Did Pharmacy school before, should I include in application if I hated it and grades tanked?

[OJ with Extra Pulp]

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Here's a tl;dr about my situation: I did a year of pharmacy school at a pretty good university. Hated it. Got depressed, grades tanked, and I've basically quit. I moved to another city with my girlfriend because she's doing her PhD in Harvard now, and I'll be working meanwhile. Basically, I just wanted to know whether or not I should include my experiences with pharmacy school in my application. I disliked pharmacy for what pharmacy is, and I've only recently in the past year found my passion for dentistry. I'm basically worried that they would see that I went to pharmacy school in the past and quit, and think "oh man this guy can't handle professional school". Don't know if I could include the experiences and omit my transcript. The courses are definitely not hard to pass, but I had completely lost interest midway so the grades tanked. But on the other hand, if I don't, that's a whole blank year on my record.
My undergrad records and DAT scores are pretty ok though (3.79 GPA in B.Sc Pharmacology and 20/21/23).

 

[Incis0r]

What would you answer if your interviewer asked you what you've done the last year?

Rather than letting them find out about it, realize you hid it, and make their own judgments, I'd personally suggest being proactive about it. Bring it up in your PS as well and show how you made the decision that dentistry, not pharmacy, is the career you'd like.

I had completely lost interest midway so the grades tanked.

I'd be careful about giving this explanation because it implies that you only do things that interest you. Even in dental school, there are things that you have to do that may not be so interesting, but are critical in order for you to proceed to the next stage. I can see an interviewer bringing this idea up and challenging you on it. So just prepare for that kind of question to be thrown your way at an interview.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

You don't have a choice, all transcripts (pharmacy school included) have to be accounted for when applying to dental school.

 

[DancingBull]

It's not an issue of whether or not you will be able to cut it in dental school with your stats. My main concern would be your commitment to dentistry, and that is what I feel adcoms would be thinking as well. The adcoms will inevitably find out sooner or later, unless you try to be deceptive about it. if you are serious about dentistry, then you will have to focus showing the adcoms that you will actually be committed this time.

 

[Buck-E-Badger]

Lol I went through a similar situation last year, only difference was that I was in pharmacy school while I was applying. Ended up hating pharmacy after the first couple of weeks and scrambled to throw together an application late in the cycle and I still ended up with options when everything was said and done. I included pharmacy school in my application and just made sure to explain the switch in my personal statement. Based on your undergrad GPA and DAT scores, I would be surprised if you weren't successful obtaining multiple acceptances.

 

[OJ with Extra Pulp]

It's not an issue of whether or not you will be able to cut it in dental school with your stats. My main concern would be your commitment to dentistry, and that is what I feel adcoms would be thinking as well. The adcoms will inevitably find out sooner or later, unless you try to be deceptive about it. if you are serious about dentistry, then you will have to focus showing the adcoms that you will actually be committed this time.

That's perfectly understandable for them to think that. Of course I learned my lesson last year about going into a field without putting enough thought in it. Hence I went out and put in many hours into shadowing, since I, too, wanted to make sure that I would go into a field that I would not flake out of. It's more like I had never even considered dentistry before my last career. I knew almost nothing about it. Really did wish I became interested in it sooner.

 

[ncide]

It will likely factor in their evaluation of you. Losing interest is never a good excuse for poor performance, and you'll run across subject matter in all fields of study that doesn't profoundly interest you. What is important is taking what is handed to you and being responsible with the tasks expected of you.

 

[OJ with Extra Pulp]

What would you answer if your interviewer asked you what you've done the last year?

Rather than letting them find out about it, realize you hid it, and make their own judgments, I'd personally suggest being proactive about it. Bring it up in your PS as well and show how you made the decision that dentistry, not pharmacy, is the career you'd like.



I'd be careful about giving this explanation because it implies that you only do things that interest you. Even in dental school, there are things that you have to do that may not be so interesting, but are critical in order for you to proceed to the next stage. I can see an interviewer bringing this idea up and challenging you on it. So just prepare for that kind of question to be thrown your way at an interview.

Mmmm I guess that's not exactly how I want to word it. I went through with the entire year BECAUSE I wanted to believe that I will be wrong to give up pharmacy and judge it by the courses I took in it. Thus, I decided to stick around until after I finish my rotations, where I get more thorough experiences in the field. So I wouldn't say that the grades tanked because I was uninterested. A multitude of factors contributed to the tanking grades; personal problems coming up, financial stress, and the stress of slowly realizing I wasn't in the right career path.

 

[amariesa]

You need to emphasize that you didn't do research into what being a pharmacist was like so you found that you did not enjoy it after. Then you need to dedicate a lot and I mean a LOT of hours showing you looked into dentistry. I'm talking like 300 hrs shadowing and 300 volunteering in a dental lab and maybe attend some conferences and take facial anatomy classes. Then you can say that you really have a better understanding of what being a dentist is like and adcoms are more likely to accept you.

 

[DocDoom]

I would suggest getting more dental experience (e.g. more shadowing, volunteering) to determine if dentistry is really for you. Who is to say you won't drop out midway through dental school as well.