Chances for Internation Student

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PCOM_Pharmacy_2015

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Hello everyone,

I hope you guys are all doing great on your applications. I need some advice on my apps:

I'm an international student from Asia and I've been in the United States for 2 years. I currently have 53 semester credits, 41 of them i took in my freshmen year at a Community College. After a while, I realized community college may hurt my chances so i decided to transfer to a university without getting the associate degree. I have completed most of the prerequisite ( not Orgo II and Bio II yet) with all A's. So my GPA is 4.0. However, which makes me worried the most is my PCAT. Here is my score:

Verbal: 22
Reading : 16
Biology: 51
Chemistry:99
QA: 99
Composite:85

I have extremely low score in verbal and reading as English isn't my native language although i don't want to use it as an excuse. I only took Biology I at the time i took the PCAT so the score isn't great either. And i'm applying for Early Decision Program for PCOM- Georgia Campus. I have almost none REAL Pharmacy experience as well as any extracurricular activities. My parents are both doctors and my sister is a Pharmacist (she is a pharmacist in the US). Sometimes, i went to some non-profit health care organization to help my sister and shadow a pharmacist there. But I've just done it recently (approximately 20-30 hours) so i decided not to put in the application. I was a school tutor for 1 year in Chemistry and Math. I also have 3 great LOR (1 from Math professor, 1 from GenChem Professor and 1 from a Pharmacist). What are my chances for a low tier school? Do you guys think i should retake my PCAT and delay the application? Thank you for your advice.

P/S: I would really appreciate if you can help me list a few schools that are accepting internation students without requiring a BS.

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put the 20-30 hours of shadowing! something is better than nothing. At least with that PCOM will know you have an idea about what a pharmacist does. Also, your PCAT is good enough, even though you got a low score in verval/reading, you still got a 85 composite score which is great. Also I have a question, by international student, do you mean you got a student visa? Or are you a resident/ US citizen? Cause I do not know about PCOM, but most schools require that international students also take another test to see their English level (forgot the name of the exam) :(
 
:D I did great on the Englist test, NejixRockS. Yes, I have a student visa, which means i'm not a US resident. For most schools, they require international students to take the English test only if they took their prereq coursework back in their home country. My school speciafically said that international students which completed more than 2 semesters in a US college do not need to take the test.
 
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I think you are fine. But have you heard the news lately? There is no job anywhere and possibly $500k on student loan you will owe. I would think twice.
 
I think you are fine. But have you heard the news lately? There is no job anywhere and possibly $500k on student loan you will owe. I would think twice.

c'mon man.... :)
 
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I forgot to add we have 9 years of saturation left. If you need facts, ask BMB

No don't get me wrong. I am trying to bring awareness of market saturation and how they end up with $500k on student loan with no job. We have a campaign going on here to educate new students.

@5min,

Myself I have been trying to bring awareness of school expansion madness, the market saturation and decline of job opportunities and increasing absurdity in residencies (proposal of PGY3 and charging tuition for residency) to fellow students for a long time now since I became a member of SDN. I would like too to see other students making INFORMED decision to enter the pharmacy profession. But your intention here is not that !! Your intention is going after BMB because of personal beef !! And you keep doing it after everyone told you that is enough already.

That is petty and not helping your cause at all in your campaign trying to get at BMB. And it has no place here in this thread. Please stop !!

(if you want to really get at BMB, just be really patient and wait the right opp !! ;) )
 
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actually as an international student i don't have access to the federal loan so i'm not going to owe anything after graduation. I have family funding for all the tuition and living expense. Where do you live 5minutes? my sister just graduated and she got a job immediately here, in Georgia. Maybe it depends on the location?
 
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actually as an international student i don't have access to the federal loan so i'm not going to owe anything after graduation. I have family funding for all the tuition and living expense. Where do you live 5minutes? my sister just graduated and she got a job immediately here, in Georgia. Maybe it depends on the location?
Is she a citizen? International student has a harder time to get a job nowadays. I would say think twice about pursuing this long route. I am international student also so i know.
 
she was an international student, but she got married 6 months ago and just received the green card last month. that may be the reason. I'm only 19 now so i don't consider this as a long route. However, i don't find any better job that is easier to find a job here. I know many US Citizen graduating from big school (UCLA, UC Berkeley) with business degree and still unemployed. I think pharmacy is still fairly easy to find a job. Are you still a pharmacy student or a pharmacist already?
 
Yes unless you network like crazy, and improve your skills, you will fight 10 times harder to secure a job. There is still some hope though. If you acquire green card later, then it is a little easier. Have you considered petroleum? Or software engineer? Or physician assistant?
 
Yes unless you network like crazy, and improve your skills, you will fight 10 times harder to secure a job. There is still some hope though. If you acquire green card later, then it is a little easier. Have you considered petroleum? Or software engineer? Or physician assistant?
Yes i love being a software engineer. But i was born in a family that my parents are both doctors, my sister is a pharmacist so i'm also expected to work in health care field. So for my dream of being a programmer, i will consider doing it as my part time job. I know PA is a good profession too, but isn't that pharmacist earn more?
 
Yes i love being a software engineer. But i was born in a family that my parents are both doctors, my sister is a pharmacist so i'm also expected to work in health care field. So for my dream of being a programmer, i will consider doing it as my part time job. I know PA is a good profession too, but isn't that pharmacist earn more?
Being a pharmacist is cool. I make great money but I have to be really flexible to get this far. Your biggest challenge is to find a sponsor to keep you in america.
 
Hello everyone,

I hope you guys are all doing great on your applications. I need some advice on my apps:

I'm an international student from Asia and I've been in the United States for 2 years. I currently have 53 semester credits, 41 of them i took in my freshmen year at a Community College. After a while, I realized community college may hurt my chances so i decided to transfer to a university without getting the associate degree. I have completed most of the prerequisite ( not Orgo II and Bio II yet) with all A's. So my GPA is 4.0. However, which makes me worried the most is my PCAT. Here is my score:

Verbal: 22
Reading : 16
Biology: 51
Chemistry:99
QA: 99
Composite:85

I have extremely low score in verbal and reading as English isn't my native language although i don't want to use it as an excuse. I only took Biology I at the time i took the PCAT so the score isn't great either. And i'm applying for Early Decision Program for PCOM- Georgia Campus. I have almost none REAL Pharmacy experience as well as any extracurricular activities. My parents are both doctors and my sister is a Pharmacist (she is a pharmacist in the US). Sometimes, i went to some non-profit health care organization to help my sister and shadow a pharmacist there. But I've just done it recently (approximately 20-30 hours) so i decided not to put in the application. I was a school tutor for 1 year in Chemistry and Math. I also have 3 great LOR (1 from Math professor, 1 from GenChem Professor and 1 from a Pharmacist). What are my chances for a low tier school? Do you guys think i should retake my PCAT and delay the application? Thank you for your advice.

P/S: I would really appreciate if you can help me list a few schools that are accepting internation students without requiring a BS.

Apply to high tier schools as well as mid tier schools. You are making a huge mistake by applying to low tier schools.

This is the tragedy of being a foreigner in America, you're too modest: include your shadowing experience and your stats are better than 90% of all other applicants.
 
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