Is Pharm.D. the easiest Doctorate to get now?

[Lexington2012]

just because it can be done in 6 doesn't mean that's the rule and not the exception. Most people in my class have a bachelors, only 1 or 2 did 2 years of undergrad and those who did took summer classes both years (so really 3 years equivalent).

There are also MD programs that are 6 years total.

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[confettiflyer]

In case you missed it here it is again:
1. Plenty of schools do not require a standardized exam.
2. Bachelors isn't required

1. The PCAT is stupid, most of the elite California schools realized this and said "this is stupid" and didn't require it.
2. BS/BA isn't required of most medical schools, either...this is to allow for the savants that are good enough to matriculate without a formal degree (see: UCSF's Medical School requirements, explicitly say only 135 quarter units required).

 

[RxStudentatUB]

1. The PCAT is stupid, most of the elite California schools realized this and said "this is stupid" and didn't require it.
2. BS/BA isn't required of most medical schools, either...this is to allow for the savants that are good enough to matriculate without a formal degree (see: UCSF's Medical School requirements, explicitly say only 135 quarter units required).

1. Is the PCAT stupid? Yes, it is part of an incredibly flawed admissions process where a student who barely got by in community college is on the same playing field as one who made an effort in a 4-year college starting the P1 year. The former continues his/her lackadaisical attitude during pharmacy school and obtains a high paying job in retail, where the latter goes through the competitive process of obtaining a "specialty/niche" position via a 1-2 year residency and earns notably less income throughout and after residency.

2. It's not a formal requirement, but a majority of medical school matriculants do own a formal BA/BS/BE degree. I'm sure there are a number of links on this forum with regard to point #2, but I'll retrieve one if so needed.

 

[gwarm01]

... where the latter goes through the competitive process of obtaining a "specialty/niche" position via a 1-2 year residency ...

Replace "specialty/niche" with "hospital staffing" to get the reality for the majority of pharmacists, even those with residency.

 

[steveysmith54]

1. The PCAT is stupid, most of the elite California schools realized this and said "this is stupid" and didn't require it.
2. BS/BA isn't required of most medical schools, either...this is to allow for the savants that are good enough to matriculate without a formal degree (see: UCSF's Medical School requirements, explicitly say only 135 quarter units required).

1. Yeah PCAT is a stupid exam. I took it myself. It still tests all students equally in basic sciences, like chem, bio, English, etc. I can also argue that SAT and MCAT are also stupid. Yet, most other professional schools utilize MCAT, DAT, OAT, LSAT, GMAT, even GRE. There are there for a reason. I) Eliminate people who are not truly interested in the profession from applying cause it adds an additonal hoop that they have to jump through. II) Level the playing field. A student can take all their prereqs at an easy community college and get a 4.0. While another student can go a top UC and get a 3.3. I bet the 3.3 student will score higher on PCAT.

2. BA/BS may not be required for med school, but I still haven't met one med student without an undergraduate degree. Yet, 20% of Chapman were admitted without one. I didn't major in math, but I believe it's 1 out 5.

 

[confettiflyer]

1. Yeah PCAT is a stupid exam. I took it myself. It still tests all students equally in basic sciences, like chem, bio, English, etc. I can also argue that SAT and MCAT are also stupid. Yet, most other professional schools utilize MCAT, DAT, OAT, LSAT, GMAT, even GRE. There are there for a reason. I) Eliminate people who are not truly interested in the profession from applying cause it adds an additonal hoop that they have to jump through. II) Level the playing field. A student can take all their prereqs at an easy community college and get a 4.0. While another student can go a top UC and get a 3.3. I bet the 3.3 student will score higher on PCAT.

2. BA/BS may not be required for med school, but I still haven't met one med student without an undergraduate degree. Yet, 20% of Chapman were admitted without one. I didn't major in math, but I believe it's 1 out 5.

There's too many work arounds for the BS/BA requirement. You end up with wonky situations where person A does all their science prereq's at community college and get an online BA from Univ. of Whatever online while person B goes to UCLA and gets to the end of 3rd year undergrad with a 4.0 GPA in MIMG. Who would you rather take for pharmacy or medical school?

I know, extreme examples, but that's what absolute requirements and blind admissions policies can do. Requiring a BS/BA is like a band-aid on an arterial bleed...it doesn't address the underlying problem of too many schools.

 

[steveysmith54]

I know, extreme examples, but that's what absolute requirements and blind admissions policies can do. Requiring a BS/BA is like a band-aid on an arterial bleed...it doesn't address the underlying problem of too many schools.

Yeah it doesn't address problem of too many schools... Not much can do that, other than the obvious: stop opening them. Actually, it's proly too late for that with 13 schools in CA now. However, being able to jump from a CC straight to getting a pharm.d diminishes the credibility of a pharm.d., which is actually the point of this thread.

 

[TheBlaah]

1. The PCAT is stupid, most of the elite California schools realized this and said "this is stupid" and didn't require it.

While I agree that standardized tests will never be able to accurately determine which applicants may turn out to be quality students/pharmacists, I do consider it a "minimal competency to be able to study for and perform on an exam" that will be required during school/naplex. But almost every other healthcare or doctorate profession requires something similar.

So what do these elite California schools do in substitution of a PCAT? I'm honestly asking as I don't know their admissions rubric and you speak as if these schools have some superior admissions system. Do their programs have a much higher graduation rate that the rest of the nation due to their ability to select better candidates?

Edit: On second thought, graduation rate/NAPLEX pass rate is probably more correlated to the applicant pool size over the number of people accepted. And of course quality of the education.

Interviews are...well, completely biased based on the interviewer (having been the "interviewer" alongside professors). But yes, interviews will generally weed out the obviously incompatible applicants, though not always. GPA can be skewed by taking easy classes or graduating from easier colleges. What do letters of intent really say about a person's ability to be a pharmacist...their ability to express themselves and basic grammar and English I suppose. But how many of these letters are completely genuine? Point is, any of every admission standard can be gamed in one way or another. What's the harm in having another metric to try and determine their potential as a candidate. Not like it's the end-all be-all determining factor.

There will never be enough time or money in the world to do a thorough background check on every applicant.

 

[fewaopi]

Definitely Pharm.D is the easiest doctorate out of the healthcare professions.

Easiest bar to clear in admissions. Many don't require bachelors. Even if they do, the GPA, PCAT score isn't rigorous at all. Are there medical/dental schools that accept a significant number of C students and low scores?

Can all pharmacy students get into med school? No.
Can all medical/dental students get into pharmacy school? Pretty much.

Now the best pharmacy school could be better than mid-tier or low/less reputable med/dental school but overall it's pretty glaring the difference. There are smart pharmacy students out there but you'll never see a student make it medical and not make pharmacy. More likely they make it into pharmacy and not medical/dental. And medical/dental is more rigorous than pharmacy. Pharmacy may/may not be tough depending on school but other doctorate health professions are more difficult.

I've seen the prepharmacy, premed, and predental. Overall, premeds/dental are smarter, quicker, more attention to detail, less likely messed up w/former drug use, DUIs, etc. Many prepharmers are just plain idiots, you see it here and in real life.

Amongst healthcare doctorates, pharmacy is the easiest. And there's a wide spread of intelligence w/a lot of unqualified if not for student loans and less students opting for pharmacy lowering the applicant pool like it has in law. Other doctorates idk but there are some even more worthless and easy than a pharmd.

 

[BidingMyTime]

There are people at my school with bachelor's that fail. There are some people with no bachelor's that are ranked top 10 in my class. Just because some people decided that they didn't want to waste their time getting a bachelor's doesn't make them inferior to the ones that did.

If a Bachelor's was necessary, then there would be all the 0 + 6 year pharmacy schools that have successful graduating classes.

How does the amount you study have anything to do with how "easy" it is to gain admissions now?

I don't think that anyone doubts that its easy to gain admission to a pharmacy school. But your opening title asked if the PharmD was the easiest doctorate "to get". Not to gain admission to. Admission to pharmacy school doesn't guareentee a degree. Now my experience is from the 80's, but over half of my class flunked/quit after first year. Lots of people don't make it it through pharmacy school once they are admitted, and inspite of the Naplex supposedly being easy, there are lots of pharmacy graduates who don't pass it. You've made your case that pharmacy school may be the easiest doctorate program to get into (I still think the on-line DNP's schools are easier), but none of your points have anything to do with anyone actually graduating from pharmacy school (much less then going on to pass the NAPLEX)

 

[rederza]

If a Bachelor's was necessary, then there would be all the 0 + 6 year pharmacy schools that have successful graduating classes.



I don't think that anyone doubts that its easy to gain admission to a pharmacy school. But your opening title asked if the PharmD was the easiest doctorate "to get". Not to gain admission to. Admission to pharmacy school doesn't guareentee a degree. Now my experience is from the 80's, but over half of my class flunked/quit after first year. Lots of people don't make it it through pharmacy school once they are admitted, and inspite of the Naplex supposedly being easy, there are lots of pharmacy graduates who don't pass it. You've made your case that pharmacy school may be the easiest doctorate program to get into (I still think the on-line DNP's schools are easier), but none of your points have anything to do with anyone actually graduating from pharmacy school (much less then going on to pass the NAPLEX)

You're right that getting in easy =/= degree, maybe not directly.
Times have changed. Correct me if I am wrong, but was pharmacy not just a BS in the 80's? Therefore it would be harder, I suppose, to cram all that information into such a short amount of time.
HOWEVER;
One could reasonably argue that anything that has an easy admission would be easier to finish.
OP I am assuming, is considering MD, DDS, and PharmD.
Statistics wise, PharmD is always at the bottom of the pile GPA wise. People like to argue that a good GPA doesn't always make a good practitioner, but it is indicative of academic ability.
It is "easier" to get a 3.0 than the 3.7 needed to get into medical school.
Pharmacy schools cannot flunk out all their students. It has to be doable. People flunk out of medical school and dental school too. I am not sure of the numbers, but I'd assume completion rates and passing all the necessary boards are around the same numbers for each type of school.
People don't pass medical boards either.
But to argue my point that pharmacy school is easy to get into and finish:
>Easier to get 3.0
>Easier to get in pharmacy school
>Schools cannot fail out too many students=lose funding,accreditation, etc
>Schools make it so a 3.0 CC kid can pass it
>NAPLEX has pretty high pass rate
Plus at least at my school there's a ton of remediation options possible, making failing out of the school virtually impossible.
It coddles and attracts the 3.0-sub 3.0 kids because finishing it would be a lot more doable

 

[radio frequency]

Dony forget, medicine in most countries is a bachelors degree still. Nobody claims those graduates aren't acceptable.

 

[Digsbe]

You're right that getting in easy =/= degree, maybe not directly.
Times have changed. Correct me if I am wrong, but was pharmacy not just a BS in the 80's? Therefore it would be harder, I suppose, to cram all that information into such a short amount of time.
HOWEVER;
One could reasonably argue that anything that has an easy admission would be easier to finish.
OP I am assuming, is considering MD, DDS, and PharmD.
Statistics wise, PharmD is always at the bottom of the pile GPA wise. People like to argue that a good GPA doesn't always make a good practitioner, but it is indicative of academic ability.
It is "easier" to get a 3.0 than the 3.7 needed to get into medical school.
Pharmacy schools cannot flunk out all their students. It has to be doable. People flunk out of medical school and dental school too. I am not sure of the numbers, but I'd assume completion rates and passing all the necessary boards are around the same numbers for each type of school.
People don't pass medical boards either.
But to argue my point that pharmacy school is easy to get into and finish:
>Easier to get 3.0
>Easier to get in pharmacy school
>Schools cannot fail out too many students=lose funding,accreditation, etc
>Schools make it so a 3.0 CC kid can pass it
>NAPLEX has pretty high pass rate
Plus at least at my school there's a ton of remediation options possible, making failing out of the school virtually impossible.
It coddles and attracts the 3.0-sub 3.0 kids because finishing it would be a lot more doable

I think it varies largely depending on the school. My school allows 1 remediation attempt, that's it. My current class only has about ~80% or original class due to people failing.

NAPLEX is being changed, but then again also consider it's a minimum competency exam, and since it's high stakes many study for it.

I think it has become easier to get into pharm school than it was traditionally due to more opening, but I wouldn't say it's "easy" to get through unless you go to certain programs. No one in my school, to my knowledge, only did community college and got in with a 3.0. For many schools the average GPA for accepted students is still 3.3+. Some schools may be more like diploma mills, but not all. One could argue each profession has an "easy" way in, the US has some diploma mill schools, medicine has Caribbean schools and foreign programs (I understand it's harder for them to match, but not impossible. You can still get an MD from there and be a physician in the states). Foreign physicians that did a 6 year MBBS can also come over here and practice, I've met a few on residencies and fellowships. The problem is pharmacy has been able to play on the 6 figure train, open schools with little effort, and make high tuition for-profit programs. If pharmacy schools had to be tied to academic medical centers or provide intense clinical rotations as part of graduating like what MD schools do I think less would be opening. ACPE should move in that direction, but I doubt it....

 

[radio frequency]

My school required intense clinical rotations and was part of a larger academic medical center. It's certainly not unheard of...

 

[babybull]

You're right that getting in easy =/= degree, maybe not directly.
Times have changed. Correct me if I am wrong, but was pharmacy not just a BS in the 80's? Therefore it would be harder, I suppose, to cram all that information into such a short amount of time.
HOWEVER;
One could reasonably argue that anything that has an easy admission would be easier to finish.
OP I am assuming, is considering MD, DDS, and PharmD. rmacy school
Statistics wise, PharmD is always at the bottom of the pile GPA wise. People like to argue that a good GPA doesn't always make a good practitioner, but it is indicative of academic ability.
It is "easier" to get a 3.0 than the 3.7 needed to get into medical school.
Pharmacy schools cannot flunk out all their students. It has to be doable. People flunk out of medical school and dental school too. I am not sure of the numbers, but I'd assume completion rates and passing all the necessary boards are around the same numbers for each type of school.
People don't pass medical boards either.
But to argue my point that pharmacy school is easy to get into and finish:
>Easier to get 3.0
>Easier to get in pharmacy school
>Schools cannot fail out too many students=lose funding,accreditation, etc
>Schools make it so a 3.0 CC kid can pass ite
>NAPLEX has pretty high pass rate
Plus at least at my school there's a ton of remediation options possible, making failing out of the school virtually impossible.
It coddles and attracts the 3.0-sub 3.0 kids because finishing it would be a lot more doable

Interestingly enough, for schools in California that have programs in both disciplines, the average overall GPA of students pursuing either pharmacy or dentistry are similar, at least for USC and UCSF.

Pharmacy (USC): 3.51
Dentistry (USC): 3.50

http://dentistry.usc.edu/programs/dds/class-profile/
http://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/programs/pharmd/pharmdprogram/admission/class-profile/

 

[Gombrich12]

I really don't put anymore faith in GPA over standardized testing, they both have their flaws. There is a lot of grade inflation going on at colleges, especially community colleges.

 

[jokersmiles]

I think the gap between Dentistry/MD and Pharm.D. became just tremendously larger in the last 4 years. I think schools like Chapman made a mockery of our profession by lowering the admission standards. There is almost no easy way to get into an MD/Dentistry school in US that i know of. Got to have the degree/GPA/Solid standardized exam scores. I feel like if you wanna become a Pharm.D. go to a new school. I mean 3.2 GPA and 20% of Chapman's entering class didn't have a bachelors. So, bare minimum will get you in. We didn't have this before. Every spot in almost every school was competitive.

There is no easy way to become a dentist in the US, however getting into medical school isn't too difficult if you factor in DO and Caribbeans,

 

[W19]

There is no easy way to become a dentist in the US, however getting into medical school isn't too difficult if you factor in DO and Caribbeans,

I am not a DO student, but I should point out that the average MCAT (old version) for DO school is 27... Also, most people who go to Caribbean schools will not become licensed US physicians.

 

[rederza]

I am not a DO student, but I should point out that the average MCAT (old version) for DO school is 27... Also, most people who go to Caribbean schools will not become licensed US physicians.

I used to think this was true until I realized all 3 doctors in the fm branch satellite of a major hospital chain that I went to for my checkups were all carribean. Not saying my case is the end all, but I just didn't expect this chain to hire them given how many US doctors there were.

edit: i am in a big city

 

[W19]

I used to think this was true until I realized all 3 doctors in the fm branch satellite of a major hospital chain that I went to for my checkups were all carribean. Not saying my case is the end all, but I just didn't expect this chain to hire them given how many US doctors there were.

edit: i am in a big city

Once you have a license and you are BC, most employers don't care where you went to school... Also, US students do not go into FM because of salary and 'prestige'...

 

[rederza]

Once you have a license and you are BC, most employers don't care where you went to school... Also, US students do not go into FM because of salary and 'prestige'...

I know, I was just referring to how most people here say don't go to Carrib cause you won't get a job ..but I just saw 3 in one place so I was just mentioning that

 

[Rukn]

Definitely Pharm.D is the easiest doctorate out of the healthcare professions.

Easiest bar to clear in admissions. Many don't require bachelors. Even if they do, the GPA, PCAT score isn't rigorous at all. Are there medical/dental schools that accept a significant number of C students and low scores?

Can all pharmacy students get into med school? No.
Can all medical/dental students get into pharmacy school? Pretty much.

Now the best pharmacy school could be better than mid-tier or low/less reputable med/dental school but overall it's pretty glaring the difference. There are smart pharmacy students out there but you'll never see a student make it medical and not make pharmacy. More likely they make it into pharmacy and not medical/dental. And medical/dental is more rigorous than pharmacy. Pharmacy may/may not be tough depending on school but other doctorate health professions are more difficult.

I've seen the prepharmacy, premed, and predental. Overall, premeds/dental are smarter, quicker, more attention to detail, less likely messed up w/former drug use, DUIs, etc. Many prepharmers are just plain idiots, you see it here and in real life.

Amongst healthcare doctorates, pharmacy is the easiest. And there's a wide spread of intelligence w/a lot of unqualified if not for student loans and less students opting for pharmacy lowering the applicant pool like it has in law. Other doctorates idk but there are some even more worthless and easy than a pharmd.

lol I have to agree with this

I know a kid who really shouldn't have been admitted, gain admission ... this kid was one of the weakest undergrad students I met and constantly needed help with everything ...

A bunch of kids who didn't really achieve an impressive GPA and/or PCAT, gain admission

Seen very smart people in pharmacy school as well, who could've probably gotten into dental or medical school

But I have heard personally from someone who took both the PCAT and DAT that the PCAT was harder in his opinion. Probably because the PCAT is more of a speed test than anything, at least when I took it .... I remember that if you mistakenly dropped your pencil you were in trouble because you would fall behind in time to answer the questions ....

I honestly think that the NAPLEX is a worst exam than the PCAT ... I could've honestly easily passed with a quick review of calculations and pharmacy related math and biostats ... and this is the exam that will grant me a license to practice ...

 

[gwarm01]

lol I have to agree with this

I know a kid who really shouldn't have been admitted, gain admission ... this kid was one of the weakest undergrad students I met and constantly needed help with everything ...

A bunch of kids who didn't really achieve an impressive GPA and/or PCAT, gain admission

Seen very smart people in pharmacy school as well, who could've probably gotten into dental or medical school

But I have heard personally from someone who took both the PCAT and DAT that the PCAT was harder in his opinion. Probably because the PCAT is more of a speed test than anything, at least when I took it .... I remember that if you mistakenly dropped your pencil you were in trouble because you would fall behind in time to answer the questions ....

I honestly think that the NAPLEX is a worst exam than the PCAT ... I could've honestly easily passed with a quick review of calculations and pharmacy related math and biostats ... and this is the exam that will grant me a license to practice ...

They really shouldn't be letting kids into pharmacy school anyway.

 

[Leper Messiah]

I honestly think that the NAPLEX is a worst exam than the PCAT ... I could've honestly easily passed with a quick review of calculations and pharmacy related math and biostats ... and this is the exam that will grant me a license to practice ...

That's been my concern ever since taking the PCAT (back when there were two essays). I obviously haven't taken the NAPLEX yet, but I have the SDN math practice questions, and I've looked at my friends' practice tests. I'm actually glad the NAPLEX is changing this year.

 

[RxStudentatUB]

lol I have to agree with this

I know a kid who really shouldn't have been admitted, gain admission ... this kid was one of the weakest undergrad students I met and constantly needed help with everything ...

A bunch of kids who didn't really achieve an impressive GPA and/or PCAT, gain admission

Seen very smart people in pharmacy school as well, who could've probably gotten into dental or medical school

But I have heard personally from someone who took both the PCAT and DAT that the PCAT was harder in his opinion. Probably because the PCAT is more of a speed test than anything, at least when I took it .... I remember that if you mistakenly dropped your pencil you were in trouble because you would fall behind in time to answer the questions ....

I honestly think that the NAPLEX is a worst exam than the PCAT ... I could've honestly easily passed with a quick review of calculations and pharmacy related math and biostats ... and this is the exam that will grant me a license to practice ...

The PCAT math section might be a little bit more difficult than the DAT math section just because the PCAT requires some rudimentary knowledge of Calc I. The DAT barely touches pre-calculus. Other than that, the two are relatively on par with regards to difficulty (having taken both exams). The thing that makes the PCAT a lot easier to master is the fact that the competition is extremely watered down. A 90+%ile on the PCAT really does not say much when much of the competition barely made it through college. The DAT is a different story; most of these test-takers are definitely serious and more capable to perform objectively better on a standardized exam. This gives a 90+%ile result some real value. Perhaps things were different a decade ago when there wasn't a pharmacy school on every corner next to McDonald's...

 

[Rukn]

The PCAT math section might be a little bit more difficult than the DAT math section just because the PCAT requires some rudimentary knowledge of Calc I. The DAT barely touches pre-calculus. Other than that, the two are relatively on par with regards to difficulty (having taken both exams). The thing that makes the PCAT a lot easier to master is the fact that the competition is extremely watered down. A 90+%ile on the PCAT really does not say much when much of the competition barely made it through college. The DAT is a different story; most of these test-takers are definitely serious and more capable to perform objectively better on a standardized exam. This gives a 90+%ile result some real value. Perhaps things were different a decade ago when there wasn't a pharmacy school on every corner next to McDonald's...

That was one person's opinion

Plus this was years ago, I don't think the PCAT is the same nor is the DAT

The only real challenging thing about the PCAT was the fact that it was a speed exam back then. Some people don't fair well when given minimal time to answer questions. Again, I have no idea if it's still like that or not. I mean I took the last paper and pencil exam for the PCAT.

 

[Humble Sloth]

A JD is pretty easy to get, from what I hears.

I agree. I would say JD is the easiest then pharmD. You don't even need physics 1 and 2 at many pharmacy programs.

 

[gwarm01]

I agree. I would say JD is the easiest then pharmD. You don't even need physics 1 and 2 at many pharmacy programs.

For what it's worth, I've never heard anyone refer to a JD as a doctorate. I know it technically is, but have you ever heard of a lawyer referring to themselves as doctor? I mean it's bad enough when a pharmacist or DNP does it..

 

[nickw2401]

I am current P3 and have a BS in business and have 4 years of inpatient hospital experience. The title of doctor for pharmacy is a load of f-ing crap, we are NOT doctors. We pay twice as much as we would if it was still a bachelor degree yet the only difference is we have to do more rotations.

 

[PAtoPharm]

The PCAT math section might be a little bit more difficult than the DAT math section just because the PCAT requires some rudimentary knowledge of Calc I. The DAT barely touches pre-calculus. Other than that, the two are relatively on par with regards to difficulty (having taken both exams). The thing that makes the PCAT a lot easier to master is the fact that the competition is extremely watered down. A 90+%ile on the PCAT really does not say much when much of the competition barely made it through college. The DAT is a different story; most of these test-takers are definitely serious and more capable to perform objectively better on a standardized exam. This gives a 90+%ile result some real value. Perhaps things were different a decade ago when there wasn't a pharmacy school on every corner next to McDonald's...

In response to what you said about a 90th %ile PCAT score not having much significance anymore -- are you saying that it's actually easier to earn a 90th %ile score now (I.e., someone doesn't need to earn as high of a raw score to have a score that ranks in the 90th %ile)?

 

[W19]

In response to what you said about a 90th %ile PCAT score not having much significance anymore -- are you saying that it's actually easier to earn a 90th %ile score now (I.e., someone doesn't need to earn as high of a raw score to have a score that ranks in the 90th %ile)?

The poster meant that the pool of PCAT takers has gotten less 'smarter'...

 

[gwarm01]

In response to what you said about a 90th %ile PCAT score not having much significance anymore -- are you saying that it's actually easier to earn a 90th %ile score now (I.e., someone doesn't need to earn as high of a raw score to have a score that ranks in the 90th %ile)?

It isn't an absolute grading system. PCAT grades you in a relative ranking to others who took the test at the same time as you, or same time frame, can't remember the specifics. Ten years ago, when pharmacy was more competitive, a 90% percentile score meant you did a damn good job. In the era where 2.5 GPA students are getting accepted, 90% percentile might not mean as much.

 

[PAtoPharm]

The poster meant that the pool of PCAT takers has gotten less 'smarter'...

So in other words, it doesn't take as high of a raw score to earn a 90th %ile score, right? Or, to use an example, let's say that 10 years ago a raw score of 98/100 was needed to achieve a score in the 90th %ile; now, however, a raw score of only 80/100 is needed to earn a score that ranks in the 90th %ile. Is this example an analagous reflection of what's going on nowadays?

 

[PAtoPharm]

It isn't an absolute grading system. PCAT grades you in a relative ranking to others who took the test at the same time as you, or same time frame, can't remember the specifics. Ten years ago, when pharmacy was more competitive, a 90% percentile score meant you did a damn good job. In the era where 2.5 GPA students are getting accepted, 90% percentile might not mean as much.

So in other words, the example I posted just above in my most recent post is what's occurring now (lower raw scores translating to higher percentile rankings)?

 

[gwarm01]

So in other words, the example I posted just above in my most recent post is what's occurring now (lower raw scores translating to higher percentile rankings)?

Yeah, pretty much. Although they are changing the PCAT, so I don't know if the scoring will change with it. In the past, it has been your score compared to the others taking it during the same period as you. Honestly, an absolute score would probably be better. It would eliminate a lot of variables.

 

[rxlea]

I agree. I would say JD is the easiest then pharmD. You don't even need physics 1 and 2 at many pharmacy programs.

but the bar is harder to pass

 

[PharMed2016]

Having had experiences with multiple different examinations now...

-PCAT: easy examination, scored 95%tile without studying
-MCAT: took after PCAT, scored 85%tile with 6 weeks of preparation
-NAPLEX: took this 3-days after authorization to test, 1.5 months out of graduation, no studying - prior preparation - league of legends 60 hrs/week x 6 weeks; >95%tile
-STEP I/II (Medical licensing boards): studied approximately 4-5 weeks x 60 hours/week, slightly above 1 standard deviation or > 85%tile on each examination (8-9 hour long examinations)

PS. FMGs - Caribbean Medical graduates - usually graduate from one of the big 3 and are near the top of their classes (horrible attrition) and IMGs - international medical graduates - usually are near the top of their respective classes with board scores comparable to many US Medical graduates in competitive specialties in addition to prior experiences in their home country. More than quite a few IMGs have spent a few years in or have completed a residency in some cases.

 

[Amicable Angora]

Easiest "Doctorate" to get would be something like Doctor of Education.

 

[Humble Sloth]

Does anyone know about the changing NAPLEX standards?

http://www.nabp.net/programs/examination/naplex/naplex-blueprint

We were just told about this in class the other day, they take effect Nov 1, not sure if it will result in a direct NAPLEX change. Also heard that the number of exam questions is going way up and exam time increasing by another hour or so..... Any thoughts?? Maybe someone is actually looking at the very high pass rates nationwide and addressing it....

but the bar is harder to pass

That's true. PharmD may be the easiest then.