Essay help. Why not medicine?

[LactaidPlease]

I asked a couple of friends to read through my essay and some of them, mostly the med school students, asked me why not medicine? In my essay, I talk about some of the reasons why I chose pharmacy over things like research, such as patient interaction. Well, do I need to give reasons that are specific with pharmacy and don't overlap with medicine?

Also, why did you choose pharmacy over medicine? I know for me, it's because of the shorter time in school and doing residencies and whatnot. I want to be able to settle down, start a family and such.

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[tatumth]

I did not put anything about medicine or dentistry into my personal statement. However, if you had switched from pre-dent or med to pharmacy I think including your reasoning for doing so could be advantageous if you put it in the right light (experience in both fields or something). That being said, you will almost definitely be asked "why not medicine/other healthcare field" in the interviews. My reasons for choosing pharmacy were along the same lines as you have already put, but just respond sincerely and be ready to support your answer and you will be fine.

 

[LactaidPlease]

I did not put anything about medicine or dentistry into my personal statement. However, if you had switched from pre-dent or med to pharmacy I think including your reasoning for doing so could be advantageous if you put it in the right light (experience in both fields or something). That being said, you will almost definitely be asked "why not medicine/other healthcare field" in the interviews. My reasons for choosing pharmacy were along the same lines as you have already put, but just respond sincerely and be ready to support your answer and you will be fine.

So are you saying I should address it in my essay or should I save it for an interview?

 

[RxEvileye]

Your essay and supplementals shouldn't leave them with doubt about whether you specifically want to be a pharmacist. If you're saying generic things like "interact with people" take your proofreaders' advice and revise it.

Taking that example, you currently say you don't want to do bench research and want to interact with people instead. You could phrase this many ways to show off what you know about how a pharmacist interacts. You could say that rather than talk to other scientists all day about researched drugs, you want to use your knowledge to explain to patients how to adhere to them. Or you want to see people improve with every visit to the pharmacy because of your interaction. Or how you want to fill any gaps in medication knowledge and answer any questions their provider left them with.

Toy with different ways to make your essay more descriptive and passionate about pharmacy and I'm sure it will help your writing in general.

 

[vasoolraja]

I asked a couple of friends to read through my essay and some of them, mostly the med school students, asked me why not medicine? In my essay, I talk about some of the reasons why I chose pharmacy over things like research, such as patient interaction. Well, do I need to give reasons that are specific with pharmacy and don't overlap with medicine?

Also, why did you choose pharmacy over medicine? I know for me, it's because of the shorter time in school and doing residencies and whatnot. I want to be able to settle down, start a family and such.

I don't think you have the say why you chose pharmacy over medicine in your personal statement. Instead of asking yourself why pharmacy and not medicine, you have to ask yourself why pharmacy. Don't complicate by trying to answer why not medicine. Once you have the answer for why pharmacy, you have the answer for everything.

 

[deleted158872]

nah, don't include anything about medicine or dentistry!

 

[Biochemistry2014]

Never define your reasons for going into a profession based off of what you DON'T want from other professions! I have heard many pharmacy students making this mistake - "I went into pharmacy because I don't like blood," "I went into pharmacy because I don't want the responsibility of a physician," "I went to pharmacy school because I don't want to go through a physician's residency." These are usually the ones that end up disliking pharmacy school or pharmacy work, and are also very weak reasons to choose a profession.

Instead, ask yourself what you like about pharmacy and the pharmacist's role in healthcare. If you're having trouble doing so, then you may be choosing pharmacy for incorrect or superficial reasons.