admissions with PHARMACY experience?

[cee]

i'm not sure if this topic has been covered, but i was wondering if pharmacy-related extracurricular experiences counts towards anything at all when applying to DO school... i have an economics degree and worked for a year at a marketing firm, realizing it wasnt for me... so i went back to school to finish up some prereqs for a career in healthcare... luckily, the prereqs for most graduate healthcare programs are all the same, as are the ones for DO schools as well as PharmD schools... however, i started working part time at a hospital pharmacy and am interested in applying to DO school as well as pharmacy school. will this volunteer experience in the hospital pharmacy be beneficial at all for DO applications? after working in the hospital, i really enjoy the role of the pharmacist as well as the physician (not to mention, i have always admired what my father does, as a physician)...

... and since we're at it, i need some opinions. i know this may have been discussed before, but my undergrad gpa is a 2.8 in economics.. however, i took no sciences in undergrad whatsoever, and i have been taking them recently since i got back to school.. i know pharm schools tend to concentrate more on science prereq gpa, but is this the same as DO schools? need advice on whether i'm wasting my time.

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[Fin-Nor]

truthfully, imo, your undergrad gpa is very low and right about the cut off of bare minimum for most schools (~2.7-2.75). considering that you havent taken any science classes... when you do you should try to get only A's to boost your gpa. B's won't cut it b/c it'll level off at a 3.0-- that is, if your school doesnt offer +/-.

of course science courses are heavily looked at b/c this is what (so i've read...) medical school will comprise of in the first two years.

so my opinion is, really raise gpa b/c the avg is 3.4ish and mcat you should aim real high. the more the better.

GL

 

[bgreet]

I think it will be much more in your interest to find out exactly what it is you want to do. Being a pharmacist and being a physician are two completely things. (I've both worked at a pharmacy for more than 2 years, and have volunteered in the er/shadowed physicians) I don't believe that med schools look highly at an applicant that is applying to both, and as the previous poster mentioned your gpa is on the low end.

 

[cee]

well, i have about 2 years of science/math prerequisites to finish before i start any type of graduate healthcare programs, so i figure i should have time to volunteer and figure out exactly what i want to do (whether it be pharmacy or medicine)... so most programs really have no reconciliation as to former non-healthcare degrees and their gpas? that sucks. i was hoping some programs would recognize that people have changed careers. my hope was that i would get real good science grades and that schools would focus in on that.. but i guess that "C" in scuba diving my freshman year will haunt me forever

 

[bgreet]

Don't get me wrong, doing a post bacc and getting a's will help you tremendously and I'm not saying you dont have a chance. I'm just saying if that gpa stands as is then you should be doing some bost bacc. You should be fine and doing volunteer work is probably going to be your best resource for deciding your own path. Good luck!