Yet another advice thread (sorry!)

[dezokitty]

Hello all! I've been reading through these forums for a few weeks, and they seem to have been rather informative so far. I figured I'd post some questions to get a better idea of where I should be going... Thank you in advance for your time and advice!!! Also, I apologize in advance for the long post.

So a bit of background information:

I'm currently a pharmacy student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy about to finish my next-to-last year of class (considered a "P3"). I had always had med school in the back of my mind, and even took the MCAT's after my 2nd undergraduate year. I was a bit wishy washy about it throughout most of pharmacy school, but now I am very seriously considering applying to med school (I could explain why, but it would take a while)... To make it short, I'm starting to realize I'm not quite satisfied with the scope of practice of a pharmacist. Although I do realize that pharmacy is an excellent profession, personally I would really like to learn to diagnose/treat, as physicians do.

My stats:

Degree: I'll have a PharmD in 2009

GPA: Undergrad - 3.940 Graduate - 3.375

MCAT (taken August 2005): 35 Q
VS 10 PS 12 BS 13

Research: I worked in a lab in the summer between my freshman and sophmore year.

Clinical Experience: This is a little variable... I've had interaction with doctors just due to my profession, and I've learned more about clinical skills (interviewing patients, SOAP notes, taking blood pressures, making changes to drug therapy) via pharmacy school, but I haven't actually went around shadowing a doctor. I'm also thinking that my pharmacy rotations starting this summer may give me a little more experience interacting/rounding with doctors, but again through a pharmacy perspective.

Work Experience: Apart from the research that one summer, I have worked as a pharmacy intern in a hospital pharmacy for 2 years.

Volunteer Experience/Extracurricular Activities: In highschool I volunteered for the hospital that I currently work at. Now in college/pharmacy school, my volunteering has been with several of the pharmacy organizations (blood pressure screenings, intake at immunization clinics, etc.). I also participate in about 5 different pharmacy organizations, to varying degrees.

So a couple concerns I have:

1. Is the phamacy degree helpful, or is it detrimental? I understand that the background in pharmacology/drugs will be a great headstart as far as information goes, but I've also heard that health professionals have a low acceptance rate... So what does that mean?

2. My graduate GPA... Right now my grad GPA consists of one semester of class, in which I happened to have a couple B's, making it rather lower. I have a feeling that this semester is not going to be much better. I can explain away the B's during an interview (I was kind of concentrating on extracurricular activities), but is the lower grad GPA going to not even get me to the interview in the first place?

3. Research Experience... One summer I feel might be a little sparse. I also didn't make the experience that I had as useful as I should have, although I did learn some lab techniques. I sort of consider it one of my weak points that I would do over again if I had the chance to go back in time, haha.

4. Clinical Experience: What would count? What do I do about the fact that I don't really have much in the ways of shadowing? Unfortunately, with pharmacy rotations starting up directly after this semester ends, I won't have much free time available to shadow a doctor either. Would my pharmacy experience be of any help?

5. I realize I took my MCAT's a little too early. Oops! The timing has sort of limited the schools I can apply to. However, I really would like to apply to Pitt, even though they only accept scores from up to 3 years prior. Do any of you have experience with admissions offices making certain exceptions for students?

Again, thank you so much for your help! It's great to get a different perspective on these issues, so I really appreciate any advice you all have.

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[gman33]

I'll try to answer your questions using the same numbers as you.

1. PharmD - The knowledge may help you in the future, but the degree won't do much good. If anything, you'll need to explain to med schools why you picked pharmacy and are now picking medicine. They will want to be sure that you won't change your mind again.

2. Grad gpa doesn't matter too much. Just try to get it as high as you can.
I'm a little confused. Have you only completed 1 semester of pharm school. If so, what is meant by P3?

3. Research doesn't matter too much, unless you want MD/PhD or are applying to research focused schools. It may matter to Pitt.

4. You need clinical experience. Get a volunteer position at a hospital. I'd recommend at least 4 hrs/week for at least a year. You need this both for your application and to determine if you really want to be a doc.

5. I've personally never heard of schools making an exception to the 3 year rule for MCATs. Contact the schools you are applying to and ask. When are you thinking about applying?

Good luck. Post any other questions you may have.

 

[dezokitty]

I'll try to answer your questions using the same numbers as you.

1. PharmD - The knowledge may help you in the future, but the degree won't do much good. If anything, you'll need to explain to med schools why you picked pharmacy and are now picking medicine. They will want to be sure that you won't change your mind again.

2. Grad gpa doesn't matter too much. Just try to get it as high as you can.
I'm a little confused. Have you only completed 1 semester of pharm school. If so, what is meant by P3?

3. Research doesn't matter too much, unless you want MD/PhD or are applying to research focused schools. It may matter to Pitt.

4. You need clinical experience. Get a volunteer position at a hospital. I'd recommend at least 4 hrs/week for at least a year. You need this both for your application and to determine if you really want to be a doc.

5. I've personally never heard of schools making an exception to the 3 year rule for MCATs. Contact the schools you are applying to and ask. When are you thinking about applying?

Good luck. Post any other questions you may have.

Thanks for the quick response! To address some of your responses...

1. That makes a lot of sense. I was thinking that would definitely be a point to concentrate on when preparing for my Personal statement and interviews (assuming I get any)

2. Ok, so I can clarify this matter a little bit. Pharmacy is kind of a unique pathway in that you are able to obtain a PharmD degree in a minimum of 6 years, with 2 years in undergrad and 4 years in pharmacy school. In those two years of undergrad, obtaining a degree prior to applying to pharmacy school is unnecessary, although it's perfectly fine to do so. Thus, I have had 2 years of undergraduate level courses, and I am about to finish my 3rd year of pharmacy school, or "P3" year. However, in terms of financial requirements and GPA at Pitt, we are not considered "graduate" students until our 3rd year of pharmacy school, despite our taking graduate level courses.

In the end, I'm a little unsure of how medical school will end up breaking down my GPA. However, if you were to consider my first two years of undergrad alone, I would have a 4.0. My pharmacy school GPA, then, would be higher than the 3.375 I listed before. Again, I'm not completely sure how the med school admissions office will want to break it down. Actually, thinking about it, that might be something I want to ask the admissions office... haha! Anyway, I hope that explanation helps.

3. Good to know! This leads me to another question... Which schools are going to be more research-oriented, and which are more clinically focused? If I had my preference, I'd definitely like to go to a great clinical school.

4. The volunteer experience I'm a little iffy about... I actually did volunteer at a hospital during high school for several years (granted, it was in high school, and I kind of went all over the hospital, not necessarily on the floors), and I've definitely learned far more about the responsibility of physicians through pharmacy school/work experience than I ever did through volunteer work. I do see your point, though. I was hoping that rotations might help a little, especially with clinical rotations, where I will be able to round with the healthcare team, including MD's and med students. However, I will certainly try to obtain additional volunteer/shadowing experience over this summer.

5. Oh shucks. I'm probably going to start applying this summer to the schools that have longer MCAT acceptance durations. However, if I don't get in, I'll probably get a job or do a pharmacy residency, and I'll have to think about retaking the MCAT's and then re-applying in a few years.

Thanks again, and sorry for all the wordiness...