s
I am contemplating pursuing medicine after finishing a six year pharmacy program and after working for one year. I am extremely unhappy with my current position and feel that a career change is necessary.
I'm just not sure how to proceed. It has been 5 years since I have taken physics and organic, 6 years since bio and chem. All of the pre-med prerequisites have been completed but my gpa is poor.
Do I have to do a masters to improve my GPA and then apply to med school. Do my old prerequisites even count? I have heard of specific two-three year programs that are catered for non-traditional students who have to re-take there prerequisites, but does anyone know what the official title is? or an example of one?
Sorry for the long post, im new here. I hope I posted in the correct section. Thanks in advance!
I am starting medical school in August 2008. Just like you, I have realized that pharmacy couldn't give me the depth of clinical interactions I was looking for after practicing retail for 6 years.
Even though the reasons that led me to pharmacy may be different than yours, I can definitely assert you that one primordial question every med school adcom will want a non-trad applicant to answer is: WHY MEDICAL SCHOOL
NOW? and implicitly they want to know WHAT
EXACTLY YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO WITH YOUR MEDICAL DEGREE (ie: pharmacy experience makes you want to focus in a specific area of medicine).
Another question that you should sincerely answer to yourself is: ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE A WELL PAID JOB FOR GOING BACK SCHOOL FOR AT LEAST 7 YEARS AND POSSIBLY INCREASE YOUR DEBT BY ANOTHER $100,000 ? It seems like a stupid question, but take time to really ponder it. If Your answer is YES, then ask yourself WHY? and think about it again. OK...... I guess you get my point.
As far as your grades, the oldest prerequesites that I submitted were 11 years old. So, I assume that yours will count too. Nevertheless, I would recommend that you contact the school's admission office directly and ask them about your old prerequesites.
I don't know what kind of grades you had, but adcom does not give any preferential treatments to graduate/professional students. If you have at least a 3.6 overall GPA and MCAT score of 30, you should be competitive at most of the US allopathic schools. I also recommend that you contact the Deans of Admission from the different schools you are planning to apply to see how competitive your grades are. Some schools differ in the way they evaluate a graduate/professional student by puting more emphasis on undergrad classes vs graduate/professional classes or vice versa.
The special Masters and the Post-baccalaureate Premedical studies are 2 programs that many non-traditional students pursue in order to increase their GPA and gain acceptance to medical schools. A few medical schools actually will offer you an acceptance granted you do well in their post-bacc program. I am not too familiar with these programs but you can google these programs online, you should be able to get plenty of info. Again, I don't know how bad your grades are but these programs should be the last resort in your case considering the amount of classes that you have already taken to get your PharmD. As I said before, contact the different medical schools and talk to the Dean of Admission. You'll be surprise to how receptive they are, especially to non-trad student. Here's a link from aamc:
http://services.aamc.org/postbac/.
There are also Osteopathic Medical schools, they tend to be friendlier to older, "non-trad" applicants. If you interestered in primary care and/or working in underserved areas, this might be a good fit for you.
If you have any questions, feel
free to PM me. I'll try to help you as much as I can. GOOD LUCK whatever your decision!!!!
