Applying to 2 different colleges of the same school...

[milliya]

Note: I am posting this in Pre-Allo rather than Pre-Pharm because I'd much rather have a premed/med perspective on this.

Background: After talking to someone at length about my fears about applying to med school, being in med school, residency, fellowship, and career, then explaining how I feel about my courses in school right now, he replied, "Have you considered a career in Pharmacy? Yadda yadda yadda..." Now, I'm literally lookin at this guy like , but he made a few good points I guess (I don't know anything about Pharmacy). So...

Question: Assuming I had very good reasons for wanting to persue either profession, how would it look to the adcoms of say, Howard (that's where I want to go right now), if I applied to the College of Medicine and their College of Pharmacy? Has anyone ever done that before? What do you all think?

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[gatoradedrinker]

some schools have a stipulation about how many programs you can apply to at once... i'm not sure if howard has explicitly mentioned anything about this.

nevertheless, if an adcom member did hear about your dual-application, it would certainly call into question your loyalty for the profession. before schools offer acceptances to their medical program, they want to be absolutely certain that you are committed.

though, i'm not sure if anyone would find out... i personally wouldn't risk it.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Bad. I'd understand if you were applying to an Osteo and Allo program program at the same school ie MSU or UMDNJ, but med and pharm makes you look weird. That's just what I'd think ... raise a few eyebrows. Maybe Lizzy will chime in.

 

[87138]

My undergraduate institution will not write a committee LOR for you for more than one healthcare field (excluding the MD/DO dichotomy).

 

[muggle911]

I don't think they would look too fondly on it.
If you haven't made up your mind about med school, then you shouldn't apply. If you're not sure you want to do it, you'll have a hard time convincing adcoms that you do.
However, if you think you could be perfectly happy doing either career (obviously make sure you research pharmacy before you decide), then you can theoretically apply to both. Just don't do it at the same school, because then the school's record would show an application to both and they would doubt your desire to pursue either of those careers.
Just a thought: doctors I've spoken to (and I've also heard others say this) have said that if you can be happy doing anything else either than medicine, then go down that other career path instead.

 

[milliya]

I don't think they would look too fondly on it.
If you haven't made up your mind about med school, then you shouldn't apply. If you're not sure you want to do it, you'll have a hard time convincing adcoms that you do.
However, if you think you could be perfectly happy doing either career (obviously make sure you research pharmacy before you decide), then you can theoretically apply to both. Just don't do it at the same school, because then the school's record would show an application to both and they would doubt your desire to pursue either of those careers.
Just a thought: doctors I've spoken to (and I've also heard others say this) have said that if you can be happy doing anything else either than medicine, then go down that other career path instead.

Hmm...does that apply to reapplying as well? Like if I applied med first and got rejected, could I apply pharm next cycle?

Also, another reason why I've actually taken this into consideration is because I've been seeing a lot of "If you gor rejected would you reapply" threads or "If you absolutely couldn't do medicine, what career would you choose" interview questions. It just got me thinking that maybe I should have a back up plan...As much as I desire to be a doctor, I'm not sure I'm willing to reapply for 2 or 3 cycles or more...

 

[pianola]

I think the common consensus is that it's not a good idea to apply to two colleges of the same institution. HOWEVER, that said, if you have a good rationale for doing so (and can explain it clearly) then I doubt it will be a death sentence per se.

How much communication is there between the pharmacy school and the medical school? I have no idea, really. Maybe an ADCOM can comment on this.

I'm sure you're not the first person to apply to both medical and pharmacy school at the same place. If I had to wager a guess (and this is only a guess) -- pharmacy schools probably care less about your having a "passion for pharmacy". They probably just want to know that you can hack it. Med schools on the other hand want to know that you have a "passion for medicine."

So, what you could consider writing is that you have a distinct interest in healthcare professions (assuming that this is a true statement) but because medical school is so competitive, you felt that you wanted to leave open the option of pursuing your interest in healthcare through pharmacy.

I dunno, there are many ways of doing this. It will require some thought and creativity, I'd imagine, but it's not like you're applying for a master's in ethnomusicology as well as an M.D. <-- I mean, I would hope that reasonable people can understand that there may be an overlapping interest in pharmacy and medical school.

 

[muggle911]

Hmm...does that apply to reapplying as well? Like if I applied med first and got rejected, could I apply pharm next cycle?

Also, another reason why I've actually taken this into consideration is because I've been seeing a lot of "If you gor rejected would you reapply" threads or "If you absolutely couldn't do medicine, what career would you choose" interview questions. It just got me thinking that maybe I should have a back up plan...As much as I desire to be a doctor, I'm not sure I'm willing to reapply for 2 or 3 cycles or more...

Sure, I don't see why not. If the pharmacy schools you'd be applying to are affiliated w/ med schools you've previously applied to (and they see the previous med school app), then you would just have to explain to them that you'd be just as content w/ pharmacy as a career, etc. I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem.