I Need Help!!!

[nineinchnails]

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I am a married, 1st year pharmacy student, who realized he made a huge mistake in chosing pharmacy over medicine. I took the MCAT two years ago and got a 35. Had about a 3.8 undergrad in chemistry. I want to apply again this year(2007), but am unsure of my potential. I have little volunteer experience, but I have worked in a pharmacy, I did volunteer for about 6 months in a hospital before, and I definately have exposure to healthcare being that I currently work in a pharmacy. What does everyone think, should I apply, what can I do to beef up my application. I feel there isnt enough time to get much meaningful volunteer experience in. What should I say in my personal statement????? Any help is appreciated.

 

[aumed22]

Don't worry too much about the volunteer experience, and in your personal statement, just state why you want to enter medicine as opposed to pharmacy. I'm sure your life experience will prove valuable to the adcoms and they will take all of that into account. I think you have a great chance at scoring a spot in med school.

 

[Dr. Corday]

Academically your grades are pretty strong. As far as the rest of the application though, you need to give a good reason why you want to go to med school. Like why do you say that you just realized entering pharmacy school instead of medical school was such a huge mistake? What experiences with health care have you had that have motivated you to apply to medical school?

In general, try to articulate your reasons why you want to be a doctor. If your decision comes off as mature and well-thought of, schools won't blame you too much for not having a lot of volunteer experience.

Hope that helps.

 

[notdeadyet]

Have a very, VERY good answer to the question:

"You already were committed enough to gain entry to a PharmD program which you're now quitting. Why should we believe you won't quit the MD program?"

This is not meant to be an insult. But the admin folks would be foolish not to ask this.

 

[Law2Doc]

Have a very, VERY good answer to the question:

"You already were committed enough to gain entry to a PharmD program which you're now quitting. Why should we believe you won't quit the MD program?"

This is not meant to be an insult. But the admin folks would be foolish not to ask this.

Truth - I can almost guarantee you will be asked this. Med schools are sometimes reluctant to be seen poaching away individuals from other health fields. And some schools see rapid school changing/jockying as flighty and may question your maturity or decision making skills. You need to be able to explain why you made the false start, why you want to change, why medicine, and be able to come off as mature and not someone who makes rash missteps and bad decisions. You can likely totally explain away all these issues, but expect them to present themselves in some version or another. I would preempt this somewhat in your PS but be ready to discuss it in detail in the interviews. Good luck.

 

[theunderdog]

I am a married, 1st year pharmacy student, who realized he made a huge mistake in chosing pharmacy over medicine. I took the MCAT two years ago and got a 35. Had about a 3.8 undergrad in chemistry. I want to apply again this year(2007), but am unsure of my potential. I have little volunteer experience, but I have worked in a pharmacy, I did volunteer for about 6 months in a hospital before, and I definately have exposure to healthcare being that I currently work in a pharmacy. What does everyone think, should I apply, what can I do to beef up my application. I feel there isnt enough time to get much meaningful volunteer experience in. What should I say in my personal statement????? Any help is appreciated.

i would be more worried about having to retake that mcat. since that score is or will expire by the time you matriculate.

mcat is only good from the time you take it to the time you matriculate at that school, not at time of acceptance or time of application. i believe some top schools, which you would qualify for because of your high academic stats, may have a 2-3 year expiration mark on that mcat.