What are most peoples GPA so far? How was the PCAT and the application process coming along?
UBC Pharmacy 2017 Applicants
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Going to be writing the pcat this Saturday D: so scared. Have you written it yet?
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I have 86.7% avg and 90 for pcat so not really worried how about you guys?
OMG!! How is your avg so high mine is only 68?
OMG!! How is your avg so high mine is only 68?
Yeah its pretty good, personally I think if your avg is below 80 you probably shouldnt apply, no offence but you are probably not getting in since everybody has really high avgs like above 80...
Yeah I'm probably not going to apply, I know one of the intreview as a family friend and she said most people with below 80s dont have a chance really
Yeah I'm probably not going to apply, I know one of the intreview as a family friend and she said most people with below 80s dont have a chance really
Sorry to hear that , but yeah honestly if u are first year apply in second when you have more experience with university level work and you will do better on the pcat too.
I found the pcat to be easy except the quantitave part which is a real ball buster, the time flies by...
Hello, fellow Pre-Pharmers! I'm also applying to UBC Pharmacy for September 2013... decided to sign up and post a little earlier that I planned.
I'm 2nd year, and tried to apply last year... it's definitely tough as a 1st year. I was cruising along, had a decent gpa and was banking on getting in for 2012... and then the PCAT shot me out of the sky and I came crashing down to earth for the 1st year that only has a semester of Chem, Bio, and Calc under their belt, getting a good score on the PCAT is tough, but it's definitely possible, especially if you can rock the English sections. My advice: Take a Pearson Practice Test or two, taking it under test like conditions, find out where you stand, and work from there. I know a bunch of people will be writing this month, including myself for the 2nd time. Keep yourself focused during the exam and don't get anxious, and you have half the battle beat already!
I definitely disagree with the notion that you need 80% avg or better to even stand a chance... the admissions page says the average is usually between 75-80%. If everyone getting accepted is supposedly getting 80% or better, how can you have an avg score below that? Let's not try and scare people... people definitely get interviews and acceptances with high 60s-low 70s marks (their PCAT and supplementals are generally pretty good to compensate, though). And on the other end of the spectrum, I've heard stories of mighty 4.0 GPA and 99 Composite students get their rejection letter after having a poor interview. As long as you meet the minimums, you have a chance, I believe
Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. I just wanted to let everyone know it's not the end of the world if your GPA is low, or you screw up the PCAT. I'll check this thread every now and then, and hopefully I'll get to know some of you. Good luck to everyone!
I'm 2nd year, and tried to apply last year... it's definitely tough as a 1st year. I was cruising along, had a decent gpa and was banking on getting in for 2012... and then the PCAT shot me out of the sky and I came crashing down to earth
for the 1st year that only has a semester of Chem, Bio, and Calc under their belt, getting a good score on the PCAT is tough, but it's definitely possible, especially if you can rock the English sections. My advice: Take a Pearson Practice Test or two, taking it under test like conditions, find out where you stand, and work from there. I know a bunch of people will be writing this month, including myself for the 2nd time. Keep yourself focused during the exam and don't get anxious, and you have half the battle beat already!I definitely disagree with the notion that you need 80% avg or better to even stand a chance... the admissions page says the average is usually between 75-80%. If everyone getting accepted is supposedly getting 80% or better, how can you have an avg score below that? Let's not try and scare people... people definitely get interviews and acceptances with high 60s-low 70s marks (their PCAT and supplementals are generally pretty good to compensate, though). And on the other end of the spectrum, I've heard stories of mighty 4.0 GPA and 99 Composite students get their rejection letter after having a poor interview. As long as you meet the minimums, you have a chance, I believe
Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. I just wanted to let everyone know it's not the end of the world if your GPA is low, or you screw up the PCAT. I'll check this thread every now and then, and hopefully I'll get to know some of you. Good luck to everyone!
Thanks for your insight, very helpful! And why did you find the PCAT to be so hard as a first year student? Did you study for it, or was it too much stuff that you had not covered as a first year? Im writing the PCAT without any knowledge of o-chem yet and I hope that is not going to destroy my chances
I studied a bit, but I definitely underestimated the exam the first time around. The time limits can especially make you rush and not think things through, and I think that was more my downfall than not knowing some of the material. That being said, Bio II and Gen Chem II do help make the exam easier if you have that knowledge under your belt. If you can even get a general idea from a study guide like Kaplan, it's better than nothing.
As for organic, it's not as bad as people think. A good portion of questions can be solved by inspection or nomenclature, but you gotta be at least slightly proficient with that. For a 1st year, I wouldn't stress over it too much. Put some time in to learn the basics but don't break your back trying to learn Organic I in a few days time.... I tried that last year and got nowhere. Focus on knowing your Gen Chem the most, as that's what most of the questions will be.
Unfortunately, no. I didn't even get an invite last year. I didn't expect to, though, my grades and PCAT especially were in need of an improvement. However, I'm feeling much better this year about my application.
I didn't even get an invite last year. I didn't expect to, though, my grades and PCAT especially were in need of an improvement. However, I'm feeling much better this year about my application.- Joined
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sherrr when are you writing the pcat? and when did you start studying? D;
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nope im in second year.. but I def know what you mean... this is my first time taking the pcat and I dont really know what to expect. Im actually taking the pcat this coming sat on the 12th so its coming quick. By the time I write it, I only studied for 2.5 weeks..... and hearing stories of people studying for at least a month or two is scaring the crap out of me. Well theres always july to rewrite it right? If anything happens T____T i'm def really stressed.... its an all or none for us for this application cycle =[.
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Of course it does but you dont necessarily need it. Itll give you an advantage in your personal statements and as well for the interview.
Definitely not the case.
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Well, that's a problem, considering at least 20% of my class go in with averages below 75%. Let's not overrate marks too much - while a great accomplishment, it means very little in pharmacy. At the end of the day, I much rather hire a person with superior interpersonal skills and average marks than one that solely shows academic potential.
As such, ANY person with the minimum average accepted by the Faculty should apply, especially with demand a bit lower at the moment. The interview portion always balances things out if it is done well. Remember, once you get in, you're in, regardless of whether you were the first to be accepted or the 224th/225th.
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Well, good news on my end: I took my PCAT today and scored an 85 composite, so I've been feeling pretty good the last few hours I sent my application and references back in November so now I just sit back and cross my fingers for an interview invite come May.
I feel like giving a couple more pieces of advice for people who are going to write the test soon:
- Use the first section of the test (the essay) to calm your nerves if you need to. I spent most of my morning with the jitters but once I got to the testing center I felt better, and felt at ease once I started writing the test. Use the time to get used to your surroundings. Utilize the earplugs if you need them, my testing spot had sirens going by every hour... so annoying.
- Be sure to concentrate once you get to Reading Comp. I was starting to get a bit bored and tired around this section and it cost me (my score was laughably low here). The passages are longer than anything in Kaplan or the official practice exams, and the timer doesn't make things easier, so make sure you're ready here. Read the whole passage before you dive into the questions, as well!
- Math section: Skip skip skip as many questions as you need. If you don't know or start to stumble on a question, move on ASAP. There's some crazy difficult questions here that are nearly unsolvable in under a minute, but then there's questions that you could solve nearly instantly. They're all worth the same amount, so do the easy questions first, and then do the hard stuff. If you don't know the hard stuff, there's nothing wrong with an educated guess. Proper testing taking skills can up your score here more than knowing some of the math.
I know this advice might be better off in the PCAT forum, but since I know there's a few others applying to UBC writing soon, I want to see you all succeed and get good scores. Good luck to those writing
I sent my application and references back in November so now I just sit back and cross my fingers for an interview invite come May.I feel like giving a couple more pieces of advice for people who are going to write the test soon:
- Use the first section of the test (the essay) to calm your nerves if you need to. I spent most of my morning with the jitters but once I got to the testing center I felt better, and felt at ease once I started writing the test. Use the time to get used to your surroundings. Utilize the earplugs if you need them, my testing spot had sirens going by every hour... so annoying.
- Be sure to concentrate once you get to Reading Comp. I was starting to get a bit bored and tired around this section and it cost me (my score was laughably low here). The passages are longer than anything in Kaplan or the official practice exams, and the timer doesn't make things easier, so make sure you're ready here. Read the whole passage before you dive into the questions, as well!
- Math section: Skip skip skip as many questions as you need. If you don't know or start to stumble on a question, move on ASAP. There's some crazy difficult questions here that are nearly unsolvable in under a minute, but then there's questions that you could solve nearly instantly. They're all worth the same amount, so do the easy questions first, and then do the hard stuff. If you don't know the hard stuff, there's nothing wrong with an educated guess. Proper testing taking skills can up your score here more than knowing some of the math.
I know this advice might be better off in the PCAT forum, but since I know there's a few others applying to UBC writing soon, I want to see you all succeed and get good scores. Good luck to those writing
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You get a preliminary score report right after you finish your exam, with percentile scores for all the sections (no scores for writing), so you pretty much know right away how you did. I don't think the official scores change much, if at all, from the preliminary ones when you get them, since when I took it last year my composite on both the official and prelim were the same.
Kinda glad you get instant feedback now rather than waiting 6 weeks for scores, like it used to be.
Kinda glad you get instant feedback now rather than waiting 6 weeks for scores, like it used to be.
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hey guys, do you know know what they mean by change in perspective in personal statement, I'm kinda confused?
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So i wrote my first pcat yesterday, and it didnt go very well for me unfortunately, so im not applying this year due to a horrible score=(. But I would like to thanks everyone on here for answering any questions i had. Will give ubc a shot next yr and hopefully itll end up better for me.
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If it was above 65 please do apply. I have students in my class that scored between 65-70 on their PCATs and are in. GPA and interviews are much more important.
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Sadly it was just below a 65... So i cannot apply =(. I'll have to reevaluate what went wrong and perhaps 2 weeks was NOT sufficient enough for me to study at all. I'll study harder in the summer and hope for a huge improvement. The exam had more stats questions and ochem 2 that i was not aware of, and since the pcat books were too easy i completely bombed these sections since i havent even taken these 2 classes yet and as well my English scores were pretty bad as well. Ill be investing in dr. Collins to hopefully improve. But anyways, i had a gpa of 74, great LORS from a pharmacist and my organic chem lab TA, and volunteered at the hopsital and at the pharmacy. So it was very unfortunate for me this year.
Was the test even marginally similar to the questions on pearson practice tests
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I bought 2 Pearson practice exams... And scored in the 78-94% range and was confident that I was ready. Turns out.. When i got to the exam, it was 100000000 times harder and those practice exams i felt did not represent my actual pcat in any way whatsoever.
holy **** like the questions were harder or just hard to focus and stamina for a four hour exam...
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If i could change how i studied, i would have practiced more math, and verbal under timed conditions... And as well know your structures of amino acids, and the names of common bacteria and their functions and what diseases they caused was in my bio... These questions were so random, and i didn't think itll be on the exam.sigh
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Compared to the pearson practice tests, i would say.. Overall the actual was much harder. Reading had longer passages, verbal was harder, math had longer questions that required more reading and had lots of stats, bio was pretty easy except for the random bacteria questions, chem im good at which happened to be my best score, but i had so many ochem reactions that ive never learned in ochem 1 and those weird amino acid questions threw me off.
Sorry to hear that you didn't do well on the PCAT, crystal I found the Biology, Verbal and Reading sections more difficult on the actual test as well. Hopefully you'll come back swinging next year.
sampsonz, I wouldn't count on seeing any familiar questions from the practice tests on the actual exam. It could happen, but I didn't see any on mine. The test can be difficult to prepare for because they can ask you questions about nearly anything that is listed to be on the exam, and it's more about critical thinking and your scientific intuition than brute force memorization.
Answering the two peoples questions above (they kinda got pushed to the side): Reading through past topics and by word of mouth, I've looks like 50% Interview/40% GPA/10% Application+PCAT seems to be the evaluation breakdown, but don't take my word on it, I'm a bit unsure myself.
When you write the statement about the change in perspective, think of a person/event/job/etc. that changed your opinion or your thoughts on a topic or something. Sorry for the vagueness, but really only you know what goes on in your life
I found the Biology, Verbal and Reading sections more difficult on the actual test as well. Hopefully you'll come back swinging next year.sampsonz, I wouldn't count on seeing any familiar questions from the practice tests on the actual exam. It could happen, but I didn't see any on mine. The test can be difficult to prepare for because they can ask you questions about nearly anything that is listed to be on the exam, and it's more about critical thinking and your scientific intuition than brute force memorization.
Answering the two peoples questions above (they kinda got pushed to the side): Reading through past topics and by word of mouth, I've looks like 50% Interview/40% GPA/10% Application+PCAT seems to be the evaluation breakdown, but don't take my word on it, I'm a bit unsure myself.
When you write the statement about the change in perspective, think of a person/event/job/etc. that changed your opinion or your thoughts on a topic or something. Sorry for the vagueness, but really only you know what goes on in your life
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Thanks nutnut =( it was devastating seeing my preliminaries.... But i really hope, i can come back to that pcat in 6 months and destroy it.
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That's unfortunate crystal. I'm sure you'll ace it next time. Also, your GPA is quite competitive but I would bring it up before reapplying next time to make the admission stats that much better.
With a week left, you still have time to condition yourself. Review concepts that you have trouble remembering or have difficulty understanding. Use the Pearson Practice Exams if you have them to get a feel of the types of questions you'll definitely encounter, and review the answer explanations. And make sure to practice your speed and stamina! Use whatever review materials you have handy and time yourself.
Be sure to eat well before going into the exam, also bring something to munch on during your midway break on testing day to keep your brain alert. I had trail mix (good brain food) and water. Just don't drink too much, you don't want to have to use the bathroom while you're writing
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Thanks everyone for the support =). I have come to the realization that I need to accept my pcat score and use that to motivate myself to try harder for the next application cycle. Im not as sad/ devastated or ashamed anymore... Whats done is done, and life moves on. XD
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Nooo i heard the preliminary mark and the actual are the same.. So nope D:
PCAT is marked using a curve for each section, using a norm group of first time test takers from a few years ago (some people think you compete with the other people that are taking the exam that testing cycle, but that's wrong!) Your score depends on how well you did compared to this norm group. For example, say the mean score for the Verbal section is 22/40. Getting a raw score of 22/40 will put you right on the mean line of the curve, or the 50th percentile.
This is why some people can score 99th percentile on a section but only get about 80% of questions right... because 99% of the other test takers could not score above an 80%. Even getting a few questions wrong can still put you in the top 5-10% of test takers. You don't need to be perfect to get a perfect score, in other words
The PCAT system already has the norm group data encoded in it, so when the test calculates your subsection and composite scores for your preliminary score, it's calculating your percentile and scaled score using the data from the norm group. You never get to know your raw score.
The only difference between your Preliminary and Official score reports is that the Official report also includes the essay grade, and can be sent to the schools of your choosing. There were some cases where the prelim/official scores did differ slightly back when they changed the norm group a year or two ago, but since they changed the norm group recently they probably won't do that again for a few years at least.
How do I know all this? Well... sometimes I have a little too much time on my hands But it's also all on the PCAT website if you're curious.
This is why some people can score 99th percentile on a section but only get about 80% of questions right... because 99% of the other test takers could not score above an 80%. Even getting a few questions wrong can still put you in the top 5-10% of test takers. You don't need to be perfect to get a perfect score, in other words
The PCAT system already has the norm group data encoded in it, so when the test calculates your subsection and composite scores for your preliminary score, it's calculating your percentile and scaled score using the data from the norm group. You never get to know your raw score.
The only difference between your Preliminary and Official score reports is that the Official report also includes the essay grade, and can be sent to the schools of your choosing. There were some cases where the prelim/official scores did differ slightly back when they changed the norm group a year or two ago, but since they changed the norm group recently they probably won't do that again for a few years at least.
How do I know all this? Well... sometimes I have a little too much time on my hands
But it's also all on the PCAT website if you're curious.No clue if anyone is going to see this because this thread seems pretty dead, but I just had a questions about the pharmacy application for UBC. How detailed does this application need to be? Will one or two points for each Award, job, etc suffice or should we be going all out?
Thanks! And hopefully everyone's applications are going well!
Thanks! And hopefully everyone's applications are going well!
