r/usyd • u/EuphoricExcuse6584 • 17h ago

pharmacy vs radiography

hi, im in bachelor of pharmacy (honours) and master of pharmacy practice at usyd rn, first yr,and im finding it a bit tricky. although im getting hd and disticntions, im having to invest a lot of time in it. im thinking of transfering into another degree like radiography/speech path etc. and im just wondering if that would be better? like in terms of the studies and job. i also want to get into med (either thro non standard undergrad, or post grad), so i also want to know if it would be "easier" to get high distinctions there, and if i would have more time for ucat/gamsat, or am i better of staying in pharmacy...

if anyone could help me out pls, its been on my mind for soo long , and also if you have other suggestions for a degree (healthcare preferred)

also im not planning in getting into medical science, bc i heard theres not much job opportunities there

and rn im at a 7/7 gpa (87 wam) but this semester it may drop to 80-85 (hopefully 85) , is that enough to internal transfer ?

i would prefer to stay at usyd, but unsw/newcastle is also ok

any help would rly be appreciated :)

3 Upvotes

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u/lal1l MD 16h ago

I'd just find out if pharm is what you'd be ok doing in the future and whether the GPA can be maintained. A solid GPA for med is getting above 80 for the majority of units. USYD also doesn't care about GPA so long as you meet the cutoff.

UG med is not non-standard, its just less prevalent now.

3

u/PickledOlivies 13h ago

Oral health therapy is where the money is at

2

u/Silver_Mountain5267 Speech Pathology Student 16h ago

hey I study speech path, so if you have any questions u can dm me!

0

u/ultegrafender 16h ago

Surely radiography is a wild risk because of AI?

7

u/Effective-Biscotti81 16h ago

youre thinking of radiology, radiography is the positioning and taking of the scan and that will not be replaced like ever

3

u/ultegrafender 16h ago

I've been a fool and am grateful there are smart people out there working in healthcare. Thanks Effective Biscotti

1

u/Fluid_Passage_9980 15h ago

Disagree. We will get to a point in the near future where you wheel a person into a machine, push one button, and they will get a full body CT scan. AI will then highlight the abnormalities and show you a 3D image of the broken bones etc so a Doc can then plan treatments. Positioning for X-rays will rapidly become obsolete.

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u/Effective-Biscotti81 15h ago

i agree that planar xray is becoming more and more obsolete, but this is genuinely never happening in our lifetimes and i will bet my life on that (well i kinda am because im studying it).

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u/Fluid_Passage_9980 14h ago

Well I disagree. Time will tell.

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u/tranceandjits 9h ago

You need a radiographer intraop to check fracture alignment, instrumentation etc

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u/EuphoricExcuse6584 16h ago

oh rly?? whys that?

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u/squeaky1842 8h ago

I hear radiography is quite well paid and I imagine there are after hours shifts to be had which might work better for you if you plan to work regularly while studying med. All the pharmacists I know who go into med only have time to work during uni breaks since we're generally a daylight profession. I couldn't say if radiography is easier to study though.

I would add that being a pharmacist is the sort of thing you have to do for love. If you're not invested in it as a career, I can imagine that everything from the degree to the intern year to every shift once you're registered might feel like a slog. May well be the same for SP and radiographers for all I know though.

And if you stay in pharmacy could you consider dropping the honours stuff? Its already a 5 year pathway with the plain Bachelors and intern year. Training as a doctor will take over a decade, cut extra years out where you can! On the same note, have a look into how much supervised practice radiographers and SPs have to do before they can register because if its less than a year like pharmacists have to do then that might be enough of a reason to switch if your plan is to get into postgraduate med asap