need some encouragement and advice:(

[myru0127]

Hello everyone,
This is my first time posting on this forum.
I feel very miserable and discouraged, and need some good advice.


I have low GPA and low PCAT scores.
My GPA is around 2.79 and I took PCAT twice already.
Only 49th percentile.
I applied 8 out-of-state pharmacy schools ( I live in CA)very late, end of NOv. 2009 ,and didn't even get any interview chanace.
I guess that I applied too late, and of course my GPA and PCAT were too low.


While I was applying to pharm schools, I was searching for Pharmacy Technician jobs. However, I could not find ANY. I live in Southern California and barely can find any openings for the position. And the very few openings available, they only hire spanish speaker. ( I am trilingual in Madarin, Japanese and English but NOT spanish)
Even though I got my Pharm Technician License two years ago, I did not get a chance to work as a technician. Why is it so hard to find a pharmacy technician job.
At first I was hoping to get a part time job to support myself a bit, but now I really want some experiences. I asked many pharmacy if they can take me as intern/volunteer, all pharmacies told me that they don't take intern/volunteer. Any tip for pharmacy-related job hunting?


I guess I should definitely retake PCAT again. But it will be my third time. Previous times, I took a Kaplan course, I did all the practices from Kaplan, and also I did two Pearson practice tests online. Therefore, I don't know what went wrong. It's depressing that I still scored that low. Do you think it's worth of my time to spend 3 months studying for PCAT from now on and take again on June?


Do you recommend to re-apply next cycle? But I feel that my applicatoin won't show any improvement.
I really want to enhance my GPA but I don't see any California school has post-bach program for pharmacy school. Any good program I can join other than SF State? Plus, am I too late for everything? Any advice to improve my GPA.

Please help~ i need my confidence back

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[socalpharm86]

Retake classes to raise your GPA above 3.0. How are your LORs? If you don't feel they were very good then this may also give you an opportunity to get stronger ones.

Study harder for the PCAT. You'll need above at least above 70, though a 90 is preferred.

I take it you don't have any pharmacy experience. In my experience, most pharmacies would prefer to hire a clerk and train them from there so you might consider looking for a job as a clerk. You'll learn how to do most technician duties without the pressure of being expected to know how to do it already.

 

[Passion4Sci]

I have low GPA and low PCAT scores.
My GPA is around 2.79 and I took PCAT twice already.
Only 49th percentile.
I applied 8 out-of-state pharmacy schools ( I live in CA)very late, end of NOv. 2009 ,and didn't even get any interview chanace.
I guess that I applied too late, and of course my GPA and PCAT were too low.

Well, you know you applied late, and with poor GPA and PCAT, you basically shot yourself in the foot; however, a 49th percentile PCAT at just about any school that requires it will be 20 percentile points below even the bare minimum (Which seems to average right around 65th percentile). This means your app. got tossed out immediately without further glance, since it didn't even meet minimum requirements (Similar to you not having completed a pre-requisite class, or something).

At first I was hoping to get a part time job to support myself a bit, but now I really want some experiences. I asked many pharmacy if they can take me as intern/volunteer, all pharmacies told me that they don't take intern/volunteer. Any tip for pharmacy-related job hunting?

Couple of things here. First of all, you need to tell us who you're asking about the volunteer / work opportunities. Many times, aspiring technicians and volunteers simply don't ask the right person at the right time, and analyzing your potential audience is very important. An RPh or manager who would otherwise be interested in hearing from you might not be so willing if s/he is busy. Try calling ahead.

For volunteering specifically, look at hospitals. There are a glut of them in the So.Cal area so finding one shouldn't be too hard. You may need to start in an ancillary position such as gift shop or cafeteria support, but don't turn your nose at them, as they can get you passed the background check and rigmarole and into a position if it opens later.

Above all else, even barring the 2.79 GPA (Which people have gotten into schools w/, esp. if you came from UCLA, USC or some other university with rigorous teaching practices and reputation), the PCAT score is killing you. Out and out killing you. Deep-sixing you. Putting you six feet under. Snuffing you out. Pwning your face in. Whatever colloquialism you want to use, with a 49th percentile, you're screwed.

In my eyes, you've got very limited options - I see them presented like this:

a. Enroll in a costly, but very useful, post-baccaleaureate program somewhere - anywhere - at a university. UC Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, SF State, CSU MB, and CSU East Bay are ones I know of off the top of my head. Keep in mind, there is no such thing, to my knowledge, of a specific pre-pharmacy post-bacc. You can find, however, a post-bacc. aimed at medical school aspirants, and that'd work just fine for your purposes.

b. Get a Master's degree. Might be hard to do starting @ 2.79 but if you can beat the GRE to a pulp (or GMAT) then you stand a chance. This will give you the opportunity to show to AdComs that you just needed more time to grow, mature, whatever. If you have problems w/ standardized tests (Like your PCAT performance suggests) you might not be able to do well on the GRE/GMAT either.

c. Enlist in the military (easiest way to do this), and get 4/5 years experience working in a field, any field, then re-explore your options in pharmacy. Letting time elapse does many things, but the thing it does absolutely best is allow you to look at Academic Forgiveness as a possibility. You can essentially re-take all your pre-pharmacy courses and apply to, say, USN as if you'd never taken the courses you took to get a 2.79 with. I do believe they require the PCAT still, though. So... you're looking down the barrel of that gun yet.

d. Keep on doing what you're doing, bearing in mind that doing what you've always been doing and you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. A ~2.79 GPA is abysmal, and you might want to consider why you think you'd be a good pharmacist if you can't grasp the basics of your chosen craft. Work on your weak spots academically, and take classes at a CC? Re-apply to your university if you graduated from one, and if you didn't, apply to a university and complete a BA/BS if you don't already have one.


Basically, you're behind the 8-ball big time. I'm curious, with your performance in the science classes, (assuming a big chunk of your 2.79 was garnered in the same), you mustn't had gotten very good LoRs. Who wrote them for you? That could be another chink in your armor.

As I alluded to in (d), you should, in my opinion (Which is why you're here, right?), think long and hard about why you want be a pharmacist, and whether you're grasping the material perfectly well and just not translating it onto paper, or whether it's just passing by you and you absorb enough to perform marginally well (As a ~B- ave. would dictate). Consider many other jobs in the health field which pay almost as well (and in some cases, better than) but aren't as academically rigorous, perhaps.

You have options, but with 2 PCAT sittings under your belt, unless you knock the 3rd one out of the ball-park, and a sub-3.00 GPA and most likely poor Letters of Recommendation... pharmacy might not be one of them. We often joke around here about truck-driving school and I don't want to be glib and throw that out. You seem genuine and ready to change, but you can do that all you want until you're blue in the face and you might just not have what it takes to do it, similar to me never being able to play basketball semi-professionally no matter how hard I try.

Anyway, my $1.00 worth.
Do with it what you will.

 

[pharm B]

P4Sci is right. You know what you've done until now and you know that it's not working. What needs to change?

Have you thought about applying to out of state schools who grant "academic forgiveness?" How bad would your GPA be if you re-calculated it using those rules instead of the PharmCAS method?

 

[atticus27]

Hello everyone,
This is my first time posting on this forum.
I feel very miserable and discouraged, and need some good advice.


I have low GPA and low PCAT scores.
My GPA is around 2.79 and I took PCAT twice already.
Only 49th percentile.
I applied 8 out-of-state pharmacy schools ( I live in CA)very late, end of NOv. 2009 ,and didn't even get any interview chanace.
I guess that I applied too late, and of course my GPA and PCAT were too low.


While I was applying to pharm schools, I was searching for Pharmacy Technician jobs. However, I could not find ANY. I live in Southern California and barely can find any openings for the position. And the very few openings available, they only hire spanish speaker. ( I am trilingual in Madarin, Japanese and English but NOT spanish)
Even though I got my Pharm Technician License two years ago, I did not get a chance to work as a technician. Why is it so hard to find a pharmacy technician job.
At first I was hoping to get a part time job to support myself a bit, but now I really want some experiences. I asked many pharmacy if they can take me as intern/volunteer, all pharmacies told me that they don't take intern/volunteer. Any tip for pharmacy-related job hunting?


I guess I should definitely retake PCAT again. But it will be my third time. Previous times, I took a Kaplan course, I did all the practices from Kaplan, and also I did two Pearson practice tests online. Therefore, I don't know what went wrong. It's depressing that I still scored that low. Do you think it's worth of my time to spend 3 months studying for PCAT from now on and take again on June?


Do you recommend to re-apply next cycle? But I feel that my applicatoin won't show any improvement.
I really want to enhance my GPA but I don't see any California school has post-bach program for pharmacy school. Any good program I can join other than SF State? Plus, am I too late for everything? Any advice to improve my GPA.

Please help~ i need my confidence back

tldr