Radiology before Pharmacy, worth the time?

beastykato · Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pennsylvania

I'm a 19 year old student currently going to PSU which offers a 2 year degree in Radiography.

I'll just be straightforward and say this isn't want I want to do for the rest of my life. I am currently fulfilling my pre-req's for Pharmacy school and maybe, depending on if I want to go further after that, attend medical school. Anyway, having a Bach. degree increases your chances of getting into Pharmacy school considerably plus it will be a back-up plan for me if I don't get into Pharmacy right away(ie. before I complete my bach.). So, I have the choice of the standard degrees everyone gets going to first-professional med fields Bio, Biochem, and Chem, or I go to radiography.

I know some people go to be radiographers and then on to be PA's, but do you all think it would offer the same advantage to someone going to Pharmacy? Just looking for some insight, I know in the end the degree I choose will be up to myself. I'm just looking for some opinions on what you all think would be better.

For me the advantages of the Radiograher degree are
-guaranteed a job in most areas vs sometimes hard to find bio jobs
-guaranteed 35-40k vs some low paying jobs in the bio fields
-a lot of part-time job opportunites while I go to school for pharm.
-more hands on approach experience compared to pharmacy

As you can see it's mainly the guarantee of a good job and income while I continue to go to school for pharm that attracts me. It is just a back-up after all, but at the same time something I could securely live on if I needed to. I do have a genuine interest in radiography though which is why I think I want to choose it over the traditional degrees I mentioned above.

MurphyMobile · Moderator Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 149 Location: WNC

beastykato-

I like your ideas about radiography school. With that in mind, I think
you would be much happier with that field than pharmacy.

To be a Pharmacist, requires more education. And you need a strong
point in chemisty.

Taking extra classes in pharmacy at PSU might benefit you. It would help
when it comes to giving a patient contrast injections or having to know all
the various drugs that interact with the contrast material.

Go for the Radiography program. Work after graduation. Get your ARRT.
Then if you think you would like more education, you can go back to school
and continue to work as a registered radiologic technologist.

Education never hurt anyone and no one can take it from you. Wink

MM

_________________

beastykato · Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pennsylvania

If I do continue going to my current school for Assoc. degree in Radiography, is there anywhere I could go to afterwards in my area (Pittsburgh, PA) to go an additional 2 years to receive a bach., because I'm fairly certain that Penn State doesn't offer a 4 year degree in Radiography.

Either way I do eventually want to at least attempt to get into Pharm. school, I think I would like it and it's just too good of an opportunity to pass up if I can get in. Although I do know it will be almost as tough as medical school.

hjhogle · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:11 pm Post subject:

If you continue where you are and successfully complete an associate degree in anything, then any 4-year school would accept most (if not all) of those credits to allow you to finish your 4-year degree.

But if your real plan is to go to pharmacy school and then, perhaps, on to medical school .. why waste time on a profession that doesn't interest you?

It sounds like you want to keep as many options open as possible, but sooner or later you'll need to commit yourself to a direction. Radiography is a side-track to what sounds like a strong leaning toward pharmacy. Even aside from the med school issue.

Want to be a pharmacist? Then head straight for that. Everything you take should be in preparation - since pharm school is no picnic and highly competitive, let them see how motivated you are by completing everything that's related. Complete your BS in chemistry, or biochemistry.

Radiography is wonderful for those of us who are driven in this direction - but it is also highly competitive - why waste your time (since this isn't a profession that interests you) and compete for a position that a potential radiographer could use?

Just a thought ...
hjh

beastykato · Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pennsylvania

You're correct in sayng I want to keep my options open. I like both careers from what I've seen of them. That includes shadowing my aunt is a radiologist and working as a Pharm. technician, which is my current job.

My concern lies in having money and job security...mainly because my parents agreed to pay for my first 2 years of school but after that I'm gonna be on my own. That means food, housing, everything pretty much and making 10 bucks an hour as a pt technician doesn't go too far. With this Radiology degree I get out in 2 years, have a secure job, and make 35-40k if I'm working ft. So, I kinda had the same idea as the first poster.

As for med school like I said that's a big IF. I don't know if I'd be cut out for another 4 years then probably another 4 years after that for residency. So that's a moot issue at this point although a radiologic background would probably help a good bit in becoming a radiologist.

EDIT: Anyway, I dunno like I said this field truly does interest me otherwise I wouldn't even consider it at all. Not as much as Pharmacy? Perhaps but I think that's because Pharm. offers a lot more in terms of respect, compensation, and just the personal satisfaction of being able to complete a program like that. My concern is not being accepted to Pharm school, where most schoools decline 4 out of 5 applicants. It really does scare me cuz then what do I do?

beastykato · Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pennsylvania

Well, I dunno guys I might be going into radiography. I just got off of the phone with the recruiter for the program from Penn State and all I have to do is send in my mid-term grades and I'm in...

Needless to say getting in was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Seemed almost too easy seeing as they only have 24 open spots total.

Anyway, I still have a lot to think about as to which way I'm going to go with this. There is one other thing I'd like to know about though that some of you might know a little bit about. I mentioned I've thought about Med. school but that I don't know if I could devote the time needed to it. The reason was because I thought about being a Radiologist (hence my interest in Radiography,) having said that what responsibilites does a Radiology Phycisians Assistant have? I've heard this is a fairly new pathway that's opened up for Radiographers and if I do go into this program I'd definately look at being an RPA as a next step.

Sidney · Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 73

Well, I dunno guys I might be going into radiography. I just got off of the phone with the recruiter for the program from Penn State and all I have to do is send in my mid-term grades and I'm in...

Needless to say getting in was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Seemed almost too easy seeing as they only have 24 open spots total.

Wow! My school is extremely competitive and very difficult to get into. I don't know if it's like that everywhere though. This year they had over 200 applicants. The local hospitals bought 9 of the 20 spots, so the school itself was only accepting 11 people from the general applicant pool. Perhaps your area has more radiography schools available?

rxis · Joined: 14 Nov 2006 Posts: 7

Wow! There are about 150 applicants for 25 spots at the vocational school. At the university 4 year program there are even more applicants and the standards are much higher.

beastykato · Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Pennsylvania

I know this thread has been up for a while, but I figured I'd post because getting in so easy was something that caught me off guard as well.

I'm not sure why it's like that, I've asked people around my school about the radiography program and most of them don't even know that PSU even offers that. In fact, the admissions staff at my branch of PSU had no information on the degree when I said it was my 2nd choice when I went for my college entrance interview. They had to call to other branches to get the requirement information.

Also in PA we have 2 programs that I know over near me. They UPMC health center and Washington Hosptial programs which will get you a certficate for radiography but no degree. I'm not aware of any problems with people getting into these programs quickly. Maybe it's just my area...

Also I see a lot of people people saying $20-25/hr is average for this field. However, Ohio states program figures signifcantly higher for 2005 in the state of ohio. They're claiming the avg wage for Radiographer (no specialization is 50k/year (~26/hr), for radiation therapists ~67k/year, and for sonographers ~65k/yr. So, it seems to me if you specialize you should be able to expect to be able to make up to ~35/hr on avg, at least according to their statistics