Applying to MD after Pharmacy

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

@LanceGonza

New Member
5+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
2,531
  1. Pre-Health (Field Undecided)
Hi, I am currently thinking of applying to Pharmacy school. To be honest I really would love to become a doctor. However, I cannot afford to pay for med school anywhere in the world. I am therefore thinking of applying for a scholarship to study pharmacy with the hope of joining med school after this degree. My worry is I am currently 20(21 soon) and would thus be setup for med school at around 27. I need your advice on the best option for me.
 
Hello Unfortunately am not a U. S citizen. Am planning to apply and hopefully get a scholarship to go to Pharmacy school in China and then get back for Medicine in another country.
 

Members do not see ads. Register today.

Hi, I am currently thinking of applying to Pharmacy school. To be honest I really would love to become a doctor. However, I cannot afford to pay for med school anywhere in the world. I am therefore thinking of applying for a scholarship to study pharmacy with the hope of joining med school after this degree. My worry is I am currently 20(21 soon) and would thus be setup for med school at around 27. I need your advice on the best option for me.

why waste all that time? If your end goal is to be a doctor..then be a doctor. Don't waste time going to pharmacy school. Time is something you'll never get back.
 
Hi, I am currently thinking of applying to Pharmacy school. To be honest I really would love to become a doctor. However, I cannot afford to pay for med school anywhere in the world. I am therefore thinking of applying for a scholarship to study pharmacy with the hope of joining med school after this degree. My worry is I am currently 20(21 soon) and would thus be setup for med school at around 27. I need your advice on the best option for me.


DO NOT GO TO PHARMACY SCHOOL!

I learned the hard way...

Pharmacy school can be just as expensive as medical school and honestly I don't think it's worth it.
I've talked to many pharmacists while in pharmacy school and ended up leaving pharmacy school mainly because of that.

I actually know of an older pharmacist who lost their house (they had a mortgage and couldn't keep paying for it) because the market is so messed up.
Keep in mind that the golden age of pharmacy is gone.
Schools will LIE to you since they want your money. If you talk one on one to an administrator in a pharmacy program you MIGHT get an honest answer.

BTW if you want to work in Alaska , the job market there is actually great for pharmacists.
Maybe you could raise a family there as well and enjoy the weather too!


If you want to do a doctorate in Pharmacy in the USA and then work in some third world country where a pharmacist is just someone who has the equivalent of a US high school diploma and just knows how to count pills , you can do that too.
 
Last edited:
Hello Unfortunately am not a U. S citizen. Am planning to apply and hopefully get a scholarship to go to Pharmacy school in China and then get back for Medicine in another country.

Do you mean to say that you aren't going to be studying in the US?

Studying pharmacy or medicine in the US is very different than other countries.

One of the differences in the US is that the schools like to see how much $$$$ they can get from you.
 
I wouldn't reveal that information in a pharmacy school interview. If you tell me that you're end goal is medical school then I'm going to vote do not accept on your application.
 
As someone who went from pharmacy to medicine (also as just a person), this sounds like an awful plan. I don't see how the money issue will change with the degree in pharmacy.
 
Hello Unfortunately am not a U. S citizen. Am planning to apply and hopefully get a scholarship to go to Pharmacy school in China and then get back for Medicine in another country.

(I'm wondering if this is a troll post. The plan is unusually bad.)

You realize that unless your Hanzi reading is extremely competent (as in possessing the ability to understand crosstalk sketches), you don't have a prayer of passing the gaokao? Also, Chinese pharmacists and physicians rarely if ever (not in the last decade from the ones we've admitted to graduate school) are allowed to even do the FPGEC as their qualifying standards are too inferior.

By the way, I know you have to be a foreigner. The gaokao process precludes serial admission to a numerus clausus major like pharmacy or medicine. You may not study both in the Chinese system. Same with Bologna Process European countries.
 
(I'm wondering if this is a troll post. The plan is unusually bad.)

You realize that unless your Hanzi reading is extremely competent (as in possessing the ability to understand crosstalk sketches), you don't have a prayer of passing the gaokao? Also, Chinese pharmacists and physicians rarely if ever (not in the last decade from the ones we've admitted to graduate school) are allowed to even do the FPGEC as their qualifying standards are too inferior.

By the way, I know you have to be a foreigner. The gaokao process precludes serial admission to a numerus clausus major like pharmacy or medicine. You may not study both in the Chinese system. Same with Bologna Process European countries.
Hi and thanks for your reply.(all of you). It is not a troll post, it's a real life post from an honest guy desperate for M.D. So the plan is to go to China for an English taught pharmacy degree although honestly looking at the course structure it really does seem inferior as alot of emphasis is on teaching chinese language. So from the replies I clearly see am taking a wrong route but as someone who has applied to almost all major countries and so many scholarships and failed I don't know what to do. I once thought of coming to the U.S for premed but it also seems close to impossible given my financial status. Btw am currently done with a year and 1 semester of Biochemistry degree but biochem is not something I love and it gets worse that am getting grades that don't reflect my ability. Altogether, i just want a way to go to med school.
 
Do you mean to say that you aren't going to be studying in the US?

Studying pharmacy or medicine in the US is very different than other countries.

One of the differences in the US is that the schools like to see how much $$$$ they can get from you.
Yes am not in the U.S am somewhere in Africa.
 
What country do you eventually hope to be a doctor in?
 
Honestly am free with any country
 
How do you expect to have more money after 4 years of pharmacy school than you do now lmao
 
"Desperate" for M.D. is not a good look. Wasting time doing something you don't even want to do in the first place (pharmacy) is a BAD idea.

As far as grades not reflecting your ability, yes they actually reflect your ability to adapt to what is required.
 
I'm a bit confused about your country of origin. Initially, you replied:
Hello Unfortunately am not a U. S citizen. Am planning to apply and hopefully get a scholarship to go to Pharmacy school in China and then get back for Medicine in another country.
Then, later on in the post, you replied:
Yes am not in the U.S am somewhere in Africa.

My honest advice to you is to first decide which country you would like to practice in, should you have the opportunity to go to medical school. The reason for this is that medical and other professional degrees do not always transfer from one country to another. I personally know someone who received a degree in dentistry in a European country who cannot be a dentist in the U.S. (unless she re-applies to dental school and completes 4 additional years of school in the U.S.) because her degree from that country is not recognized in the U.S.

I would then research the possibility of obtaining federal loans and assistance from the country to which you plan to move to. For example, the U.S. offers federal loans to those pursing medical or professional school. These loans do accrue interest while you are in school, but you don't have to make payments until after you graduate.

To obtain federal loans (ASSUMING the country offers them, which you should research first), you need to apply for citizenship to that country. (The process will be lengthy and may take over a year, but I think this path is better than attempting pharmacy school before medicine). I would also think long and hard about this decision. Your choice of career is definitely an important decision, but the choice of where you want to live is even more important. Depending on your qualifications, you may not get accepted to medical school right away. It is highly competitive, and I know many competitive candidates who had to re-apply once or more times to get in. I also know of people who re-applied, were not accepted, and decided that entry to medical school was unlikely given their qualifications, and decided instead to pursue alternate career paths (e.g. physician assistant, nurse, etc.). So before moving to a country for the purpose of pursing education, I would recommend asking yourself: "Will I be happy living here? Will I be happy living here even if I cannot be a doctor? How often will I get to see my family? Am I okay with that?"

Assuming you are not a troll, I strongly hope you will take this into consideration.
 
What Slippers said. You can't get a medical degree and then expect to practice in any country. Nor can you expect to get permanent resident status in a country, just because you got your medical degree there. Unfortunately, if you are not an exemplary student and/or rich, you are extremely unlikely to be admitted to medical school anywhere in the world. I think you need to readjust your expectations. Pharmacy would be fine....IF you want to practice as a pharmacist, it's will not help you get admitted to pharmacy school (possibly if you get exemplary grades in pharmacy school it could help, but as you pointed out, you would have to go to another country for your medical degree, and it's unlikely your pharmacy degree would be recognized in the country you are going to. Your best bet is probably going to be getting a job with your biochemistry degree (or possibly going on for your Ph.D. if you have an aptitude for research.)
 
All education has been debased, and there are dumb and evil doctors, and that field has its own troublesome prospects for the future. But consider: pharmacists have not the freedom, power, and prestige of doctors, and they are not on the same intellectual level as doctors. Ignore those glossy marketing pitches - Get it from someone on the inside

Hopefully an illustrative thought experiment: Suppose, God forbid, that one day the apocalypse came. Who will be of more use? The doctor who knows his stuff, or, compare the pharmacist, whose whole industry and existence depended on the infrastructure of a First World civilization and is now reduced to grubbing around in the bushes. *

Any doctor worth his salt can easily pickup the practicals of therapeutics, but vice versa is not so easily encountered or remedied. And if you will end up a meh doctor, for better or worse, well, either way you don't also need to waste years and tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars

In fairness this may be driving potential talent away, kind of the point, and mire the field in even worse circumstances, but a lot of the world is maintained by *****s, pharmacy is what it is and will continue chugging along as it always has

* Leaving aside that historically pharmacy was more effective than medicine
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom