For starters, here’s my story:
I’m 29 years old and work as a clinical pharmacist at a university hospital. I have come to realize that among other things, working as a pharmacist just isn’t as rewarding as I thought it would be. What I desire out of a healthcare profession has changed during my life and I want to go back to medical school. Much like many of the posters in the forums, I didn’t have stellar undergraduate grades. My overall GPA at the University of Kansas was 3.4 with a 3.1 science, and my first semester I had to withdraw from chemistry and got a D in biology (though retook them both and got B’s). I took a year off then after doing well on the PCAT exam, was accepted into pharmacy school. I have since graduated, and even completed a 1 year postgraduate pharmacy residency program.
While at KU taking the pre-reqs, I usually got B’s in those classes, maybe one A. During my first year of pharmacy school, we were tought microbiology, biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology by professors from our school of medicine. I got A’s in those classes and finished pharmacy school with a 3.7 GPA.
I’m trying to assess my chances of being accepted into a medical school and have never heard stories of a pharmacist going to medical school. I’m worried that my grades from my doctorate degree won’t make up for my undergraduate shortcomings. Also, I’m not sure what else to do to increase my chances of being accepted since the admissions counselors usually tell you to do things like shadow physicians and things of that nature. That’s great for undergrads, but I round with the internal medicine team everyday.
I’m sorry if all that was long-winded but I’m at a real cross-roads. If anybody has any helpful thoughts or suggestions, I’d appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
I can’t speak to the likelihood of Pharm.D. getting into M.D./D.O. but my immediate response is “why not?” I think your performance in pharmacy school shows that you’ve got the academic chops to handle the med school curriculum.
As for shadowing etc. - not necessary when you’re rounding with the IM team each day! Your experiencing rounding with the team will be a good thing to describe in your personal statement. Clinical experience, whether through shadowing, volunteering, etc., helps reassure an AdCom that you know what you are getting into. Obviously your experience does that.
Good luck!
Mary
I am in your exact situation. I work at a university hospital, am finishing my PGY1 pharmacy practice residency, and have decided that pharmacy doesn’t seem to be the perfect fit for me. I was considering doing a 2nd year residency in pharmacy just to ensure that I couldn’t be satisfied with pharmacy, but am beginning to think that will just put me one more year behind. I just hope I would be able to make it through medical school (and make it into medical school). I would love some feedback as well. It will be a costly decision at first!