Which career is harder?

Question

I'm thinking ahead for my future and i would like to know what career is harder for me.. I'm a sophomore in high school.

I'm thinking of taking nursing or becoming a pharmacist.

for example like what career is harder to prepare for?

which one takes more time, which one needs more education?

I'm willing to do anything to be successful, which one is better?

Answer 1

I don't know much of the nursing side of it. However, for pharmacy it will be 6 years of school at least probably. Generally it is 2 years of undergrad and fulfill pre-pharm classes and take the pcat. Then you stop with your undergrad and go to a 4 year pharm school and come out with a pharm d. Or you could just get a bachelors degree in 4 years and then go for your pharm d which would take 8 years.

Pharmacy school is VERY tough. However, as far as a pharmacist the job isn't so bad. It is really boring and depending on where you work not have bad hours. Also, it pays very well like starting salaries can sometimes be up in the $100,000 a year, but not typically it will probably generally be like 70,000 a year.

I cannot provide any information on nursing but I hope this helped.

Answer 2

Nursing takes 4 years to complete, and Pharmacy takes 6 years to complete. Pharmacists make more money than RNs. Both programs are extremely competitive and hard to get in. You will require good grades (A range or better) and for Pharmacy, take the PCAT (usually required by all/most US and Canada Pharmacy Schools). Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Well, my personal opinion is that nursing is one of the most demanding careers out there.  You have to be on top of your game at all times, you sometimes get crappy hours and it seems as though nurses are often taken advantage of.  For a career in nursing, you would have to get a bachelor's degree, which is a total of 4 yrs. Nursing does provide an excellent salary, you could end up getting 65,000+/- depending on what state you live in and what you choose as your specialty.  

Pharmacy is also another good career choice, not as demanding as nursing, but carries a lot of responsibility as well. If you were to graduate as a pharmacist, you would have a PhD in pharmacy which would make you a doctor of pharmacy. That takes about 6 yrs depending on how fast you complete your basics.

My advice is to take as many anatomy, chemistry, and health oriented classes as you can to gain more experience and make it an easier transition into college courses.  In my college, nursing is one of the hardest programs to get into, and if you don't have above a 3.5 gpa, you shouldn't even bother applying.  Pharmacy is the same way. Since there are less pharmacy schools than nursing, it makes it that much harder to get into and they usually only take the cream of the crop.

Speaking as a former nursing student, a former pharmacy student, and current occupational therapy student, I can tell you that any career in healthcare is going to be tough, and you really have to like what you do to be successful.