Which is harder to get into

[blueman]

Pharmacy or Optometry? I know there is only around 17 opt schools in the US, but some of my friends told me that its easier to get into them than most pharmacy schools. is that true? anyways, this is what I always thought
1.med
2.dentistry
3.optometry(because of the # of schools)
4.pharmacy
5.physical therapy
ranking from most competetive to least. any input on this?

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[JOliv010]

I sort of agree with that statement optometry school is easier than pharmacy school. I do think physical therapy is number 3 though in difficulty of being accepted. A lot more college students want to do physical therapy than pharmacy I would even say. Also PT does not have a PCAT like pharmacy; they use a GRE which is hardly even weigh in acceptance. So GPA wise PT is definitely more competitive.

 

[DMD_DREAMING]

Pharmacy or Optometry? I know there is only around 17 opt schools in the US, but some of my friends told me that its easier to get into them than most pharmacy schools. is that true? anyways, this is what I always thought
1.med
2.dentistry
3.optometry(because of the # of schools)
4.pharmacy
5.physical therapy
ranking from most competetive to least. any input on this?

Generally, yes this ranking is accurate; however, over the last several years, less competitive applicants are applying to Optometry and more competitive applicants are applying to Pharmacy. So, Pharmacy make be no. 3 now. In-state residencies makes applying to any programs of this nature far less competitive and easier to get into.

 

[goheel]

Vet schools are really competitive to get into. I might even say it's harder to get into vet school than med school, cause all of the requirements you have to do for vet school.

 

[Hildergard]

I think Vet school is hard to get into because of the requirements which I think include tons of hours of working with animals. Also, it's because there are less Vet schools than Med schools. Though, I would not say that getting into Vet school is harder than getting Med school. As far as the other two schools are concerned (Dent school and Pharm school), I think most Pharm schools have become so competitive and it seems a little bit more competitive than some Dent schools.

That's just MHO

 

[coolness]

I think getting into pharmacy schools is getting much harder than before. In general, you need to have a bachelor's degree to be a competitive applicant. Maybe around 10 years ago, you could get accepted with an associate's degree. Also, the avg GPAs of accepted applicants have gone up as well. The following is just a list of the degree of difficulty of getting accepted into professional schools (just my opinion):

1. medical school (MD/DO)...note: DO school admission stats are increasing every year (e.g. avg MD gpa ~ 3.6 vs. avg DO gpa ~ 3.4 and avg MD MCAT ~31-32 vs. avg DO MCAT ~25-26)
2. vet school
3. dental & pharmacy school
4. optometry school

I'm not sure where PT and PA schools stand.

Regardless of what health professional career you go into, you have to be content with your decision.

 

[sarahjth]

so now I am curious? What are the pros/cons of optometry verse pharmacy? I would love to be in pharmacy but optometry seems to be a very interesting career choice.

 

[Hildergard]

I don't know about Optometry but for pros and cons of Pharmacy, you could search through previous threads here. There have been many discussions about that.

 

[tupac_don]

so now I am curious? What are the pros/cons of optometry verse pharmacy? I would love to be in pharmacy but optometry seems to be a very interesting career choice.

I might be a little biased since I am a pharmacist, but I would defiently go pharmacy. More options, good money, good hours. Best of luck.

 

[npp71681]

Hi!
tupac_don,

Wasn't you planning to go to med school?