Pre-Pharmacy Advice & Chances

[NDPharmacy]

Hi everyone, been looking on this forum for a while and decided to post. I graduated in May with my undergraduate biology degree and now I'm going back for an extra year to a few extra pre-requisites for pharmacy school this fall and spring. I have a fairly high gpa (3.9+), but no PCAT as I plan on signing up soon for late October/early November. This summer I worked as a pharmacy intern and put in nearly 400 hours. Other than that, I don't really have any pharmacy experience. For ECs, my community service is around 300 hours right now with a lot of church volunteering/activities as well as coaching youth basketball, but no research experience. During my junior year in a science elective course, I had a very difficult and picky professor and I got accused of plagiarism/academic misconduct on a small in-class assignment, which resulted in the lowering of my grade by 1 letter and thus a C grade. I do admit it was a mistake and a lapse in judgement on the assignment, but it wasn't intentional and I learned from it. I am disappointed it happened and I talked to the registrar and the misconduct is not on my official transcript at all, but is in a confidential FERPA university recording database. My biggest concern is when I apply for pharmacy school, how will I overcome something like this? When I am filling out my application I plan on explaining this situation and that it was a mistake and how I learned from it and have grown and it will never happen again. I have never had any other problems during my undergraduate education and hope something like this isn't a huge red flag or will prevent me from getting into pharmacy school. My plan is to apply to my state school, a few area schools and most likely 3 year schools such as LECOM-Erie, Midwestern in Glendale, and Roseman in Henderson, NV. Also, I won't be applying to my state school until December, but when should I submit my Pharmcas since I'm not taking my PCAT until late October/early November? If anyone could provide any advice or my chances for any schools, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

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[Vermicularius]

Your chances are great considering your GPA, internship, and volunteering. Just because you have not worked at a pharmacy and gotten paid, doesn't mean you have no experience. You Do and can talk about it in an interview or PS. Your volunteering demonstrates that you're a community person and have great social skills which is really the most important. Although research I great, it is just like a bonus that proves that your comfortable with working on rigorous material and that you demonstrate a desire to advance the sciences.

The academic dishonesty will only be a problem if you aren't given a chance to explain yourself. The PharmCAS application will have a section to tell them about it and allow you to explain what happened along with the consequences. If this doesn't make you comfortable (maybe think that a school might dismiss you by just seeing this), then I would ask the institutions your are applying too. Maybe even ask if it's something they think you should include (assuming there is no concrete evidence such as an automatic F on your transcript and no record available to them that proves this happened; however don't assume this without asking as if there is then you will be in trouble for not mentioning it and probably be black listed!!) Anyways, given your competitive application, i don't think they would dismiss you just by seeing an academic dishonesty penalty on your PharmCAS as you will explain yourself and if you land an interview, explain further.

 

[JavariPharmD23]

So I’m pre-Pharmacy and I’m really struggling with organic chemistry. I really need a good understand of it because I know Pharmacy school is all about organic chemistry. I guess what I’m asking for is tips and trick on how to really grasp the concepts in this subject. I need to get at least a B in this course