right there to one's educational pursuits, not even counting the chem and physics courses themselves.

this is basically where i stand with prerequisites. these are the courses i still need to take. the orange is overlapping.

pharmacy school

english composition 3 credits

biochemistry 3 credits

calculus3 credits

microbiology (with lab) 4 credits

general chemistry (with lab)4credits

organic chemistry (with lab) 8 credits

physics 8 credits

human anatomy and physiology 6 credits

total: 39

nursing school

english composition 3 credits

english composition 2 3 credits

human anatomy & physiology with lab 8 credits

microbiology with lab 4 credits

human growth and development 3 credits

mathematics (college algebra or higher) 3 credits

nutrition 3 credits

total: 27

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Like I said before, medical school is out of the question. Longer hours, plus you have to have a bachelors degree at my local medical schools. In fact there is only one school where you don't have to have a bachelors degree, but it does say on their website that those with bachelors will have a better chance of acceptance. Not to mention my location has the top medical schools, so they are very hard to get into. (ie. JHU, Georgetown, etc) For me to get a bachelors degree at my school I have to have 124 credits... That would take me another 3 years. Then add on the 4 years of medical school, and a minimum of 3 years of residency.... 80 hour work weeks.... no thanks.

I already have most of the courses done. It would take me two more years of part-time school to finish the prereqs for pharmacy school.

It will take me one year of full time school to finish the prereqs for nursing.

Then you have to compare the outcome. It would take me 3 years to get a BSN (1 more year of prereqs and 2 years of nursing school). Then with a BSN my salary will be around 50k.

2 years of prereqs for pharmacy school and 4 years of pharmacy school would take 6 years. That salary is around 90-100k. (I live in Washington DC so the salary is pretty good here.)

I am pretty sure that I am going to choose nursing because of what some previous posters mentioned. I think I would get sick of doing pharmacy work. Even though I am good at chemistry I love the big picture. I am more fascinated the whole "organism." Nursing also has more options. I am currently researching consulting, CRNA, and I am going to shadow a pharmacist next week.

If I do choose nursing I know it will be the right choice, because I will have researched every other option. It just may take longer to get that six figure salary that I dream of...

I probably miscommunicated my thoughts.

I wasn't suggesting that you attend medical school. I can think of a tons of reasons why someone would not want to be a doctor, regardless of the income outlook.

I was just trying to point out that the requirements (pre-reqs only), were the same as Pharmacy school, and that it would be very, very difficult to complete those in two years, and some schools may not allow it, simply by the way they are scheduled, or they may require you to finish one sequence before another.

One BSN program that I was considering required two semesters of Chemistry BEFORE you took AP...so that was two years b/c of the sequence.

I didn't realize you were in the Washington, DC area. Just to give you an idea of comparison, where I live (a very rural and cheap area), new grad pharms are about $85K...and the cost of living is about half of what it is in DC. DC is incredibly expensive as you know, I'm very, very familiar with the costs of the area, and I would consider $90 to $100K for that area to be peanuts for a new-grad pharm. That would be like making $60K anywhere else.

I have a huge family of medical professionals...I have one cousin that is a PharmD, and some physicians in our family...they applied to about every program that they would even consider, even if it meant moving. When applying to ultra-competitive programs like that, you can assure they have applicants from all-over.

I do know that there is a new pharmacy school at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN that just welcomed it's first class in January 2007...another cousin I have is trying to apply for Jan 2008, so that is the only reason I know about it. That is a cheap place to live too.

There is also another brand new Pharmacy School in Grundy, VA...not sure of the name of it, but they are one year from becoming fully accredited and supposedly, the new grads are doing extremely well on state boards, so there will be no problem with them meeting the accredidation guidelines.

Just something to consider.

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Best of luck in all that you do.

Some may choose to slam you because of the $$$ element of the post, but that's why we work if not we would all be volunteering. :)

Some people work for the money, schedule or benefits, and I am one of them too. I've thought about Pharmacy as well.

Nothing wrong with making alot of money.... . remember Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (which origianlly meant the right to own property)

The best receipe for Happiness is to do what you really WANT to do in life (self chosen goals) AND make a lot of money while you are at it! That's the American way! Land of opportunity! The slammers need to mind their own business and can leave and go to a country where they have to work for free, there are plenty of those on the planet. God Bless America !

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Go for it!!! I have been a nurse for 3 years and I've had jobs in several different areas. I am thinking of applying to a local college to do pre-pharm for two years and then pharmacy school. I am so sick of being a nurse. Dont get me wrong, taking care of people is what drew me to nursing. But the money is just causing me to hate dealing with the B.S. I just dont make enough to care to stick with it. I work two jobs just to make my normal bills (rent. lights, ect.) then I have a car payment and insurance and a huge school loan to repay. I even have a roommate! Finally I saw the light! Divine Intervention!!:idea: I always knew I wouldnt be a floor nurse for long but becoming a manager, NP, or CRNA doesnt interest me...and thats where the money is. So Im switching gears and by the time I finish 2 years of prepharm and four years of pharm school, yeah I'll rack up a nice bill. But at 90K or more a year....I can pay it off much sooner than Im payin my RN degree back....and I wont need a roommate either! GOOD LUCK!

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http://www.pharmcas.org gives a wealth of info about pharmacy schools under the school section. it is tough, very competitive. i have been a tech for 8.5 yrs in retail, home health, education, and hospital and i love it. but now i want to pursue nursing because i don't want to give up the hands-on with becoming an rph. they do more clinical data entry & analysis...techs compound, deliver, talk w patients more, etc. it is a personal decision. GOOD LUCK!
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i heart pharmacy, i am rarely bored! =)

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