PharmD to MD

[Pharma1811]

Resolved, thanks

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[penicillinman]

Pharm.D here, 2010 grad here. Ill try to answer your questions below

Regardless, to anyone that has done it: Was it worth it?
Accepted this cycle ! will let you know in a decade

How do I know which schools to apply to?
I am in Texas so it made sense to apply instate - cheap! You may want to look at instate to see if it is cheaper as well. Which schools you will ultimately apply to will depend also on your GPA, and MCAT score. With a 508 MCAT for example, it was useless for me to apply to Baylor. Go to MSAR and see what range of GPA and MCAT your school of interest has given out acceptances to.

From what I've read, some schools don't seem to prefer some non-traditional folks and I'd like to avoid that hassle altogether.
MSAR is your friend here too. $25 to access the website.

Which steps should I take next?
Kill the MCAT (that is, study for it, do not underestimate it, trust me, no pharmacy exam you have taken will come close to it, not even BCPS I would say), take prereq if you need to (I had to take physics), start getting some volunteer hours.

I signed up for a pre-med advising session with a local university that I'm highly interested in going to as they are the same university that I finished my pharmD with.

If you have any qns, PM me.

 

[pharmacystudent2019]

PharmD here as well. Doing well this cycle and no interviewer has given me anything negative about the switch so far. If your gpa hasn’t been wrecked from the graduate P years, I think you’ll be solid with a decent MCAT. On top of all the things mentioned in the post above, get some research in. Since you’re working as a peds pharmacist, you could likely bang out a few QI projects or chart reviews.

PM me if you have any Qs about the switch. I’d be glad to help. GL!!!

 

[Tabiyou]

One of my classmates is a pharmD. The only difficulty that person had was saying goodbye to their sweet paycheck.

 

[deleted853480]

PharmD here as well. Doing well this cycle and no interviewer has given me anything negative about the switch so far. If your gpa hasn’t been wrecked from the graduate P years, I think you’ll be solid with a decent MCAT. On top of all the things mentioned in the post above, get some research in. Since you’re working as a peds pharmacist, you could likely bang out a few QI projects or chart reviews.

PM me if you have any Qs about the switch. I’d be glad to help. GL!!!

For aamcas did your pharmacy grades count as graduate courses? How much did having your pharmamd help you in the process?

 

[pharmacystudent2019]

For aamcas did your pharmacy grades count as graduate courses? How much did having your pharmamd help you in the process?

Yup! I was in a 0-6 program, so I separated the first 3 years as undergrad and the rest as graduate coursework.

I didn’t feel that having the PharmD hurt me - it was a good icebreaker and I was able to use a lot of scenarios for MMIs that I would normally encounter in the hospital/retail setting. If anything, neutral/positive depending on the interviewer but N=1.

 

[penicillinman]

N=2, having a pharm.d did not hurt. Agreed as the above poster said, it also help me in MMI scenarios.
It also helped in traditional interviews - one was particularly interested in my role as an ER pharmacist in the ER and took up majority of the interview time ! I guess that was a good thing because I was accepted to that school?!