Advice/Chances

[Cookiecatfromouterspace]

Hey guys! So I got into a top 20 pharmacy school ( Science GPA= 3.53, PCAT=97). Recently I have been reconsidering my choice to go to pharmacy school as I believe that I can succeed in Medical school and think that it will be more intellectually satisfying for me. The reason I applied to pharmacy school instead of medical school was because I thought my GPA was too low for medical school. In recent years my grades have skyrocketed as all of last year I got a 4.0 and made it on the president's Honor Roll both spring and fall semester while taking 15+ credits each semester. Im considering applying to medical school instead and hope to do some shadowing before june. At this point I am considering forgoing my pharmacy school admission to work while applying to medical school and have a chance of getting in somewhere, I will be content with being admitted into a DO program. Only thing stopping me is that I am from a sort of underprivileged family and need to pay back student loans from undergrad and that I really dont want to take a year off.

I was wondering what you guys think my chances of getting into medical school are considering the following.

Cumulative/ Science GPA:
3.54 Cum/ 3.53 Science. Considering D.O does grade replacement? My Science GPA would be a >3.6

MCAT:
Havent taken it but i did well on my PCAT (97) i know tests are completely different but if i study with the same amount of dedication i know I can get around a 30. (Im a good test taker).

Volunteering:
Volunteered at Hospital pharmacy for 90 hours

Physician shadowing:
None as of now but will have some by the time I apply

Research:

9 months in peptide research. Worked in anticancer drug synthesis. Had 1 poster presentation and research paper is awaiting publication.

Nonclinical volunteer activities/ Extra curricular activities
-ESOL Mentoring program (50 hours)
-Fraternity involvement (participated in various philanthropic events through my fraternity including march of dimes, dance marathon, CPR awareness.)
-Intramural sports throughout my undergrad career.
-Multicultural council
-Teacher assistant for microbiology class

Work:
One semester as a referee for intramural soccer.

Some background on me:

I came to the USA when I was 7 years old. Throughout most of my life up to high school I was undocumented and struggled with proper medical care as I was not insured. I come from a humble family and just graduating from college is a great accomplishment but i know i have the potential to do more. My GPA is not the highest as I struggled my first year in college due to family problems such as my grandmother suffering from cancer. My inspiration for going to medical school is my younger brother who suffered from epilepsy as his condition had a great impact on my entire family. Recently my grades have improved dramatically and I really want to pursue medicine. If money was not a factor I would definitely take a year off and just wait t0 apply to medical school.

So do you guys think i have a chance if i try and gain experience wether it be shadowing a physician or volunteering more at a hospital?

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[Catalystik]

Hey guys! So I got into a top 20 pharmacy school ( Science GPA= 3.53, PCAT=97). Recently I have been reconsidering my choice to go to pharmacy school as I believe that I can succeed in Medical school and think that it will be more intellectually satisfying for me. The reason I applied to pharmacy school instead of medical school was because I thought my GPA was too low for medical school. In recent years my grades have skyrocketed as all of last year I got a 4.0 and made it on the president's Honor Roll both spring and fall semester while taking 15+ credits each semester. Im considering applying to medical school instead and hope to do some shadowing before june. At this point I am considering forgoing my pharmacy school admission to work while applying to medical school and have a chance of getting in somewhere, I will be content with being admitted into a DO program. Only thing stopping me is that I am from a sort of underprivileged family and need to pay back student loans from undergrad and that I really dont want to take a year off.

I was wondering what you guys think my chances of getting into medical school are considering the following.

Cumulative/ Science GPA:
3.54 Cum/ 3.53 Science. Considering D.O does grade replacement? My Science GPA would be a >3.6

MCAT:
Havent taken it but i did well on my PCAT (97) i know tests are completely different but if i study with the same amount of dedication i know I can get around a 30. (Im a good test taker).

Volunteering:
Volunteered at Hospital pharmacy for 90 hours

Physician shadowing:
None as of now but will have some by the time I apply

Research:

9 months in peptide research. Worked in anticancer drug synthesis. Had 1 poster presentation and research paper is awaiting publication.

Nonclinical volunteer activities/ Extra curricular activities
-ESOL Mentoring program (50 hours)
-Fraternity involvement (participated in various philanthropic events through my fraternity including march of dimes, dance marathon, CPR awareness.)
-Intramural sports throughout my undergrad career.
-Multicultural council
-Teacher assistant for microbiology class

Work:
One semester as a referee for intramural soccer.

Some background on me:

I came to the USA when I was 7 years old. Throughout most of my life up to high school I was undocumented and struggled with proper medical care as I was not insured. I come from a humble family and just graduating from college is a great accomplishment but i know i have the potential to do more. My GPA is not the highest as I struggled my first year in college due to family problems such as my grandmother suffering from cancer. My inspiration for going to medical school is my younger brother who suffered from epilepsy as his condition had a great impact on my entire family. Recently my grades have improved dramatically and I really want to pursue medicine. If money was not a factor I would definitely take a year off and just wait t0 apply to medical school.

So do you guys think i have a chance if i try and gain experience wether it be shadowing a physician or volunteering more at a hospital?

While you could easily acquire the needed observational physician shadowing in the time remaining before a summer 2014 application, adcomms probably won't look at Pharmacy volunteering as representative of 'exploring medicine as a career.' I suggest you change to another department where you'd have more direct interaction with sick and injured folks.

 

[supermintyfresh]

I definitely agree with the above poster -- you need some patient interaction and experience.

What year are you right now? You said you didn't want to take a gap year if possible. The latest MCAT date you should be looking at is May, preferably April. You should allocate plenty of time to fully study and prepare. I think if you score above a 32/33, that will increase your chances of getting into an allopathic (MD school) as your GPA is kind of weak. DO schools you should be fine.

Does your school have a pre-health committee process?

 

[Cookiecatfromouterspace]

I definitely agree with the above poster -- you need some patient interaction and experience.

What year are you right now? You said you didn't want to take a gap year if possible. The latest MCAT date you should be looking at is May, preferably April. You should allocate plenty of time to fully study and prepare. I think if you score above a 32/33, that will increase your chances of getting into an allopathic (MD school) as your GPA is kind of weak. DO schools you should be fine.

Does your school have a pre-health committee process?

What is a pre-health committee process? And thank you for the insight. I am a senior so i would have to take the year off. I have the support of my mother but I just dont want to be a burden to her and thats why Im considering just going to pharmacy school since I invested time and other resources into it already.

 

[supermintyfresh]

Most colleges have a pre-health committee/advisor, where you send all of your letter of recommendations (LORs) to them. Most, but not all of them, will then interview you and evaluate as a candidate, and write a cover letter. The cover letter serves as a summary of all of your qualifications and the committee's recommendation. If your school has a pre-health committee, I definitely recommend that you use it, as many schools prefer a committee letter. Definitely talk to your school's pre-health advisor.

I think if you put in the effort, you definitely can pull off a DO/MD, but it is really up to you.

 

[shopsteward]

So far you've given reasons for going/not going to medical school. You haven't talked at all about being a doctor - ie the bit that comes after med school. You need to sort out to yourself first, and then in your med school application, why you want to be a doctor, and back that story up with some relevant work/volunteering experience.

You also want to be very sure you are not making a mistake. Don't make a hasty switch just based on your recent improvement in grades - there are a lot of people with good grades who don't go to med school, who don't want to go to med school, for whom going to med school would be a dreadful and expensive mistake and who do well and are happy in other careers.

It is very clear that for MD school it is best to make an application early in June (DO has a bit more leeway, but you will need to have learnt about the DO philosophy and preferably shadowed a DO doctor by the time you apply). An application this year would leave very little time (probably not enough to do a good job with it all) for keeping your current 4.0 grades - a downward trend now would be very detrimental to a med school application -, getting in the requisite volunteering and shadowing, preparing for and taking the MCAT, researching schools and putting together your application. Have you even taken all the usual prereq courses for med school?

Consider this plan: from now until you graduate, concentrate on keeping up your grades and doing some medical volunteering and shadowing. Work out whether you really want to spend the rest of your life being a doctor rather than a pharmacist. Then you need to take the plunge - either go to pharmacy school, or get a job and start preparing for the MCAT while keeping up your medical volunteering. If you are going to med school, you will have a gap year if you apply this year in any case, so taking an extra year to make sure you are doing the right thing for you and getting together the best application you possibly can shouldn't make too much of a difference. If you get a reasonable job, you should be able to keep more or less on top of your undergrad loan interest at least. Also, check whether pharm school would let you defer for a year (or even two, although that is less likely) so that it is a back-up in case you change your mind about med school or are unsuccessful in applying.

Good luck.

 

[Catalystik]

In case it isn't clear to you, the very soonest you could begin med school if you apply this summer 2014 would be fall 2015, so you would have at least one gap year no matter what (I presume you're a senior now), if you want to go into medicine.

If you want to put off the pressure of loan repayment requirements, you could remain a student for another year through adding a second major or a minor and delaying graduation, engaging in a paid 1-year masters degree, say in Public Health, or by going for a two-year funded masters (where they pay you, in exchange for research and teaching obligations).

 

[Cookiecatfromouterspace]

So far you've given reasons for going/not going to medical school. You haven't talked at all about being a doctor - ie the bit that comes after med school. You need to sort out to yourself first, and then in your med school application, why you want to be a doctor, and back that story up with some relevant work/volunteering experience.

You also want to be very sure you are not making a mistake. Don't make a hasty switch just based on your recent improvement in grades - there are a lot of people with good grades who don't go to med school, who don't want to go to med school, for whom going to med school would be a dreadful and expensive mistake and who do well and are happy in other careers.

It is very clear that for MD school it is best to make an application early in June (DO has a bit more leeway, but you will need to have learnt about the DO philosophy and preferably shadowed a DO doctor by the time you apply). An application this year would leave very little time (probably not enough to do a good job with it all) for keeping your current 4.0 grades - a downward trend now would be very detrimental to a med school application -, getting in the requisite volunteering and shadowing, preparing for and taking the MCAT, researching schools and putting together your application. Have you even taken all the usual prereq courses for med school?

Consider this plan: from now until you graduate, concentrate on keeping up your grades and doing some medical volunteering and shadowing. Work out whether you really want to spend the rest of your life being a doctor rather than a pharmacist. Then you need to take the plunge - either go to pharmacy school, or get a job and start preparing for the MCAT while keeping up your medical volunteering. If you are going to med school, you will have a gap year if you apply this year in any case, so taking an extra year to make sure you are doing the right thing for you and getting together the best application you possibly can shouldn't make too much of a difference. If you get a reasonable job, you should be able to keep more or less on top of your undergrad loan interest at least. Also, check whether pharm school would let you defer for a year (or even two, although that is less likely) so that it is a back-up in case you change your mind about med school or are unsuccessful in applying.

Good luck.

I have taken all the prerequisites for medical school already, most of them are the same ones required for pharmacy schools. Im currently just finishing up the upper division classes for my major. I know that it takes a lot of dedication, a LOT of time, effort, and money launch a great initiative to get into medical school, I am very aware of that. I am also aware of the gap year that I would have, and pretty much my decision is relying on if could find a decent job. I know that in the long run one or two years of enhancing my application and credentials for medical school will be worth it if I decide to do it. As to why I want to go to medical school I have quite a few reasons. If I become a doctor I would want to work with underserved areas. When I first arrived to this country I lived in a bad area and I know how bad some people have it since they cant afford health insurance. Its not about just having the tittle of a doctor it would be about trying to help immigrants and others that are in serious need of medical attention. That would be my main focus. Due to my brother's epilepsy me and my mom where constantly with him going to Doctors visits and the bond that my family created with the doctor is immense. Till this day we keep in contact with him. I dont think bonds like that can easily be made through pharmacy unless I do clinical pharmacy. Anyways, I really appreciate your perspective on things. Thanks for laying it out for me and making me aware that it's not all about talk and wishing.