Any other PharmD's currently in medical school? I'm starting this year, would love to chat.

[farm_assist]

I completed my PharmD in 2005 and have been working as a clinical pharmacist at a hospital ever since. I will be starting medical school this year, and I'd love to chat with someone in a similar situation, just to get some insight on what to expect, and see how med school compares (if at all) to pharmacy school. Thanks!

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[ewax]

I am. Lol, med school and pharm school really don't compare at all. In pharm, I could get by studying the night before a test..as a second year med, it seems like all I do is study (I guess a looming step 1 has a lot to do with that).

Your pharmD will give you head up in some courses like biochem and obviously pharm. Unfortunately the path and micro you took in pharmacy school is the "lite" version of what you'll get in med school... although I suppose some previous exposure to major disease states/bugs does help. Anyways, if you have any other questions feel free to PM me.

Good luck.

 

[Jabbed]

I am. Lol, med school and pharm school really don't compare at all. In pharm, I could get by studying the night before a test..as a second year med, it seems like all I do is study (I guess a looming step 1 has a lot to do with that).

Your pharmD will give you head up in some courses like biochem and obviously pharm. Unfortunately the path and micro you took in pharmacy school is the "lite" version of what you'll get in med school... although I suppose some previous exposure to major disease states/bugs does help. Anyways, if you have any other questions feel free to PM me.

Good luck.

How did you feel that med school pharm compared to your pharmD program?

 

[ewax]

How did you feel that med school pharm compared to your pharmD program?

During pharmacy school I took pharmacology with DO students, so it was pretty similar to the pharm I took during med school.

honestly, as a pharmacist in medical school, you have an advantage in pharm because you're familiar with the drugs most "traditional" medical students are seeing for the first time.

Other than that, I'm guessing the knowledge gap decreases significantly as you get further along in your training.

 

[Alby]

I did. I'm a MS4 now.

 

[PharmlyDoc]

"Get by studying the night before a test?! I'm a P1 and I have to study daily, I can't cram anymore.

 

[JP2740]

"Get by studying the night before a test?! I'm a P1 and I have to study daily, I can't cram anymore.

That's why hes gonna be a doctor now buddy

 

[J ROD]

That's why hes gonna be a doctor now buddy

 

[J ROD]

I agree. Pharm school was MUCH easier. I barely tried and was top of the class. Not so much in med school.......

It will help more in the clinical years if you did hospital stuff. It has definitely helped me there. However, then you have to be careful not show up residents, etc. It takes a balancing act.

First 2 years it helped me for biochem and pharm obviously. Just for pharm, it can actually hurt some too because the professor may teach a certain way he thinks is right, which might not be exactly the best. I had to learn to think like him and want he wanted to make an A.

 

[Kahreek]

....

 

[farm_assist]

Thanks for the insight. Yes I have been a clinical hospital pharmacist for 10 years. But one thing that rounding with doctors has taught me is the there is MUCH, MUCH more to being a physician than drug therapy. I too was near the top of my pharm class, but I am expecting medical school to be much harder.

 

[Psai]

I agree. Pharm school was MUCH easier. I barely tried and was top of the class. Not so much in med school.......

It will help more in the clinical years if you did hospital stuff. It has definitely helped me there. However, then you have to be careful not show up residents, etc. It takes a balancing act.

First 2 years it helped me for biochem and pharm obviously. Just for pharm, it can actually hurt some too because the professor may teach a certain way he thinks is right, which might not be exactly the best. I had to learn to think like him and want he wanted to make an A.

lol reminds me of when i was having dinner with my buddy who graduated from pharmacy school and we were talking about how much school sucks. dude was like man i studied all the time and his gf was like no you didn't, you studied the night before the test for the entire thing

 

[J ROD]

Thanks for the insight. Yes I have been a clinical hospital pharmacist for 10 years. But one thing that rounding with doctors has taught me is the there is MUCH, MUCH more to being a physician than drug therapy. I too was near the top of my pharm class, but I am expecting medical school to be much harder.

Well, strap it on and come and get some.....hard to be believe I will be a 4th year in 3 months..........then 2 damn tests!

 

[Jibby321]

I'm contemplating this. However, the loan burden is pretty scary. Are you going for MD or DO? I go to a top 15 pharm school and I get away with cramming for tests pretty easily. They just give us a bunch of busy work which keeps us busy. Not necessarily the material.

 

[farm_assist]

I'm going for MD. I'm pretty confident that I can buckle down the first few years out and significantly reduce my loans so...I didn't want to let that keep me from my dreams because I'm sure I'd regret it later in life. I didn't want to have to say "I could have been a doctor, but..." If it's what you want to do, go for it!

 

[Jibby321]

I'm going for MD. I'm pretty confident that I can buckle down the first few years out and significantly reduce my loans so...I didn't want to let that keep me from my dreams because I'm sure I'd regret it later in life. I didn't want to have to say "I could have been a doctor, but..." If it's what you want to do, go for it!

That's good to hear. some people I know that I have talked to have been supportive then others say I am crazy.

 

[Jibby321]

I'm going for MD. I'm pretty confident that I can buckle down the first few years out and significantly reduce my loans so...I didn't want to let that keep me from my dreams because I'm sure I'd regret it later in life. I didn't want to have to say "I could have been a doctor, but..." If it's what you want to do, go for it!

Also curious as to how old you are? Or will be when you start med school?

 

[farm_assist]

I am 33...so if I do internal med for instance, I may double my current salary and still have 20-25 years of practice ahead of me. I will have made up for the lost income, expenses etc within the first decade. If I get into a more lucrative specially that timeline is even shorter. So I'm comfortable with that to be able to do what I want to do for a living. I had the same experience in pharm school as far as studying style, procrastination lol. But every single piece of advice I've gotten from students and professors (I am acquainted with one of the professors) is NEVER fall behind. Do today's work today. If you fall behind you'll never catch up and your screwed. That will be an adjustment for me.

 

[farm_assist]

And everyone around me has been very supportive, including and the pharmacists and physicians I work with which was very encouraging. With the exception of one physician who is jaded because he doesn't like his specialty. He congratulated me but he always puts down the profession of medicine as a whole

 

[Jibby321]

And everyone around me has been very supportive, including and the pharmacists and physicians I work with which was very encouraging. With the exception of one physician who is jaded because he doesn't like his specialty. He congratulated me but he always puts down the profession of medicine as a whole

Well congrats. I'll be 25 when I graduate pharm school. So realistically I am considering working as an Rph paying off my loans this consider the med scool route. So right now I am still a few years out. But I am thinking about it. Do you think your pharmD gave you any type of advantage in the admissions process?

 

[farm_assist]

Yes and no...depends on the school. I only got 2 interviews (though my MCAT was below average, hard to study while working full time with a family, if you are working and don't have a family I think it would be much easier). I applied to 7 schools altogether. Not a peep from 5 of them. I got 1 MD interview and one DO interview. During those interviews they were very interested in my pharmacist experience and even mentioned that I would be at an advantage for some of their classes. My experience also gave me great stories to tell and allowed me to engage in deeper conversations about health care and why I want to be a physician. Accepted at MD, waitlisted at DO due to late application (they ran out of seats). So for those schools it certainly helped. Idk if the other schools were silent because they didn't care or if the MCAT/GPA combo alone left me out of contention. GPA 3.5, Mcat high 20's.

 

[Jibby321]

Yes and no...depends on the school. I only got 2 interviews (though my MCAT was below average, hard to study while working full time with a family, if you are working and don't have a family I think it would be much easier). I applied to 7 schools altogether. Not a peep from 5 of them. I got 1 MD interview and one DO interview. During those interviews they were very interested in my pharmacist experience and even mentioned that I would be at an advantage for some of their classes. My experience also gave me great stories to tell and allowed me to engage in deeper conversations about health care and why I want to be a physician. Accepted at MD, waitlisted at DO due to late application (they ran out of seats). So for those schools it certainly helped. Idk if the other schools were silent because they didn't care or if the MCAT/GPA combo alone left me out of contention. GPA 3.5, Mcat high 20's.

Good deal. I don't plan on having a family so hopefully that helps. Also, did you have a bachelors? I didn't get a bachelors before pharm school I just did the pre Reqs.

 

[farm_assist]

No I didn't have a bachelors or an associates or anything. Just a high school diploma and a PharmD lol. A girl at the MD admissions office scared the hell out of me when she called me to tell me I'm not eligible for admissions because I don't have a bachelors. I was like "but I have a doctorate!!" She talked it over with her boss who informed her that of course a doctorate is acceptable because it is higher than a bachelors. She apologized for the mistake ;-)

 

[Jibby321]

Yes and no...depends on the school. I only got 2 interviews (though my MCAT was below average, hard to study while working full time with a family, if you are working and don't have a family I think it would be much easier). I applied to 7 schools altogether. Not a peep from 5 of them. I got 1 MD interview and one DO interview. During those interviews they were very interested in my pharmacist experience and even mentioned that I would be at an advantage for some of their classes. My experience also gave me great stories to tell and allowed me to engage in deeper conversations about health care and why I want to be a physician. Accepted at MD, waitlisted at DO due to late application (they ran out of seats). So for those schools it certainly helped. Idk if the other schools were silent because they didn't care or if the MCAT/GPA combo alone left me out of contention. GPA 3.5, Mcat high 20's.

Good deal. I don't plan on having a family so hopefully that helps. Also, did you have a bachelors? I didn't get a bachelors before pharm school I just did the pre Reqs.

No I didn't have a bachelors or an associates or anything. Just a high school diploma and a PharmD lol. A girl at the MD admissions office scared the hell out of me when she called me to tell me I'm not eligible for admissions because I don't have a bachelors. I was like "but I have a doctorate!!" She talked it over with her boss who informed her that of course a doctorate is acceptable because it is higher than a bachelors. She apologized for the mistake ;-)

good to hear!

 

[mik30102]

Good deal. I don't plan on having a family so hopefully that helps. Also, did you have a bachelors? I didn't get a bachelors before pharm school I just did the pre Reqs.

good to hear!

FYI Jefferson, NYU, Penn State, Touro (harlem at least), and this DO school in Ohio (cant remember which one) will not accept the pharm d without a bachelors even after talking with the head of admissions.

 

[Jibby321]

FYI Jefferson, NYU, Penn State, Touro (harlem at least), and this DO school in Ohio (cant remember which one) will not accept the pharm d without a bachelors even after talking with the head of admissions.

Thanks for the info.

 

[deleted390966]

Do PharmD grades count as undergraduate, graduate or professional on the application?

 

[Psai]

FYI Jefferson, NYU, Penn State, Touro (harlem at least), and this DO school in Ohio (cant remember which one) will not accept the pharm d without a bachelors even after talking with the head of admissions.

how does the pharm d even differ from the r ph

 

[mik30102]

Do PharmD grades count as undergraduate, graduate or professional on the application?

For MD, 2 years of pre pharm and P1-P2 count towards the gpa. True pharmacy courses are also not counted as science. If you have a bachelors none of pharmacy school will count towards your amcas gpa. For DO all of your years count towards your gpa, and true pharmacy courses count as science. The same goes though if you have a bachelors already that none of pharmacy school will count in your main gpa.

how does the pharm d even differ from the r ph

So up until the late 90s/early 2000s a 5 year bachelors of pharmacy was the main degree. After this when you were licensed you became a RPH for registered pharmacist. Now you get a doctorate (like many healthcare professions moving towards a doctorate to sound fancy) and you graduate with the PharmD. You technically are not a RPH though until you are licensed in a state. The hilarious thing is the schools I mentioned told me they would accept a bachelors of pharmacy, just not a Pharm D as "it is not a bachelors" .

 

[RxStudentatUB]

how does the pharm d even differ from the r ph

The PharmD is a lot more expensive with a brighter piece of diploma paper upon graduation. The responsibility remains the same. Dispense, counsel and verify.

 

[PHya2]

Hi I was wondering if you could provide insight into why you decided to switch from clinical pharmacy to medical school. I am trying to decide between these two fields and I would like to hear your perspective.

 

[deleted158872]

how does the pharm d even differ from the r ph

The PharmD is a lot more expensive with a brighter piece of diploma paper upon graduation. The responsibility remains the same. Dispense, counsel and verify.

i feel that it's all about schools wanting to make money from education.
there's a proposal to make PA and NP "doctorate degrees" - how ridiculous are those? the only ones who will benefit are the schools for longer duration of schooling (tuition).

 

[deleted390966]

Hi I was wondering if you could provide insight into why you decided to switch from clinical pharmacy to medical school. I am trying to decide between these two fields and I would like to hear your perspective.

You have to shadow both pharmacists and doctors to see for yourself. Pharmacists deal with medications and only medications.

 

[jagster92]

FYI Jefferson, NYU, Penn State, Touro (harlem at least), and this DO school in Ohio (cant remember which one) will not accept the pharm d without a bachelors even after talking with the head of admissions.

As a follow-up to this, I'm planning on applying for 2016 MD matriculation as a PharmD grad and my conversations with Jefferson and Penn St boiled down primarily to non-answers. They basically didn't give me an outright no regarding whether i met the bachelor's degree requirement but didn't give me an outright yes either (they will take into consideration academic profile and the rest of your application).

 

[Psai]

For MD, 2 years of pre pharm and P1-P2 count towards the gpa. True pharmacy courses are also not counted as science. If you have a bachelors none of pharmacy school will count towards your amcas gpa. For DO all of your years count towards your gpa, and true pharmacy courses count as science. The same goes though if you have a bachelors already that none of pharmacy school will count in your main gpa.

So up until the late 90s/early 2000s a 5 year bachelors of pharmacy was the main degree. After this when you were licensed you became a RPH for registered pharmacist. Now you get a doctorate (like many healthcare professions moving towards a doctorate to sound fancy) and you graduate with the PharmD. You technically are not a RPH though until you are licensed in a state. The hilarious thing is the schools I mentioned told me they would accept a bachelors of pharmacy, just not a Pharm D as "it is not a bachelors" .

i know all about the degree creep. my question is, from your perspective, do you think that there is an increase in quality and education from before there was a degree change? because it seems like nps did a huge disservice to themselves by moving to a "doctorate". i've also never met a pharmacist that introduces themselves as doctor while nps that do are a dime a dozen

 

[mik30102]

i know all about the degree creep. my question is, from your perspective, do you think that there is an increase in quality and education from before there was a degree change? because it seems like nps did a huge disservice to themselves by moving to a "doctorate". i've also never met a pharmacist that introduces themselves as doctor while nps that do are a dime a dozen

There are a few pharmacists who introduce themselves as doctor though I have mainly seen this in the VA system where pharmacists take on a provider role. In my assessment the education has not really changed to much. I don't feel I know much more then a non PharmD who graduated in the past 30 years and kept up with new information, though very old RPH's (like 65+) sometimes have no idea what a CYP interaction is. I feel the whole doctorate creep is just for marketing purposes so schools can charge more and increase training time. I think we now even have a doctorate of physical therapy as the main degree?

 

[Jibby321]

There are a few pharmacists who introduce themselves as doctor though I have mainly seen this in the VA system where pharmacists take on a provider role. In my assessment the education has not really changed to much. I don't feel I know much more then a non PharmD who graduated in the past 30 years and kept up with new information, though very old RPH's (like 65+) sometimes have no idea what a CYP interaction is. I feel the whole doctorate creep is just for marketing purposes so schools can charge more and increase training time. I think we now even have a doctorate of physical therapy as the main degree?

There seems to be a much bigger push in clinical information in the curiculum. Not diagnosing per say but a lot of information on what would be required to make a proper diagnosis by the MD. Also where changes are from the old bachelors is all the interprofessional work that is required from ACPE.

 

[farm_assist]

I would agree that there is very little difference between PharmD and Rph. I work side by side with both and they are indistinguishable in the real world for the most part, aside from the PharmDs have have completed a specialty residency. I am switching to MD because I like the patient interaction, and I would like for my decisions to have more of an impact on patient care. As a pharmacist, we can give advice at may or may not be taken. I also feel under qualified to give recommendations in certain more complex situations. Also, many of the interventions we make are just cost-saving interventions rather than for therapeutic benefit. Aside from my clinical duties I also spend a lot of time dispensing, which is essential but not stimulating for me.

 

[Bigj5768]

.

 

[PositiveThoughts]

No I didn't have a bachelors or an associates or anything. Just a high school diploma and a PharmD lol. A girl at the MD admissions office scared the hell out of me when she called me to tell me I'm not eligible for admissions because I don't have a bachelors. I was like "but I have a doctorate!!" She talked it over with her boss who informed her that of course a doctorate is acceptable because it is higher than a bachelors. She apologized for the mistake ;-)

Hi, if you don't mind me asking - I'm currently in the same situation (holding just a PharmD and no bachelors) as you WERE in; seems like this is negating a lot of schools that I'm researching; Could you tell me the schools that you've applied to?

So far, I've only got two confirmations from the schools that PharmD alone is enough.

 

[farm_assist]

Hi, if you don't mind me asking - I'm currently in the same situation (holding just a PharmD and no bachelors) as you WERE in; seems like this is negating a lot of schools that I'm researching; Could you tell me the schools that you've applied to?

So far, I've only got two confirmations from the schools that PharmD alone is enough.

I applied to pretty much every medical school in Florida.