need advice

[ABRPh427]

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I recently applied to all Off-shore MD schools... mainly Ross and AUA just to get into a medical program and start ASAP. A little background on me:

-Graduated with my PharmD in 2006
-Science GPA 3.5
-Overall GPA 3.0 including professional years of Pharm School
-Research done in undergrad years (No Publications)
-All pre-med courses done and completed (3.5 GPA)
-A lot of clinical/professional courses kicked my @$$ so my GPA went down to a 3.0
-Currently working as a overnight Pharmacist in a private hospital in NYC with almost 4 yrs of experience as a pharmacist
-No problems getting quality recommendations from former professors
-Just recently had my interview with Ross, hopefully good news to follow in a few wks or so, AUA interview comming up in Oct.
-Was hoping to apply for Fall 2010 admission
-Took mcat once, did not take it seriously, forfeited score

If you were in my place ( and as I continue to type my blog am starting to realize the answer to my question) but nonetheless, if you were in my shoes, would you take the offer from a top 4 carribean school, or wait it out and study your ass off and retake mcat in jan 2010? The only reason i'm asking is because I feel as if I have time against me, and If I don't start a medical program I may just procrastinate and never start at all. Any other ways I could try to beef up my credentials to be more competitive? (btw i do realize my PharmD will do absolutely nothing for me in terms of medical school admissions)

 

[J ROD]

I can offer some advice since we both will have PharmDs. I graduate in May and just got accepted to US MD with a below average MCAT (27), BUT I have a 3.9 PharmD GPA and 3.78 overall with a ton of ECs.

Based on your overall GPA, I would recommend trying DO with a high 20's + MCAT and try US MD too. If the MCAT is not there, I would try Caribbean but understand ALL the difficulties coming out of there. I would also only go to Ross, SGU, or AUC. Those are the best down there and require the MCAT.

Also, build your ECs like clinical volunteering and shadowing. It helps alot.

I would take one more year and give the MCAT a real shot and then take it from there.

Also, med school is a good deal harder than pharmacy school so think about that too. If you had a hard time with pharm school, then med school may be too hard for you. You already have a good career. Just saying......

 

[Law2Doc]

... The only reason i'm asking is because I feel as if I have time against me, and If I don't start a medical program I may just procrastinate and never start at all. ...

With this attitude, I'd probably not bother with med school. This is a long long road, with lots of deferred gratification. You are going to spend 4 years of med school, then at least 3 years of residency before you are done with training. If you hope to practice in the US, your odds are best if you train in the US, no ifs ands or buts. The MCAT is but one standardized test you have to get through to ultimately practice in the US, and it's actually the easiest of the bunch, with the least career impact because you are allowed to retake it if you must. There is really no question that you are looking at this foolishly. You seem to think that rushing to the caribbean is a wiser move than spending an extra year to give yourself a shot at a US program. But you have to realize that you close a lot of doors going offshore, and you face a lot of hurdles and negatives by doing so, all of which, in my opinion, make it silly to not at least try for a decent MCAT score before you throw in the towel.

Caribbean is a great "second chance" if you are unable, after adequate trying, to secure a US admission. You haven't done anything close to adequate trying if you haven't studied for the MCAT. You have to realize that while 95+% of people who get into US med schools end up physicians, the odds are simply not that good offshore. Attrition is crazy at a lot of these programs. The people who graduate from the top offshore programs seem to do adequately in residency, because they are the cream of the crop from the much larger number of people who started their education at these schools, and many of the crop get weeded out along the way -- some places weed out as many as 40% of their entering class. If you are shying away from sitting for the MCAT, I suggest you are not in good standing to be that cream of the crop, nor are you setting yourself up for success when you hit the boards, which are much harder standardized tests.

And offshore is often not a faster route. Programs often make you pass certain internal hurdles before they allow you to sit for boards, often make you line up your own stateside rotations which may or may not keep you on schedule, and the like. So the year you save by not retaking the MCAT may be lost down the road by the issues faced with caribbean education.

Again, I think going offshore is a good second chance for folks who weren't able to get things in line for US programs, and my hat is off to those who get through the much harder path and end up in decent residencies. But if you are looking at this as something you are doing because time is not on your side, you are looking at it all wrong. And if you are the type who would rather charge on into a less fruitful path rather than buckle down and see how you will do on the MCAT, then you probably don't have the right temperment to be a physician, where you will be working and studying hard to master your craft for the rest of your career. This isn't a foot race, it's a marathon. And you are looking for a shortcut, rather than actually run that marathon. Sorry, but you aren't being wise here; sorry to be blunt. Now if you study for the MCAT and end up with a 20, after doing the best you can, then I'd say, sure, go to the only door open to you. But until you get to that point, you are charging into the abyss for no good reason.

 

[ABRPh427]

thanks for the feedback..sorry for the duplication