Twilightbubble Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hi everyone. I need to make a decision pretty soon regarding if I want to pursue pharmacy into med school or not (at UBC). I understand that there are advantages and disadvantages to this path into med school. Advantage: -Solid back-up plan -Helps with med school courses in the future Disadvantage: -Frowned upon I guess since I will be taking a pharmacist position from a person who may truly want it as their dream career (pharmacy is my 2nd choice after doctor) -Difficult to obtain a high GPA in So, considering everything, would you recommend me to take pharmacy as my undergrad choice in 2nd year as compared to pharmacology (which would be my other option). Thanks in advance. Also, please share any other advantages and disadvantages you see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeDoc Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Pick one and do it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacrolimus Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hi everyone. I need to make a decision pretty soon regarding if I want to pursue pharmacy into med school or not (at UBC). I understand that there are advantages and disadvantages to this path into med school. Advantage: -Solid back-up plan -Helps with med school courses in the future Disadvantage: -Frowned upon I guess since I will be taking a pharmacist position from a person who may truly want it as their dream career (pharmacy is my 2nd choice after doctor) -Difficult to obtain a high GPA in So, considering everything, would you recommend me to take pharmacy as my undergrad choice in 2nd year as compared to pharmacology (which would be my other option). Thanks in advance. Also, please share any other advantages and disadvantages you see. Same here except, for me, Medicine and Pharmacy are 1(a) and 1( (respectively) kind of thing. Ideally, I'd like to do Medicine, but thousands of people at U of A want to...but only ~160 get in. That aspect scares me and the lack of ECs... though I just finished my first year. All I know is that it is incredibly difficult to get a high GPA as compared to General Sciences. I'm volunteering at a Pharmacy (I really like it!), and the Pharmacy student pretty much told me to forget about 3.9 unless you're really intelligent and willing to work very, very, very hard. Curved classes for Pharmacy is just a killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real Beef Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Having pharmacy as a back up would be solid. I wouldnt worry about taking away a pharmacy spot from someone who has that as their dream job. I am sure in Medicine there are plenty of people vying to take away a spot from you who would be just as happy being a lawyer, dentist or astronaut and I dont they lose any sleep over taking away a spot from you So go for both if you desire but as mentioned it will be a tough program to get a high GPA in but at least you will have a solid back up plan in place if med doesnt work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerkstore Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Why leave pharmacy at all? Everyone knows the only thing higher than the Doctor is the Pharmacist, and the only school higher than UofT is NOSM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilightbubble Posted June 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Right now I have a choice between pharmacology (2nd year) and pharmacy. So I am unsure which path to take. If I choose pharmacy, I will need to study for the PCAT during the summer. If not, then I just keep going through with school. So I am really conflicted regarding which path to take. Over all though, I am absolutely sure that being a doctor is still my number one dream job, and I just don't want to make choosing pharmacy a disadvantage. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Med0123 Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Pharmacy is truly a great job too! And you are not confined in privately owned pharmacies. You can work in hospitals, in ED, ICU department, Cardio department, etc. and interact with MDs who do not always know the very last guidelines concerning new meds. If you ask me as a resident-to-be in 3 weeks, I'm telling you that a hospital pharmacist is ALWAYS very welcomed in every multidisciplinary team and can increase a lot patients' safety. Pay in hospitals is not necessarily as high as in privately owned pharmacy and you need longer studies, but you can make such a great difference in patients lives! So yea, it is a solid backup plan IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cass Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Just wanted to add my 2 cents in here. This was like me 2 years ago whereby I applied to pharmacy (but ultimately declined it in favour of wanting to try to apply to medicine). Echoing what everyone else has said, I think it is a solid back up plan. I do believe the course load might be a bit tougher than what you would expect in a typical undergraduate degree though I'm sure anyone who's interested in applying to medical school would work their butt off regardless of what program they were in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Hood Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Hi everyone. I need to make a decision pretty soon regarding if I want to pursue pharmacy into med school or not (at UBC). I understand that there are advantages and disadvantages to this path into med school. Advantage: -Solid back-up plan -Helps with med school courses in the future Disadvantage: -Frowned upon I guess since I will be taking a pharmacist position from a person who may truly want it as their dream career (pharmacy is my 2nd choice after doctor) -Difficult to obtain a high GPA in So, considering everything, would you recommend me to take pharmacy as my undergrad choice in 2nd year as compared to pharmacology (which would be my other option). Thanks in advance. Also, please share any other advantages and disadvantages you see. Question: would you like to practice pharmacy for the rest of your life? If no, don't take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilightbubble Posted June 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 I ultimately want to practice as a doctor. If that dream fails, then pharmacy is my backup plan. What I fear most is taking pharmacology for my undergrad degree and fail to get into med school; then I have to take a masters degree and potentially end up with a degree which is hard to find a job in. This is why I am considering taking pharmacy as an undergrad degree, just to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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