Need advice badly....

[valera]

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I am a PharmD student in my sixth year.
Pre pharm overall gpa 3.69, science gpa 3.76
As i progressed through pharm school my gpa slowly declined. Now im fnishing with a 3.0. I worked quite alot my last two years.
Any suggestions how i can explain my declining gpa to admissions committee and at the same time sell them the idea of why i want to go to med school after pharmacy. My genuine one that I really want more patient interaction is really not the most popular.

thank you in advance

 

[J ROD]

I am a PharmD student in my sixth year.
Pre pharm overall gpa 3.69, science gpa 3.76
As i progressed through pharm school my gpa slowly declined. Now im fnishing with a 3.0. I worked quite alot my last two years.
Any suggestions how i can explain my declining gpa to admissions committee and at the same time sell them the idea of why i want to go to med school after pharmacy. My genuine one that I really want more patient interaction is really not the most popular.

thank you in advance

Honesty is the best policy. Try to explain the drop due to working more...

Is your overall GPA a 3.0? What are your grades in pharm school?

 

[NTF]

This is a hard one. Usually explaining past poor performance is easier if it isn't what you finished on. The biggest concern I'd see adcoms having is that if you limped (academically) into med school, what's to say you won't just continue your downward trajectory.

Ending on a down note (and with 3.0 cum in pharmD it looks like towards the end you were doing the absolute minumum w/o getting kicked out) is a problem. You may need to put some chronological and academic distance between you and this poor performance. You might consider working for a few years and doing an informal post-bacc (maybe like 3-4 upper level ugrad sci courses) just to show adcoms you still have your academic chops in you. Coupled with a decent MCAT I think that adcoms would be much more likely to believe that you put your past behind you. Just my 2 cents.

 

[valera]

thank you very much for your input. J dub as nontradfogie guessed my last year of pharmacy school was horrendous. I got my first D that year. One in fall and one in the spring semester. I worked at a hospital that was far from where i live and study and my job took up a big chunk of my time. I secured a very good eval from the director of pharmacy at my workplace. Hopefully adcoms will give me some leniency considering this fact.

 

[J ROD]

A 3.0 overall GPA is pretty low to be competitive.

It is going to be hard to explain that even with a very high MCAT.

Schools usually look at your undergrad GPA, which is good so maybe that will help.

But, a professional doctorate at 3.0 is a big hole to get out of. I am not sure if you can get out of it. I would talk to the school I am most interested in and get their input.

The difference for me is I used my PharmD to prove I could handle MD school. I had a 3.9 GPA when I applied. I doubt I would have gotten in without it.

I think you can recover for DO but MD might be out of reach.....I do think you need some classes to prove yourself though..post bac, SMP, or whatever. You are in a weird situation where you dont need to repair the undergrad GPA but the doctorate. Not sure what to tell you......

 

[valera]

Thank you again ) i will carry on and see how this resolves. Is there a limit to how many times i can apply? And whether it will win me annoynce or persistence points with adcoms

 

[J ROD]

Thank you again ) i will carry on and see how this reaolves. Is there a limit to how many times i can apply? And whether it will me annoynce or persistence points with adcoms

Not that I know as long as you add something "new" each time you apply. Most schools I think would see it as persistence as long as you update your app each cycle. Good luck!

 

[valera]

Thank you for your feedback! )

 

[J ROD]

Thank you for your feedback! )

De nada!!