Pharmacy school while applying to med school

[cakezyum]

I'll be frank. My cumulative GPA is 3.0 and will be going to pharmacy school this year. I've always wanted to go to med school but my GPA crushed my application as whole for med school. I've calculated that I would need 2 years to retake my classes and thought that maybe attending pharmacy school might help (pharm school is my safety net). I really messed up my undergraduate year. Would this be the best route for me for the given GPA I have? Any opinions would be appreciated!

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[W19]

I don't think you should enroll in a pharmacy school at all if the ultimate goal is to go to med school. Do well in a postbacc (3.7+ GPA), get 27+ MCAT and apply DO.

 

[Smurfette]

Moving to Pre-Allo.

 

[holycrap]

Waste of $$$

 

[drdking]

Do you want to be a pharmacist?

If you can see doing that as a career then do it. If you're only doing it as an alternative pathway then it's most likely a waste of time and money. If you don't think you're competitive now, find something to do for the next year or two that you firstly enjoy doing, and secondly that may give you a hand when you eventually apply.

 

[mistafab]

Pharm school and med schools are for jobs.

If you have no intention of working as a pharmacist, you are wasting your time. If you think you might be happy with pharm and maybe would like to do it for X years, or maybe your whole life - then do it. It is not a good primary plan if your plan is med school.

I have a classmate who is an ex-pharm. He graduated, practiced 2-3 years and jumped ship. So it could happen. But you better graduate and work a bit or you get labeled a quitter. Med schools hate quitters.

 

[eagles22]

Pharm school and med schools are for jobs.

If you have no intention of working as a pharmacist, you are wasting your time. If you think you might be happy with pharm and maybe would like to do it for X years, or maybe your whole life - then do it. It is not a good primary plan if your plan is med school.

I have a classmate who is an ex-pharm. He graduated, practiced 2-3 years and jumped ship. So it could happen. But you better graduate and work a bit or you get labeled a quitter. Med schools hate quitters.

I am a person who left pharm school for med school.

First of all, no one accused me of being a quitter or pressed me on my change. Med schools train doctors, and they reward the best applicants, not the most loyal. You should have an answer as to why you're making the change if you do apply to medical school while in pharmacy school, but at the end of the day, if you're a good applicant, they will not care what you did before so that "med schools hate quitters" thing doesn't hold up in my experience.

Secondly, it is a huge cost and if you don't make it into med school by the end of your second year, be prepared to ride out the storm and graduate since a PharmD can make quite a bit of money which could help in med school with tuition. You will be paying for this decision for decades in terms of lost time and lost income, so be prepared to have that burden as well.

 

[cakezyum]

I am a person who left pharm school for med school.

First of all, no one accused me of being a quitter or pressed me on my change. Med schools train doctors, and they reward the best applicants, not the most loyal. You should have an answer as to why you're making the change if you do apply to medical school while in pharmacy school, but at the end of the day, if you're a good applicant, they will not care what you did before so that "med schools hate quitters" thing doesn't hold up in my experience.

Secondly, it is a huge cost and if you don't make it into med school by the end of your second year, be prepared to ride out the storm and graduate since a PharmD can make quite a bit of money which could help in med school with tuition. You will be paying for this decision for decades in terms of lost time and lost income, so be prepared to have that burden as well.

Thanks for the advice! I definitely have to weigh pros and cons when it comes to either finishing pharmacy school and work, or drop out.

If you don't mind me asking, did you drop out after first year? Did your peers and professors know that you are applying to med school while in pharm school? How did you manage studying MCAT while in pharm school? Do you think completing first year help with your overall application or med school?

 

[mock94]

There are quite a few medical students on here who graduated with a PharmD. It's getting more and more popular.

A few things to keep in mind:

1) A good pharmacy school GPA would only help you with the DO schools. MD schools at most would look at it as a favorable EC, but when it comes to weighing on whether or not to accept you, MD schools focus heavily on undergrad GPA because it levels the playing field with other applicants. However, undergrad courses taken as electives during your time in pharmacy school count towards your post-back uGPA, so you can boost your uGPA that way.
However, pharmacy school is much harder than undergrad and requires you to really study to get straight A's. A poor GPA here would hurt you for either MD or DO.

2) 4 years of pharmacy school on top of 4 years of undergrad can burn someone out. If you really are committed to a 12 year schooling plan, you do you... but if you want to be a doctor, why waste time in pharmacy school now? Do an SMP or a post-bacc instead of laboring, memorizing drug tables for 4 years while going through pharmacy school.

I know someone who was at my school who went through the 6 year pharmacy school program, but wanted to go to med school. Pharmacy school was his plan B fallback if he didn't get into med school. 2 years into pharmacy school he got burnt out and decided just to stick with pharmacy. Now he sells plan B behind a counter and makes 120k... but still wishes he never enrolled into pharmacy school and just did a trad. pre-med route.

 

[eagles22]

Thanks for the advice! I definitely have to weigh pros and cons when it comes to either finishing pharmacy school and work, or drop out.

If you don't mind me asking, did you drop out after first year? Did your peers and professors know that you are applying to med school while in pharm school? How did you manage studying MCAT while in pharm school? Do you think completing first year help with your overall application or med school?

Honestly, if you only pulled a 3.0 in undergrad, there is no way you're going to have time to take your pharmacy school courses and redo the prerequisites. On top of that, if there is a chance you will end up as a pharmacist, you'll need to work in a pharmacy while in school so that takes more time. You're going to just end up with bad grades trying to do too much.

If medical school is really what you want then you have a few choices. First, complete all of pharm school then redo the med school prerequisites. Second, don't go to pharmacy school and do an SMP.

Pharmacy school is an interesting thing to have on your app, but a year is not much and it's all basic science classes you will get in medical school anyways. You may have a slight advantage for a few weeks, but it levels out quickly. I don't think it helped me much other than a talking point and it certainly won't make up for a low gpa

 

[skibenz]

I'll be frank. My cumulative GPA is 3.0 and will be going to pharmacy school this year. I've always wanted to go to med school but my GPA crushed my application as whole for med school. I've calculated that I would need 2 years to retake my classes and thought that maybe attending pharmacy school might help (pharm school is my safety net). I really messed up my undergraduate year. Would this be the best route for me for the given GPA I have? Any opinions would be appreciated!

Bumping this badly but what did you end up doing...I think I'm in this boat too :/

 

[frog301]

Bumping this badly but what did you end up doing...I think I'm in this boat too :/

What was your initial motivation to be a pharmacist? and what was it that drew you away from that field towards med? (curious)

 

[TheBiologist]

pharmacist is still good career btw..

 

[Robin-jay]

Do some people forget that things cost money, and that pharmacy school is very expensive?

I went from undergrad. to chemistry masters...why did I do that before medical school you ask?

Because I was given free tuition and paid several thousands a year to teach university chemistry in the mean time.

Not only did I get enough grad. school experience to be admitted, but also GAINED money doing it.

Pharmacy will be what, 60-90k a year?

 

[skibenz]

Summary: I wanted to do med since mid undergrad, evil stepmom derailed me. Work in retail and don't like it.

Full story:
I never wanted to be a pharmacist. I really enjoyed organic and biochem in undergrad, as well as the bios and physio. I was able to take a disease course taught by a surgeon on the med school faculty that motivated me to do med. Was all set and jazzed about that until my stepmom of all people convinced me to look at pharmacy, bc I liked biochem. Also I didn't know what i wanted to do and there is the whole "you can do a lot with a pharmd" mentality. Stepmom is going to be a d.o. m1 this fall (she's 48 wtf) and I think was being competitive/jealous. Well I listened, stupidly, and dropped physics 2 and switched the mcat to pcat.

I did really well on the test and spent the summer after graduating working at a retail pharmacy. I liked working with the drugs and helping patients, but other than that it was horrible. I really hated being at the whims of bad doctors, and the general lack of respect/authority that pharmacists have.

In the fall I applied and got into UIC pharmacy, it's top ten and highly regarded. Switched pharmacies in Feb to another retail and also hated it. This was by a local pharmacy school so we had lots of interns. Talking with them and the pharmacists that I worked with have made it clear that this is not the path for me. Why?

Because the only cool thing about pharmacy is when you get to play MD. Why would I spend four years in P school, then 2 in residency to do clinical when I can do MD with that same time frame. Makes zero sense. Maybe I'm wrong here but I don't think so.

Also the med school safety option mentality is a big thing. Not everyone but it's still commin. I really do not think I will be happy with my life if I don't at least try to get into med.

Pharmacy is such a tunnel vision view of health, which also something that I have issues with. I think that usually drugs aren't the answer.

Also saturation and automation are very real threats to jobs.

Only issue is that I'm going to UIC in the fall. I have shadowing lined up before I leave, but other than that. I'm not sure what to do. I was able to get in state tuition so it's 30k per year. Money is not too big of an issue for me. Looking at some volunteering and I have a job interview for UChicago's blood bank as a lab tech. I haven't really started studying but I'm hopefull that the chemistry in p1 will be good review. I still need to take physics 2 and org 2 lab. Obviously would not be able to do that and P school.

And maybe something will change and I decide to stick where I am. Trying to keep as open of a mind as possible.

Pretty stressed out, any advice/perspectives would be much appreciated.

 

[Robin-jay]

I was able to get in state tuition so it's 30k per year. Money is not too big of an issue for me.

Still roughly 50-60k a year for total cost of living, then add interest for another 10-20k down the road. So at least 60-80k per year when all said and done.

I personally would never spend that type of dough if I didn't have to.

Again, I went to chemistry graduate school and earned a surplus of money before going to medical school.

Chemistry graduate school = free tuition

Chemistry graduate school = 10-45k teaching stipend

Only downside is that medical schools won't like it nearly as much as an SMP.

Just throwing out options for you other than spending 60-80k a year (interest included) on pharmacy school when you don't plan on sticking through it.

the more I read these forums, the less money savy I think anyone here is.

 

[skibenz]

Yeah smp would have been ideal but I am too late for any of those. I'm basically committed. Chicago is great spot to be, lots of schools around. Yeah it might be a little waste of money but I'm pretty fortunate and it's not a concern. And I'm thinking it would be something to set me apart + learning opportunity.

 

[Robin-jay]

Yeah it might be a little waste of money but I'm pretty fortunate and it's not a concern.

What do you mean "not a concern"...are your relatives paying for it? Otherwise, its a huge waste of money, not a little one.

And I'm thinking it would be something to set me apart + learning opportunity

You're being too optimistic. I thought a chemistry masters would set me apart, but medical schools don't really care as much as one would hope. An SMP would have been much better for admittance. Even if it shouldn't be like that, it is.

 

[mistafab]

If you think applying to and completing pharmacy school is a good idea if you want to get into medical school - you may want to talk to a therapist or start taking the medications you are already prescribed.