Changing my major from Pre-Pharmacy to Biology Pre-Med?

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

rah123456789

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2013
Messages
19
Reaction score
1
I'm currently a freshman majoring in Pre-Pharmacy(it is a major @ my school) and was planning on applying to pharmacy school after my sophomore year. I even started preparing for the PCAT. In the past few months, I shadowed a few pharmacists (retail, hospital, clinical specialists and I also shadowed physicians (OBGYN, Oncologist). I realize that medical school is harder to get into than pharmacy school and it takes more time/dedication but I'm willing to work hard.
My current GPA is 3.825. Is it too late to change my major and start preparing for medical school? If it's not too late, any advice about preparing for med school (clinical experience, when should I start studying for the MCAT, average GPA..etc)?

Members don't see this ad.
 

Psai

This space for lease
Removed
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Messages
11,384
Reaction score
24,002
not too late especially as a freshman. a lot of people change their minds during college so you're actually pretty early
go volunteer with patients maybe at a hospice or something
mcat is way harder than the pcat but a lot of the information overlaps. mcat tests more information processing. i'd suggest study for the mcat after second year summer and take it right before third year but that's if you have the prereqs done (chem, bio, physics, english)
maybe do some research in something you care about
your gpa is good

good luck

btw this thread belongs in the pre-allopathic section
 

biodome92

Purveyor of MDR cell culture
7+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
57
Reaction score
54
I also switched from a pre-pharmacy track to a pre-medical track. The only difference is in the name. Some medical schools have certain course requirements that others do not, but most require the same set of pre-medical coursework (i.e. Gen Chem I & II, Organic Chem I & II, Biochemistry (some schools), English, Calc, Stats).

The MCAT is changing this year, so be aware that there may be new topics tested. Unfortunately, I took the previous version of the MCAT, so I cannot be of much help here.

Good luck!
 
Members don't see this ad :)

zeppelinpage4

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 17, 2009
Messages
1,354
Reaction score
761
Nope! Not too late at all. It's likely some of your pre-pharm major requirements probably overlap with the pre-med requirements too. Also you're in your freshman year of college, which is still very early.

First off, you don't need to major in bio to do med school. Biology just happens to be convenient b/c a lot of the med school pre-requisites are standard parts of the bio major.

As for courses, back in my day, used to be 1 yr Gen bio, 1 yr Gen chem, 1 yr Orgo, 1 yr physics, an English class, and like a semester or two of some math class. I don't remeber that well though...I can't believe how much I've forgotten. Also note, not sure if pre-reqs have changed since I applied though, especially with the new MCAT. If they have, much of my post might be irrelevant and hopefully someone who's done pre-med more recently can chime in and correct me.

Anyhow, assuming nothing has changed, most students at my school did gen bio/gen chem freshman year, gen physics/gen orgo sophomore year (the English and math requirement can be done any time before matriculating I think), then they took their MCAT the summer before junior year, or during junior year.
Then you apply the summer after junior year and interview through out senior year. Then if accepted as a senior, you matriculate med school after graduating college.

This however isn't set in stone, some students took gen physics junior year while simultaneously studying for the MCAT, and took the MCAT at the end of their junior year right before applying.

It depends on what courses you have taken already, what you major in, and if you want to go straight to med school after college, or if you are okay with taking a gap year after college (taking a gap year would allow you to apply summer after senior year, versus applying at the end of your junior year).

Also, your GPA is fantastic, congrats on doing well from the start. You're already on a good foot there. :)

As far as clinical experience, start as soon as you can I'd say, but don't overwhelm to the point where it's affecting your grades of course. Do some searches on these forums, there's a lot of great info. regarding things students can do for clinical experience etc. Best advice I can give is, do activities that interest you. Things like volunteering and shadowing are expected these days. But if you like a certain sport, or any activity do it. There's certain things expected of applicants ,but beyond that, don't just do things to get into med school, or for your app, do things you're really passionate about, whether it's medically related or not. When you genuinely enjoy something and do it for yourself, it can really come through on your application and even help you stick out among applicants.

Best of luck!
 
Last edited:

keevwu

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
Messages
355
Reaction score
169
pre-pharm is actually more requirements than pre-med. i was pre-pharm until senior year of college, and I was still okay. you'll be fine.
 
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
Messages
35,391
Reaction score
15,358
I'm currently a freshman majoring in Pre-Pharmacy(it is a major @ my school) and was planning on applying to pharmacy school after my sophomore year. I even started preparing for the PCAT. In the past few months, I shadowed a few pharmacists (retail, hospital, clinical specialists and I also shadowed physicians (OBGYN, Oncologist). I realize that medical school is harder to get into than pharmacy school and it takes more time/dedication but I'm willing to work hard.
My current GPA is 3.825. Is it too late to change my major and start preparing for medical school? If it's not too late, any advice about preparing for med school (clinical experience, when should I start studying for the MCAT, average GPA..etc)?
Many students interested in medicine don't get started on pertinent ECs until their second year, as it takes them that long to nail down the study strategies needed to get great grades. With your high GPA and some shadowing done, you're ahead of the game. Other categories of activities you can enter on the application are clinical/medical experience, nonmedical community service, research (and related posters/presentations/publications), leadership, teaching, hobbies, artistic endeavors. Average 2014 acceptee stats for AMCAS schools were cGPA 3.69, BCPM GPA 3.63, MCAT 31.4
 
Top