pfaction's WAMC! MD and MD/PhD; problems, twists and turns aplenty.

Hey guys, it's time for my own WAMC. Let's get things out of the way:

GRADES:
Obstacle #1 is OVER.

MCAT: 34R: 12 PS/9 VR/13 BS


Now you're saying, how can we participate in a WAMC without any concrete numbers? Well, it turns out I am in a 6 year PharmD degree. So what does this mean?

OBSTACLE #2: I have no Bachelor's degree. Zero. In fact, anyone in pharmacy after 2000 or so doesn't. This has been a huge pain in my ass, as I really shouldn't have to tell you, but I kind of have taken enough credits over the years to fulfill any semblance of a BS. We go directly from high school to a doctorate degree. I have a list of schools which are on the border accepting my credits, and my degree status.

OBSTACLE #3: My school designates all courses as Undergraduate. Yeah, it sucks, but when sending out my transcript my associate dean sent a letter explaining that since we're a 0/6 program it's classified as undergraduate through and through. Think of it like an action potential: all or none. Either you persevere and finish the program or you don't get any degree. But we also said to classify my courses as 3/3....So this "undergraduate" thing has my GPA in flux. No worries, though, I'll provide pictures below. My lowest GPA ever is a 3.0 in high school; in university it is a 3.51. Highest is the most recent grad 4.0.
Obstacle #3 is OVER.

So let's get on with this show. I've seen people like Catalystik ask for course loads and advanced courses. I'm pretty sure it doesn't get more advanced than my courses, so here they are in their entirety:

1st year:




2nd year:




3rd year:






4th year is GRADUATE years.




5th year/6th year: current.


END PART 1

BEGIN PART 2




My AMCAS verified GPA is listed up top.




I took college courses in high school. I was a bonehead. You can clearly see I got my act together for university. This is why my non-BCPM GPA is much lower than my regular GPA.

Onto the other parts:
Letters of Evaluation:
1. Dr. B1 ✓ [LAB]
2. Dr. B2 ✓ [LAB]
3. Dr. S ✓ [LAB]
4. Dr. R MD/PhD ✓ [LAB]
5. Dr. A ✓ (PhD I'm friendly with)
6. Dr. M ✓ (Dean)
7. Dr. M2 ✓ (PhD I'm friendly with)
8. Dr. A (Community pharmacist) ✓ (work)
9. Dr. B3 ✓ (primary care doc)
10. Dr. W + Dr. M ✓ (hospital clinical pharms, not my job)
11. Dr. M3 (clinical PharmD in charge of our training labs) ✓

So here is what I am sending to schools:

Committee - adviser, Dr. M1 dean, Dr. M3 clinical, Dr. R, Dr. A1
Dr. W+M individual.
Dr. P individual.
MD/PhD: Dr. B1, Dr. B2, Dr. S as individual.

Unfortunately can't use the PCP and Dr. M2 but what can you do 🙁

Work and Activities:
One of the last parts!

Brief description:
1) Hobby.
2) Nonclinical job.
3) Listed the scholarships/honors/honor society inductees.
4) Most Significant #1: clinical job.
5) Combined Labs Dr. B1 (2010-2010) and Dr. B2 (2010-present)
6) Lab: Dr. S (2010-present, poster on campus)
7) Clin Volunteer: Hospital (180 hrs in ER/Pharm) and pharmacy community events.
8) Extracurricular pre-health society nonclin volunteer work
9) I wrote two articles for a hospital newsletter, and 2 presentations while on rotations.
10) Most Significant #2: nonclinical volunteer
11) Most Significant #3: Dr. R MD/PhD Lab (2011-present: i took over the start of an experiment and carried it through)
12) Shadowing (50 hrs infectious disease at hosp, 50 hrs PCP)
13) 2nd author on oral international presentation.
14) Leadership as editor
15) My first official real citeable publication! Is out in August, clearly stated.

I'd like to think this is pretty diverse yet medically sound, and it may be out of the scope of WAMC but any clarifications for my W&A would be appreciated. I'll post in the topic on pre-allo if needed.

I think that takes care of everything.






So my obvious choices are the SUNY Schools: Downstate, Upstate, and Stony Brook. They recognize my situation and have given me IN WRITING that I am able to fully apply. I will probably be applying to these as regular MD as I don't want to flop at MD/PhD (I am on the lower end of MCAT) and get nothing in state.

Anyone want to recommend any places for me to apply? I've been looking at the MSAR and my GPA is average; my MCAT is median/slightly above average for mid tiers.

Here are my choices so far:



Anyone have other schools to input?
Thanks guys!

I'm just saving this post in case things start to get hairy with replies.

Here's a bump.

Why do you have 11 LoRs listed?

I don't know how serious it is not to have a BS/BA, but your GPA/MCAT/ECs are pretty good. You might have to explain why your GPA dropped from 3.98 to 3.51 (I missed it if you did already).

Also, you'll need to have a good reason for leaving pharmacy.

Charles Darwin said:

Why do you have 11 LoRs listed?

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Because that is how many I have; I said which ones I will be sending out.

MedPR said:

I don't know how serious it is not to have a BS/BA, but your GPA/MCAT/ECs are pretty good. You might have to explain why your GPA dropped from 3.98 to 3.51 (I missed it if you did already).

Also, you'll need to have a good reason for leaving pharmacy.

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It is imperative to have a bachelor's. Schools like NYU and Hofstra and Jefferson require a BS/BA. Frustrating!

Thanks. I'm really scared as to how my undergraduate GPA will be effected by a full semester of B's from high school. It's clear I have around a 3.7 from university but high school will drag it to 3.5 or such.

I did not explain why individually it dropped but I was working three days a week; inadequate time management skills that I obviously learned to better balance in the other semesters.

Actually hoping Cat or LizzyM can come in here and help me with a few school selections.

pfaction, I know you're looking for some of the usual SDN regulars to chime in here, but I have to say at least for me that your situation is very unusual. I don't have any experience with anyone in your situation. It seems like you're doing all the right things. Since you've decided on MD-only, just be sure to apply to the usual ~12 MD programs including all your in-states and see what happens.You might want to contact all 12 to make sure you can apply without a BS given your unique situation.

Congrats on your MCAT score. 34 overall is a strong score, obviously. A 9 VR is sub-optimal, but I doubt many (any?) programs are filtering out based on a 9 sub-score.

If you are interested in research without doing the whole MD/PhD thing, I think CCLCM/Pitt would give your application strong consideration. Your background in pharmacy and research will give you an interesting angle into medical research. Certainly MD/PhD might be possible for you, but a little riskier. A 34 MCAT certainly isn't bad for MD/PhD, and your GPA is a bit on the low side but explainable. It would be one of these cases where you have an unusual application that adcoms may or may not see value in, and would be on a school by school basis. It would of course be costly, but you could apply across the board to another 12 separate MD/PhD programs if you so choose and give it a whirl.

Good luck!

It looks like a solid application to me. I'm not much for school selections unfortunately but I think that you'll get in provided that your PS and interviews convince adcoms that you've got a convincing reason to switch from pharm to med

"Pfaction, MD, Ph.D, Pharm.D" lol that would be insane

This is certainly a very unique case. I wish I could help, but I don't know much of anything related to this scenario. The only thing I'll say is not to worry about that C+ you circled in red. Nobody will care about 1 grade that was off.

Best of luck.

Oh wow, I just saw these posts. Sorry, been ridiculously busy on rotations and writing secondaries. I'm also re-starting up labwork, so that's always fun! 😀

Since you've decided on MD-only, just be sure to apply to the usual ~12 MD programs including all your in-states and see what happens.You might want to contact all 12 to make sure you can apply without a BS given your unique situation.

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I have called and verified the schools. I applied to 30 so far 1/3 MD, 2/3 MDPhD, as well as kept a list of those schools that rejected me. Will be posting on my mdapps profile as to which were receptive and such. Penn State was really ambigious - they said I CAN apply, but on the final decision, no bachelor's would be extremely disadvantageous. Not going to waste all that money and interview to be potentially rejected because of my degree.

A 9 VR is sub-optimal, but I doubt many (any?) programs are filtering out based on a 9 sub-score.

A 34 MCAT certainly isn't bad for MD/PhD, and your GPA is a bit on the low side but explainable. It would be one of these cases where you have an unusual application that adcoms may or may not see value in, and would be on a school by school basis. It would of course be costly, but you could apply across the board to another 12 separate MD/PhD programs if you so choose and give it a whirl.

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Yeah, I was scoring so bad in VR I was happy to see 9 in VR. I doubt I'll be really screened out, since 10th % of a lot of schools are 9. I will post a GPA as soon as I can so we can really get this topic moving and my school lists. As stated earlier 2/3 are MDPhD and 1/3 are MD, even in my own state.

The only thing I'll say is not to worry about that C+ you circled in red. Nobody will care about 1 grade that was off.

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Yeah - it was a 1 credit lab but I am addressing the 3.98->3.51 semester drop in my secondaries. Nothing huge 🙂

It looks like a solid application to me. I'm not much for school selections unfortunately but I think that you'll get in provided that your PS and interviews convince adcoms that you've got a convincing reason to switch from pharm to med

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Thanks s9. I think my PS is good, people seemed to like it, with only minor critisisms like grammar or weakish conclusion. And thank you ALL for all your help.


Next update will be my school choices and AMCAS verified GPAs.

BUMPDATE!

I have recieved my AMCAS verified GPA. They took my assistant Dean's letter into consideration and broke it up 3/3. I had numerous X's on my verified transcript and I somehow have a senior year? Verified is verified though, and I'm happy with the results for the most part.

I also posted a list of schools. Does anyone have any to add? Am I too top heavy or not enough median/low tiers?

Another healthy bump, really hoping for school list help. Only half a week until primaries are sent to schools!