Pharmacy & Medical School admission

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hi, I currently got into rutgers pharmacy but my final life goal is to go to Ivy league medical schools and to be the best surgeon in the world because of my personal motivation from the childhood. However, I've known it is extremely hard to get into any medical school in U.S., so I decided to go to the professional school and to get some kinds of health care degree in order to go to best medical schools. </p>

<p>1.So is going pharmacy school worth while to get admissions from medical school even though it takes additional 2 more years(assuming I got into medical school after graduting pharmacy school, I will be 25)??
2. How notoriously hard is it to get or to maintain 3.8 or above in pharmacy school?
3. Do u think it is possible to study MCAT and to do extracurricular activities related to medicine in Rutgers pharm??
4. If I get into a medical school, do most of materials that I wil study in Pharm relate to the stuffs in medical school?
5. Lastly, Am I making a good decision?
There are not many advicing about those things. I really need some advices.</p>

<p>Thank you!!!!!!</p>

2

<p>Why would a medical school admit you to an MD program when you have just spent six years working to attain a different professional degree in the medical field? Don’t you think they might wonder about how serious or focused you are on what your goal is? If your ultimate goal is to be a researcher, it might make sense. To be a surgeon? - no. Back in the days when there were four year pharmacy degrees, it made sense to do that as an undergraduate and then go to medical school. Now, with the six year PharmD program - not a lot of sense. Nor does the six year PharmD necessarily include all pre-requisites for medical school.</p>

3

<p>Spark…I am in a similar situation. I did not get accepted into the combined B.S./M.D. accelerated program that I wished to get into. I really thought I was going to get in, but it turns out that I didn’t. Hopefully it was for the better. Anyway, I also got accepted into a 6 year pharmD program which I’m looking into.</p>

<p>I’ve been told that some students do go on to med school after the six years. You see the only issue w/ going undergrad and then to med school (the traditional route) is that it’s risky. Suppose you didn’t get into any med schools. This is a common occurrence nowadays since getting into med school is very difficult. What’s the back up? I know of people who got screwed because of this. They end up wasting time and money getting a masters and then reapplying to med school. And so, doing pharmacy is good in that you can actually work as a pharmacist and go to med school at the same time. I know of someone who is doing this. It’s feasible and it seems to work quite well for this person. But as for whether doing pharmacy will help you in terms of getting into med school, I don’t think it would be significant. That said, my personal suggestion would be to do either pharmacy or medicine and stick w/ one from day one.</p>

4

<ol>
<li>No it isn’t. Getting a PharmD might get you a little more interest from schools, but unless you are interested in academia and research it probably isn’t going to be a significant boost. I don’t think it will hurt you, though they may question why you did it. If you want to work as a pharmacists, then by all means do a PharmD. Later, if you still wish it, you can apply to medical school. I would NOT do it if the major goal is to get into a top medical school. Do two years of paid basic science research and publish a lot, that’s a much more productive use of an additional two years if you are trying to get into a top school. Because the “top school” actually means “top research school” in most cases. </li>
</ol>

<p>In addition, it would be incredibly hard to work as a pharmacist all through medical school. If the goal is to be a top surgeon, you’re probably going to want to focus all of your efforts on getting good grades so you can get into good residencies. Also there is no such thing as the top surgeon. Too many people, too many standards, too many specialties, too many procedures.</p>

5

<p>All,</p>

<p>Could OP still consider the 4 year college and take MCAT after sophomore year to assess the medical school prospect? He/she will have a chance to decide which way to go at that point. It could be similar to the medicine/dentistry decision process except that one has to be careful about EC selection. Of course, the PharmD program would span for 7 years.</p>

6

<p>My school has two PharmD’s, 2 or 3 nurses, and ~4 PA’s, so those with other medically-related degrees due get accepted.</p>

7

<p>Oh absolutely. The question though is doing one of those degrees in itself a good strategy for getting into medical school. The answer is no. Further, I bet most of those people took time off to work before applying. It’s the people who finish the degree and immediate turn around to apply to medical school that tend to come under scrutiny. Not an unwinninble battle for sure, but you must be prepared to be asked why you got the degree and provide an acceptable answer.</p>

8

<p>The PharmD applied right away. The PA’s and nurses worked before applying.</p>

9

<p>My S is currently earning a PharmD (plus a degree in an unrelated subject), and is planning on applying to med school. S’s electives and PharmD coursework does match up with med school pre-reqs. The PharmD program includes hospital clinical experiences, patient care and opportunities for research. There are different PharmD tracks, including hospital work or research, which are useful. It might be viewed as having the equivalent of having a Master’s or other advanced degree when applying, which isn’t unusual for med school candidates. </p>

<p>As others have noted, most med schools have one or two PharmDs among their accepted student profiles. When S was applying to PharmD programs, some of the pharmacy open houses made a point of bringing up the number of their students who go to med school each year. </p>

<p>The competition is so stiff for med school that S views it as hedging his health care bets. If he isn’t able to get admitted into med school someday, he will still have a career that he enjoys. S believes that just majoring in premed or a science subject is risky. If the odds are that 7-8 out of 10 med school applicants are going to be rejected, then I suppose S’s argument makes sense. A premed student who doesn’t get into med school someday has to have backup plans, perhaps going back to school to become PharmDs, chiropractors, dentists, high school biology teachers, nurses etc. </p>

<p>PharmD programs are very competitive, with admission rates dropping every year. It made sense from S’s perspective to get the 6-year PharmD degree right away, instead of trying to get into a 3-or 4-year PharmD program later as a backup if he didn’t get into med school after earning a BS.</p>

<p>Not for everyone, of course, but I thought I’d share S’s thoughts on this. </p>

<p>Getting a 3.8 in pharmacy school is as tough as getting a 3.8 in any science major. It’s not easy, but it’s possible. Pharmacy isn’t 100% science. S has observed that many of his classmates are great in the sciences, but have problems with the right brain classes (counseling/speech classes, pharmacy law, and so forth). It doesn’t take too many Bs or Cs to drop a GPA below a 3.8.</p>