Hey everyone,

I'll be getting my pharmacy degree in about a year and a half (Summer of 2005) from a Canadian pharmacy faculty. I've always wanted to be a doctor, but I doubt that my GPA (3.4, which is a B+ average) will allow me to get into a medical school in Canada. So I thought about applying to a Caribbean med school... I have a few questions that maybe some of you could answer!

Is there a medical school that has an accelerated basic science program since I have already completed about 4 or 5 basic science courses (courses that were commonly taken by med students and pharmacy students in my university)? I don't want them to be credited, just accelerated.

I've also been wondering if there was an island where I could practice as a pharmacist (or pharmacy tech) while studying in med school... Gotta find a little bit of money somehow eh ? 10 hours a week of work couldn't hurt my academic standing... Or could it?

Anyway, I hope someone can tell me what can be done! I have about 1 year and a half to think about it . Seeing all the posts on this forum made me believe that I can still become a doctor even if I don't have a fat GPA and MCAT score!


Nicolas

I am also from a Canadian university. I graduated with a 3.4 in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Montreal. I also had a 27 MCAT. I have been accepted to SABA and am awaiting an answer from AUC hopefully in the next week. I know of another person from UofM with a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences who was recently accepted to SABA with a 3.1 GPA and no MCAT. You will be able to get in somewhere. If you had the MCAT you would probably get into at least one of the top three if not all three.

As far as the accelerated program goes, I don't think it exists. Besides, it would be a bad idea. Classes given in an M.D. program are given in a very specific clinically oriented manner. Looking at the Basic Sciences curriculum, I have done every single one of those classes in my Biomedical Sciences degree. Yet, I will have to do them all over. This time I will learn the subject matter in a different light, my previous classes are not lost, I feel like it will be easier but I recognize the necessity of doing them again. No big deal, enjoy them, it's only a short 20 months.

Good Luck!

WantMD :-)