<p>I'm currently a Senior in HS and have my mind set on the pre-med track. However there are a few questions I wish to ask. I know most undergrads apply to several Medical School but what if one fails to get into any of them? I know a gap year is possible and applying twice but have you guys ever had a backup option on what to do is this every happened?</p>
<p>I mean realistically speaking, majoring in Biochem will probably land you some teaching job in school if you have no other option but is there any other options available? I was intially thinking of majoring in genetics but deciding it might be more wise to do accounting just as a backup, since your major doesn't affect admissions to medical school. </p>
<p>I also heard that becomming a pharmacist technician is possible with self-study in passing the test. And if you happen to land a job at a pharmacy, they might eventually pay for your admission into a pharmacy program. </p>
<p>Medical schools in the Carribean also might be an option but the cons of that makes it distressing for a future life as a Doctor. </p>
<p>I just want to know if you guys have thought about a backup plan or give some advice on it. I just want to take this precaution so I don't screw myself over if My admission is denied. </p>
<p>Thank you for your time and have a great day!</p>
<p>More than half of all people who apply to medical school are admitted to none of them whatsoever. It's a very common situation, happening to roughly 20,000 people every year.</p>
<p>Of course, some of these take a gap year and reapply. Reapplying to the same schools is generally not recommended, but I suppose it can be done.</p>
<p>Many US residency programs have explicit policies in place such that they will only admit FMGs (Foreign Medical Graduates) if the students in question are actually from the country. That is, it's okay to go to med school in Grenada - but only if you're actually from Grenada.</p>
<p>Reapplying is common, and I don't think applying to the same schools is that bad of an idea - but I didn't finish an application cycle with a private school. Obviously the first thing to do is figure out what you can do to improve your application. Whether taking another upper level Bio course (and acing it) or taking the MCAT again, you have to do something. Then lowering your standards a touch wouldn't be bad, but I think it can be a good thing to apply again to some of the schools and show that you have improved.</p>
<p>FWIW it is actually probably more common to apply two or three times before getting accepted than to come out immediately out of undergrad. People like myself who came directly out of undergrad are a sure minority in my class, and I know it's that way at KU. Plus on my interviews the numbers were even more skewed that direction.</p>
<p>Pharmacy school is getting much more competitive, so watch out, and you'd definitely have to explain why you had this sudden interest in pharmacy.</p>
<p>Consider it this way: In any given year, there are 66,000 kids who take the MCAT and 17,000 who enter medical school.</p>
<p>Whenever those 3/4 of kids drop out, it has to happen sometime, and it has to happen permanently, because that's the only way the numbers crunch. So either you just keep reapplying over and over again and keep getting rejected, or eventually you give up.</p>
<p>We're told that the vast majority of candidates upon reapplication do very poorly.</p>
<p>BRM, I think you might be ignoring a pool: those who take time in between, but only apply once. Those students are very common among our undergrads here.</p>
<p>whats a good back up...like what should my major be just in case if i have a gap year so that i can land a good job and save money before applying again?</p>
<p>i think it would be smart to have a double major -bio and buisness.
That way if you dont get into med school, you can instead work in those pharmaceutical companies like viagra. :?</p>
<p>Well first and foremost I think you take the word engineering too lightly. prospective engineer's have to really work their butt off to beat the competition and survive the studies. The school I'm going do has a separate college for engineering and for Arts and Science so doing engineering and Biology would not be possible. </p>
<p>Does anyone have an information on working as a Pharmacy technician as a part time job? I have heard from people that the certification exam isn't too bad and some pharamcies might even help pay for pharmacy school if you really are interested. </p>
<p>Nevertheless do any of you current med students or prospective students ever had any back up ideas?</p>
<p>My back up plan is either becoming a pharmacist or a physician assistant if i don't get into med school. Many pa schools take 2 years and you do what doctors do except you're under the supervision of a doctor.</p>
<p>If the above plans do not work, i'm going to enter the make up/skin care product industry since i'm a science major. I plan to research for one of major make up companies such as Lancome :)</p>
<p>graduate school and Ph.d degrees are another option, which can lead into careers of medical/biomedical research, pharmaceutical development, teaching (although this job at the collegiate level is uber-competitive)</p>
<p>You wouldn't happen to have attended one of the top 10 business schools would you? I mean six figure salaries in business is common place but I only hear those from the elite (wharton,Sterm, Sloan,Ross) get them right after graduation. For pharmacy though, you have to take the PCAT's?</p>
<p>No, I didn't attend one of the top few B-schools. It would take me at least one year of earning a non-six figure salary, and even after that I'd have to include my bonus to really reach $100K. And that's not a guarantee, although it is reasonably common.</p>
<p>Oh, and I would be discussing a job in IBanking. So again, it would take me a year to get there, it would require 80/90 hour workweeks, and even then it would have to include a bonus, which is often a huge component (40% or more) of total compensation. All the qualifiers included, it was meant more as a offhanded remark than a serious comment anyway.</p>
<p>how about applying to another program along with applying for med school?
there have to be some less competitive post-bachelors programs that have same requirements as med schools that you can apply to at the same time as a back-up -- you can always choose to attend one of those programs or deny them if you get into med school</p>
<p>re-applying is doable - one of my past co-workers applied to med schools and did not get in -- her friend applied and did not get in but reapplied next year to a different set of schools and go into two of them ... while my co-worker decided to move on with life and work as technician at a molecular biology lab for some time ... i could tell she was a bit bitter over not trying to re-apply that time ...</p>