Need some guidance on a possible career change

[herc1945]

I'm a current pharmacy student that is unfortunately going through something of a quarter life crisis at the moment. I'm enrolled in a three year program that is based off of a Pass/No pass curriculum and I have completed the first year of my two year academic curriculum. So I just have one year of classes and one full year of rotations before I receive my PharmD. I have recently completed my first summer rotation and am having second thoughts about my career choice. I wanted to list out all the variables at play and wanted to hear other people's thoughts on my situation. I'll keep this short.

I want to be a physician but I'm also trying to be as pragmatic as I can as I weigh out my options. I know its hard to put a price tag on happiness and some people might think I'm pursuing the wrong career path if I'm letting the money hold me back but I also don't want to be in debt for the rest of my life. Here is my situation:

The negatives
-Through my undergrad and after my first year of pharmacy school I'm hovering around 100k in debt. Tuition is around 40k a year at my pharmacy school.
-I have below average undergrad stats: 3.1cum/2.85science (including 2 repeats) from my bachelors. I also took 3 classes at a junior college the summer after acceptance to my pharmacy school that I used to fulfill enrollment requirements and received C's in all 3. So my gpa is tad lower.
-I haven't even begun studying for the MCAT but I have access to free kaplan 2015 test prep books and study materials.

The positives
-I can take a 1 year leave from school and continue the following year as a P2. So I don't have to fully drop out of my program.
-I completed half of the pharmacy curriculum and have done extremely well so far. I fully applied myself this past year and I aced 19 out of 20 of my finals. This may sound naive but I'm confident I can handle the rigors of medical school.
-I am also confident I could score well on the MCAT if I gave myself around 4 months to study.
-When I took those 3 classes at the junior college level they seemed very easy in comparison to classes I took at my university. I feel confident that I could take 3 science courses a semester and ace them to boost up my science GPA.
-A large part of the reason I got into pharmacy school with my horrible GPA was having a solid all around application and good interview skills. Both of which would help me if I applied to DO school.

So should I take a year off and pursue DO school or at this point is it just a pipe dream? Should I graduate with my pharmD first and try going back to school later or should I go all in now before I waste more time and another 100k on tuition? Unless I specialize would the difference in salary between a general practitioner and a pharmacist warrant me dropping down on four more years of tuition and missing out on salary I could already be making? Would you work a job you didn't care for to put yourself in the best possible situation financially or would you chase your dreams? I have so many questions running through my mind and I want to make the best decision possible for myself.

So what would you do?

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[Yellow-Orange]

I would stick with my pharmacy school, if it was me in your situation. Like you said, you can always to back later in life. And a lot of people do just that.

From the outline you gave it sounds plausible, but I think the really important questions are what made you decide pharmacy in the first place? Also what makes you want to change from pharmacy to DO?

Also keep in mind of timing. If you want to go DO, when would you take a year off from your program? If you do it this year, you'll be applying late to a very competitive field. Even DO school is competitive. If you take off next year so you can apply to next year's cycle, you'll be taking a year off from a program you're on the verge of finishing just to start from square one again. Plus you would have gone through another year of pharmacy school for no reason pretty much.

 

[herc1945]

I would stick with my pharmacy school, if it was me in your situation. Like you said, you can always to back later in life. And a lot of people do just that.

From the outline you gave it sounds plausible, but I think the really important questions are what made you decide pharmacy in the first place? Also what makes you want to change from pharmacy to DO?

Also keep in mind of timing. If you want to go DO, when would you take a year off from your program? If you do it this year, you'll be applying late to a very competitive field. Even DO school is competitive. If you take off next year so you can apply to next year's cycle, you'll be taking a year off from a program you're on the verge of finishing just to start from square one again. Plus you would have gone through another year of pharmacy school for no reason pretty much.

My main interest has always been to work within a specialty as a physician. But I looked at my grades my junior year and wanted to be realistic about my chances of getting into a program. I decided on pharmacy because I could get into a good program and be out of school and be working a lot sooner.
If I decided to pursue medical school I would take the year off starting sometime this week. I would spend this summer and the fall to study for the MCAT while getting as much exposure to the DO field as possible/securing a good LOR. I would spend the spring semester retaking at least 3 science classes and boosting my GPA as high as I can while working on my application. Before the summer of 2016 I either return to pharmacy school or I feel confident enough in knowning I'll get into a DO school somewhere and just spend the rest of my time strengthening my application. I think I'd have a good idea by then if I'd be competitive enough and make my decision accordingly.
What do you think?

 

[EarthToDoc]

How old are you?(might be important if your over 30 mainly due to your debt)

Realize applying to medical school with pharmd looks great.

My worry is the debt. I will be starting medical school in the fall and when I put all my expenses and loans on paper it really sunk in.

I would recommend that you get your pharmD, work, pay off your debt I and if you still want to pursue medicine you should.

It seems like the rotation turned you off from pharmacy, I would recommend that you shadow as much as you can before making your decision, just so you know a little bit about what you're getting into. Medicine is a tough field in so many ways.

Do realize that as a pharmd you can do alot in clinical research. The practice I work at right now is anxiously waiting to see how pharmcogenomics will help us, most of the people doing that research are pharmds(at least from my research).

Don't make this decision lightly or quickly, sleep on it for a bit.

 

[herc1945]

How old are you?(might be important if your over 30 mainly due to your debt)

Realize applying to medical school with pharmd looks great.

My worry is the debt. I will be starting medical school in the fall and when I put all my expenses and loans on paper it really sunk in.

I would recommend that you get your pharmD, work, pay off your debt I and if you still want to pursue medicine you should.

It seems like the rotation turned you off from pharmacy, I would recommend that you shadow as much as you can before making your decision, just so you know a little bit about what you're getting into. Medicine is a tough field in so many ways

Do realize that as a pharmd you can do alot in clinical research. The practice I work at right now is anxiously waiting to see how pharmcogenomics will help us, most of the people doing that research are pharmds(at least from my research).

Don't make this decision lightly or quickly, sleep on it for a bit.

I'm in my early 20's and im not interested in doing research honestly. Would a pharmD really look great though? I would still have to retake courses to bring up my GPA and have a stellar MCAT. Would the extra two years to complete my degree give me the edge or would I be better off using some of those two years to strengthen my application by retaking more undergrad courses?

 

[samac]

Here's the problem.
Your science GPA is very low, you have to get that above a 3.0 to even have a chance, with a GPA at a 3.0 you have to do pretty well on the MCAT to warrant an interview.
You would take off now, take classes for the next year for GPA boost and MCAT study.
If by summer 2016 you think you have a good chance know there is no such thing as a sure thing. You may not get in. And at that point you've given up your pharmacy school, have 100K in debt and no professional degree.
If you want to do for it, you only live once so you should do what makes you happy, but I'm just being realistic.

Also you say those junior classes were so much easier but you got C's. That doesn't indicate much easier.

 

[Iridescent]

Let me start off saying that I do not know you or the progress you may have made in the past few years. That being said, your past performance has be terrible in the sciences, what makes you think you can ace the MCAT/science classes? Think this through: you currently in line for a decent paying job and career. Dropping that to pursue medicine, which may or may not work out, is a terrrrible idea. It's a massive gamble that can leave you in serious debt with no job outlook. Stick with your PharmD. Get rid of your debt, and then try to get into medicine. This will take longer, but it's definitely the more secure route. At lease you'll have a great backup ready and it'll give you time to mature your decision.

 

[Grace184]

As a PharmD applying to med school now, I advise every pharm student that comes on here differently. You- stick with the pharmD. In my school a summer rotation was 3 weeks. What drastically happened? As has been said, your skills in understanding and applying the sciences in your later curriculum are subpar. I fear for you even passing the NAPLEX. If you can't apply the clinical sciences, Med school may just not be the route for you. Application is key. And beyond that. You will see a lot of this material again, in larger and faster quantities and be expected to know it front to back. Finish your pharmd, pay off your loan, revisit this later in life. You are so close to the finish line, just buck up and do it.

 

[Grace184]

I'm in my early 20's and im not interested in doing research honestly. Would a pharmD really look great though? I would still have to retake courses to bring up my GPA and have a stellar MCAT. Would the extra two years to complete my degree give me the edge or would I be better off using some of those two years to strengthen my application by retaking more undergrad courses?

A pharmd only looks good if you did well, then did something with your degree, ie not work at Walmart. Doing something like clinical pharmacy is more impressive. Cs get PharmDs and they can see that from your transcript. They can also spot career jumpers, and will want to know why you never worked with your degree.

 

[acatnamedfelix]

I'm in the same boat, but i plan on graduating pharm school and going to DO school that same year.

Do you guys think that's a red flag at every DO school, even if I address it in my personal statement and have a pharm professor address it in their rec letter?

And is it possible to overcome a red flag with a strong MCAT or ECs?

 

[deleted480308]

your grades don't make med school likely enough to walk on a pharm degree. Get your degree, then retake some med school prereqs while working if you can't give up on the idea of med school