Pharmacist (PharmD) taking MCAT advice

[nazzz]

Hello everyone,

I am currently a retail pharmacist with one year of experience. I am planning on taking MCAT in April and hopefully start medical school in 2019. Currently, my practice MCATs are not on the higher end of the spectrum. Anyone has any insight as to how much of a help my PharmD degree can be during this process? I am sure it puts me at an advantage, but I don't know how much of an advantage it may be.

Thank you!

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[TheVFibKid]

Hello everyone,

I am currently a retail pharmacist with one year of experience. I am planning on taking MCAT in April and hopefully start medical school in 2019. Currently, my practice MCATs are not on the higher end of the spectrum. Anyone has any insight as to how much of a help my PharmD degree can be during this process? I am sure it puts me at an advantage, but I don't know how much of an advantage it may be.

Thank you!

The same MCAT preparation advice that applies to anyone else, applies to you. You have to find which study method works best for you. However, if you are taking it in April and have not determined that yet, your straits may indeed be dire. I'd stretch it out until June if I were you. That way, you'll get your score back in July and that should be good enough if everything else is done by then, if you prewrite your secondaries and have them ready to submit as soon as your score comes in.

As for the PharmD helping you, do not expect it to be as much of an advantage as you probably think it should be. Is the rest of your application balanced? Research, community service, etc.?

As an RN, I was very fortunate to be in the picking area of a school that values full-time, career healthcare experience very highly. My whole interview was about my job and my experiences working in my state's healthcare system. However, it has been my experience with other schools, as well as the experiences of many others on this forum, that the vast majority of places look at healthcare careers like any other job, and once you have enough clinical exposure that the school can be reasonably certain that you are comfortable around patients, the marginal utility of any more diminishes rapidly. I'm not sure if being a retail pharmacist even counts as clinical experience? I think the leadership aspects of having a job with such a high level of responsibility, making sure to dispense the correct medication in the correct dosage and having to supervise pharmacy techs and deal with bureaucratic red tape and providing education to patients about different drugs would be valuable, if you communicate those things effectively in your application.

 

[RNthenDoc]

However, it has been my experience with other schools, as well as the experiences of many others on this forum, that the vast majority of places look at healthcare careers like any other job, and once you have enough clinical exposure that the school can be reasonably certain that you are comfortable around patients, the marginal utility of any more diminishes rapidly.

This x100. I could have been a CNA, and as far as most ADCOMS would care that would check the same box as my extensive training, awards etc. as an RN.

In my experience, D.O. schools counted my experience as more valuable than M.D. schools, for whatever reason. DMU in particular made it clear that it was a big reason for me getting an interview. I sat next to a dude who had an MCAT 10 points higher than mine at DMU iirc.

 

[SpartanDOnoharm]

Agreed with the above posters. I am a Pharm.D. with 6+ years of experience. I think it might have helped me with one question on the MCAT. What did help me is knowing how to study from going to pharmacy school. As far as applications go, I received a lot more II from DO's than MD's and anecdotally the DO schools seemed more interested with my clinical experience than the MD schools. The more II's was probably more due to my GPA and MCAT more than anything.

As far as tips from a Pharm.D. to a Pharm.D., get your prereqs done first. I didn't take physics so I spent two weeks teaching myself a years worth of physics, it was not fun. Manage your time well, take study breaks, take a day off from studying and work once every other or once a week. Email the schools, I found some that still wanted a science professor letter of recommendation even though I was 12 years from my basic courses.

It is a long process. Don't expect the Pharm.D. to help you a ton, though it does help some. Probably the biggest place it will help you is with interview questions and MMI. Best of luck to you and if you have any questions let me know!