Pharmacy School

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CaliGirl379

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Hi all,

I am a student at CalState Northridge and my current GPA is 3.25. I am only going to apply to ALL the pharmacy schools in Cali (so no need to take the PCAT). For the past 3 months I've been also working at a big chain pharmacy store, so I have some experience at the pharmacy (and I love it!).


Given all the info, do I have chances of getting accepted to the pharmacy schools here in Cali? In other words, do you know anyone in the same condition as me that got accepted?


Also, any tips and suggestions on writing the personal statement will be equally appreciated!

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Hey I'm from Cali as well and applying right now. Apply early as most schools in Cali are rolling admissions. You'll prob get into 1 of the private schools (UOP, Northstate, Touro, Western)
 
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Yes I think you have a great chance for being accepted, but unfortunately a low chance to find a job in Cali :(
 
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Hi all,

I am a student at CalState Northridge and my current GPA is 3.25. I am only going to apply to ALL the pharmacy schools in Cali (so no need to take the PCAT). For the past 3 months I've been also working at a big chain pharmacy store, so I have some experience at the pharmacy (and I love it!).


Given all the info, do I have chances of getting accepted to the pharmacy schools here in Cali? In other words, do you know anyone in the same condition as me that got accepted?


Also, any tips and suggestions on writing the personal statement will be equally appreciated!

I am confused by the bolded sentence. Does that mean that cali schools don't require PCAT?
 
you have no (or extremely little) chance at UCSF, UCSD, or USC. might have a shot at the other schools.
 
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Hey I'm from Cali as well and applying right now. Apply early as most schools in Cali are rolling admissions. You'll prob get into 1 of the private schools (UOP, Northstate, Touro, Western)

Yep! Working on it right now!
 
Yes I think you have a great chance for being accepted, but unfortunately a low chance to find a job in Cali :(
Yes I am a pharmacist. What are your options about choosing pharmacy school?

To be honest I don't have a specific pharmacy school in mind; I would be happy to get accepted to a pharmacy school here in California. I heard USC is very expenisve (close to a half million dollars in loans), not that my GPA is competitive anyway for USC.

Are you currently working in a pharmacy in Cali?
 
To be honest I don't have a specific pharmacy school in mind; I would be happy to get accepted to a pharmacy school here in California. I heard USC is very expenisve (close to a half million dollars in loans), not that my GPA is competitive anyway for USC.

Are you currently working in a pharmacy in Cali?
I am not currently working in Cali but I have job offer there. I can tell you about the truth. Most employers do not look at what school you are going to. As long as you have your license and that is all they care about. Do not go to school that is expensive like USC. It is not worth it. There are many good schools that accept your GPA with a lot cheaper tuition.
 
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I am not currently working in Cali but I have job offer there. I can tell you about the truth. Most employers do not look at what school you are going to. As long as you have your license and that is all they care about. Do not go to school that is expensive like USC. It is not worth it. There are many good schools that accept your GPA with a lot cheaper tuition.
Thank you! :)
 
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Hi all,

I am a student at CalState Northridge and my current GPA is 3.25. I am only going to apply to ALL the pharmacy schools in Cali (so no need to take the PCAT). For the past 3 months I've been also working at a big chain pharmacy store, so I have some experience at the pharmacy (and I love it!).


Given all the info, do I have chances of getting accepted to the pharmacy schools here in Cali? In other words, do you know anyone in the same condition as me that got accepted?


Also, any tips and suggestions on writing the personal statement will be equally appreciated!
Try Roseman Utah campus.. very student friendly..
 
You will probably get into not-fully accredited schools like west coast, kgi or california health science.
Also Northstate or Touro. UOP and UCSF, UCSD.. it all depends on your application.
Keep in mind that CA schools are very expensive.. I highly suggest you to take PCAT and apply OOS schools.

I wanted to get into CA schools, but i took PCAT to apply back up OOS schools and i am very glad I did that.
 
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You will probably get into not-fully accredited schools like west coast, kgi or california health science.
Also Northstate or Touro. UOP and UCSF, UCSD.. it all depends on your application.
Keep in mind that CA schools are very expensive.. I highly suggest you to take PCAT and apply OOS schools.

I wanted to get into CA schools, but i took PCAT to apply back up OOS schools and i am very glad I did that.
Tuitions probably the same? CA in-state vs. OOS schools for you?
 
tuition pretty much the same but OOS schools are slightly cheaper

Plus some of the other states have lower cost of living. I'm from Cali and currently attending pharmacy school out of state.
 
Plus some of the other states have lower cost of living. I'm from Cali and currently attending pharmacy school out of state.

it's sad CA schools are so pricey and they have same instate and outofstate tuition. yeah living cost is expensive too :(
 
Hi,

Would like to know your opinion...

I got accepted to new pharmacy schools in Cali - West Coast (4 year program - Los Angeles) and Chapman (3 year program - Irvine).

Both of them are not fully accredited yet - though they currently have pre-candidate status.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Hi,

Would like to know your opinion...

I got accepted to new pharmacy schools in Cali - West Coast (4 year program - Los Angeles) and Chapman (3 year program - Irvine).

Both of them are not fully accredited yet - though they currently have pre-candidate status.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
you have no (or extremely little) chance at UCSF, UCSD, or USC. might have a shot at the other schools.

Why not at UCSF, UCSD or USC?
UCSF lists a low GPA of 2.73 last year in the entering class.
 
Why not at UCSF, UCSD or USC?
UCSF lists a low GPA of 2.73 last year in the entering class.
UCSF accepts low GPAs but you need the other parts of your application to be superb.

Hi,

Would like to know your opinion...

I got accepted to new pharmacy schools in Cali - West Coast (4 year program - Los Angeles) and Chapman (3 year program - Irvine).

Both of them are not fully accredited yet - though they currently have pre-candidate status.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Honestly IMO pre-candidate schools are only there to suck your money, but they do their job in terms of getting you a license and allowing you to work retail.
 
UCSF accepts low GPAs but you need the other parts of your application to be superb.


Honestly IMO pre-candidate schools are only there to suck your money, but they do their job in terms of getting you a license and allowing you to work retail.

Well before giving the license they would need to get the full accreditation (i.e. earn the candidate status and successfully graduate their first class to get the full accreditation). The differene between Chapman and West Coast is that the latter is a for-profit organization. Everyone tells me that Chapman is more established. Don't have a solid decision yet :/
 
You will probably get into not-fully accredited schools like west coast, kgi or california health science.
Also Northstate or Touro. UOP and UCSF, UCSD.. it all depends on your application.
Keep in mind that CA schools are very expensive.. I highly suggest you to take PCAT and apply OOS schools.

I wanted to get into CA schools, but i took PCAT to apply back up OOS schools and i am very glad I did that.

I got into West Coast and Chapman. Which one would you recommend? Haven't heard back from UOP yet.
 
I got into West Coast and Chapman. Which one would you recommend? Haven't heard back from UOP yet.

I wouldn't recommend either of them. Their pharmacy programs are not yet well-established and cost an arm and a leg. A huge concern is that these schools will not be able to secure enough rotation sites for their students, let alone jobs for graduates in Southern California.

I would take the PCAT and apply to cheaper reputable out-of-state schools for the following year. Your student debt load will thank you. Better yet, I would take the MCAT and apply to med schools, or switch majors to computer science, finance/business, or engineering.
 
I got into West Coast and Chapman. Which one would you recommend? Haven't heard back from UOP yet.

You should not attend a school that will require you to take out too much loans. I'd say for pharmacy school, you don't want to be borrowing more than $30,000 per year seriously. By attending these schools, you are giving these schools extra power to increase YOUR tuition and put the power on the side of the schools. Move to Texas for a year and apply to UT instead (I am biased to Texas of course)!
 
I got into West Coast and Chapman. Which one would you recommend? Haven't heard back from UOP yet.
Of the two, I'd lean towards Chapman, just because its parent school is really reputable, but with your stats, provided you do well on the PCAT (aim for a 80+), I think you have a good shot in getting into a much better school out of state. The problem with going to to an unaccredited school is you're taking a huge gamble. While most precanidate schools do end up becoming fully accredited upon graduation of their first class (but still something to consider), not only will end up being a guinea pig for the curriculum, but you might have some real difficulty getting rotation sites, especially since Southern California is already incredibly saturated between USC, Western, Keck, Loma Linda, and even UCSD in addition to the two schools you applied to. That's 7 schools in a geographic radius of maybe 200 miles? While getting retail rotations probably won't be difficult, being able to get the required hospital, ambulatory care and other pharmacy experiences will be tough as a newer school. Even if you are set on retail at the moment, I would try and keep your options open and explore all the different career possibilities. I'm currently really interested in ambulatory care, but I know I'm probably going to change my mind 50 times before I'm finished with school.

As a fellow native California girl (and long-time San Diegian) , trust me when I understand not wanting to leave SoCal. We have beautiful weather almost year-round, fantastic food, and close proximity to pretty much any kind of entertainment you possibly want. I love living here. Going out of state to go to pharmacy school does not mean you're exiled from the state and can never come back. Most of the pharmacists I work with grew up in Southern California, went to school out of state and then later moved back. There are so many options out there, and some really good accredited schools that I think you would be a fairly competitive applicant. I would try and apply only to schools that are associated with an academic medical center.

The PCAT is not hard. I spent about a month studying for it, and was able to pull off a 99 composite. The hardest part about the exam is not the content but the time management. I got a couple of books (The Princeton Review book and the Kaplan book) and went though the material, and then took some practice tests online, and treated them as if they were the real thing. With a good PCAT score, the school options dramatically open up, and can offset a lower GPA.

Regardless of where you go, you are going to be spending a lot of money on your education. I would try to make sure that I got the best education possible. Being the first one test a curriculum at a new school that hasn't gotten to establish itself is incredibly risky.
 
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Personally, I wouldn't go to pharmacy school in California. Too many pharmacy schools, tuition too high (for the most part), cost of living too high, that's a recipe for a financial disaster and is magnified by the instability of the job market. Go with the cheapest option, whatever that may be.
 
I used to attend CSUN too. At that time, I was looking for pharmacy schools in CA too.

Anyways, any pharmacy schools you are paying over 30,000 / year as tuition are too much in my opinion. But the problem is, which school in CA won't cost you over 30,000?
 
I used to attend CSUN too. At that time, I was looking for pharmacy schools in CA too.

Anyways, any pharmacy schools you are paying over 30,000 / year as tuition are too much in my opinion. But the problem is, which school in CA won't cost you over 30,000?

Unfortunately, as a California resident regardless of where she goes she will be spending over $30,000, since even UCSD/UCSF, both established public universities are roughly $36,000 a year (and that's IN STATE tuition), and if she goes out of state she will have to pay out of state tuition, (which usually ends up being around $40,000/year). Establishing residency varies from state to state, so you may only get stuck paying out of state fees for a year or two, or for the entire duration of the program. Either way, it's going to be expensive, but if you're gonna be spending the money, might as well get the best bang for your buck.

OP, one school I would look into is Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, since your stats are right in line with what they accepted. They are a well-established private school with one of the oldest pharmacy schools in the country. Their tuition is about $34,000 a year, but they offer a number of scholarships, and have an extensive alumni network on the west coast (another disadvantage of going to a new school- no alumni, which can be a great resource for future employment.) They will even allow you to do your 4th year rotations wherever you like, even back in California if you are anxious to move back. Moving from Southern California to Omaha would definitely be a big change, but it's a really cute town, the zoo is fantastic (I almost like it better then the San Diego zoo) and driving anywhere is a cinch, because there's no traffic. I really liked Creighton, though if you apply I'd advise you pick the campus pathway rather than the distance, since I feel you miss so much of the experience by not being able to connect with your classmates (which is important for support during school, and for networking upon graduation).
 
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I am not currently working in Cali but I have job offer there. I can tell you about the truth. Most employers do not look at what school you are going to. As long as you have your license and that is all they care about. Do not go to school that is expensive like USC. It is not worth it. There are many good schools that accept your GPA with a lot cheaper tuition.
So in other words they wouldn't care between West Coast or Chapman? (both pre-candidate status for now)
 
Personally, I wouldn't go to pharmacy school in California. Too many pharmacy schools, tuition too high (for the most part), cost of living too high, that's a recipe for a financial disaster and is magnified by the instability of the job market. Go with the cheapest option, whatever that may be.

In this case the cheapest option is West Coast; its' really close to home and their tuition is cheaper. On the other hand I also want to choose the school with the highest chance of getting the full accreditation...
 
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