re: I’m 46 and I just applied to med school

Is this just a plot for a television show?

My uncle went to med school in his 30s. It worked out for him. He’s rich and has a hot wife now.

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Without the deregulation of the PBMs by Obamacare, I would probably be making 250k right now.

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no you wouldn't... if you want to blame someone for why you are in such a sucky situation, as far a job market goes, thank the NABP for accrediting so many fricking pharmacy schools and creating the oversupply of pharmacists, despite increasing mail order utilization and corporate mergers of big pharmacy retailers....

and I don't know where you practice, nor who you work for, or what all you are including in your "salary" but I know $185K/yr sounds ridiculously high, unless you are working a lot of overtime or something... you'd be making a little over $88/hr to make $185K/yr, and i've NEVER seen any pharmacist, even managers at the biggest chains, in the busiest stores, crack over $75...

fwiw, at your age, going to med school, no matter how "condensed" the program is, doesn't seem like the best ROI... the amount of time and money it will take for you to achieve your goal, will be minimally offset by possible future earnings, as you really don't have that many years to really capitalize on your new career as a physician... I would do like one of the other ppl suggested and look into a different sector of pharmacy, or something else in healthcare that you can utilize your already achieved PharmD, without having to make significant investment in schooling again... if you were 15, even 10 years younger, I'd say sure, go the medical school route if you want, but man, you don't have a whole lot of time to recoup the expense of med school, and considering that it's realistically just the same dance to a different song, there's really not much guaranteeing you will be any more or less happy doing that in the first place....

you may want to also do some reading up on all the other things you can do with a PharmD, instead of just practicing as a pharmacist in a pharmacy.... plenty of options you may not even be aware of or have ever even thought of, as possible, that you may be interested in...

Pharmacy directors at major facilities can pull that down

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Pharmacy directors at major facilities can pull that down

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in certain areas of the US, but not in Baton Rouge, which is where I'm assuming he is, since that's what he has listed under his name....

I went back to medical school in my 30s, though I started the process in my late 20s. I worked in a hospital for while and decided I wanted to do something else. I'm more interested in the research side of things than I am in patient care. I don't think super condensed programs are widespread, as the only places I seem to recall having them were places like Oklahoma and Penn State.

I wouldn't mention to any interview committee that you switched fields due to money.

Have you thought about transitioning into a white collar job? Larger southern cities are full of healthcare companies where a Pharmacist can make 2 bills at a VP level, not including equity. I know several pharmacists who have transitioned out of their retail/hospital pharmacy jobs in order to leap into corporate roles at a better salary with more normal hours. I'm specifically thinking about pharmacists within a GPO: Vizient, HPG, Premier, MedAssets, Novation. I'm sure there are more examples beyond GPOs. Nashville and Dallas probably have 5,000 healthcare companies between the two cities.

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So, you lose $150k a year for three years ($450k), plus pay for school at least $100k (in state LSU caliber price). You are out $550k. ($100k more if you have to pay interest on student loans after you finish). You do a residency for 3 years at $60k a year (so losing another $90k a year for three years). So, in those six years your net income is $820k less than it would be if you kept working for 6 years. Plus you may be strapped with SL interest. You’d have to work at 250k a year for 8 years just to break even. At that point you are 60. Not sure it’s worth it, but only you can decide that, because it’s more than about money. Just know all jobs are shite to some extent. Same circus, different clowns.

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This. All of this. FWIW, I’m in medicine and really enjoy my job.

You do you but in terms of finances and opportunity cost it’s the wrong choice. Only do medicine if you cannot see yourself doing anything else. At the end of the day it’s just a job and you could be financially independent or retired far faster just staying put.

No guarantees MD salaries don’t drop just as fast as pharmacy in next few years. There’s constant downward pressure. Golden days of most medical specialties are over. Even the ER shift work is facing similar problems. Hospitalists May have the best gig but they burn out quickly.

Go for it! That is cool and exciting! I made a huge career change in my 30's and never regretted it.

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Another thing I’d consider if you like drugs and want to practice medicine, get your RN and become a CRNA.

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if I'm not mistaken, CRNA school is a 4 year program, and that's after get the RN.... in essence, this would take him even longer to do, than his original idea of a condensed MD program, and I'm just don't think at his age he wants something that take a ton of time to complete...

CRNA has definitely become a great field to go into, though