need advice on an MD reference for Pharm school

[JeremyE30]

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First I'll introduce myself. I'm a fourth year undergrad, and I'll finish a biology bachelors by the time of matriculation for the 2009 class that I will be applying to soon. I will be applying to UGA, Mercer, and South (all GA schools). My overall GPA is a 3.6 right now, but it will probably go down to around 3.5 (genetics sucks), but my prereq grades are awesome
Chem 1&2 A/A
Biol 1&2 A/A
Organic 1&2 A/not yet
Physics 1&2 A/A

Basically all of my 1000 and 2000 level science courses are A's. I also have over a year (around 800hrs) working in a hospital pharmacy, went through the 80hr IV training also, and I now work solely as an IV technician(big hospital). I also have over a hundred hours of various volunteering and community service.
No PCAT yet.

Anyway, now that you have an idea of who I am, I'll get to the question. I have an unlimited amount of Pharm D references I could get, but they would all be from the same hospital. I also shadowed with an internal medicine physician, and could get a very strong reference from him. Do you think the Adcom would look down on an MD reference. Would they question me and think that I might want to be an MD since I shadowed with him (I dont want to whatsoever).
Should I do two PharmDs and a professor, or 1 pharm D, 1MD and 1 Professor, or 2 pharmDs and 1 MD, etc...?

 

[mustang sally]

I haven't been admitted or anything, so take this advice with a grain of salt. Unless the school specifically states what letters they want, I think it's best to do two professors who will write a strong letter and just one letter from a health care professional. I have no idea what adcoms would think of an MD writing a letter. I think it would be okay, as long as the doctor can write a strong letter about why you would make a great pharmacist, but I really don't know. I guess they might question why an MD and not a PharmD, especially since you work with PharmDs.

 

[drugdoc]

Use a variety. 1 PharmD, 1 MD, 1 professor. That's what I did, and it worked just great! Shows that you can impress upon a wide discipline of professionals.

 

[RxWildcat]

It depends on how well you know each of them. If you want to use an MD for the sake of having an MD recommend you and all you did was shadow him, I would think the adcom would smell BS. If you have a genuine relationship with any of these people then have them write the LOR and you should be fine.

 

[JeremyE30]

I know the MD very well. We play golf together about twice a month, and I go to his house to talk/work on cars and other mechanical hobbies. I think I will go 1 PharmD, 1 MD, and 1 PhD.

 

[YouthHealth]

Just a heads up, the UW does not allow LORs from shadowed positions. You may want to double check for the school you are applying to.

 

[pyro3rsx]

hey man, i'm a senior at UGA and i've applied and gotten accepted to Mercer, and I have an interview with UGA (tomorrow....eek!). i'm not 100% on this, but if i recall, i believe mercer states on their site that they prefer pharmacist or teacher recommendations. you may want to double check or at least call these schools to verify. i applied with 2 pharmacists letters(ones a graduate of UGA, the other's a graduate of Mercer), and 1 professor (microbiology). I know both UGA and Mercer only requires 2 letters, BUT if you really want that MD's just to be an icing on the cake, i don't see how it will hurt you. Though I think the committee will take note of your teacher/pharmacist letters moreso than the MD's.

 

[AngelaCL]

I had one professor and two PharmDs. Also, at least one of my schools only considered 2 references, so I made sure to have the pharmacy manager as the first reference, the professor as second, and the other pharmacist as third.

If I were you I'd use two pharmacists and a professor - I think they show hoow you will be a good pharmacist better than a MD you play golf with/have shadowed.

 

[JeremyE30]

The reason I think the MD would be strong, is that he has given me insight into the procedures and things to look for when deciding on what medication would be best fit for certain patients, and he has seen my ability to communicate with people/patients, where as a PharmD or professor will be strictly pharmacy and school smarts.
Should I try to get a recc. from the director of pharmacy? He doesn't know me as well so I don't think it would be as personal as one from a staff pharmacist, or the IV manager.

pyro3rsx: if you don't mind me asking, what is your GPA, pcat, experience, that got you the spot at Mercer??

 

[FixLittlePeople]

UT requires only two recommendations, and of those, one is "strongly recommended" to be a pharmacist. I had a professor and an MD write my two recommendations. I got in 1st rounds. I think it's best to keep in mind the big picture that LORs are just one aspect of your application package. You seem to be excelling in your grades and your extra curriculars. I would say, unless the particular schools requires a certain person to write the recommendation, that you get the 2 or 3 people that will write the best recomendation for you. Good luck in the application process!

 

[ExpressMaiL]

If you know the MD that well, be sure to ask him for a LOR. When I applied I had a total of 4 writers; professor, professor, supervisor (not work related) and pharmacist.

I don't see any reason why they would look down upon an MD writer, but if your application relies heavily on the LOR (which should not be the case) they may grill you on "Why not medicine?"

If your breadth of experience at the hospital setting is that strong, you should perhaps apply to Med school for shiggles. Well, maybe not. Ha.

 

[JeremyE30]

If your breadth of experience at the hospital setting is that strong, you should perhaps apply to Med school for shiggles. Well, maybe not. Ha.

If I did well on the MCat, I would probably have a shot at MD/DO, but who wants to be a stupid doctor anyway?

 

[AbsoluteEthanol]

i agree with the poster who suggested getting letters from different sources.

mine were: 1 PharmD, 1 Physiology Professor, 1 PhD- vice president of the biotech company that i work for and 1 PhD of the owner of the biotech company that i work for.