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Hi,
I'm a non-trad student and at age 39. cGPA = 3.5+, sGPA = 4.0. I completed first semester of pharmacy school with GPA 4.0. Lack shadowing, volunteering, leadership, TA experience. No MCAT.
I prefer medical studies over pharmacy studies. chose pharmacy for family, and I'm having regrets esp. with the bleak prospects of pharmacy job. pharmacy has a serious saturation issue where i live.
Should I take a year's leave from pharmacy program to do MCAT and accumulate shadowing experience?
quitting pharmacy school to apply to med school = red flag. so should i consider SGU?
I've received advice of completing the pharmacy program before applying to local med schools, so to allay the concern that i might also quit med school. I'd prefer not to delay due to my advanced age and the cost of tuition.
appreciate real advice, and not just IMG-bashing. Thanks.
I would be careful heeding or listening to much (if any) advice you receive on this forum. You are asking a difficult and complicated personal question that no one will be able to specifically answer for you, especially based on the limited info you've provided.
First off, as you know, you will have to take the MCAT to be accepted into SGU (or any other reputable Caribbean medical school). Ones that don't require them are a complete crapshoot. There's no way around this.
Secondly, medical school at your age is arduous... and really, really expensive. Unfathomably expensive right now. This not only in terms of time, blood, sweat, tears, and personal treasure, but also as a matter of tuition and lost income. Figure that, even if your plan goes well and you start at age 40, you will not be making any real money until you're 47-years-old at the earliest.
Lastly, you're not "advanced age", but the dream is just that - it's a dream. Whatever you perceive about being called "doctor" and helping people is probably just a romantic fantasy. The reality of what it means to be a doctor today (and even more by the time you'd graduate) is usually either being an employee answering to some bean-counter dictating about when you work, how you're going to practice, and how they're going to look at your metrics to determine whether or not you should continue to be employed... or you're going to be struggling through a mountain of regulations and insurance bureaucracy while continuously competing against those same corporations who are going to try to squeeze you out of existence with their midlevel practitioners and "more efficient" model of providing care.
If I was in your shoes, I'd strongly consider the old adage "a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." But, there's also no reason you can't stay in school and prepare for (and take) the MCAT... "killing two birds with one stone", so to speak.
Advice is only worth what you've paid for it. Please especially remember that too if nothing else.
-Skip
This thread is for OP. A new thread can be initiated up in the right corner.Hi everyone!
I'm a non-US (non-permanent card holder) and non-Canadian citizen who just got accepted to SGU. But, I'm having trouble deciding whether or not to accept my offer because my end goal is to match for residency in the US and I'm not sure if this is a feasible goal for a non-US citizen. (I have been living in the US for the past 11 years and have completed high school and undergraduate degree in US schools - I did apply to US medical schools as an international student but did not get any acceptances)
I was just wondering if anyone has any idea about residency matches for non-US citizens in the US after graduating from SGU. Also, does SGU sponsor visas for international students to complete their clinical rotations in the US (B1 or F1)? because I know that it is incredibly hard to match in the US without completing any clinical electives in the US. I just can't seem to find any statistics for SGU graduates who are non-US citizens who were able to match for residency back in the US