Is it worth applying

[orangexd]

I have recently graduated from a PharmD program and am in my 1st year of pharmacy residency. I have always been fascinated by medicine, but after the short time ive spent on my residency here I am finding that the role of a clinical pharmacist isnt enough for me. I recently took the MCAT and scored a 520. However my GPA is utter garbage, if its calculated properly then my undergrad gpa would be like a 2.9 and my graduate GPA would be a 3.1 (it was an accelerated 6 year program). I know GPA is a huge factor, and that many medical school screen GPAs prior to even looking at the application. As I am currently doing my pharmacy residency I have no time to actually go and retake all the undergraduate science courses to get a better GPA. I have volunteering from when I was in college as well as clinical experience working with physicians.

Is it even worth applying to medical school? I think that if i can get through the door, I should be able to perform well on the interviews. However that super low GPA is making me apprehensive without going back and doing a Post-Bach program to re-do everything. Is the combination of clinical experience and MCAT score enough? Any advice?

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[Entadus]

Your GPA is too low to apply. You will need more coursework (lots) to raise your undergrad GPA. Do the calculations, how much would a solid year of full-time coursework bring it up? If you have C/D/F grades, retaking and applying DO (with grade replacement) is an option. If you want MD, your retakes won't erase the old grades but will instead be averaged.

Congratulations on the excellent MCAT, though! I just wouldn't want to see you waste your time and $$$ when your chances would be close to nil.

 

[Goro]

Your GPAs are lethal for MD and DO. While a 520 MCAT is nothing to sneeze at, you still need to demonstrate that you can handle a med school curriculum.

The fastest path for you to become a doctor will be to retake all F/D/C science coursework, do well on MCAT, and apply to DO schools.

IF you're boning for the MD degree, there are MD schools that reward reinvention. You'll need to ace all the classic pre-reqs, and ace either a post-bac (which can be DIY) or a SMP, ideally one given at a med school.

Do not apply until you have the best possible app. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Med schools aren't going anywhere, and, in fact, by the time you apply, several more schools will have opened their doors.

I have recently graduated from a PharmD program and am in my 1st year of pharmacy residency. I have always been fascinated by medicine, but after the short time ive spent on my residency here I am finding that the role of a clinical pharmacist isnt enough for me. I recently took the MCAT and scored a 520. However my GPA is utter garbage, if its calculated properly then my undergrad gpa would be like a 2.9 and my graduate GPA would be a 3.1 (it was an accelerated 6 year program). I know GPA is a huge factor, and that many medical school screen GPAs prior to even looking at the application. As I am currently doing my pharmacy residency I have no time to actually go and retake all the undergraduate science courses to get a better GPA. I have volunteering from when I was in college as well as clinical experience working with physicians.

Is it even worth applying to medical school? I think that if i can get through the door, I should be able to perform well on the interviews. However that super low GPA is making me apprehensive without going back and doing a Post-Bach program to re-do everything. Is the combination of clinical experience and MCAT score enough? Any advice?

 

[QofQuimica]

Not worth it due to subpar grades, as others have already explained. Not to mention that you'll be a stronger applicant anyway if you work as a pharmacist for a few years and have some real world work experience under your belt instead of just jumping from training program to training program.

My suggestion? Pharmacy residency is only two years. Finish your residency, get a job, and see how you like it. Start doing some shadowing/clinical volunteering concurrently. If you decide you still want to go to med school after you've been out and practicing for at least six months, then start taking some post bac classes. Your best bet will be to retake any classes with grades of C or lower, and apply to DO schools since the AACOMAS grade replacement policy will allow you to raise your GPA relatively quickly, probably within a year. So if you graduate from residency in June 2018, and you start taking classes in January 2019, you can probably apply to DO schools with a strong app in summer 2020 to start med school in summer 2021. Following this schedule will also give you a chance to really make sure that pharmacy isn't where it's at for you so that you can make the best informed decision possible. Not to mention letting you save up some money/make a dent in your pharm school loans before you take out another round of six figure loans for med school.

 

[orangexd]

Thank you all for the advice. I will probably continue to work on my pharmacy route and see how that develops. Hopefully once I get to a PGY2 I'll see more clinical involvement. Luckily I dont have any loans from the pharmacy process so financially medical school wont destroy me.

When looking to improve my grades is it better to retake the classes or try and go for a new degree. I was looking through the SMP option mentioned and noticed that there were quite a few more options here: https://www.princeton.edu/hpa/post-bac-programs/record-enhancers/

Specifically I was looking at some of the masters programs given at medical schools.