Med School Chances with Professional Degree

[deleted642345]

Hey Everyone,

So I just received my MCAT score and its not really where I want it (11/8/9). I have heard that my 28 puts me on the bottom border for most schools. I was wondering if people can give me some input on whether I should attempt to take the test again or take a gamble and apply. Also, I also tried the experimental section for the new MCAT and its a complete change in difficulty from the current one. That's one of the major issues for me. I'm still in professional school which is tough mentally and physically. There's no way I can focus 100% on MCAT prep while I'm still in school. The only time I'll have to re prepare for the MCAT is 25 days before the last day of the old test format. Hope I can get some advice!

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[darklabel]

I would bite the bullet and take the new MCAT. With a pharm degree you should be fine for the Biochem portion and the sociology portion shouldn't be difficult to review. 25 days won't really give you enough time to catch up on everything and as you focus on pharmacy, you'll begin to forget some of the material for the MCAT and have to restudy that too. Your undergrad GPA is also on the lower end and ECs are ok. Maybe ad some more non-medical volunteering.

Though with your current application, you should be ok for DO.

 

[mik30102]

Do you already have a bachelors degree? Are you planning to finish out that Pharm D since I was told med schools will not like taking a student out of a program before they finish. That sgpa may even be a little to low for DO. I would retake classes until it at least equals your overall gpa. Along if you bump it up a tad I agree that you should be fine for DO schools. Lots of Pharmacy students interested in applying lately and I thought I was special . PM me if you would like any more advice on pharmacy-med school specific issues.

 

[BuckyBadger!]

Out of curiosity, why did you change from pharmacy to medicine? Did a certain event spark that or had you always intended on going to pharmacy school before medical school?

 

[mik30102]

Out of curiosity, why did you change from pharmacy to medicine? Did a certain event spark that or had you always intended on going to pharmacy school before medical school?

Not sure who you were asking so I guess I'll answer to. I never intended to do both but realized I was not satisfied just being a pharmacist and found my true passion in medicine during my rotations, and during school when I always wanted to learn more about diagnosing and non pharmacological treatment.

I'm actually finishing up pharmacy. I only have about a year of class then rotations. I'm already 4 years in so switching would be silly. I should have at least a 3.4 by the end of next year.

BuckyBadger: I actually planned this whole route all along. At first I was planning on attending the accelerated pharmacy program as a backup in case I didn't get into any medical schools after 4 years. However, after my pharmacy rotation at the hospital I was stunned at how many physicians didn't know their medications that well. They were asking the medical team pharmacist questions on dosing, dosage forms, and interactions. This isn't even including the number of prescribing errors and adverse effects/contraindications they missed.

So how many years of undergrad did you have before the accelerated program since you will only be able to use the first 4 total to improve that undergrad GPA. Most of your pharmacy courses are also not considered science and will not help out that 3.1 science GPA. For me patho phys, immunology, molecular bio, bio chem, and randomly infectious disease pharmacology/therapeutics went towards my science gpa. No other pharmacy course did as pharmacy is not considered a science by AMCAS.

 

[tiedyeddog]

What is your pure undergrad cGPA and sGPA, without the pharm school stuff? Medical schools are most interested in those numbers.

 

[moisne]

So... Why not pharmD? Try DO?