University of Toronto Pharmacy '2018

[TheRxLife]

Hi everyone! Let's get the ball rolling for 2018. Looks like we're the first batch of PharmD's under the new UofT Pharmacy designation.

Best of luck and let's keep each other updated!

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[PharmPheenix]

Woohoo! You guys think it'll be even more competitive this year with the new PharmD program?

 

[Corgis]

Hey guys!
I really hope it isn't more competitive this year haha, thinking about that makes me nervous. How is everyone's stats? I have a 80% average and a 90% pcat composite myself, but I have a few low marks from first year that really worry me. ):

 

[PharmPheenix]

Those are pretty solid stats!
I'm still anxiously waiting for my essay marks on the PCAT, but I got a 97% composite (to my surprise!) and an 8.4 cGPA (somewhere between 80-89%).
Hopefully I was able to pass the minimum score for writing so I won't have to retake the PCAT again in January... *fingers crossed*

 

[TheRxLife]

My GPA isn't too stellar! Probably gonna be around the cutoff range for UofT. But I have my BSc, and I'm finishing up my prereqs now. And writing PCAT in January. Overall, I think I'll meet the requirements to get an interview; the scary part comes when they rank us all!!!! So yeah, I hope it's not too competitive since this is my only application to pharmacy school this year.

Are you guys first time applicants? And did you complete undergrad?

 

[Angoose]

Heya everyone. I'm wondering if pharmcas is just for the schools in the US? When we apply to UofT, we just fill in their application and that'll be it right? Good luck everyone!

 

[PharmPheenix]

First time undergrad applicant here! This is also my only pharm school application this year.

Heya everyone. I'm wondering if pharmcas is just for the schools in the US? When we apply to UofT, we just fill in their application and that'll be it right? Good luck everyone!

I believe so... Just the application, necessary transcripts, and PCAT as far as I know. :S

For those who have taken/registered for the PCAT, does it say "University of Toronto 278 - Sends to PharmCAS (104) " under the score recipients/code on the pearson PCAT page after you've logged in? I'm not exactly sure why my PCAT scores are being sent to PharmCAS if it's only used in the US?

 

[Angoose]

First time undergrad applicant here! This is also my only pharm school application this year.



I believe so... Just the application, necessary transcripts, and PCAT as far as I know. :S

For those who have taken/registered for the PCAT, does it say "University of Toronto 278 - Sends to PharmCAS (104) " under the score recipients/code on the pearson PCAT page after you've logged in? I'm not exactly sure why my PCAT scores are being sent to PharmCAS if it's only used in the US?

I'm a little confused about this as well. When I applied for the PCAT, I selected UofT to receive my scores but I still have no idea if they've gotten it. I emailed UofT and they said they wouldn't know until I submitted the pharm application.

 

[Twist01]

First time undergrad applicant here! This is also my only pharm school application this year.



I believe so... Just the application, necessary transcripts, and PCAT as far as I know. :S

For those who have taken/registered for the PCAT, does it say "University of Toronto 278 - Sends to PharmCAS (104) " under the score recipients/code on the pearson PCAT page after you've logged in? I'm not exactly sure why my PCAT scores are being sent to PharmCAS if it's only used in the US?

I have the same on my page as well. Good to know I'm not the only person that has this lol.

First time applicant, will be my only pharm school app. GPA is pretty ****, not gonna lie. I'm sitting right at the cutoff limit atm But i did get a 99 composite on the PCAT, so HOPEFULLY that helps somewhat.

 

[TheRxLife]

Hey Twist: look at the bright side: if you're already done undergrad, then if you meet the cutoff and you have a 99 comp, then you're eligible for an interview....my GPA is near the cutoff range, too.

 

[aranza]

My GPA isn't too stellar! Probably gonna be around the cutoff range for UofT. But I have my BSc, and I'm finishing up my prereqs now. And writing PCAT in January. Overall, I think I'll meet the requirements to get an interview; the scary part comes when they rank us all!!!! So yeah, I hope it's not too competitive since this is my only application to pharmacy school this year.

Are you guys first time applicants? And did you complete undergrad?

Are you my twin? I don't have a great GPA either and I just graduated and taking a prereq right now. UofT is the only school i'm applying too lol

 

[PharmPheenix]

I'm a little confused about this as well. When I applied for the PCAT, I selected UofT to receive my scores but I still have no idea if they've gotten it. I emailed UofT and they said they wouldn't know until I submitted the pharm application.

So pearson emailed me back about this:
"The notes highlighted in red next to a score recipient is an indication letting candidates know the selected school is a PharmCas school and scores will be sent to PharmCas. "

So UoT is a PharmCas school apparently?

 

[TheRxLife]

LOL! I probably am your twin. I'm also currently taking the pre-reqs and UofT is the only school I'm applying to as well. I want to apply to others but they all have such different admission requirements...I'm kind of anxious about applying to UofT only though. Putting my one egg in that one basket!!!

 

[aranza]

LOL! I probably am your twin. I'm also currently taking the pre-reqs and UofT is the only school I'm applying to as well. I want to apply to others but they all have such different admission requirements...I'm kind of anxious about applying to UofT only though. Putting my one egg in that one basket!!!

Exactly! I don't want to take Microbio or biochem for Waterloo lol And trust me I'm really nervous too.. hopefully it works out for us lol

 

[Angoose]

Microbio is a really awful course. What school is everybody from?? I kind of want to apply to Waterloo, but I'm missing that one course.

 

[Corgis]

PharmPheenix your stats are really impressive!
I'm an undergrad as well, and only applying to uoft.. Hope I'm not making a mistake, I mean, I have all the prereqs but I don't think there's time to get a reference letter.
Did anyone submit their apps yet?

 

[Angoose]

PharmPheenix your stats are really impressive!
I'm an undergrad as well, and only applying to uoft.. Hope I'm not making a mistake, I mean, I have all the prereqs but I don't think there's time to get a reference letter.
Did anyone submit their apps yet?

I thought they didn't need reference letters for UofT.

 

[Corgis]

I thought they didn't need reference letters for UofT.

Ohh, I mean for Waterloo. So that's why I'm only applying to UofT.
But yeah, UofT is also my home university, how about you?

 

[Angoose]

Ohh, I mean for Waterloo. So that's why I'm only applying to UofT.
But yeah, UofT is also my home university, how about you?

Ooooh, I'm from McMaster . I really hope I'm competitive enough. Good luck to you, Corgis. I hear UofT is super intense :'(. If you can handle that, I'm sure you won't have trouble getting into the pharm program there!

 

[Corgis]

Ooooh, I'm from McMaster . I really hope I'm competitive enough. Good luck to you, Corgis. I hear UofT is super intense :'(. If you can handle that, I'm sure you won't have trouble getting into the pharm program there!

I have only heard good things about McMaster! Especially the research, my best friend wants to go there for grad school. c:
It's really not THAT bad at UofT, I think first year is just overwhelming for most people (and me, haha worst year ever).
Good luck to you too, Angoose!

 

[yazahra89]

hey guys!

so i'll be applying this year...

i'm actually a student from waterloo's school of pharmacy (did one year and dropped out to go to uoft)

doing that for personal reasons, waterloo is still the better school in my opinion cuz of co-op (it doesn't hurt to make 8000-9000 every co op term)

anyway... my average BEFORE pharmacy school was good (almost all As and A+s for my prereqs)... however, AFTER pharmacy is another story (i mean 18 courses a year and pharm material is not easy), so now my average is just at the cut-off for UofT (74%) whereas my average before UW was high 80s

A lot of things happened during my first year and I have supporting documents (government issued) to support why I did not do so well (I still ended up with an 80 in a pharm course which im so proud of cuz no one gets 80s in pharmacy lol but the other grades are **** as you will soon find out when you start pharmacy)

i'll be writing the pcat in january i'm just really hoping for a high percentile to make up for the year of pharmacy at UW

I guess this way i'll stand out in the application pool since i'm probably the only student in this situation.. or i could be a big red flag and get rejected

i'm scared

 

[Corgis]

hey guys!

so i'll be applying this year...

i'm actually a student from waterloo's school of pharmacy (did one year and dropped out to go to uoft)

doing that for personal reasons, waterloo is still the better school in my opinion cuz of co-op (it doesn't hurt to make 8000-9000 every co op term)

anyway... my average BEFORE pharmacy school was good (almost all As and A+s for my prereqs)... however, AFTER pharmacy is another story (i mean 18 courses a year and pharm material is not easy), so now my average is just at the cut-off for UofT (74%) whereas my average before UW was high 80s

A lot of things happened during my first year and I have supporting documents (government issued) to support why I did not do so well (I still ended up with an 80 in a pharm course which im so proud of cuz no one gets 80s in pharmacy lol but the other grades are **** as you will soon find out when you start pharmacy)

i'll be writing the pcat in january i'm just really hoping for a high percentile to make up for the year of pharmacy at UW

I guess this way i'll stand out in the application pool since i'm probably the only student in this situation.. or i could be a big red flag and get rejected

i'm scared

You have a great chance! Don't worry!
I think they mostly will look at your prereqs (I think, I'm not sure) but the fact that you've been to pharmacy school before says something. Plus, if you managed to get into Waterloo in the first place you must have wonderful interview skills.

Ace that pcat, you can do it! c: We're here if you need advice on it too~

 

[TheRxLife]

It wasn't possible for you to transfer from Waterloo to UofT, was it? Because if it was then you'd just transfer....isn't that the case with law/med schools? They can transfer between faculties..right?

 

[yazahra89]

You have a great chance! Don't worry!
I think they mostly will look at your prereqs (I think, I'm not sure) but the fact that you've been to pharmacy school before says something. Plus, if you managed to get into Waterloo in the first place you must have wonderful interview skills.

Ace that pcat, you can do it! c: We're here if you need advice on it too~

thank you so much! advice on the pcat would be great! i really need to ace it..


and no i can't transfer. you have to reapply.

 

[rollcc]

yay! someone finally made this, I'm applying this year too, but as a first time applicant, and UofT is the only school im applying to so hopefully it works out..
My gpa is 3.7, but I have a feeling its going to drop since im struggling so much with physical chemistry right now.
PCAT:
VA 74
BIO 92
RC 54
QA 98
CHM 98
Comp 95
Essay 4
if you guys want post your stats too, hopefully it helps everyone to get an idea of the competition this year since they changed the program to PharmD

ps. good luck to everyone applying!

 

[Corgis]

yay! someone finally made this, I'm applying this year too, but as a first time applicant, and UofT is the only school im applying to so hopefully it works out..
My gpa is 3.7, but I have a feeling its going to drop since im struggling so much with physical chemistry right now.
PCAT:
VA 74
BIO 92
RC 54
QA 98
CHM 98
Comp 95
Essay 4
if you guys want post your stats too, hopefully it helps everyone to get an idea of the competition this year since they changed the program to PharmD

ps. good luck to everyone applying!

Wow, very impressive! You're competitive for sure.
Looks like a good few of us are only applying here.. hoping for the best for us all. We can do it guys!

cgpa: 3.4 (upward trend)
VA: 78
BIO 92
RC 43
QA 88
CHM 97
Composite: 90

 

[aranza]

Wow, very impressive! You're competitive for sure.
Looks like a good few of us are only applying here.. hoping for the best for us all. We can do it guys!

cgpa: 3.4 (upward trend)
VA: 78
BIO 92
RC 43
QA 88
CHM 97
Composite: 90

My PCAT is this Friday and I'm freaking out. Do you have any last minute tips or what I should focus on for the last couple of days? Thanks!

 

[Corgis]

My PCAT is this Friday and I'm freaking out. Do you have any last minute tips or what I should focus on for the last couple of days? Thanks!

I really recommend the pearson practice tests. They're pretty accurate, make sure you know how to do all the questions on the CHM and QA sections, you will see some similar ones on the real thing.

Also, unless you're crazy amazing at QA, there's a good chance you won't be able to get through it all. Guess on ANY you don't know right away and come back to them if you have time. If you're anything like me, you'll have to make an educated guess on a good bunch of them. Do the easy ones first! I was so afraid I'd bomb this section, going over all the types on collins and ppts really helped.

RC was killer. Seriously. The passages were longer than anything I've practiced on. I didn't have time to read a whole passage... I don't really have much to say other than read faaast since I did so terribly lol. & make sure you go over your analogies, if you have collins, you'll see at least a few from there.

 

[em182]

hey guys!
i just applied to the UofT pharmacy program myself.
did the pcat 2 weeks ago, got good percentiles but am looking to bring it up higher. i studied using the kaplan book but found that it wasn't much help in verbal ability so do you guys know anyone selling their dr. collins book in toronto??
Thanks and good luck to everyone!!

 

[Corgis]

hey guys!
i just applied to the UofT pharmacy program myself.
did the pcat 2 weeks ago, got good percentiles but am looking to bring it up higher. i studied using the kaplan book but found that it wasn't much help in verbal ability so do you guys know anyone selling their dr. collins book in toronto??
Thanks and good luck to everyone!!

I am, actually!
It only has the updates up to 2011 though, but it served me very well. I also have a file filled with analogies and useful words to know I could send you. Quite a few of these were on the actual exam.
PM me if you'd like to buy it. c:

 

[PharmPheenix]

My PCAT is this Friday and I'm freaking out. Do you have any last minute tips or what I should focus on for the last couple of days? Thanks!

I agree with Corgis for the chem and QA section... I ended up having to make an educated guess on a LOT of the QA questions due to the time crunch! Definitely do the Pearson tests if you haven't already. The PCAT is a marathon, so doing some full-length tests beforehand will help you get used to the long-testing conditions!

For the RC, my passages were also longer than expected. About halfway through, I found it was easier to read the question first and then look at the specific part of the passage the question was referring to. Doing this def saved me some time, but it's really up to you how you'd like to tackle it.

I used the Kaplan book, some old calc notes, and the 3 Pearson tests. As for my stats:
cGPA: 8.4
VA: 91
BIO: 79
RC: 94
QA: 93
CHM: 99
Writing = 4
Comp = 97

 

[rollcc]

I'm all for the pearson practice tests too, they were really helpful in getting into the PCAT mode. But just like everyone else mention I had trouble with the RC too. Ran out of time for the last passage and just guess my way through.

 

[TheRxLife]

Are the pearson tests the ones that are sold through the PCAT website? Thanks!

 

[Angoose]

Are the pearson tests the ones that are sold through the PCAT website? Thanks!

Yes, they are.

Do people know how to get the university to send a transcript to UofT? Will UofT automatically request it from our current university or we'll have to pay a fee for them to send the transcript?

 

[Corgis]

Yes, they are.

Do people know how to get the university to send a transcript to UofT? Will UofT automatically request it from our current university or we'll have to pay a fee for them to send the transcript?

I'm pretty sure you have to go to your registrar and pay a fee for them to send it over.

 

[TheRxLife]

If you went to UofT, then UofT pharmacy will request it internally so you don't have to do anything.

But if you went to another university, you have to request a transcript. See if you can do it online...I'm sure there's a fee for some schools for this. Other universities like Carleton don't charge for this.

 

[TheRxLife]

To those who wrote the PCAT, no calculators are allowed right? If not, how did you find solving problems that required a calculator?

 

[Twist01]

To those who wrote the PCAT, no calculators are allowed right? If not, how did you find solving problems that required a calculator?

You're given a notepad and a dry erase marker once you get in. That's all you can use in terms of rough work.

And trust me, the calculations are made so that they work out nicely, so you won't need it.

 

[kein]

Hey guys, I'm not familiar with the application system regarding the PCAT. On pearson website, it said my PCAT scores for UofT were sent to PharmCAS. Is there an additional form (i.e. PharmCAS) I need to fill out for UofT to get my scores or do I just need to fill out the UofT Pharmacy application.

 

[Walker722]

How competitive do you guys think I am? My cGPA is 3.85.
PCAT:
VA: 98
BIO: 99
RC: 98
QA: 88
CHM: 99
Comp: 99
Writing: 3

I'm just a little nervous about my writing score.

 

[TheRxLife]

I think you're in...lol.

First time applying?

 

[rollcc]

How competitive do you guys think I am? My cGPA is 3.85.
PCAT:
VA: 98
BIO: 99
RC: 98
QA: 88
CHM: 99
Comp: 99
Writing: 3

I'm just a little nervous about my writing score.

wow that's awesome you'll prob get in. Make sure you do all the pre-reqs and well on the interview

ps. first round of midterms is almost over for me, cant wait for Christmas...and its only October

 

[Aruuga]

Hello, Im also thinking of applying, but I recently dropped a course and now on my transcript I have a WD on my transcript. Would that give me a disadvantage?

 

[TheRxLife]

What are your other stats? On the UofT website, it says that they will take a history or withdrawn or failed courses into consideration when making a final decision.

 

[Corgis]

How competitive do you guys think I am? My cGPA is 3.85.
PCAT:
VA: 98
BIO: 99
RC: 98
QA: 88
CHM: 99
Comp: 99
Writing: 3

I'm just a little nervous about my writing score.

Are you trying to scare the rest of us? Hahaha. Looks like you could be competitive for med school.

And as for the WD, I'm pretty sure that's better than a fail or a low grade. You did the right thing. x) I think if your other stats are good you shouldn't worry TOO much.

 

[TheRxLife]

LOL! I agree with you, Corbis. If I had those stats, I'd be applying to med school!

 

[Angoose]

Those stats are good enough to make me cry. :'(

I'm filling out the online transcript right now and I'm not sure about a couple of things. How do we fill in courses that were pass-fail? Also, if our transcript grades are given to us as grades, do we still have to convert them to %'s and enter it both as a percent and letter grade?

 

[rollcc]

Those stats are good enough to make me cry. :'(

I'm filling out the online transcript right now and I'm not sure about a couple of things. How do we fill in courses that were pass-fail? Also, if our transcript grades are given to us as grades, do we still have to convert them to %'s and enter it both as a percent and letter grade?

Not sure about pass/fail courses, I would email them personally, but for letter grades, I'm pretty sure you put in the actual letter(I believe there's an example of this on the page where you fill out the online transcript)

 

[gtong]

.

 

[TheRxLife]

Very unlikely that there are 1140 applicants. Only about 600 apply. So it's probably 140. Which is not bad, given that there's only 2 months until the deadline? Right?