Neither is better for everyone. Pharmacy is a shorter degree with a much wider spread of careers, including owning your own business, while medicine pays more at the start and gives you things a pharmacist can’t do straight away, like prescribing. The right choice depends on how you want your working life to look.
Key takeaways
- Pharmacy takes four years; medicine takes at least five, and often six if you intercalate.
- Pharmacists have no single expected path: industry, hospital, community, GP surgeries, research, tech, recruitment or owning a pharmacy are all open.
- Doctors start on higher pay, but a hospital pharmacist can reach consultant level faster, with fewer exams.
- If you want to be your own boss, pharmacy (like dentistry) gives you that option far more readily than medicine in the UK.
- Prescribing and full registration as a pharmacist need extra steps after the degree, so check how training works now before you decide.
What’s changed since this video
This video was recorded in October 2022. Most of the advice still stands, but note:
- Doctor and pharmacist salaries have changed since this video was recorded in 2022. Check current NHS pay scales for up-to-date figures.
- Pharmacy training has changed since this video. The pre-registration year is now the foundation training year, and new pharmacists in Great Britain are expected to register as independent prescribers from 2026. Check the GPhC website for the current route.
How long is a pharmacy degree compared with medicine?
I spent some time speaking to my pharmacy colleagues to work out how the two careers really compare, and the first difference is simple. Pharmacy is quicker. A pharmacy degree takes four years. Medicine takes a minimum of five, and because a lot of medical students do an intercalated degree, it’s often six.
Some pharmacy courses offer a five-year sandwich course, where you spend a year working in industry. Just like intercalating in medicine, that’s optional. If you want to blast through as quickly as possible, you can finish pharmacy in four years. The fastest you can blast through medicine is five.
So if time matters to you, pharmacy gets you qualified sooner. But course length on its own shouldn’t decide a career you’ll be doing for decades.
Pharmacists have far more career options than most people realise
This is where pharmacy really stands out. As a pharmacist you can work:
- in industry, for a pharmaceutical company
- for a high street pharmacy
- in the community
- in a hospital
- even in a GP practice
Now, you can have variety in medicine too. But typically, medics go on to be hospital doctors or GPs, and the majority end up going down one of those routes. With pharmacy there’s no real expectation that you’ll go into any one of them. The options are genuinely widespread.
It’s not uncommon to see pharmacists go into tech, or even recruitment. Some are lab based and go into research. And you can own your own pharmacy, which makes you a business owner.
If you’ve seen my medicine vs dentistry comparison, you’ll know I think being your own boss is a real plus. That’s something pharmacists and dentists can do far more easily than doctors in the UK.
Do doctors or pharmacists earn more?
Of course you want to know about pay. It varies a lot, so a direct comparison is hard. At the start, though, doctors earn significantly more. A doctor’s first job is as an FY1, and that salary is noticeably higher than what a newly qualified pharmacist earns in their training year. Pharmacist pay at that stage also depends on the environment they’re working in.
But I’ll caveat that. If you work in hospital as a pharmacist and stay in, you can go all the way up to consultant pharmacist. The pathway there is much quicker than becoming a consultant doctor. You have fewer exams and you get there in fewer years. Once you’re there, you’re on the same pay band as the starting salary for a consultant doctor.
Then there’s everything outside the NHS. I’m not a big fan of big pharma, but if you went into industry you could earn a lot of money, probably more than an NHS hospital consultant. As a consultant doctor in hospital, there’s a ceiling on what you can earn. In pharmacy, there are avenues where the sky is almost the limit. Owning a pharmacy, for example, can be a massively lucrative option.
So medicine wins on starting pay, but pharmacy can match or beat it later, depending on the route you take.
Can pharmacists specialise like doctors do?
Yes, and this is one of the big similarities between the two. Just as a doctor specialises, a pharmacist can focus on a particular area. You could be:
- a microbiology pharmacist, working on antibiotics and antibiotic resistance
- a mental health pharmacist
- an obstetrics and gynaecology pharmacist
In the more patient-based roles, you’re still a big part of the MDT. If you choose hospital or community work, you can be very patient-facing.
That’s the beauty of pharmacy. You decide what you like. If you want to see a lot of patients, pick a patient-facing role. If you’d rather do something more research based, where you’re not seeing patients as much, you can do that instead. You really have the flexibility to tailor your career to your preferences.
Can pharmacists prescribe?
This is one of the limitations of pharmacy compared with medicine. There are certain things a doctor can do that a pharmacist traditionally couldn’t do straight off the bat, and prescribing is the main one.
In the video I explain that pharmacists can go on to do a prescribing course and become what’s called a prescribing pharmacist, which means extra training and exams to show competency. Pharmacy training has changed since then, with prescribing now being built into how new pharmacists qualify, so check the current route before you make your decision.
As a doctor, prescribing is part of the job from your first post. If that’s an important part of how you picture your career, factor it in.
What happens after you graduate in pharmacy?
When you graduate, you get an MPharm degree. But that doesn’t mean you can practise yet. In the video I describe the route as it worked then: you complete a year of what was called pre-reg, then pass the GPhC registration exam. Newly graduated pharmacists called themselves pre-regs until they’d passed that exam, and after that they were fully registered pharmacists. The training year and its name have since changed, so look up how it works now.
The NHS careers website gives a good picture of what comes after registration:
- you can progress from one grade or band to another
- in community pharmacy, self-employment is an option once you have some experience
- you can specialise in areas such as providing information on medicines, or radiopharmacy
- you can train as an independent prescriber
To stay registered with the GPhC you have to keep meeting its standards, which includes continuing professional development, or CPD. That’s something every doctor knows all about too.
If you want to see the equivalent journey on the medicine side, have a look at what happens after medical school.
So which is better: medicine or pharmacy?
I always tell students there isn’t one right answer here. It comes down to what you want from your working life. Ask yourself honestly:
- Do you want to qualify sooner? Pharmacy is shorter.
- Do you want lots of different directions open to you? Pharmacy gives you industry, research, tech, community, hospital and more, with no expected path.
- Do you want to run your own business? Pharmacy makes that far more realistic.
- Do you want higher pay from day one and to prescribe as part of the job? Medicine gives you both.
- Do you want a clear route into hospital or GP work? That’s where most doctors end up.
Speak to people in both careers, like I did with my pharmacy colleagues. Their day-to-day reality will tell you more than any comparison table. If medicine is the one for you, be ready to explain why medicine and not a related career like pharmacy, because interviewers will ask.
And if you decide medicine is the one for you, my whole YouTube channel is dedicated to helping you get into your first choice medical school at the first attempt.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to become a pharmacist compared with a doctor?
A pharmacy degree takes four years, or five if you choose a sandwich course with a year in industry. Medicine takes at least five years, and often six if you intercalate. Pharmacists also need a training year and a registration exam before they can practise.
Do pharmacists earn less than doctors?
At the start, yes, significantly. But a hospital pharmacist can reach consultant pharmacist faster than a doctor reaches consultant, with fewer exams, and is then on the same pay band as a newly appointed consultant doctor. Industry and pharmacy ownership can pay even more.
Can a pharmacist become a consultant?
Yes. If you work in hospital and stay in, you can progress all the way to consultant pharmacist. The pathway is quicker than becoming a consultant doctor, with fewer exams and fewer years.
Can pharmacists own their own business?
Yes. You can own your own pharmacy, which makes you a business owner, and it can be a very lucrative option. In community pharmacy, self-employment is open to you once you have some experience.
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Video transcript
Transcript from “Medicine vs Pharmacy: Which is better?” (30 October 2022)
I've been speaking to my Pharmacy colleagues to try and decide which is the better of Medicine and Pharmacy to study and then go on to in a career so in this video we're going to talk about both careers compare the two and help you decide which one you might want to choose for your future career so firstly looking at the length of the course Pharmacy is a bit quicker than medicine in that it only takes four years versus minimum five in medicine but a lot of people do an interculated degree so often it's six there are some Pharmacy courses that offer a five-year sandwich course where you do a year in industry but again same
as the interculated degree these are optional and if you just want to blast through it as quickly as possible you can do it in the four years versus if you want to blast through medicine it would take you five the opportunities are quite wide for pharmacists you can work in Industry so for a pharmaceutical company you can work for a High Street pharmacist you can work in the community in the hospital even as a GP now you can have this sort of variety with medicine but typically Medics go on to be a hospital doctor maybe a GP doctor and the majority will end up going down that sort of Route whereas Pharmacy there is no
real expectation to go into any one of those so the options are really widespread and it's really not uncommon to see pharmacists go into things like Tech even recruitment they can be lab based and going to research or you can own your own Pharmacy which means that you're an own business owner and if you saw any of my medicine versus Dentistry videos you can see how kind of being your own boss is a real positive plus Factor when it comes to being a pharmacist or a dentist versus a doctor in the UK now one of the very important questions that of course you want to know about is pay now this is very very so
it's hard to make a real direct comparison doctors can usually expect to make in the region of about 27 Grand in their first job as an fy1 doctor whereas for a pre-rich pharmacist it will depend on the environment they're in but it can be anything from around 16 18 000 pounds a year to about 22 000 pounds a year so significantly low for Farm assistant doctors in the initial steps however I will caveat that by saying that pharmacists if you're working in hospital and staying in you can go all the way up to a consultant pharmacist and the pathway to that is much quicker than that of going to a consultant doctor you have fewer
exams and you can get there in less years and then once you get there you are on the same pay band as an initial starting salary for a consultant so that is something to consider but as I said before the options available to you as a pharmacist are quite widespread so although I'm not a big fan of big Pharma if you went into there you can earn quite a lot of money probably more than you can as an NHS Hospital doctor consultant as a consultant doctor in hospital you do kind of have a ceiling on how much you can earn however with Pharmacy there are certain Avenues where the sky is almost the limit in
certain senses for example if you were to be a pharmacy owner that is a massively lucrative option that you can take another similarity between Medicine and Pharmacy is that in Pharmacy you can also specialize as a doctor does in a certain area of the field so you could be anything from a microbiology pharmacist where you're looking at antibiotics and antibiotic resistance to a mental health pharmacist or even an Obstetrics and Gynecology pharmacist as well in terms of the more patient-based Pharmacy roles you can still be a big part of the MDT and if you should choose to be in hospital or Community you can still be very patient-facing and that is the beauty of pharmacies
that you can decide what area you like if you want to see a lot of patients then you can do a patient-facing role or you can do something that's more research based where you're not seeing patients as much and really have that flexibility to tailor your career and your specialty to your preference now with some of the limitations of Pharmacy compared to medicine is that there are certain things you aren't allowed to do as a pharmacist that you can as a doctor off the bat you're not able to prescribe as a pharmacist but you can go on to do a prescribers course and become what they call a prescribing pharmacist however to do that you
will need to do additional training and take some exams to show competency now when you graduate as a pharmacist you get an M Farm degree however if you want to practice as a pharmacist you have to First Complete a year of what they call pre-reg and then do an exam that exam that you have to pass is known as the gphc or the GPC registration exam and that is what pharmacists who are fresh out of University they will call themselves pre-regs before they have passed that exam and after that they're considered a fully registered pharmacist and if you want to find out a little bit more about what happens immediately after you graduate as a
pharmacist and then go on to pass your registration exam the NHS website talks a little bit about the careers so here it says once you're interested as a pharmacist you can progress from one grade or band to another and in Community Pharmacy self-employment is an option you'll need some experience first but can specialize in certain aspects of the work such as providing information or medicines or radio Pharmacy you can also train as an independent prescriber to remain registered with the gphc you have to maintain its set standards this includes taking part in continuing professional development or CPD which we all know very much about so if you do eventually decide that medicine is the one
for you and you want to find out how to get in my entire YouTube channel is dedicated exactly to helping people get into their First Choice Medical School at the first attempt so check out this video here to find out exactly how we can help you on your journey towards becoming a doctor best look at the application and thanks for watching
