Is it too early?

[Raiser]

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i am currently a junior in high school, and i was wondering if it's too early for me to be thinking about a career in medical field? I'm currently stuck between either taking a path of pre-med or pre-pharm however i'm more interested in pharmacy. so to start off my GPA right now is i believe around a 3.1 just counting my freshmen and sophomore year. The only problems with my GPA was i did kinda bad during freshman year, i was just accepted into the school advance program and was unprepared for the workload which left me off with a 2.6-2.7 GPA by the end of the year. I learned my lesson and got used to the workload in sophomore year and ended the year with i believe a 3.5. Currently my Junior year I'm doing quite well Academically.

So far I've been taking APs ever since my first year.

Freshman Year
A.P Human Geo. only one that was offered to us, i passed with a 3
Sophomore Year
A.P Euro Hist. it was either this or AP Stats and AP Comp Science, i passed this with a 3 also
Junior Year
A.P U.S History.
A.P English Language
A.P Government
these are the APs i'm currently taking.
Planning for senior
A.P Physics or Chemistry
A.P Stats
A.P Calc
A.P English literature
A.P Psychology
Volunteering
I've done some volunteering but nothing to be proud of do you have any suggestions on what i should do?
Also do you have any tips or advice for me on what i should do to bolster up my chances into succeeding my dream?

 

[EBT12]

No, it is not too early to start thinking about your career 🙂

I would encourage you start making a list of colleges that you are interested in, if you haven't yet. There are several different types of pharmacy schools. In order to become a pharmacist, you must obtain a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. You may do so by gaining acceptance into a school that has a 0-6 program. In this case, you would go to the same university for your full training. Alternatively, some pharmacy schools are designed so you attend an undergraduate institution for 2-4 years and then apply to a 3-4 year pharmacy programs. Some programs require bachelor's degree, while others do not.

Many pharmacy schools consider volunteering to be very important. Are there any specific issues/ causes you are interested in? For example, in highschool I worked with a group to make quilts for individuals in a local nursing home. In addition, I volunteered at a local hospital (I really had to wear the red and white candy striper outfit). In college, I volunteered at a homeless shelter on occasion. There is a free medical clinic that I have volunteered at weekly for several years now. Find something that interests you 🙂

 

[becrac]

Not too early at all! I decided that I wanted to be a pharmacist while I was a junior in high school as well. Like EBT12 said, you need to decide what kind of program is right for you. If you're very torn between pharmacy and med school, I would steer clear of a 6 year program or any other similar programs so you can leave your options open and have a little more time to explore various avenues. If you're sure pharmacy is for you, then go for the shorter programs! I will say though, the short programs are often highly competitive, so have a backup plan if that's the route you decide to go.

If you decide to pursue a bachelor's before you consider pharmacy/med school, then right now your main goal should be getting into a school for that. I just finished applying to pharmacy school, and they only asked me about college activities, high school essentially didn't matter to them. So if you don't think you have enough on your resume right now, don't worry! You have plenty of time to gain leadership and health care experience.

When I was looking at colleges for undergrad, my parents and I talked to representatives from various pharmacy schools as well. So when I went for a tour, if they had a pharmacy school, we set up an appointment with whoever could talk to us and answer our questions. That might be something you want to look into, because reps from various med schools and pharmacy schools may be able to give you some more insight into what the experience is like.

Hope that helps! Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions! Good luck 🙂