thinking about leaving pharmacy school

[pharmasaur]

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Hi guys, I'm a first year student in pharmacy school. I have already earned a BS in Cell Bio with a science GPA/cumulative GPA ~3.5. My first semester pharmacy GPA is around this as well. I'm starting to think about med school - reason being, I feel like I'm learning a lot of cool clinical things in school but I know that unfortunately as a pharmacist I won't use most of it. I also feel like I want a more comprehensive overview of patients and want more involvement in their healthcare vs the snippet I would get from pharmacy. I didn't consider med school initially because I couldn't see myself specializing in something and I'm not comfortable with doing medium to difficult level procedures that specialists do. But now, I'm considering general practice/family practice. Can anyone give me advice or can anyone share the most difficult type of procedures GPs do? I'm still debating the switch and not 100% sure.

 

[pharmasaur]

bump

 

[VictorAlpha]

I can't answer your question directly. If I were you and I wanted a direct answer to this question I would have posted it in the resident forum or something. But...

the advice I would give is to shadow a GP or at the least get in communication with one and ask some questions....

as an aside, although I am going for medicine, I will say that the smartest guy I know is a PharmD. He's also a PhD and an MPH. He was a source of encouragement to me during my applications and he said that he didn't know what he wanted right away and it took time for him to figure it out but he finally got what he wanted. He does "academic pharmacy" if you will, teaching and researching.

I don't know your situation but I would think about finishing your program and building from there. That said, it sounds like you know what you want and do have a sound logic for making a switch. Best of luck to you!

 

[darklabel]

Hi guys, I'm a first year student in pharmacy school. I have already earned a BS in Cell Bio with a science GPA/cumulative GPA ~3.5. My first semester pharmacy GPA is around this as well. I'm starting to think about med school - reason being, I feel like I'm learning a lot of cool clinical things in school but I know that unfortunately as a pharmacist I won't use most of it. I also feel like I want a more comprehensive overview of patients and want more involvement in their healthcare vs the snippet I would get from pharmacy. I didn't consider med school initially because I couldn't see myself specializing in something and I'm not comfortable with doing medium to difficult level procedures that specialists do. But now, I'm considering general practice/family practice. Can anyone give me advice or can anyone share the most difficult type of procedures GPs do? I'm still debating the switch and not 100% sure.

Talk to some Adcom's about it. Most pre-med (including you and I) will say that they will look down on such career changes, but I disagree. People change their minds all the time and shouldn't be penalized. Since you're in Pharm school and your GPA is good, talk to some of the med school advisors within your own college about your feelings. I do know Med School advisors don't like to poach other students from med school programs, but I'm not sure how they would feel about someone who did PharmD.

You could also finish the PharmD degree and go to medical school after? (Though that would be a lot of schooling).

Typo in bold

 

[ksun91]

I was was in a pharmacy program too (0-6 program) and switched out the year before my professional years. Looking back, making the switching was the right choice. I understood why I was unhappy with pharmacy and saw how a career in med would be fulfilling to me. I worked in retail and in hospital pharmacy as well as a lot of shadowing on the medicine side before making the switch. It was tough leaving a career path that I knew would be comfortable, but I knew that I wouldn't be happy in it. That being said, this cycle has been good to me with multiple acceptances.

PM if you have another more questions, incase i dont check back on this thread