Hi everyone,
I am new to posting on SDN and am greatly looking forward to contributing to this community. I was hoping to hear your insights into my particular situation. Please be honest but kind.
I am graduating with my PharmD this May and realized that I want to go to medical school. My original plan was pharma- I’ve done a number of internships at large pharmaceutical companies and just accepted a consulting position at a top management consulting firm- but I discovered a love for clinical practice during rotations, and want the greater patient interaction and decision-making that medicine affords (vs pharmacy).
I am interested in MD schools and have been researching SMP programs because I have a low GPA. My stats/background:
- cGPA 3.31, sGPA 3.31, GPA for clinical rotations 3.9 (figure this won’t count for anything). My transcript grades are mostly in the A-B range, but I have a few outstanding bad marks - a D in Gen Chem (retook and got an A, and As in subsequent chem classes including Orgo) and a C+ in Gen Bio during my first semester, and a C+ in Pharmacology 1 during my fourth year.
- I plan to devote 6 months to MCAT content review and take a month off of work to hardcore study/take practice exams before sitting for the test. I know it’s difficult to assess my chances without a score but I’m hoping to gain a rough idea of where I stand/ my overall picture with this post. Historically I have done well with standardized testing (SAT 1540- 770/770), but i understand the subject matter is very different
- 1000+ hours clinical experience (student pharmacist, pharmacy intern, some surgical shadowing) at Massachusetts General Hospital. I’ve been at MGH for 4 years and have rotated through various departments including OR, med onc, heme onc internal med. Also did a research project here with a poster presented at a national pharmacy conference but no publications. I plan to have preceptors write my LORs as I’ve built some great relationships here.
- 3 years of non clinical volunteer experience- tutoring at a charter school in a low resource neighborhood and volunteering with dementia patients at a senior center
- 30 hours of shadowing a pediatrician. Planning on doing much more shadowing this year (MGH + local clinics) to ensure that I truly understand what I am signing up for
- Not an underrepresented minority
My tentative plan for this year is to shadow, continue volunteering, prepare for the MCAT and apply for SMPs (a few I looked at were Georgetown, BU, Tufts and Brown) for 2021. Ill be working 60 hour weeks on top of this so don’t think I can squeeze in much else. I would love to hear any thoughts on my situation and plan, and would really appreciate feedback, especially if there are certain areas of my application that are severely lacking and would benefit from more time and focus.
Thank you for taking the time to read this exceptionally long post
Really looking forward to hearing your responses.
I am new to posting on SDN and am greatly looking forward to contributing to this community. I was hoping to hear your insights into my particular situation. Please be honest but kind.
I am graduating with my PharmD this May and realized that I want to go to medical school. My original plan was pharma- I’ve done a number of internships at large pharmaceutical companies and just accepted a consulting position at a top management consulting firm- but I discovered a love for clinical practice during rotations, and want the greater patient interaction and decision-making that medicine affords (vs pharmacy).
I am interested in MD schools and have been researching SMP programs because I have a low GPA. My stats/background:
- cGPA 3.31, sGPA 3.31, GPA for clinical rotations 3.9 (figure this won’t count for anything). My transcript grades are mostly in the A-B range, but I have a few outstanding bad marks - a D in Gen Chem (retook and got an A, and As in subsequent chem classes including Orgo) and a C+ in Gen Bio during my first semester, and a C+ in Pharmacology 1 during my fourth year.
- I plan to devote 6 months to MCAT content review and take a month off of work to hardcore study/take practice exams before sitting for the test. I know it’s difficult to assess my chances without a score but I’m hoping to gain a rough idea of where I stand/ my overall picture with this post. Historically I have done well with standardized testing (SAT 1540- 770/770), but i understand the subject matter is very different
- 1000+ hours clinical experience (student pharmacist, pharmacy intern, some surgical shadowing) at Massachusetts General Hospital. I’ve been at MGH for 4 years and have rotated through various departments including OR, med onc, heme onc internal med. Also did a research project here with a poster presented at a national pharmacy conference but no publications. I plan to have preceptors write my LORs as I’ve built some great relationships here.
- 3 years of non clinical volunteer experience- tutoring at a charter school in a low resource neighborhood and volunteering with dementia patients at a senior center
- 30 hours of shadowing a pediatrician. Planning on doing much more shadowing this year (MGH + local clinics) to ensure that I truly understand what I am signing up for
- Not an underrepresented minority
My tentative plan for this year is to shadow, continue volunteering, prepare for the MCAT and apply for SMPs (a few I looked at were Georgetown, BU, Tufts and Brown) for 2021. Ill be working 60 hour weeks on top of this so don’t think I can squeeze in much else. I would love to hear any thoughts on my situation and plan, and would really appreciate feedback, especially if there are certain areas of my application that are severely lacking and would benefit from more time and focus.
Thank you for taking the time to read this exceptionally long post
Really looking forward to hearing your responses.
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