Is it a crime to be interested in EVERYTHING???

[UnifiedField]

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What if someone takes the PCAT, then decides to take the DAT, then then decides to take the MCAT???

My point is, what if someone is interested in all of the different health related fields there are to offer (oh, nursing is included too)! And the person has solid research experience, has shadowed a doctor, a dentist and has worked as a Pharm Tech, volunteers at an eye doctors clinic, and just does not know which grad school to do? And actually get accepted...Oh, and what if the person is a Registered Nurse? What if they are not an RN and just has a very solid GPA (3.7-4.0, or atleast 3.5 science GPA and an overall 3.7 GPA)?

When you get interviewed for any of those grad schools, will they be able to see that you took other grad. school tests and scores? And if so, how would that effect thier decision?

I know these questions sound ridiculous and the person sounds seriously confused, but really, is it a crime to be interested in everything in the health field?? Would that hurt their chances of being accepted??

 

[scg]

Yes, these questions sound ridiculous.

 

[UnifiedField]

Ok, I'll make it a little less broad then, what if someone takes the PCAT & MCAT, because they are interested in both and don't know which grad school would accept them?

Would Pharmacy Schools see your MCAT scores and frown upon that or vice versa...?

 

[GreenShirt]

Ok....slow down! It's great that you're interested in the healthcare field but you really need to figure out what direction you want to take before you waste a lot of money and time on tests and applications. It sounds like you find both pharmacy and medicine to be intellectually interesting careers. While they are related on an academic level, I think the jobs you will be perfomring once you complete your education are completely different. To help differentiate between the two, you need to start thinking about lifestyle factors and what you want to be doing on a daily basis when you go into either profession. You should spend time shadowing both doctors and pharmacists and see if your goals are in line with the respective professions.

 

[UnifiedField]

Yes I understand that, but my question is whether it will be looked upon negatively if someone takes BOTH the MCAT and the PCAT?

Will every professional grad school be able to see these scores and how will they look at it?

 

[Mobius1985]

As long as you don't apply to the same institution for both a PharmD and an MD program, they won't know if you apply to two types of programs. The preprofessional testing programs are not linked and don't share data.

But , yes, if the programs find out you applied to both, it will be looked down on.

 

[UnifiedField]

Thanks for the reply!
So would you say it is a risk worth taking if you are honestly interested in both a PharmD and MD and are just not sure which grad. school program would accept you?

 

[UNMorBUST]

Thanks for the reply!
So would you say it is a risk worth taking if you are honestly interested in both a PharmD and MD and are just not sure which grad. school program would accept you?

Shadow each field. See which one you could see yourself doing for 20+ years. apply for which ever seems more interesting after that. If you can't decide after that your up S**t creek, then apply every pharm school and med school.

 

[DrDre2001]

Good question. Im almost in the same situation.

 

[Mobius1985]

Thanks for the reply!
So would you say it is a risk worth taking if you are honestly interested in both a PharmD and MD and are just not sure which grad. school program would accept you?

By the time you need to apply, you should have a better idea of where you future lies, because your application needs to reflect dedication to the field you've chosen, via the volunteer work or employment that has given you an experience of what each field entails. Further, the pre-requisites and required GPA are different for each. Don't choose MD because you're afraid to take econ classes. And don't choose Pharm because your GPA is low. Get experiences in both areas, decide which field you can't live without, and then achieve whatever you need to to make the best choice come true for you.

If you really can't live without both, get both degrees, and have a huge amount of debt to pay off.

 

[UnifiedField]

Spoke with a KAPLAN advisor and he mentioned to me that having both a PCAT score and an MCAT score would not be looked down upon. In fact, he stated that it would be a good thing to mention on your resume if you got an incredibly high score on let's say the PCAT and you are applying to Medical School or the other way around.

?

 

[UnifiedField]

Econ classes? I thought Pharmacy School only required you to take one lower division micro or macroeconomics course...

 

[UnifiedField]

???

 

[Mobius1985]

Econ classes? I thought Pharmacy School only required you to take one lower division micro or macroeconomics course...

You're right, I checked and it's only one econ class (at the school I'm most familiar with, anyway).

 

[Mobius1985]

Spoke with a KAPLAN advisor and he mentioned to me that having both a PCAT score and an MCAT score would not be looked down upon. In fact, he stated that it would be a good thing to mention on your resume if you got an incredibly high score on let's say the PCAT and you are applying to Medical School or the other way around.

?

You might consider another opinion, maybe from a pre-health advisor. I've heard that med schools prefer evidence you are very focused on becoming a physician, as they can't afford to have a student change focus in midstream, drop out, and leave a place vacant that could have gone to a more dedicated candidate. I don't have any idea what PharmD programs would think if they see a candidate had a high MCAT score.

 

[UNMorBUST]

Spoke with a KAPLAN advisor and he mentioned to me that having both a PCAT score and an MCAT score would not be looked down upon. In fact, he stated that it would be a good thing to mention on your resume if you got an incredibly high score on let's say the PCAT and you are applying to Medical School or the other way around.

?

I agree with Mobius above me. I would not put scores of another career path or your med apps or pharm apps. Take phaarm schools for instance, they could see it as you did not succed at med school so you figure you can get into pharm school because you think its easier. You are meant to show interest in a field and work towards that goal.

 

[UnifiedField]

Why is that so bad though?
First off, getting into either Medical School or Pharmacy School has more similarities than differences. Both need LORs from doctors/professors/pharmacists, clinical exposure, volunteer and/or work experience in the field, leadership, hardwork, dedication, good GPA, good PCAT/MCAT scores etc, etc.

I'm not saying that they are EXACTLY the same...yes, the GPA standard is different for the respective schools, and Medical schools look for way more clinical exposure in a hospital setting with doctors, while Pharmacy schools look for exposure/work in a Pharmacy setting...Medical school is also more competitive when compared to Pharmacy school...
So let's say someone does not get into Medical School (Allopathic & Osteopathic)...what are they suppose to do? Just sit there and cry🙁...let all those pre-requisites, good GPA, hardwork and dedication go to waste? Take a completely different route and do a Masters/PhD and try again some other decade?

And if someone is dedicated to both fields, and really shows dedication through volunteering/high GPA/clinical exposure in both fields, and gets a high MCAT & PCAT score, etc., why should it be looked at negatively?

 

[NutCracker2021]

And if someone is dedicated to both fields, and really shows dedication through volunteering/high GPA/clinical exposure in both fields, and gets a high MCAT & PCAT score, etc., why should it be looked at negatively?


why are you answering your own question?? I thought you wanted advice...dont be so quick to defend yourself or this "person" you speak of..lol

i honestly think that you can be interested in everything but face it, you HAVE to do one thing..i mean can you be a pharmacist and a doctor at the same time...i do not think that it is going to be looked down if you do both..but if you cant get into one..then thats when you should apply to the other one..i dont know..i guess i never really thought about this because I always thought people had a surefire idea for one thing they wanted to do..guess i was wrong..

 

[202781]

dude I'm with you. I think I could be interested in pharmacy, dentistry and medicine... I usually get interested in almost anything I spend enough time doing. Example: I hated science for years until I spent time learning about it in college, and now I am very interested in it.

I think it will be looked at positively

 

[UNMorBUST]

I did not mean to say it was a crime to be interested in different fields. What im trying to get across is, you are trying to sell yourself as a great canidate. How is showing a med school your PCAT scores showing why you should be a physician. If you want to work at Target you dont walk into the interview with a Walmart Tshirt. Im with you im torn between pharmacy and medicine. All im trying to get across is you have to becareful how you present yourself to adcoms.

 

[UnifiedField]

why are you answering your own question?? I thought you wanted advice...dont be so quick to defend yourself or this "person" you speak of..lol

Thanks for the advice/comments everyone.

I'm not answering my own question, I was just looking at it in one perspective..."the 'person' I speak of.." that's funny . I'm not trying to cover up anything here; I just did not think it was that necessary for me to keep referring to myself. Many pre-health students I know have these same problems.
I'm just interested in both Pharmacy and Medicine (and other things for that matter)...it's a REALLY hard choice for me & it's already my Junior year in college...ahhh! 🙂

 

[UNMorBUST]

Thanks for the advice/comments everyone.

I'm not answering my own question, I was just looking at it in one perspective..."the 'person' I speak of.." that's funny . I'm not trying to cover up anything here; I just did not think it was that necessary for me to keep referring to myself. Many pre-health students I know have these same problems.
I'm just interested in both Pharmacy and Medicine (and other things for that matter)...it's a REALLY hard choice for me & it's already my Junior year in college...ahhh! 🙂

Its very hard everything has great aspects and drawbacks. All in all something will pop out eventually and then strive for it. good luck👍

 

[trenchwarfare]

i am interested in a huge number of things, i am 44 and could not be lower on the medical food chain at this point in my life...vincent price said "the man who limits his interests, limits his life" but of course at my age, you're thinking more in terms of how much time you have to fully develop a domain of knowledge, and crystalllize it, and what things you love in your life that you will have to "farm out" or "offshore" for instance, i love jazz, and have always wanted to play jazz piano, and still might, as playing music is my greatest pleasure (aside from hangin' with the ladies!) do i just appreciate the finer things? it takes decades to be as good as i would like to be at many things, and i just don't have the decades left on this earth. but...i don't know why i'm on this earth, but i will leave it with no regrets, having charged full head on at something i know in my heart that i really want, while i leave behind the people i currently work with, who tear each other apart for sport, and then come after me when they run out of material...best wishes from the trenches

 

[GooberGeek]

How would a medical school see your score from the PCAT (or DAT, LSAT, GRE, GMAT or any other test for that matter) unless you submitted it to them youself... Now if you applied to both Pharmacy and Medicine at the same school for the same cycle... Thats a different story...

 

[UNMorBUST]

How would a medical school see your score from the PCAT (or DAT, LSAT, GRE, GMAT or any other test for that matter) unless you submitted it to them youself... Now if you applied to both Pharmacy and Medicine at the same school for the same cycle... Thats a different story...

If you read the whole forum, half way down, he mentions a kaplan advisor recommends that he should show a med school his PCAT if he does extremely well on it. This is what i was mentioning was a bad idea.

 

[bihari]

Thanks for the reply!
So would you say it is a risk worth taking if you are honestly interested in both a PharmD and MD and are just not sure which grad. school program would accept you?

there is also podiatry, which i believe requires the MCAT, not that you need any more options haha

 

[Wylde]

I know these questions sound ridiculous and the person sounds seriously confused, but really, is it a crime to be interested in everything in the health field?? Would that hurt their chances of being accepted??

it's not a crime, but applying to schools would be seriously detrimental to someone's future.

Take some time off!!!

If you deciding between 5+ career paths, do NOT apply to all 5 of them and just accept the one that accepts you. Take time off, look at the differences between them, realize what you want in life and what will make you happy. When you figure this out, apply to the type of school that will lead you down this path.

do not apply!

 

[UNMorBUST]

there is also podiatry, which i believe requires the MCAT, not that you need any more options haha

To add to the MCAT schools, there is AA school😉.