It is harder to get in Pharmacy school than Dental?

i would disagree.

food4thots said:

i would disagree.

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As would I

I think med schools are the most competitive, even though they have 100+ US schools, there is a much higher demand so it becomes extremely competitive. Plus the MCAT is way harder then the DAT (having taken both).

Then it's dentistry and then pharm and vet schools.

This is not a rank in terms of prestige, wage, etc, just commenting on my theory of health care profession levels of competitiveness.

howui3 said:

I think med schools are the most competitive, even though they have 100+ US schools, there is a much higher demand so it becomes extremely competitive. Plus the MCAT is way harder then the DAT (having taken both).

Then it's dentistry and then pharm and vet schools.

This is not a rank in terms of prestige, wage, etc, just commenting on my theory of health care profession levels of competitiveness.

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Getting off the point a bit...
I would say this is the order...
Vet, med, dent, pharm.

Vet school is difficult because there are SO FEW.

That being said... Getting into dental school is much harder than pharm. Why? Most pharm schools will allow you to apply straight from a CC.

I've heard that Pharmacy is difficult to get into simply because so many people apply to it. I'm not saying that the entrance exams are more difficult or the pre-reqs more elaborate...I'm just looking at it from the perspective of the number of applicants applying. It just seems like its a little more difficult to make yourself stand out in a crowd that large.

SuperC said:

Getting off the point a bit...
I would say this is the order...
Vet, med, dent, pharm.

Vet school is difficult because there are SO FEW.

That being said... Getting into dental school is much harder than pharm. Why? Most pharm schools will allow you to apply straight from a CC.

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I have to agree that vet is the hardest, also because the insurance is much lower as are lawsuits etc.

I think it depends on the pharmacy school. For example, at Rutgers in NJ the pharmacy school is extremely competitive and you get in after high school. It's almost impossible to get in if you're already in college and transfer.

Med is slightly more competitive than dental, but only buy about 10% (when comparing the number of applicants to those admitted to those applied. For med~48%, dental~58%. However, take to mind that the latest stats I found for dental school were for 2003 numbers and the notions I get from interviewing are more applicants applied this year than last year--so the gap between med and dental are closing.

Reason why: In 2005 about 37364 applicants for med and of those, 17978 were accepted (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/2005summary.htm).

For dental schools in 2003 , an estimated 7987 applied and of those 4618 were matriculated as 1st year dental students (http://www.adea.org/DEPR/2004_Dental_Ed_At_A_Glance.pdf)

L8DYV said:

Med is slightly more competitive than dental, but only buy about 10% (when comparing the number of applicants to those admitted to those applied. For med~48%, dental~58%. However, take to mind that the latest stats I found for dental school were for 2003 numbers and the notions I get from interviewing are more applicants applied this year than last year--so the gap between med and dental are closing.

Reason why: In 2005 about 37364 applicants for med and of those, 17978 were accepted (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/2005summary.htm).

For dental schools in 2003 , an estimated 7987 applied and of those 4618 were matriculated as 1st year dental students (http://www.adea.org/DEPR/2004_Dental_Ed_At_A_Glance.pdf)

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Well i have a friend that is going to Pharmacy next year, has a 2.8 gpa and was 50% on the pcat.... So i believe pharmacy school is really quite easy to get into

L8DYV said:

Med is slightly more competitive than dental, but only buy about 10% (when comparing the number of applicants to those admitted to those applied. For med~48%, dental~58%. However, take to mind that the latest stats I found for dental school were for 2003 numbers and the notions I get from interviewing are more applicants applied this year than last year--so the gap between med and dental are closing.

Reason why: In 2005 about 37364 applicants for med and of those, 17978 were accepted (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/2005summary.htm).

For dental schools in 2003 , an estimated 7987 applied and of those 4618 were matriculated as 1st year dental students (http://www.adea.org/DEPR/2004_Dental_Ed_At_A_Glance.pdf)

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plus you got to factor in the MCAT vs. DAT. I think it is much harder to get 90th percentile in the MCAT (in all sections) then 90th percentile in the DAT (also counting all sections).

[/QUOTE]For dental schools in 2003 , an estimated 7987 applied and of those 4618 were matriculated as 1st year dental students (http://www.adea.org/DEPR/2004_Dental_Ed_At_A_Glance.pdf)[/QUOTE]

It sure was easier 3 years ago. I think there were about 12000+ applicants this last cycle with only a couple of new schools opened since then. It all depends on what your definition of competitive is and yes, I can piss farther than all you pharm students.

L8DYV said:

Med is slightly more competitive than dental, but only buy about 10% (when comparing the number of applicants to those admitted to those applied. For med~48%, dental~58%. However, take to mind that the latest stats I found for dental school were for 2003 numbers and the notions I get from interviewing are more applicants applied this year than last year--so the gap between med and dental are closing.

Reason why: In 2005 about 37364 applicants for med and of those, 17978 were accepted (http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/2005summary.htm).

For dental schools in 2003 , an estimated 7987 applied and of those 4618 were matriculated as 1st year dental students (http://www.adea.org/DEPR/2004_Dental_Ed_At_A_Glance.pdf)

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well, you also have to consider that the applicants are different. it's not like the same people with the same scores applied to both and here are the percentages of acceptances. assuming that mcats are more difficult than dats: if those 7987 students that applied to dent school took the mcats and applied to med school, chances are that there would be less than 4618 accepted.

FebDAT said:

I am very curious about this. What do you guys think? Many people claimed that it is way harder to get in Pharmacy school than Dental.

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lol........I highly disagree with this statement. I don't know about the states, but in Canada, pharmacy is so easy to get into, while dentistry is extremely difficult to get in.

At my school (UBC), people get into the pharmacy program after their first year (30 credits) and they admit so many applicants (around 120) each year. For dentistry, we only admit 40 each year, and you need to complete at least 90 credits and have at least a 3.7 to be considered competitive. Then there's the east coast schools, U of T and McGill, which is next to impossible to get in unless you get straight A throughout your undergrad.

E. coli said:

lol........I highly disagree with this statement. I don't know about the states, but in Canada, pharmacy is so easy to get into, while dentistry is extremely difficult to get in.

At my school (UBC), people get into the pharmacy program after their first year (30 credits) and they admit so many applicants (around 120) each year. For dentistry, we only admit 40 each year, and you need to complete at least 90 credits and have at least a 3.7 to be considered competitive. Then there's the east coast schools, U of T and McGill, which is next to impossible to get in unless you get straight A throughout your undergrad.

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let's use some logic here. Anyone can take a pill to kill themselves. But, it takes more practice with nitrous and a drill. Therefore, dentistry would be harder to get into by default.

this is what a kaplan rep told me:
MCAT=most grueling b/c it is 8 hours
DAT=most difficult based on content alone (beats the MCAT believe it or not)
PCAT=easiest based on content and format

as far as applying to and getting accepted to the schools:
VET>MED>DENT>PHARM>NURS

lovechild404 said:

this is what a kaplan rep told me:
MCAT=most grueling b/c it is 8 hours
DAT=most difficult based on content alone (beats the MCAT believe it or not)
PCAT=easiest based on content and format

as far as applying to and getting accepted to the schools:
VET>MED>DENT>PHARM>NURS

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i think mcat's are tougher b/c of the format.. i would hate to read passage after passage..

pharmacy is hands down easier to get into then dental folks... My school has ALOT of pre-pharm students.... I made C+'s in Ochem and barely studied... I literally had no motivation at all when takin this class. While all the pre-pharm people i was taking this with were barely passing... And somehow almost all of them go accepted to pharm school this year, which blows my mind, with 40-50 percentile on the Pcats. I heard pharm school sucks though, ALOT of chemistry classes basicly... If u hate chemistry, like i do, i would not reccomend pharm school... But if u want a pretty damn easy job, with decent pay, 80k+ and PLENTY of jobs, pharm is the way to go

FebDAT said:

I am very curious about this. What do you guys think? Many people claimed that it is way harder to get in Pharmacy school than Dental.

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Obviously none of you guyz know anything about pharmacy. UBC pharmacy is becoming much more competitive than most of you think. Last year, 120 students were accepted out of about 600 students who applied (the number of students applying have been increasing by 100 every year). If you do the calculations, thats about 20% chance of getting in. 90% of the class is going for either med/dent, so just think about how competitive it is. Its a steady backup plan fo r people goin for med/dent, cause u basically learn a big chunk of wat med students learn so ur prepared when u get into med (dun hafta carry drug books around and memorize differnet drug names cause u kno them already), and if you don't get in, uve got a steady paid profession already! So even though the exam/interview process for pharmacy is not as tough as dent, you've gotta consider the people that you're competing against as well. I've got a friend who was in pharm for the first two years, and switched over to dent- and guess wat-she said that dent was way easier than pharm. This is cause they've changed the pharm curriculum so that there's like 40 credits per year (more than dent which is 37). Ultimately, the harder the program, the tougher the competition, the harder it is to get in. When you're going into pharm ur competing against premed and predent and ppl who just wanna be pharmacists... and thats why its so hard.

refukk said:

Obviously none of you guyz know anything about pharmacy. UBC pharmacy is becoming much more competitive than most of you think. Last year, 120 students were accepted out of about 600 students who applied (the number of students applying have been increasing by 100 every year). If you do the calculations, thats about 20% chance of getting in. 90% of the class is going for either med/dent, so just think about how competitive it is. Its a steady backup plan fo r people goin for med/dent, cause u basically learn a big chunk of wat med students learn so ur prepared when u get into med (dun hafta carry drug books around and memorize differnet drug names cause u kno them already), and if you don't get in, uve got a steady paid profession already! So even though the exam/interview process for pharmacy is not as tough as dent, you've gotta consider the people that you're competing against as well. I've got a friend who was in pharm for the first two years, and switched over to dent- and guess wat-she said that dent was way easier than pharm. This is cause they've changed the pharm curriculum so that there's like 40 credits per year (more than dent which is 37). Ultimately, the harder the program, the tougher the competition, the harder it is to get in. When you're going into pharm ur competing against premed and predent and ppl who just wanna be pharmacists... and thats why its so hard.

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You don't know what you're talking about. Go back and read the thread again and then look at the applicants to accepted ratios for dental. 120 out of 600 for pharmacy (that would be nice); how about ~85 to 1500-2000 for dental for most programs, especially last year and for the next few years. 37 Credits for dental? What program are you talking about? Most schools are at least 44 credits a year if not more. I know someone who is in pharm school in Cinci and he works 20 hours a week at a hospital pharmacy as well as going to school. They are both difficult educations, but one dispenses drugs (and counts pills , the other actually treats patients and prescribes medication... Big difference.

refukk said:

Obviously none of you guyz know anything about pharmacy. UBC pharmacy is becoming much more competitive than most of you think. Last year, 120 students were accepted out of about 600 students who applied (the number of students applying have been increasing by 100 every year). If you do the calculations, thats about 20% chance of getting in. 90% of the class is going for either med/dent, so just think about how competitive it is. Its a steady backup plan fo r people goin for med/dent, cause u basically learn a big chunk of wat med students learn so ur prepared when u get into med (dun hafta carry drug books around and memorize differnet drug names cause u kno them already), and if you don't get in, uve got a steady paid profession already! So even though the exam/interview process for pharmacy is not as tough as dent, you've gotta consider the people that you're competing against as well. I've got a friend who was in pharm for the first two years, and switched over to dent- and guess wat-she said that dent was way easier than pharm. This is cause they've changed the pharm curriculum so that there's like 40 credits per year (more than dent which is 37). Ultimately, the harder the program, the tougher the competition, the harder it is to get in. When you're going into pharm ur competing against premed and predent and ppl who just wanna be pharmacists... and thats why its so hard.

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So you are referring to university of british columbia? well, that is ONE pharmacy school. comparing dental schools, UCSF, UCLA and UOP have about ~2000 applicants EACH (more or less) and the spots available are ~80, 88 and 140 respectively. So, in that sense, in NO WAY IS PHARMACY MORE COMPETITIVE THAN DENTAL.

why don't you research the nationwide numbers of those who apply and those who get in? that will give you a ROUGH estimate of the percentages(assuming everyone in the applicant population have an equal and random chance. and for all you technical junkies who think all factors must need to be considered--this is a crude way to do it--since i'm not a pollster or statistician) I am sure you will see that dental accepts percentage wise fewer applicants that pharm!

Who cares which program is more competitive?? It's on an individual basis. Depends on what you excelled in through college.

Rook said:

How is it that VET school is more competitive then Med?? That is incredibly counter intuitive...What is your reasoning behind that? I would have guessed Med>Dent>Vet>Pharm...
i'm really interested to know about Vet's competitiveness: Please...anyone with input...I'd appreciate it
Thnks

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yea, i would hope the doctors of the future who treat me and my family in the future are held to much higher standards than my cat.

Rook said:

How is it that VET school is more competitive then Med?? That is incredibly counter intuitive...What is your reasoning behind that? I would have guessed Med>Dent>Vet>Pharm...
i'm really interested to know about Vet's competitiveness: Please...anyone with input...I'd appreciate it
Thnks

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The ratio of applicants to availible positions is much higher for Vet school then Med school

I can't compare it to other tests, b/c I haven't taken them, but I took the PCAT a couple years ago, before I had O-Chem or Physics and I scored pretty well. I can't remember my reading section score but biology= 77%, chemisty = 85 and quantitative analysis = 92. I used Baron's study guide to the PCAT and didn't even take it out of the wrapping until 2 days before the test. It seemed to be more of a concentration test than anything else. The actual facts you needed to know were very basic. It was just important that you stayed focused and didn't lose your concentration after a couple hours.

lol...that's all i have to say

some pharm schools don't even require you to take the pcat.

refukk said:

Obviously none of you guyz know anything about pharmacy. UBC pharmacy is becoming much more competitive than most of you think. Last year, 120 students were accepted out of about 600 students who applied (the number of students applying have been increasing by 100 every year). If you do the calculations, thats about 20% chance of getting in. 90% of the class is going for either med/dent, so just think about how competitive it is. Its a steady backup plan fo r people goin for med/dent, cause u basically learn a big chunk of wat med students learn so ur prepared when u get into med (dun hafta carry drug books around and memorize differnet drug names cause u kno them already), and if you don't get in, uve got a steady paid profession already! So even though the exam/interview process for pharmacy is not as tough as dent, you've gotta consider the people that you're competing against as well. I've got a friend who was in pharm for the first two years, and switched over to dent- and guess wat-she said that dent was way easier than pharm. This is cause they've changed the pharm curriculum so that there's like 40 credits per year (more than dent which is 37). Ultimately, the harder the program, the tougher the competition, the harder it is to get in. When you're going into pharm ur competing against premed and predent and ppl who just wanna be pharmacists... and thats why its so hard.

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First year Dentistry at UBC is 59 credits, not 37.
Orientation 2 credits (don't ask)
PRIN (Principles of Human Anatomy) 12 credits
DPAS (Doctor, Patient, & Society) 6 credits
DENT (Introduction to Dentistry) 15 credits
FMED (Foundations of Medicine, 4 courses) 24 credits

Ok, its 2AM and im on SDN (addicted)... Anyways, people, pharm is WAY easier to get into then dental. Im working at CVS this summer as an intern (Lied to the manager telling them that im a pre-pharm major, just because pharm techs get paid $10-12 an hour, and they are training me to become a pharm tech). Its easy ass work being a pharmacist... Seriously, they basically dont do ****. I have sooooo many friends that are going to pharm school and literally, they have a GPA of 2.8 and 50% on the pcat. You want a solid backup? Pharmacy is the way to go. You will have a secure job for the rest of your life, getting paid 80k right outta school, and havin the opportunity of becoming a a pharmacy manager, district, or regional manager. You want to make 150k a year, and not work much? Go to pharmacy school, become a pharmacist, and work 2 years while getting your MBA part time. You will be an Rph with an MBA. You will easily be a regional manager for a retail pharmacist. I recommend this as a back up plan for all my fellow pre-dents out there. Its mine! I will take the dat in August, and probably take the Pcat in october (extra studying in calc). This is my backup plan, and its guaranteed folks! Hands down, Pharm is WAYYYYYYYYY easier then Dental. Just my 2 cents

golfmontpoker said:

Ok, its 2AM and im on SDN (addicted)... Anyways, people, pharm is WAY easier to get into then dental. Im working at CVS this summer as an intern (Lied to the manager telling them that im a pre-pharm major, just because pharm techs get paid $10-12 an hour, and they are training me to become a pharm tech). Its easy ass work being a pharmacist... Seriously, they basically dont do ****. I have sooooo many friends that are going to pharm school and literally, they have a GPA of 2.8 and 50% on the pcat. You want a solid backup? Pharmacy is the way to go. You will have a secure job for the rest of your life, getting paid 80k right outta school, and havin the opportunity of becoming a a pharmacy manager, district, or regional manager. You want to make 150k a year, and not work much? Go to pharmacy school, become a pharmacist, and work 2 years while getting your MBA part time. You will be an Rph with an MBA. You will easily be a regional manager for a retail pharmacist. I recommend this as a back up plan for all my fellow pre-dents out there. Its mine! I will take the dat in August, and probably take the Pcat in october (extra studying in calc). This is my backup plan, and its guaranteed folks! Hands down, Pharm is WAYYYYYYYYY easier then Dental. Just my 2 cents

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As a pre-pharmacy student who actually WANTS to become a pharmacist i am a little disheartened by your post. I do believe dental school is more competitive than pharmacy school, but you're making it seem like you can waltz right into pharmacy school with a subpar GPA. My local state pharmacy school has an average GPA of 3.68 and an average Pcat of 86 for entering freshman. Many other pharmacy schools are even more competitive than this.

Also, if you truly want to be a dentist then concentrate on doing well on the DAT instead of preparing for the "backup plan." The way you spoke about pharmacy, and your perception on pharmacists in general, shows me you aren't interested in the field. I guess what i'm trying to say is this: if you really want to be a dentist then study hard and stay motivated and eventually you will get in. Save the spot in pharmacy school for someone who is passionate about the field of pharmacy (yes, those people actually exist) because you obviously lack enthusiasm regarding this profession.

golfmontpoker said:

Ok, its 2AM and im on SDN (addicted)... Anyways, people, pharm is WAY easier to get into then dental. Im working at CVS this summer as an intern (Lied to the manager telling them that im a pre-pharm major, just because pharm techs get paid $10-12 an hour, and they are training me to become a pharm tech). Its easy ass work being a pharmacist... Seriously, they basically dont do ****. I have sooooo many friends that are going to pharm school and literally, they have a GPA of 2.8 and 50% on the pcat. You want a solid backup? Pharmacy is the way to go. You will have a secure job for the rest of your life, getting paid 80k right outta school, and havin the opportunity of becoming a a pharmacy manager, district, or regional manager. You want to make 150k a year, and not work much? Go to pharmacy school, become a pharmacist, and work 2 years while getting your MBA part time. You will be an Rph with an MBA. You will easily be a regional manager for a retail pharmacist. I recommend this as a back up plan for all my fellow pre-dents out there. Its mine! I will take the dat in August, and probably take the Pcat in october (extra studying in calc). This is my backup plan, and its guaranteed folks! Hands down, Pharm is WAYYYYYYYYY easier then Dental. Just my 2 cents

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Why would you make pharmacy your backup plan if as you say, its all about chemistry and you hate chemistry so much? It sounds like a recipe to make yourself miserable. Especially if your planning on working retail, dont delude yourself, you will be working...

I agree that Vet school is harder to get into than medical school. Most states have only one school, a lot have none, and many schools will not accept you as out of state if you have a vet school in your state. A friend of mine went to vet school at MSU, he told me that his undergrad GPA was a 3.8, and even then he barely squeeked in.

Dental is fast becoming hard to get into because of the great numbers of applicants. Previous pre-meds are seeing that you make CA$H after only 4 years rather than 8. Unfortunatly this leads to schools taking students that have great GPA, but no clinical or personal skills. U of OK just had a bunch of teachers quit mainly for that reason.

DownonthePharm said:

Why would you make pharmacy your backup plan if as you say, its all about chemistry and you hate chemistry so much? It sounds like a recipe to make yourself miserable. Especially if your planning on working retail, dont delude yourself, you will be working...

I agree that Vet school is harder to get into than medical school. Most states have only one school, a lot have none, and many schools will not accept you as out of state if you have a vet school in your state. A friend of mine went to vet school at MSU, he told me that his undergrad GPA was a 3.8, and even then he barely squeeked in.

Dental is fast becoming hard to get into because of the great numbers of applicants. Previous pre-meds are seeing that you make CA$H after only 4 years rather than 8. Unfortunatly this leads to schools taking students that have great GPA, but no clinical or personal skills. U of OK just had a bunch of teachers quit mainly for that reason.

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I know the gpa and pcat requirement in texas is quite high... I am not gonna knock pharmacy students its tough just like dentistry.

hockeydentist said:

I know the gpa and pcat requirement in texas is quite high... I am not gonna knock pharmacy students its tough just like dentistry.

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Definately... Pharmacy school is tough from what my friends have said. Im just baseing my assumptions on my experiances. Maybe they dont go to really prestigous schools, but they got in quite easily. Im sorry if i came off rude at all about pharmacy being a backup, im just saying its a pretty good back up plan money wise... You guys are right though, i might end up being misserable if i go to pharmacy school, which i have no plans to do at the moment

golfmontpoker said:

Well i have a friend that is going to Pharmacy next year, has a 2.8 gpa and was 50% on the pcat.... So i believe pharmacy school is really quite easy to get into

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Hey man, one pharmacy school does not represent us all. Oregon State only accepts 80 students per yr, and we had over a 1000 apps 2 yrs ago. We can all thank the PHARMCAST online application syst. for that.

taloddar2002 said:

As a pre-pharmacy student who actually WANTS to become a pharmacist i am a little disheartened by your post. I do believe dental school is more competitive than pharmacy school, but you're making it seem like you can waltz right into pharmacy school with a subpar GPA. My local state pharmacy school has an average GPA of 3.68 and an average Pcat of 86 for entering freshman. Many other pharmacy schools are even more competitive than this.

Also, if you truly want to be a dentist then concentrate on doing well on the DAT instead of preparing for the "backup plan." The way you spoke about pharmacy, and your perception on pharmacists in general, shows me you aren't interested in the field. I guess what i'm trying to say is this: if you really want to be a dentist then study hard and stay motivated and eventually you will get in. Save the spot in pharmacy school for someone who is passionate about the field of pharmacy (yes, those people actually exist) because you obviously lack enthusiasm regarding this profession.

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I understand your frustration. No one seems to understand what exactly pharmacy is and what we do. Everyone thinks it's so easy and that any one can get in. Pharmacy is NOT at all as easy as people think. Most of us are so burnt out from the intesity, we can barely stand it. But, it's all good, cuz I can see the difference I make in peoples lives every time I work. We just have to remember that WE help manage the patients that leave the emergency room or are slowly dying of heart failure.

golfmontpoker said:

Definately... Pharmacy school is tough from what my friends have said. Im just baseing my assumptions on my experiances. Maybe they dont go to really prestigous schools, but they got in quite easily. Im sorry if i came off rude at all about pharmacy being a backup, im just saying its a pretty good back up plan money wise... You guys are right though, i might end up being misserable if i go to pharmacy school, which i have no plans to do at the moment

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If you don't want to do pharmacy, don't do it because it is NOT at all just medicinal chemstry. It is therapeutics, clincal practice, writing up the ying yang (patient monitoring, SOAP NOTES, business proposals, management, health care management start up plats, drug policy), PHARMACOKINETICS, literature evaluations, EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE, physical examinations, projects, rotations, and all the hoops you can jump through. I can actually add more to the list.

And yes.... you WILL WORK in a retail setting. Who wants to go through all that hardship for 6-7 years just to lose their liscence. You HAVE to stay on top of it or the Board of Pharmacy WILL get you. By the way, our program is 7 years unlike most other states.

oldboy said:

You don't know what you're talking about. Go back and read the thread again and then look at the applicants to accepted ratios for dental. 120 out of 600 for pharmacy (that would be nice); how about ~85 to 1500-2000 for dental for most programs, especially last year and for the next few years. 37 Credits for dental? What program are you talking about? Most schools are at least 44 credits a year if not more. I know someone who is in pharm school in Cinci and he works 20 hours a week at a hospital pharmacy as well as going to school. They are both difficult educations, but one dispenses drugs (and counts pills , the other actually treats patients and prescribes medication... Big difference.

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Umm, true... but you forget...the prescribers cant possibly keep track of all those medications now can they? What about duplicate prescriptions? medications errors? DUDE!! side effects? interactions? absorption? safety in pregnancy? Do all prescribers know how to educate their patients on proper use of medications?

So you're right, there is a big difference. The area of medicine is expanding, and physicians can no longer keep up.

Med school is definitely more difficult than dental school to get admitted to.

Even the MCAT exam is more difficult than the DAT. I think the DAT is easier than the MCAT, because the reading comp portion of the DAT is geared more towards science and hard-core facts/numbers. The MCAT reading comp consist of literature passages, things that don't pertain to medicine. I was quite surprised. Then, the MCAT has Physics on their test, whereas the DAT doesn't. I also looked at some of the MCAT science questions, and some questions required test-takers to read a small complex passage. Definitely MCAT takes the cake for being a tough exam.

Pharm school, I'd say is quite competitive, because all you do in pharm school is book work and study study study. Whereas in dentistry, you have to be good with your hands and have good hand skills. Dentistry is not only cleaning people's teeth and knowing the anatomical structure of the head, but also making crowns and partials. You can be a smart and intelligent student, but if you have crappy hand skills, you won't be a great dentist.

I'd say dentistry is BOTH medicine and art combined together, and no other health occupation is like dentistry!!!

On another note, since nobody has mentioned optometry school, how does optometry compare with dental school admissions in terms of competition?

golfmontpoker said:

Well i have a friend that is going to Pharmacy next year, has a 2.8 gpa and was 50% on the pcat.... So i believe pharmacy school is really quite easy to get into

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what the hell? where does your friend live?..we have to chat about this one...my one dream is to become a pharmacist!

so did he belong to a lot of extracurrucular activities and stuff?

there is no way anybody is going to convince the other with their argument. the thread just keeps going around in circles.

as far as competitiveness, it depends on the school!! the highest acceptance rate med school is going to be easier than the lowest pharmacy/dental/vet school acceptance and vice versa.

some pharmacy schools are more competitive than some med schools, as are some nursing schools more competitive than some vet schools.

and what difference does it really make, anyway?? you should still give the person a fat kiss for getting accepted into professional school.

In Louisiana there are only two pharmacy schools. Xavier of New Orleans receives on average 500 applicants and Monroe University receives around 300.
Each only accepts around 112 students. The average student accepted to Monroe University is a 3.5 GPA. My brother is currently on the wait list with a 3.5 GPA. As for Xavier, you're chances of getting in are 1 in every 100 since they accept their students first no matter what the GPA is.

well, does anyone know where to apply that is not sooo competetive? There has to be someplace...

ps. now i know why pharmacists are soo in need! no one wants to let them into schools!

I would say med>dental>pharm>opto. Pharm in Cali is hard to get in, UOP accept under 20%, while opto schools in cali accept around 30%

I just came across this information for the only two pharmacy schools in Louisiana. From my point of view it is just as hard to get into pharmacy school as dental. Monroe is a university in the middle of nowhere, while Xavier is located in a densely populted city.

Monroe Univeristy
2005 Applicant Statistics:

* 523 applications
* 273 applications from Louisiana
* 176 interviews were held (approximately 34% of applicants)
* 90 were accepted (approximately 51% of interviews)
* Cut-off GPA was 3.28
* Average GPA was 3.74

Xavier University of New Orleans
2005 Applicant Statistics:

* 1112 applications
* 667 applications from Louisiana
* 160 were accepted
* Cut-Off GPA was 2.5
* Average GPA was 3.10

Also, do not be fooled by the average GPA of Xavier University. Xavier is a private university with small classes, and they accept their students first over other institutions. If you apply to Xavier and you do not go to the school then you're chances are extremely slim.

And do not think you can transfer to Xavier and apply right away. There are specific requirements you have to meet in order to be a student that normally takes four semesters to complete.

SuperC said:

Getting off the point a bit...
I would say this is the order...
Vet, med, dent, pharm.

Vet school is difficult because there are SO FEW.

That being said... Getting into dental school is much harder than pharm. Why? Most pharm schools will allow you to apply straight from a CC.

Click to expand...

just from what i've seen and heard i would have to agree that vet school is very difficult to get into. then med school, the dental school, and to me, pharmacy school is extremely easy to get into. i have a friend who took two years of undergraduate coursework and did avg and she is now at pharm school. most of the people that have been applying to pharm school that i know of are all applying after their second year. hardly any of them are getting a degree, and most of them have already been accepted. yes a lot of people apply, but you have to take into account that half these people are the ones who couldnt get into to the first three schools, so they resort to pharmacy. im not saying anything bad about pharmacy, but this is a general trend i've noticed.