Another Chance Me....except Im a pharmacy student

[saayyraahh]

So Im a Middle Eastern, first generation, NJ resident, pharmacy student starting my 4th year in a 6 year program in Philadelphia. (aka Im in my second year of professional pharmacy school) I recently decided pharmacy wasn't for me. My cGPA is a 3.71 sGPA is 3.68. Because I decided on such short notice I only studied for my MCAT for 2 months while doing a 40hr internship each week. I scored a 500 (125 in each section). I have tons of ECs and I have over 150 hours of shadowing an internist and a bariatric surgeon. I have 2 publications in the process of being submitted. I started a CPR organization on campus where we certify students at the university. I'm a Lab TA, tutor, mentor, in a sorority, in the Honors Program, I used to be EMT certified. I'm also involved in an inter-professional clinic with Cooper Medical School as a student provider serving the underprivileged of Camden.

I was planning on applying to before I got such a terrible MCAT SCORE.


DO
-PCOM-PA
-LECOM
-VCOM-CC
-ROWANSOM
-NYCOM

Should I even bother applying to DO schools or is my MCAT too low. DO you think I should remove any schools or add any. I'm trying to be realistic here.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[AwayFromReality]

.

 

[amam]

If I may ask, why is pharmacy not for you, and what motivated you to pursue medicine instead?

 

[saayyraahh]

I believe med school don't look kindly on someone abandoning their current program to pursue medicine. At best they would offer you a deferred acceptance until you finish your current program, which is rare. Think about it, if you were an adcom would you feel confident admitting a student who has already quit a professional program once? Based on the limited info adcoms know, the chances of that student quitting the med program is high. This might not be fair but thats how it currently works.

I'm not saying med school don't accept those who are switching careers but thats usually after that person has worked a year or two in their field, gained some experience then decided to make a conscious decision to pursue medicine.

In any case, your score is not ideal but its not horrible either. From what I understand that translates to around a 24-25 (I could be wrong) which you might be able to overcome with your high cGPA and sGPA. Still chances are low-ish, I would wait until you retake the MCAT to get a higher score and then apply. Avoid schools that love high MCAT scores like the Touros, CCOM, AZCOM. This link should help: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/msar-for-do.1115265/#post-16055436

I shouldve made my post clear. I get 2 degrees in this program: a bachelors after 4 years and my doctorate at the end. So, I understand where you're coming from with the whole abandoning concept and that's what I thought until I spoke to the Dean of the Pre Professional school at my university. Think about it. I'm not leaving my program because I'm not excelling, on the contrary, I've proven that at the same age as traditional students I have gained a plethora of pharmacology, physiology, and medical knowledge than any student coming out a regular Biology etc undergrad. Ive been exposed to what I thought I wanted which was rigorous on its own and now I have willingly chosen, knowing that medicine is only more challenging, to give up my success within pharmacy. Why would anyone do that only to drop out of medical school a year or 2 down the line. If anything the Dean said adcoms appreciate students on professional tracks more because they've been forced to learn how to deal with academic and extracurricular settings of that stature. On top of that I have proven my dedication to this switch by going out of my way to shadow and serve the community in the medicine aspect while still maintaining my position within pharmacy. I'm honestly not worried about the fact that I'm pharmacy or not, everyone I have spoken to me has assured me that that will help me if anything. My only concern that I was seeking advice about was my MCAT score.

 

[AwayFromReality]

I shouldve made my post clear. I get 2 degrees in this program: a bachelors after 4 years and my doctorate at the end. So, I understand where you're coming from with the whole abandoning concept and that's what I thought until I spoke to the Dean of the Pre Professional school at my university. Think about it. I'm not leaving my program because I'm not excelling, on the contrary, I've proven that at the same age as traditional students I have gained a plethora of pharmacology, physiology, and medical knowledge than any student coming out a regular Biology etc undergrad. Ive been exposed to what I thought I wanted which was rigorous on its own and now I have willingly chosen, knowing that medicine is only more challenging, to give up my success within pharmacy. Why would anyone do that only to drop out of medical school a year or 2 down the line. If anything the Dean said adcoms appreciate students on professional tracks more because they've been forced to learn how to deal with academic and extracurricular settings of that stature. On top of that I have proven my dedication to this switch by going out of my way to shadow and serve the community in the medicine aspect while still maintaining my position within pharmacy. I'm honestly not worried about the fact that I'm pharmacy or not, everyone I have spoken to me has assured me that that will help me if anything. My only concern that I was seeking advice about was my MCAT score.

Glad to hear you've thought this out and have done your research. Adcoms will ask you this question in interviews so as long as you have a convincing answer (which sounds like you do) then you're all set. Good luck, hope it works out for you.

 

[Faha]

Your MCAT is adequate for some of the lower tier and newer DO schools. Schools where you have a chance for an interview include:
ACOM
BCOM
VCOM (all 3 schools)
CUSOM
LUCOM
LMU-DCOM
UP-KYCOM
WCU-COM
WVSOM
MU-COM

 

[SpicyFalafel]

Your MCAT is adequate for some of the lower tier and newer DO schools. Schools where you have a chance for an interview include:
ACOM
BCOM
VCOM (all 3 schools)
CUSOM
LUCOM
LMU-DCOM
UP-KYCOM
WCU-COM
WVSOM
MU-COM

Good list, but OP may want to delete LUCOM because of their mission, and BCOM ( provisional accreditation)
OP, you may want to add KCUMB, LECOM.

 

[Goro]

Apply broadly and especially target the newest schools.

Good advice in this thread!

So Im a Middle Eastern, first generation, NJ resident, pharmacy student starting my 4th year in a 6 year program in Philadelphia. (aka Im in my second year of professional pharmacy school) I recently decided pharmacy wasn't for me. My cGPA is a 3.71 sGPA is 3.68. Because I decided on such short notice I only studied for my MCAT for 2 months while doing a 40hr internship each week. I scored a 500 (125 in each section). I have tons of ECs and I have over 150 hours of shadowing an internist and a bariatric surgeon. I have 2 publications in the process of being submitted. I started a CPR organization on campus where we certify students at the university. I'm a Lab TA, tutor, mentor, in a sorority, in the Honors Program, I used to be EMT certified. I'm also involved in an inter-professional clinic with Cooper Medical School as a student provider serving the underprivileged of Camden.

I was planning on applying to before I got such a terrible MCAT SCORE.


DO
-PCOM-PA
-LECOM
-VCOM-CC
-ROWANSOM
-NYCOM

Should I even bother applying to DO schools or is my MCAT too low. DO you think I should remove any schools or add any. I'm trying to be realistic here.

 

[GrapesofRath]

So Im a Middle Eastern, first generation, NJ resident, pharmacy student starting my 4th year in a 6 year program in Philadelphia. (aka Im in my second year of professional pharmacy school) I recently decided pharmacy wasn't for me. My cGPA is a 3.71 sGPA is 3.68. Because I decided on such short notice I only studied for my MCAT for 2 months while doing a 40hr internship each week. I scored a 500 (125 in each section). I have tons of ECs and I have over 150 hours of shadowing an internist and a bariatric surgeon. I have 2 publications in the process of being submitted. I started a CPR organization on campus where we certify students at the university. I'm a Lab TA, tutor, mentor, in a sorority, in the Honors Program, I used to be EMT certified. I'm also involved in an inter-professional clinic with Cooper Medical School as a student provider serving the underprivileged of Camden.

I was planning on applying to before I got such a terrible MCAT SCORE.


DO
-PCOM-PA
-LECOM
-VCOM-CC
-ROWANSOM
-NYCOM

Should I even bother applying to DO schools or is my MCAT too low. DO you think I should remove any schools or add any. I'm trying to be realistic here.

You might be able to squeeze out a couple II's at DO's with your current MCAT but if you take the prep more seriously this time and give a full preparation there is no reason you can't do substantially better and perhaps hit 80th+ percentile which will make you competitive for MD programs.