Hi all, I'm looking for some tips for how to target a specific program if there's anything useful to know besides getting to know faculty, talking with admissions, etc. I'm a graduating pharmacy student currently interviewing for pharmacy residency but hoping in a few years I'll be able to matriculate to my current university's medical school. Also happy to hear advice from any PharmD to MD folks.
>Why not other schools?
I'm hoping to be able to buy a house and settle down with my fiancee in the next couple of years. I'm feeling a little too old to uproot for another city for 4 years only to maybe have to move again for medical residency. Plus this is my community and while I do think I could do more good with a medical license than a pharmacy license, it matters most to me to give back to the place where I live now. There's a specific program I would be applying for that I think is a good fit.
>What school would you be applying to?
A good one.
>Why pharmacy residency if you want to change to medicine?
It's the highest quality training I can access at this moment in my career. It will only serve me well as either a pharmacist or a physician. I want to finish what I set out to do when I entered pharmacy school, especially because I made a lot of career changes in my early working years and I want to demonstrate my commitment.
>Why medicine?
I didn't think I wanted to touch people. I want to learn differential diagnosis and how to perform procedures. Being able to practice independently means I could take my niche clinic work anywhere I wanted vs. being tied to a big city clinic where I can work under collaborative practice (maybe a little hypothetical since I don't really want to move but the thought of it feels liberating). I want to learn everything I can about healing and the human body and medicine seems like the obvious option. I never knew I wanted to work this hard for anything.
>Stats?
My oGPA dropped from a 3.56 after my first 3 years in uni to a 3.15 by the time I graduated due to some pretty horrible life circumstances. I feel able to explain this adequately in an interview setting but I do fear being filtered out before that point. I do know that this school in particular looks favorably on people with longstanding association so being an affiliated alum won't hurt my chances. My current program doesn't have grades. I haven't started studying for the MCAT yet.
For what it's worth I know the application process is a slog and I likely wouldn't *really* only apply to a single program, if just to apply a little more broadly and weigh options for financial aid. But I do think I would have to seriously weigh if I wanted to move somewhere else even if I was offered a nice aid package versus just staying in pharmacy and being rooted in my community.
>Why not other schools?
I'm hoping to be able to buy a house and settle down with my fiancee in the next couple of years. I'm feeling a little too old to uproot for another city for 4 years only to maybe have to move again for medical residency. Plus this is my community and while I do think I could do more good with a medical license than a pharmacy license, it matters most to me to give back to the place where I live now. There's a specific program I would be applying for that I think is a good fit.
>What school would you be applying to?
A good one.
>Why pharmacy residency if you want to change to medicine?
It's the highest quality training I can access at this moment in my career. It will only serve me well as either a pharmacist or a physician. I want to finish what I set out to do when I entered pharmacy school, especially because I made a lot of career changes in my early working years and I want to demonstrate my commitment.
>Why medicine?
I didn't think I wanted to touch people. I want to learn differential diagnosis and how to perform procedures. Being able to practice independently means I could take my niche clinic work anywhere I wanted vs. being tied to a big city clinic where I can work under collaborative practice (maybe a little hypothetical since I don't really want to move but the thought of it feels liberating). I want to learn everything I can about healing and the human body and medicine seems like the obvious option. I never knew I wanted to work this hard for anything.
>Stats?
My oGPA dropped from a 3.56 after my first 3 years in uni to a 3.15 by the time I graduated due to some pretty horrible life circumstances. I feel able to explain this adequately in an interview setting but I do fear being filtered out before that point. I do know that this school in particular looks favorably on people with longstanding association so being an affiliated alum won't hurt my chances. My current program doesn't have grades. I haven't started studying for the MCAT yet.
For what it's worth I know the application process is a slog and I likely wouldn't *really* only apply to a single program, if just to apply a little more broadly and weigh options for financial aid. But I do think I would have to seriously weigh if I wanted to move somewhere else even if I was offered a nice aid package versus just staying in pharmacy and being rooted in my community.
