Becoming a Competitive Candidate

[MD Candidate]

If someone were a pharmacist making a career shift and the pre-requisite coursework rolled over, would he/she still need to obtain additional clinical experiences and shadowing hours? Are podiatry schools willing to accept non-traditional students?

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[DexterMorganSK]

Pod programs do accept nontrad students but you need to complete all the admissions requirements like any other applicant. You can read more here: https://www.aacpm.org/becoming-a-podiatric-physician/admissions/

Why are you switching careers?

 

[PTPuser]

I was a career changer, non-trad and I got in. So yes.

 

[MD Candidate]

I was a career changer, non-trad and I got in. So yes.

What did you transition from? What type of clinical extracurriculars did you have?

 

[MD Candidate]

Pod programs do accept nontrad students but you need to complete all the admissions requirements like any other applicant. You can read more here: https://www.aacpm.org/becoming-a-podiatric-physician/admissions/

Why are you switching careers?

I have seen the academic requirements, but I was wondering if there were any recommended extracurricular experiences? For instance, med schools recommend time as an ER scribe or research experience. Do podiatry programs require that as well? Does time as an inpatient pharmacist count for anything?

 

[PTPuser]

What did you transition from? What type of clinical extracurriculars did you have?

Was a nurse for close to a decade. The rest was basic experiences that I enjoyed doing.

 

[OblivionDPM]

I have seen the academic requirements, but I was wondering if there were any recommended extracurricular experiences? For instance, med schools recommend time as an ER scribe or research experience. Do podiatry programs require that as well? Does time as an inpatient pharmacist count for anything?

To my knowledge, experience is experience when it comes to experience. They have 2 categories: Experience (medically) and podiatric experience. As long as you shadow a podiatrist (minimum like 10-15 hours), you'll be sufficient in the podiatric experience category. Anything medically is experience whether it's volunteer or work.

Podiatry isn't like PA school where they request like what 1k+ hours of EMT or Scribe experience to be qualified.

 

[ChiefWakanda]

I'm both a nontraditional applicant and have had experience as a scribe, which I assume plays a big role. Recently finished shadowing a Podiatrist (~25 hours) and just got accepted into the Class of 2024, so I hope that provides some insight. Best of luck.

 

[xoxo111]

Like others have mentioned, you may need to shadow a podiatrist since you need their recommendation letter. Doesn’t matter how long you shadowed, but as long as you shadowed. They wanna make sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into and if you haven’t shadowed a podiatrist, then you wouldn’t really know if you see yourself in the field. Pod schools aren’t as competitive as med schools at all. I should know since I had a garbage mcat score but still got accepted with scholarships in few of the programs I applied lol. The fact that you’re a pharmacist is enough experience in the healthcare field.