<p>In short, if I were to follow a six-year pharmacy program (starting college as a sophomore due to AP classes and con-current enrollment), and I were to obtain a Pharmacy degree. Could I use that Pharmacy degree as a pre-med degree to gain entrance into medical school(assuming every other entrance requirement is fulfilled).</p>
<p>Why I'm thinking about the pharmacy route?</p>
<p>I want to work in the medical field, and if for some reason I could not get into med school I would have a really good back-up(pharmacy) for a career in the medical field. </p>
<p>The pharmacy program I am mentioning is two years of regular college classes and four years in pharmacy school.</p>
<p>The pre-reqs are the same if that is what mike was trying to elaborate over. I was looking more in the area of whether having a pharmacy degree would be advantageous when applying to med school, or if a pharmacy degree would be looked down upon. I have been told that having a pharmacy degree would confuse the med school admissions board over whether I actually wanted to be a doctor or not. The source who stated this was a pre-med adviser, but everything else she has told me so far as turned out to be false. I would hate for this one detail to be the only thing she was right about.</p>
<p>I believe you can expect some concern. But my D is attending med school with a PharmD who was very successful in her med school app cycle. It can be done. </p>
<p>Thanks for the information. May I ask if the “why did you go from a pharmacy degree to med school” question constantly arise during med school admission interviews.</p>
<p>curm: did she go straight through? Conventional wisdom is that med schools are okay if you’ve worked for a couple of years but really don’t like snatching kids straight out of other programs.</p>
<p>Of course, even if it’s a disadvantage it might be that this particular young lady was just too stellar a candidate otherwise.</p>
<p>My FIL’s oncologist had both an MD and PharmD. She had earned her PharmD first, worked in cancer hospital for 2-3 years then went to med school.</p>
<p>She seemed competent enough–though I was more thoroughly impressed by both my DH’s oncologist at UNMH Cancer Center and later his oncologist at Mass General. Both of those guys really knew their stuff. (And had better people skills too.)</p>
<p>Does anyone else have anything to add. The lack of knowledge over whether med school admission boards view certain degrees unfavorably is unsettling.</p>
<p>In general, degrees in areas such as Pharm, Nursing, Optometry etc are not viewed in a positive light by many medical schools. If however you were a great student it might not hurt you too much. Assuming you are from Oklahoma I would just check the class list at the U to see how many people have a degree in Pharm. I know generally that in schools like Yale or Penn or UCLA that the number is none or close to none.</p>
<p>I think a genuinely compelling reason on why you are making the switch will be required…which “having a backup plan” would not qualify. The 2 PharmD’s I know who ended up going through medical school both had unique experiences during their pharmacy lives that lead them to back to medical school.</p>
<p>My advice would be, that if you want to be a doctor, then go be a doctor, go 100% head on towards medical school. There’s little point in trying to game the system. If you decide to go to pharmacy school, go because you want to be a pharmacist. </p>
<p>Personally, I find your whole situation (Pharm school to MD simply as a backup) a bit unsettling ethically for two main reasons. First, if you do go through with it, you’re likely to be searching for a situation/event or experience that makes a good story for interviews because your mind is made up on getting the MD - even best case scenario, it’s deceitful and manipulative. Second, I’m sure that this PharmD program has a limited number of spots and some stiff competition for entry. If you were to gain an acceptance, knowing full well your future plans involve pharmacy merely as a stepping stone, well you’ve denied a spot in the PharmD program to someone whose dream job is as a pharmacist.</p>
<p>Why on earth is having a backup plan or plan B deceitful? Anyone who obtains a biology or chemistry degree as a stepping stone to medical school is essentially doing the same thing. Are they trying to game the system by not having any intent to use that degree as a career choice? They are essentially lying to the university by not using that degree to help eliminate a shortage of individuals with biology or chemistry degrees, or what about a history major who has an intent to apply to med school, he or she lied about wanting to be a historian since he or she applied to med school.</p>
<p>I will assume all of you know that medical school is competitive, and acceptance is not guaranteed. So shouldn’t I have a good plan B. In fact, why should any individual not care about having a plan B. If they didn’t have a back up plan then they would essentially be counting their chickens before their eggs have hatched. </p>
<p>In regards to denying a spot to an individual who has a dream of being a pharmacist, if they really wanted that spot then why did they let me beat them. Having a dream doesn’t guarantee success just look at medical school acceptance rates. If the person I beat out had a good back up plan then they would be covered if they did not then they would be screwed. Yet, I will be in that same situation when applying to medical school. I want to be a doctor, and someone who just wants to make a lot of money may beat me out of a spot. However, if I have a back up plan then I guess my situation is not so grim considering I let them beat me for the spot.</p>
<p>I also have a question for mjscal. How do you generally know that those degrees are not looked at in a kind fashion? I am not attacking you personally. I am just wondering where your source is coming from. For all I know you could be a member of a med school admission board or an auto mechanic that likes to have an alter ego on the internet.</p>
<p>The difference is that liberal arts undergrad degrees are not sponsored by governments on the theory that they’ll produce specific professionals. Professional schools usually are, even private ones.</p>
<p>So I’m deviant because we would know which profession I would be specifically undercutting rather than undercutting a broad range of professions. Either way I would be undercutting some profession in the end.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how this isn’t obvious to you. When you go to a liberal arts program and tell them you want to apply to medical school, they’re perfectly happy for you because one of the goals of a biology or chemistry or history major is to prepare you for further schooling. I was an economics major; I walked into my program office, told them I was a premed but wanted to be an econ major, and they were perfectly happy.</p>
<p>When you’re in nursing or pharmacy or occupational therapy, these programs receive huge amounts of public funding because they’re supposed to be producing specific professionals. If you’d like, you can try applying to such a program while telling them that you’re just using them as a backup in case you can’t get into medical school. See how they like it.</p>