Pharmacist to MD?

Started by JamesyBoy
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JamesyBoy

New Member
7+ Year Member
Hi there,

I just finished pharmacy school but have been thinking about MD recently. Was just wondering if I have what it takes to apply to MD school.

My undergrad GPA was 3.52 and my pharmacy GPA 3.67. I haven't taken the MCAT.

Do they take into account pharmacy GPa? thANKS!
 
Impossible to say without an MCAT score. Your pharmacy GPA is noted, but at the end of the day undergrad GPA is what constitute a major part of the evaluation on you.

Your GPA's can potentially be competitive for lower tier programs if you hit an MCAT score around the median of those lower tier programs. Have you taken all the pre-reqs? Note that many schools now require biochem or strongly encourage it; I don't know if a biochem related class in pharm school would satisfy the requirement(that's something to ask schools individually).
 
Yeah if you do well on the MCAT you'll definitely be competitive. Be prepared to answer a ton of questions about why you're switching, but other than that there's no reason you can't do it.
 
tennerd said:
is the future of pharmacy so bad that fresh grads are jumping ship?
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Obviously just anecdotal evidence, but I have two friends who got accepted into a couple of the best Pharm.D/Ph.D programs in the country and jumped ship to try for med school before they even started pharmacy school. And I've seen multiple posts on this board similar to OP. Wonder why people switch.
 
xc_stallion92 said:
Obviously just anecdotal evidence, but I have two friends who got accepted into a couple of the best Pharm.D/Ph.D programs in the country and jumped ship to try for med school before they even started pharmacy school. And I've seen multiple posts on this board similar to OP. Wonder why people switch.
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It's not uncommon these days. Students that jump ship during school have realized not much of their education will serve practical use in a retail sweat shop where one is expected to push and pump out as many Rx's per day. These are the lucky students who actually have the personality/likeability factor to work there. Countless others will be fighting for this opportunity in the Hunger Games as many pharmacy schools have yet to graduate their first class. The ones that realize this during school will most likely drop out and pursue academic endeavors in medicine, etc. Licensed pharmacists that make this transition most likely needed a change in scenery and/or realized they are handcuffed by the bean counters that suck the life out of these souls. This was a great gig 10-15 years ago salary-wise (was still soul-sucking), but the future looks bleak at best.

PharmD/PhD combinations are not as practical as the MD/PhD combination - the NIH has yet to recognize the former, so tuition for the PharmD portion is mostly, if not all on the students' shoulders. The latter combination is recognized by the NIH and so the majority of the MD/PhD students will have their MD tuition taken care of by this organization.
 
xc_stallion92 said:
Obviously just anecdotal evidence, but I have two friends who got accepted into a couple of the best Pharm.D/Ph.D programs in the country and jumped ship to try for med school before they even started pharmacy school. And I've seen multiple posts on this board similar to OP. Wonder why people switch.
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Pharm is a lot of work and for that amount of work, many people figure that they might as well try medicine.
 
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