[babiloveyoo]

Sigh guess I have to study my ass off lols

[lea11]

Is anybody here in/applying to Wayne State Pharmacy school?? I'm applying to Wayne this year. well i already did.. and I need some tips on PCAT scores and GPA averages..... I just need help.

Anyone?

[kingbobo100]

I'm currently a community college student and I want to know whether transferring to a CSU instead of UC Berkeley would improve my chances of getting into pharmacy school? A state school is less competitive and therefore, my GPA will be a lot higher. Do pharmacy schools consider the prestige of a university or does only GPA matter?

prestige from undergrad doesnt mean much to a professional school in my opinion. i think gpa is more important

[kmalancer]

Step 1.
Know that a doctor of pharmacy degree is for you. Some people choose pharmacy mostly for the money so they can earn $100k+ a year after only 4 years of pharmacy school. The salaries for pharmacists are increasing by 6% each year.. so in 2010 I’ll make about 120k.

Personally, I chose pharmacy because it's a more predictable kind of science. The pharmacist doesn't have to bear the responsibility and uncertainty of diagnosing the patient; therefore they don't have to deal with the malpractice insurance that physicians must suffer. There’s no bedpans, blood and gore that a nurse will handle… and no other group in health care knows drugs better than the pharmacist... you'll give drug advice not just to patients but nurses and physicians too.

Pharmacy is the part of health care where you can improve quality of life and save lives by monitoring drug therapies, preventing adverse drug interactions and giving patients advice that they can't get from their busy doctors. It's a lot more than just pill pushing. There's also a ton of different fields you can go into. Pharmacy isn't just Walgreens and CVS.

You can work in:
Academia
Army
Clinical Pharmacy
Clinical Research
Community Pharmacy (Chain or Independent)
Compounding
Critical Care
Consultant
Distribution
Drug Information
Geriatrics
Home Care
Hospital (Staff or Administration)
Industry (pharmaceutical)
Infectious Disease
Informatics
Intensive Care
Long Term Care
Managed Care
Nuclear Pharmacy
Nutrition Support
Oncology
Operating Room
Pediatric Oncology
Pediatrics
Pharmacology
Pharmacotherapy
Pharmacy Benefit Management
Poison Control
Primary Care
Psychiatric Pharmacy
Senior Care
Public Health Services Commissioned Corps
Regulatory
Veterans Affairs
Veterinary
Organ Transplantation

Step 2.
Finish the prereqs for pharmacy school. If you bust your ass, you can do this within 2 years. You don't need a bachelors unless you're applying to a school in California. You can always get a bachelors if you want... it will certainly make your application more competitive.

The most common prereqs are the following:

Various AA courses such as English composition I/II, Humanities I/II, Sociology or Pyschology, Macro or Microeconomics and Speech.

General Chemistry I/II
General Biology I/II
Physics I/II
Organic Chemistry I/II
Calculus I
Anatomy
Physiology

The prereqs vary from school to school and can be found here: http://www.aacp.org/Docs/MainNavigat...tives_PSAR.pdf
There's only a few schools that have stricter prereqs and may require biochemistry, microbiology, inorganic chemistry or genetics.

So you could finish all of your prereqs and apply to pharmacy school as young as 19-20 years old. to starting doctorate studies at 20 years old.

Step 3. Take the PCAT exam. Register at http://www.pcatweb.info/

The PCAT tests you on 5 sections plus an essay.

Chemistry: Material from General Chemistry I/II and Organic Chemistry I.
Biology: Material from General Bio I/II and some physiology and anatomy.
Quantitative: Algebra, Geometry and some Calculus.
Verbal: Tests vocabulary
Reading Comprehension: Read short story passages and interpret them correctly.
Essay: There's now an essay that usually has nothing to do with pharmacy. it's more creative writing than anything. It's basically just to show that you can write full sentences and can actually spell correctly. Most OT'ers may fail this. Past essays were "Describe the possibilities of life on other planets" ... "Describe methods to overcome voter apathy" ... and then some other one about racial discrimination.

Competitive scores start at a composite score of about 70%. That means you did better than 70% of everyone that took the PCAT. Ideally, you want to be in the 80's or above.

Step 4.
Fill out and submit your application (PharmCAS). http://www.pharmcas.org

Start your PharmCAS application around August, a year before you want to start pharmacy school. Deadlines range from November through March depending on the school. PharmCAS is a centralized application system where you fill out one application and it can get sent out to over 50 schools. There are a lot of schools out there that don't use PharmCAS and require separate applications. You can check to see which schools accept PharmCAS applications here: http://www.pharmcas.org/collegesscho...alphastate.htm

Portions of the application include:
Recommendation Letters (Usually about 3 letters needed, all submitted by professors, managers or pharmacists online)
Personal Statement
Extracurriculars
Work experience
Listed coursework and grades

To be even considered by most schools, you'll need a 3.0 GPA(prereqs only) and at least a 60-70% PCAT. If you don't have a 3.0 GPA, retake any classes you got a C in and ace them. Pharmcas will average the grade to a B.
Make your application as competitive as possible. At UF for example, they received 2000 applications for only 250 seats. In 2000, the total applications to all pharmacy schools nationwide were about 40,000. In 2006, there were over 85,000 applications sent out nationwide. The longer you wait to apply, the more competition you're going up against.

Suggestions on how to make your application competitive:

* Work as a pharmacy tech and get a recommendation letter from a pharmacist.

* Pharmacy work experience isn't required! If you can't or don't want to work in a pharmacy, shadow as many pharmacists as you can in different settings (hospital and retail) and get to know what the job is like...this only involves sitting there watching and asking questions for about an hour.

* If you can't shadow a pharmacist, just talk to as many as you can. Mention your knowledge of the field in your personal statement. ie: The pros and cons of the career.

* Your personal statement should convey your confidence in choosing pharmacy and that you know what you're getting yourself into. It's all really intimidating at first, but once you start... all of your thoughts and reasons end up flowing on paper.

* Join your university's pre-professional society or pre-pharmacy society. Have some extracurriculars and honor societies on your application. DO SOMETHING that shows you have life outside of school.

* Try to work in a professional environment. Whether it's a hospital, retail pharmacy, or comfy office job... show that you have a professional work ethic.

* Apply to as many schools as possible. You want to get as many interview offers as possible. Get a suit, get a plane ticket and rental car.. try to be as calm as possible and ask at least 3 questions to the interviewer at the end of the interview. To prepare for interviews you can go to http://www.studentdoctor.net/intervi...rview_read.asp and read the questions that students got grilled with at interviews from every school in the nation. It's basically a huge cheat sheet for interviews.

* Browse the Student Doctor Network for details on 'everything'. One of the challenges of applying is finding out what to expect.. here's where everything is at.


---------------------------------------------
Cliffs: Takes a minimum of 6 years to get a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. 2 years undergrad + 4 years pharmacy school. Crap loads of career fields other than CVS and Walgreens. Work your ass off in undergrad. Apply to pharmacy school through PharmCAS. Get accepted. Make $120k+ a year by the time of your graduation.

[f0reveralways]

^ thanks for writing that out ^^, it was very helpful

right now i'm trying to "bust my ass" and finish pre-reqs within two years. haha. oh & i'm taking to the PTCE this friday (: any tips? haha. i haven't really started studying yet :X

[dying1004]

^
^

yes, thank you so much! this definitely helps A LOT. =D

[every1luvznazn]

SIGH.
I just took my exam today.
I don't think I will be getting GPA of 3.7+

So... yeah, I guess I'm saying I lost part of my scholarship.

Gosh, why is school so hard?
I'm usually the "smartest" student in class...

yeaaa my GPA wont be high enough after this semester too. im going to lose my scholarship as well. i feel your pain

[chiluvskk]

kmalancer: thanks a lot for writing that out . one question tho, the pharmacist club at my school had a person from USC come talk to us, and they said the starting salary for pharmacists was only $70k? (not the $120K u mentioned ><?)

[iitzjesss]

kmalancer: thank you so much for writing that out! You answered a lot of my unanswered questions!

[c'tin tje]

hello all, i just finished my bachelor degree last may and now take 1 year further study....

the change on me after 4.5 years studying pharmacy is my eyes circle are getting darker and darker...very less sleep i had

about GPA thingy --- some people told me that as long as your GPA 3.0+ u'll be fine and interview is the most important thing in getting a job...

seems like most ppl here on their final exams....good luck to you,guys

[squishybear]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I found this site very helpful: www.studentdoctor.net
They have a whole forum dedicated to pre-pharm/pharm students who can answer questions about specific topics like gpa and pre-reqs. They also have forums for optometry, mds, phds, psych, etc.

[superhumanchichi]

Recently I tried transferring to a Pharmacy school, but I haven't gotten a response as yet. I'm so worried. I made the biggest mistake of my life by choosing film, when my mom told me to major in pharmacy. Now that I think about it, pharmacy seems so...easy To all the pharmacy majors out there - is it?

[chiluvskk]

^it's only "easy" if you're extremely good in the sciences lol. but most people still struggle, also because there is a lot of competition. you also have to do well on the pcats, and do volunteering and other extracuricular activities.

You don't have to major in Pharmacy. Major in anything you like as long as you fulfill the science prerequisites for pharmacy school, and get a very good gpa.

[des monstres]

i took a gap year.
and i'm going into a community college this upocoming spring semester.
i'm going there for 2 years.
then i'm transfering to college park.
they have pre-pharm there.

ack.
am i taking the long way? @___@;

any tips?

[kuku]

Recently I tried transferring to a Pharmacy school, but I haven't gotten a response as yet. I'm so worried. I made the biggest mistake of my life by choosing film, when my mom told me to major in pharmacy. Now that I think about it, pharmacy seems so...easy To all the pharmacy majors out there - is it?

I didn't know there existed a pharmacy major.

Pharmacy school, by no means is easy. Grad school is never easy.

[JUJU bar]

Okay, I'm a 3rd year student and I'm thinking I should take an year off to boost my resume doing work or research.

My GPA is close to 3.8 (from the lower side... lol), I didn't do any research so far, volunteered at a pharmacy (summer+fall), volunteered for H4H for two semesters, joined a pharmacy club, worked as a chemistry assistant (not as intimidating as it sounds) for 2 years, am planning to get my tech license and work at a pharmacy, hopefully get some research in.

But apps are due on November of this year and I don't think I could possibly tie all the loose ends by then. I want to rest an year and maybe take extra classes and work/research to make my profile more competitive, but an year off is also intimidating in itself. The more I talk about it, the more favorable it seems as an option, but there are a lot of fine details I'm skipping over like finding a place to live, getting a job to support myself, etc.

Is anyone in the same boat?

I guess what I"m asking is, is taking off one year recommended for me (based on my academic profile) and is it worth it in general?

[aznjeff07]

Recently I tried transferring to a Pharmacy school, but I haven't gotten a response as yet. I'm so worried. I made the biggest mistake of my life by choosing film, when my mom told me to major in pharmacy. Now that I think about it, pharmacy seems so...easy To all the pharmacy majors out there - is it?

I thought pharm school would be easy...prepharm is easy...pharm is not so much. Honestly it hasn't been THAT bad so far, but it only gets worse. If you think it's going to be easy you're in for a surprise. Try the reqs to get into pharm school and if you struggle there then have fun making it through the real stuff.

[papasmurf]

actually i've just decided change my major to pharmacy, but i haven't taken anything that's required by schools. i worry so much now days because of it =[

[kmalancer]

kmalancer: thanks a lot for writing that out . one question tho, the pharmacist club at my school had a person from USC come talk to us, and they said the starting salary for pharmacists was only $70k? (not the $120K u mentioned ><?)

usually starting salaries for pharms are from 60k and up. it really depends where you're at though.

[lananhcali18]

Is it true that California pharmacy school doesn't require PCAT?