Should I apply this year? Need some advice

[wonsun83]

Hi, here is the story.

I am 31 years old and I graduated from UCSD (B.S. Human Biology) in 2007.

I had been working non-medical field for about 4 years and about 1 years ago, I decided to change my career

and pursue getting into a pharmacy school.

Here are my stats.

UCSD (2002-2007) : cGPA : 2.72 (207 Quarter Units)

UCI extension (2008) : GPA: 3.87 (Clinical Research Associate Certificate Program ) (16 Quarter Units)

Community College (2013~Now) : 4.00 (27 Semester Units), all science courses

Pharmacy Technician License Obtained (2013)

PCAT (2014 July)
Verbal : 63 (409)
Biology : 97 (447)
RC : 93 (429)
QA : 98 (453)
Chem : 99 (484)
Composite : 99 (444)

EC: Currently none. I am starting a volunteer work next week at a local hospital and I am looking for a Pharm Tech job, but it is tough looking for a job in Southern California.

Future Plan : Need to take 5 more classes from CC (some are retakes, some are pre-requisite)
: Continue building EC

Here are some questions

1. What are my chances for top tier pharmacy school such as University of Arizona, University of Minnesota, UMB (U of Maryland - Baltimore) and etc..?

2. Should I wait another year building up EC and apply next year?

3. What are my chances for California schools? (West Coast, USC, Western University, Loma Linda)

4. Lastly, What are my chances for Fairleigh Dickinson Univ, Rutgers (NJ), Long Island, and Touro College (NY). My parents are living in NJ, so if I have a good chance for these schools, I want to apply this year.

Thanks in advance.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[sunshao]

If u don't mind me asking, how r u gonna get ur LOR's? Old LOR's or u gonna get new ones from ur next semester?

 

[wonsun83]

I am getting 2 LORs from CC professors (probably one from genetic/molecular biology instructor and the other from chemistry)
I am not sure about the 3rd one yet.

 

[wonsun83]

Bump... Anyone for an advice?

 

[oldstock]

Hi, here is the story.

I am 31 years old and I graduated from UCSD (B.S. Human Biology) in 2007.

I had been working non-medical field for about 4 years and about 1 years ago, I decided to change my career

and pursue getting into a pharmacy school.

Here are my stats.

UCSD (2002-2007) : cGPA : 2.72 (207 Quarter Units)

UCI extension (2008) : GPA: 3.87 (Clinical Research Associate Certificate Program ) (16 Quarter Units)

Community College (2013~Now) : 4.00 (27 Semester Units), all science courses

Pharmacy Technician License Obtained (2013)

PCAT (2014 July)
Verbal : 63 (409)
Biology : 97 (447)
RC : 93 (429)
QA : 98 (453)
Chem : 99 (484)
Composite : 99 (444)

EC: Currently none. I am starting a volunteer work next week at a local hospital and I am looking for a Pharm Tech job, but it is tough looking for a job in Southern California.

Future Plan : Need to take 5 more classes from CC (some are retakes, some are pre-requisite)
: Continue building EC

Here are some questions

1. What are my chances for top tier pharmacy school such as University of Arizona, University of Minnesota, UMB (U of Maryland - Baltimore) and etc..?

2. Should I wait another year building up EC and apply next year?

3. What are my chances for California schools? (West Coast, USC, Western University, Loma Linda)

4. Lastly, What are my chances for Fairleigh Dickinson Univ, Rutgers (NJ), Long Island, and Touro College (NY). My parents are living in NJ, so if I have a good chance for these schools, I want to apply this year.

Thanks in advance.

From your stats, my quick estimate would say that your cGPA is under 3.0. Your composite PCAT is 99 percentile and excellent across the board in all subtests (ok in Verbal). You already had a bachelor degree in Biology.

I think you should apply this year and play your PCAT the best your can to your advantage. Cali schools do not use PCAT so your chance there will be very very low. For the Cali school you have mentioned, I think your chance is low, but then again you do not want to go to new or questionable Cali schools. But I would not even apply to Cali schools as their tuition is very high, even for in-state.

For PCAT schools, you never know. If your cGPA met the GPA cutoff for application consideration (usually ~ 2.70's - 3.0's), then hopefully your excellent PCAT score would get you some interviews. Try your best to ace the interviews, then you might be able to get in good established schools like U Min, UMB, Rutgers, UA, etc.

You might get better chance at FDU, Long Island, Touro (NY) as they are either new or lower tiered.

Again, try to bring up your cGPA/sGPA above 3.0 and as high as you can, and continue building your ECs and LORs and apply this year. Select the schools wisely where they most likely accept you and cast your net widely. Apply to as many schools as you can (10-15 ??). You got a bachelor degree and super excellent PCAT score so those credentials might help you get in. (Heck, I have seen posts here saying people with 12 percentile on the PCAT got in U of Arizona so why can't you ??) Also, your parents are living in NJ, so you should call and ask around to see if you could qualify for in-state tuition there (hint: Rutgers).

GL !!

 

[tehshield]

I believe USC has a 3.0 GPA cut off so I don't know where your new GPA stands.

 

[wonsun83]

From your stats, my quick estimate would say that your cGPA is under 3.0. Your composite PCAT is 99 percentile and excellent across the board in all subtests (ok in Verbal). You already had a bachelor degree in Biology.

I think you should apply this year and play your PCAT the best your can to your advantage. Cali schools do not use PCAT so your chance there will be very very low. For the Cali school you have mentioned, I think your chance is low, but then again you do not want to go to new or questionable Cali schools. But I would not even apply to Cali schools as their tuition is very high, even for in-state.

For PCAT schools, you never know. If your cGPA met the GPA cutoff for application consideration (usually ~ 2.70's - 3.0's), then hopefully your excellent PCAT score would get you some interviews. Try your best to ace the interviews, then you might be able to get in good established schools like U Min, UMB, Rutgers, UA, etc.

You might get better chance at FDU, Long Island, Touro (NY) as they are either new or lower tiered.

Again, try to bring up your cGPA/sGPA above 3.0 and as high as you can, and continue building your ECs and LORs and apply this year. Select the schools wisely where they most likely accept you and cast your net widely. Apply to as many schools as you can (10-15 ??). You got a bachelor degree and super excellent PCAT score so those credentials might help you get in. (Heck, I have seen posts here saying people with 12 percentile on the PCAT got in U of Arizona so why can't you ??) Also, your parents are living in NJ, so you should call and ask around to see if you could qualify for in-state tuition there (hint: Rutgers).

GL !!

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.