Pharmacist to Med Student

[elucciola]

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Hallo. 🙂

After working in the field of pharmacy for about 15 years (including school, internships, etc), I've decided to apply to medical school. I'm a bit confused about a few things, however, and thought y'all might be able to give me some advice.

Since I have a hefty gen-ed and scientific background already (BS Pathobiology, BS Pharmacy, PharmD), do I still need to take any post-bac classes? I fit all the requirements for the med schools I'm interested in, but so many folks mentioned post-bac classes that I'm beginning to wonder if I'm missing something.

Second, I've been out of school for about 3-4 years now, so I'm in the process of trying to get in contact with my undergrad and grad school professors for letters of recommendation. Is it imperative for these letters to come from a premed committee at my previous schools, or would the professors themselves be just as good? Also, do med schools look favorably on letters of rec from employers or colleagues?

Thanks for your help, and good luck to the other med school hopefuls! 🙂

 

[Scottish Chap]

You will only need postbac. classes if you fall into one of two categories: 1. missing prerequisites (chemistry, biology, physics, organic chemistry--all with lab--and usually 8 credits for each subject), 2.very low undergraduate GPA, in which case you might want to show some recent academic prowess.

If you do not fall into either of the above cases, take the MCAT and apply. Some medical schools might want recent course work, but not many will (my school admitted a 50 yo last year whose last class was in 1980). Some schools may want recent academic activity, so do your research on that. All medical schools that look at you will expect a very logical application package and they'll want to know why you want to change career at this stage.

As for letters...I never had a premed commitee so I just used employers and grad school advisors. Nobody cared. Good luck!