UBC Pre-pharmacy 2010!

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Druid said:
i am wondering if there is a min. score for writing part on PCAT for UBC pharm. (i have read before that UT has a min.score for writing.)

and also.. what's this MMI style interview everyone is talking about?
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I heard from other people that UBC doesn't look at your writing at all. but I'm not sure abuot that.
 
And yes, they won't be increasing the number of students until September 2011, but will be doing the MMI format starting this September in order to see how it works out and have the opportunity to make improvements for next year.
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Do you think that in conjunction with the seats increase, the B.Sc.(Pharm.) will be replaced by the Entry Level PharmD in Sep 2011 ?
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ElOmari said:
Do you think that in conjunction with the seats increase the B.Sc.(Pharm.) will be replaced by the Entry Level PharmD in Sep 2011 ?
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Hmmm... I highly doubt that considering entry level pharmD requires applicants to have a bachelor of pharmacy degree. If this were to happen, there would be MUCH less applicants, and thus less graduates.

But considering that the pharmacy spots are basically saturated in the lower mainland... who knows
 
bebeLnJ said:
Hmmm... I highly doubt that considering entry level pharmD requires applicants to have a bachelor of pharmacy degree. If this were to happen, there would be MUCH less applicants, and thus less graduates.

But considering that the pharmacy spots are basically saturated in the lower mainland... who knows
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I don't think an entry level PharmD would require a full degree prior to entry. some programs in the US are just 6 years (2 + 4). I think the entry level pharmD program will happen in BC eventually, but probably not for 5 or 10 years.
 
does anyone know if there are any "easier" pharmacy required courses I can take to improve my current average bfor applying to pharm? Im taking these first yr pharmacy courses: micrb, anat, stats. I don't know my marks yet but since i did pretty bad in first yr, I just want to know if there are any courses I can take that pharmacy will look at to improve my average.(right now, siting at 72%) thanks!!
 
pch said:
does anyone know if there are any "easier" pharmacy required courses I can take to improve my current average bfor applying to pharm? Im taking these first yr pharmacy courses: micrb, anat, stats. I don't know my marks yet but since i did pretty bad in first yr, I just want to know if there are any courses I can take that pharmacy will look at to improve my average.(right now, siting at 72%) thanks!!
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I'd say the anat 390, anat 391, and stats 203 are pretty easy to get over 90%... that doesn't mean you don't have to work hard though. In my opinion any course is easy if you put a lot of effort into it.
 
bebeLnJ said:
Hmmm... I highly doubt that considering entry level pharmD requires applicants to have a bachelor of pharmacy degree. If this were to happen, there would be MUCH less applicants, and thus less graduates.

But considering that the pharmacy spots are basically saturated in the lower mainland... who knows
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So would you say that the shortage of pharmacists in Canada is just a hype or what?
 
aussiepharmer said:
So would you say that the shortage of pharmacists in Canada is just a hype or what?
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I think theres a shortage for pharmacists in small towns but not in the vancouver area becase ppl from all over bc go to ubc to become pharmacists, but then they don't end up leaving the area.
 
hotpink12 said:
I think theres a shortage for pharmacists in small towns but not in the vancouver area becase ppl from all over bc go to ubc to become pharmacists, but then they don't end up leaving the area.
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Even Vancouver's surrounding areas don't have a shortage? And what about Victoria and its surrounding areas?

If there's no shortage, does that mean saturation is so bad that it's hard to get an intern position? How much saturated is Greater Vancouver?

What about hospital pharmacist/intern positions? No shortage either?
 
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Cypher said:
I'd say the anat 390, anat 391, and stats 203 are pretty easy to get over 90%... that doesn't mean you don't have to work hard though. In my opinion any course is easy if you put a lot of effort into it.
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thanks cypher! since you're a pharmacy student, do you think it would be worth it to retake some of my first year courses to raise my average? like i said, i'm sitting at around a 72% right now and Im taking anat 391, micb 202 and stats 200 right now butr i dont know how much these courses will raise my average. Would you suggest to retake some of my first year courses (perhaps in the summer) or take other pharmacy courses that can potentially help my average?
 
Omg...when was the mock interview at ubc?? :smack:
is there going to be another one??? :shrug:
N wht's this MMI interview thing?? they haven't mentioned it in the website 😕
 
pch said:
thanks cypher! since you're a pharmacy student, do you think it would be worth it to retake some of my first year courses to raise my average? like i said, i'm sitting at around a 72% right now and Im taking anat 391, micb 202 and stats 200 right now butr i dont know how much these courses will raise my average. Would you suggest to retake some of my first year courses (perhaps in the summer) or take other pharmacy courses that can potentially help my average?
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If you do really well in those three courses, you probably won't need to retake any of them. Even if you do take them again, they only take the average of the two (correct me if I'm wrong since I've never retaken a course) so it wouldn't help much?

If I were you I'd just ace anat 391, micb 202, and stats 200. I wouldn't bother retaking any courses. If you do well in those three courses I think you would raise your average by about 3% if not more?

Assuming that you did not take chem 233, 235, biol 201, bioc 300 (equiv. to biol 201 + bioc 302):

I'd take chem 233 in the summer (my friend did this and he got 90%+ but it's pretty intense) and then do biol 200 + bioc 302 (or bioc 300), chem 235 this september. You should be fine!

Some people got in with a 72% average but they have really high PCAT + ECs etc etc...
 
Got that e-mail from UBC this morning updating us on what's coming up in the next few months... I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't reading thoroughly the first time around and when I read "Thank you for your application to UBC's Pharmacy program. We realize that you have expended a great deal of effort to meet all of our application requirements, but..." I was convinced that they had already found some reason to reject me (despite the fact that I knew that wasn't a logical conclusion at all). This is gonna be the longest next few months of my life..........
 
Cypher said:
If you do really well in those three courses, you probably won't need to retake any of them. Even if you do take them again, they only take the average of the two (correct me if I'm wrong since I've never retaken a course) so it wouldn't help much?

If I were you I'd just ace anat 391, micb 202, and stats 200. I wouldn't bother retaking any courses. If you do well in those three courses I think you would raise your average by about 3% if not more?

Assuming that you did not take chem 233, 235, biol 201, bioc 300 (equiv. to biol 201 + bioc 302):

I'd take chem 233 in the summer (my friend did this and he got 90%+ but it's pretty intense) and then do biol 200 + bioc 302 (or bioc 300), chem 235 this september. You should be fine!

Some people got in with a 72% average but they have really high PCAT + ECs etc etc...
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lol actually i just signed up for chem 233 this morning for the summer! i'm really nervous about that course bcuz ppl keep telling me its super hard and the average is like 40% 🙁 i guess its not really worth it to retake those courses.. i might as well spend the time to improve on these 3 courses i'm taking now.

if you don't mind, can you please tell me what kind of EC you had when you applied? I have done some volunteering in the past but none of them really is related to pharmacy. if you could give me some suggestions on what kind of experience they want that can help improve my application, that would be great! thank you sooooo much for your help! 😀
 
well im actually very nervous for the MMI too...and i think best way to prepare for it would be to practice as many scenarios as you can...get a friend to present you with a scenario and then you go about explaning your asnwer
 
I guess we have to find a balance between overpreparing and underpreparing 😛
I do like the new format though, since there are more interviewers, so even if you made a bad impression with one, you still have many others to make up for it!
Yes, the next 3 months would be the LONGEST waiting process for me :O
 
Yes, i definitely agree with that!...that way if the first interviewers aren't too fond of us, we always have another chance =)....and for preparing for the interview, i'd be best if you can talk to a pharmacist and ask him to ask you some questions that could be asked during the interview
 
Okay so I'm looking to get some honest opinions on my chances of getting accepted. I'm only a first year general science student at UBC I didn't do too well on the PCAT so I'm unsure of whether I would be offered an interview. I know the average on the PCAT for accepted applicants ranges from 85-90. However, I only scored 76 on my PCAT. My average from first term is 92 but it is bound to go a bit lower. I have quite a bit of ECs so I'm hoping that will help me out. I think my EC activities may give me an edge over some of the other applicants. I also got some pharmacy related experience right after I graduated from high school in the summer of 2009, working in a Shoppers pharmacy.

So I know my average is higher that the average applicant but I was just wondering how bad I would be hurt by my PCAT mark and whether this would be taken as not being so committed to the pharmacy program.

All feedback is welcome (negative or positive). Thanks! 🙂
 
dreadmorphine said:
Okay so I'm looking to get some honest opinions on my chances of getting accepted. I'm only a first year general science student at UBC I didn't do too well on the PCAT so I'm unsure of whether I would be offered an interview. I know the average on the PCAT for accepted applicants ranges from 85-90. However, I only scored 76 on my PCAT. My average from first term is 92 but it is bound to go a bit lower. I have quite a bit of ECs so I'm hoping that will help me out. I think my EC activities may give me an edge over some of the other applicants. I also got some pharmacy related experience right after I graduated from high school in the summer of 2009, working in a Shoppers pharmacy.

So I know my average is higher that the average applicant but I was just wondering how bad I would be hurt by my PCAT mark and whether this would be taken as not being so committed to the pharmacy program.

All feedback is welcome (negative or positive). Thanks! 🙂
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You have an awesome GPA. Im pretty sure you will get an interview. The PCAT is only a really small portion of the selection process and even then a 76 on the PCAT is not bad (considering that you haven't even taken organic yet.) I think your GPA will make up for the lower than average PCAT mark.
 
about the MMI,

Do you know if the interviewer actively participates while you answer? I mean for example, will the interviewer ask you questions to elaborate, or do they just stare at you while you answer haha. Im not sure if id be able to continue talking without some feedback for all 7 minutes lol.
 
ht2010 said:
about the MMI,

Do you know if the interviewer actively participates while you answer? I mean for example, will the interviewer ask you questions to elaborate, or do they just stare at you while you answer haha. Im not sure if id be able to continue talking without some feedback for all 7 minutes lol.
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According to a friend I know, who applied for med... they have a sheet of paper with questions to ask, in case you can't think of something to say for 7 minutes. I really hope they do for pharmacy too... otherwise I can imagine many awkward silences 😕

I wonder what types of questions they will ask though.... will it be situation and problem-solving based? Or will it be like previous years with more general interview-like questions? Does anyone know?
 
dreadmorphine said:
Okay so I'm looking to get some honest opinions on my chances of getting accepted. I'm only a first year general science student at UBC I didn't do too well on the PCAT so I'm unsure of whether I would be offered an interview. I know the average on the PCAT for accepted applicants ranges from 85-90. However, I only scored 76 on my PCAT. My average from first term is 92 but it is bound to go a bit lower. I have quite a bit of ECs so I'm hoping that will help me out. I think my EC activities may give me an edge over some of the other applicants. I also got some pharmacy related experience right after I graduated from high school in the summer of 2009, working in a Shoppers pharmacy.

So I know my average is higher that the average applicant but I was just wondering how bad I would be hurt by my PCAT mark and whether this would be taken as not being so committed to the pharmacy program.

All feedback is welcome (negative or positive). Thanks! 🙂
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PCAT worth really little.. so dont worry too much about it.

you have a great GPA, so you will be fine.
 
Hi just joined this thread. I'm pretty nervous about the mmi as well!
 
Hey guys, I was just going over the e-mail they sent us last week again and it occurred to me that they are sending out interview invites around the first week of June. Final transcripts are not due until June 15th, right? I am sure most final transcripts will make it there by the beginning of June anyway, but at the same time it seems a little strange that they aren't waiting for them. For me this doesn't matter so much since most of my pre-requisites are on my interim transcript anyway, but given that they might not have every single grade in by the beginning of the month, what exactly are they using to decide who gets an interview then? The PCAT?
 
lllix said:
Hey guys, I was just going over the e-mail they sent us last week again and it occurred to me that they are sending out interview invites around the first week of June. Final transcripts are not due until June 15th, right? I am sure most final transcripts will make it there by the beginning of June anyway, but at the same time it seems a little strange that they aren't waiting for them. For me this doesn't matter so much since most of my pre-requisites are on my interim transcript anyway, but given that they might not have every single grade in by the beginning of the month, what exactly are they using to decide who gets an interview then? The PCAT?
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think its a combination of PCAT, GPA and EC/reference
I really like UBC's marking scheme because it covers all areas for a relatively small cost
 
rubix1225 said:
Haha, give the pharmacy students (interviewers) a break. They've never gone through the process before.
After the mock MMI, I realized I need to practice a lot in the 3 months left...
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When was this mock interview and how did you find out about it? Was it posted on the UBC pharmacy website or held by the pre-pharmacy club??
 
This MMI business is stirring up quite the butterfly party in my stomach.

If they actually want us to talk for seven minutes straight regarding one scenario... that is going to be one in-depth scenario. Maybe I should start honing my rambling skills.
 
FPCPineapple said:
When was this mock interview and how did you find out about it? Was it posted on the UBC pharmacy website or held by the pre-pharmacy club??
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I believe it was organized by the ubc pre-pharmacy club a few weeks ago, so I doubt it was posted on the pharmacy site. I hope they have another mock interview closer to June sometime, though I don't think clubs still run in the summer session. Anyone here in the pre-pharm club that can fill us in?
 
Yes, the club does not run anymore. They are having a wrap-up event soon but no more mock interviews.
 
mindbone said:
This MMI business is stirring up quite the butterfly party in my stomach.

If they actually want us to talk for seven minutes straight regarding one scenario... that is going to be one in-depth scenario. Maybe I should start honing my rambling skills.
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i don't think they expect us to talk for seven minutes straight....i thought two of those seven minutes for shifting rooms and reading the next scenario and that leaves us with five minutes to talk and we don't have to talk for those five minutes straight, we can just state our answer and once we're done, we just let them know and we might get some feedback...well at least that's what happened in the mock interview...or they could also ask follow up questions...
 
I'm actually quite excited for the MMI type interview, I personally think it'll be a nice change from the standard interview style.

mindbone said:
This MMI business is stirring up quite the butterfly party in my stomach.

If they actually want us to talk for seven minutes straight regarding one scenario... that is going to be one in-depth scenario. Maybe I should start honing my rambling skills.
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justinbains132 said:
I'm actually quite excited for the MMI type interview, I personally think it'll be a nice change from the standard interview style.
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To be honest I'm excited for the change too. Excited, but still ridiculously nervous. I never did like how you were supposed to impress someone in 25 minutes. At least we get an hour and a half to do that now!
 
ht2010 said:
about the MMI,

Do you know if the interviewer actively participates while you answer? I mean for example, will the interviewer ask you questions to elaborate, or do they just stare at you while you answer haha. Im not sure if id be able to continue talking without some feedback for all 7 minutes lol.
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hehehe yes that would be nerve racking, but i believe that they don't participate that much while you are responding (so i've heard from my pharmacy friends), but they could definitely ask you follow up questions...and i don't think they want you have to talk for the entire time cuz you could get repetitive...
 
So to give you guys a run down of how the mmi was practiced in the pre-pharmacy club's, i don't actually know if this is how UBC will time it, but:

you get around 2 minute to read the questions to be asked to you which will be posted on the door outside the room

you go in for around 5 minutes
the first 45 seconds the interview will read the question to you again.

you should try for practice your questions for 1:30 minutes when you are doing it by yourself, because you usually take longer to answer when you are in the interview, so that would stretch your answers to around 2 minutes, also since you get to know your questions before hand, you can split your time, just make sure they have time to ask you both questions.

also they can't ask you any follow up. or at least we weren't suppose to , and they didn't last year, because it would be unfair to other candidates since not everyone will be asked the same follow up.
but if you run out of things to say i think they ask you if you have anything else to add.

then you get to go and read the next question on the next door.

but really...i don't think its that long.

good luck to you all.
 
you'd be surprised how fast 7 minutes pass by when you are talking

i also dont understand how ppl with amazing GPA could have low PCAT marks.

Does anyone have any information on correlative success based on PCAT
and correlative success in Pharmacy school based on GPA? I would think PCAT should weigh a lot more because it is standardized, while a person could get a very high GPA taking "easier" courses with profs. Just my 2 cents
 
ksksks said:
you'd be surprised how fast 7 minutes pass by when you are talking

i also dont understand how ppl with amazing GPA could have low PCAT marks.

Does anyone have any information on correlative success based on PCAT
and correlative success in Pharmacy school based on GPA? I would think PCAT should weigh a lot more because it is standardized, while a person could get a very high GPA taking "easier" courses with profs. Just my 2 cents
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come on.. we are all ubc students (most of us). we all know some profs are easy, some are hard.. it's not a surprise to have people with high GPA failing PCAT.

on the other hand, you can't make it worth too much, cuz some people are not good at taking tests. from what i know, PCAT worth ~10%.

but PCAT+GPA gets you the interview which worth 30%. (grade alone worth 50%.)

so.. PCAT does play a definite role in getting you into the school.
 
PCAT worth wayyy too little imo
i heard the values change once you get accepted to interview



Druid said:
come on.. we are all ubc students (most of us). we all know some profs are easy, some are hard.. it's not a surprise to have people with high GPA failing PCAT.

on the other hand, you can't make it worth too much, cuz some people are not good at taking tests. from what i know, PCAT worth ~10%.

but PCAT+GPA gets you the interview which worth 30%. (grade alone worth 50%.)

so.. PCAT does play a definite role in getting you into the school.
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Are people in the faculty of land and food systems still able to apply for pharmacy? What about arts or forestry?
 
Pineapplesss said:
i believe the PCAT is worth even less after the interview
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yes i am aware thank you for the information 😛
heard that its insignificant after you get the interview
 
Pineapplesss said:
i believe the PCAT is worth even less after the interview
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ksksks said:
yes i am aware thank you for the information 😛
heard that its insignificant after you get the interview
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So what do they base admission on after the interview then? Is it primarily on the MMI scores considering that your PCAT and your GPA got you into the interview? I am hoping so because I have a high PCAT but my GPA is on the lower end of their usual range.
 
lllix said:
So what do they base admission on after the interview then? Is it primarily on the MMI scores considering that your PCAT and your GPA got you into the interview? I am hoping so because I have a high PCAT but my GPA is on the lower end of their usual range.
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In the past I believe it has been heavily weighted on the interview score and GPA post interview although I could be wrong. PCAT is nearly insignificant once they give out interviews I think.
 
spudly said:
In the past I believe it has been heavily weighted on the interview score and GPA post interview although I could be wrong. PCAT is nearly insignificant once they give out interviews I think.
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30 interview/50 GPA/10 PCAT/10 EC + ref is what the consensus seems to be from many students around
 
ksksks said:
30 interview/50 GPA/10 PCAT/10 EC + ref is what the consensus seems to be from many students around
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Wow, that's encouraging... 10% only for EC + ref 👎
 
femmefatale said:
Wow, that's encouraging... 10% only for EC + ref 👎
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Yeah, considering the amount of time and effort I spent compiling phone numbers for my resume and the like, I am kind of annoyed that our references, work experience, etc. really doesn't mean very much to them in the long run.
 
Can someone please give me some ideas on what kind of ECs I shouuld have to make myself a more competetive applicant to UBC? I'm, planning on quitting my retail part time job and I want to get another one to replace it that can be potentially helpful in the application. Help please!?🙂
 
Hey, thanks soo much! highly appreciate it =)
 
bballa99 said:
Hey guys, although I'm not applying this year, here are 2 practice PCAT questions from DAL

http://pharmacy.dal.ca/Files/PracticeMMIMay2010.pdf

I'm not sure if it will help or not.
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I am intrigued by the second example about the airport run. It's hard to tell what they are expecting from you in this case without knowing what "Sara's" responses are like. I am assuming that they want to see you demonstrate professionalism and see how you interact with the character and that they will likely present some sort of conflict in the dialogue, but what this scenerio could entail is really beyond me...
 
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