I am currently in my 3rd year of college at SUNY Buffalo and have a 2.7 GPA with a 47 PCAT composite score. I am currently applying to pharmacy schools and would like to know what grad schools I have a chance of getting into and what ill have to change in the one semester i have left to strengthen my chances. I also currently have an F in a history class do to missing lectures and recitation but hopefully will get that changed as i am speaking to the professor now. Thank you.
2.7 GPA and 47 PCAT
- Thread starter 994at
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You will have to do some research. Have you applied or are you applying? You have to to look for schools that accept at least a 2.7 GPA and your PCAT score. I suggest looking through every school in the US to increase your chances. Do you have a BA/BS that helps.
Good Luck
Good Luck
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AACP is a great resource. Click on the name of the school and you will be able to see what they require. For example, under "Program Statistics and Criteria" for my school I see:
- Minimum overall GPA considered: Overall GPA generally not reviewed.
- Minimum prerequisite GPA considered: 3.00 (preferred)
- Minimum composite PCAT score considered: 50 (preferred)
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It's good! We had a short break though. How have you been?
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Can't complain. Still on break here. Our last final was 12/17, and we don't start back up until 1/20.
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You'll be facing a very uphill battle. Unless there's evidence from grades, PCAT, and/or extracurriculars that suggests a capacity to succeed in pharmacy school, you'll have a tough time convincing adcoms that you'd be a good fit.
Why are both your grades and your PCAT low? What has changed that would indicate that you would succeed in pharmacy school? Do you have any outstanding extracurriculars?
Let us know how your application cycle progresses. Where are you looking at applying?
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Must be nice. Our last final was 12/19 and we came back 1/5. But I knew it was a relatively intensive program going in, so I guess I can't complain too much.
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Hmm, i got a 2.75 cumulative GPA. I recieved a 77 on my pcat. I was accepted into d'youville. Dont be discouraged.
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Oh boy..... I don't know.
op you sure you want 4 more years?...looks like you struggled with the first 4
op you sure you want 4 more years?...looks like you struggled with the first 4
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To the OP:
apply broadly and to as many schools as possible w focus on new and private schools w high tuition where competition is less. There are 142 pharmacy schools now at the end of Jan ' 15 and more are still in the process of opening. IMHO, the more you wait, the more chance for you to get in, i.e. if not this cycle, you will get in next cycle because there are more schools going to be there in the future thus more seats/opening slots available. Therefore, you should take more time to build up your stats if you would like to get in good/established schools. The fastest and cheapest way to rebuild your stats and increase your chance of acceptance to pharmacy schools is to retake the PCAT. Retake the PCAT if you could and try to aim for 70s or more (e.g. like you see here that @Rxasian585 got in w similar stats). If you are retaking the PCAT, buy Dr. Collins (as the consensus is that is the best PCAT prep material) and go to the PCAT forum for more advice how to study for the test.
I think you might still get in. At the this time, you might already apply for PharmCAS deadline. There is still March deadline. There are plenty of schools where avg PCAT for acceptance is 50s percentile (or less). I personally see many examples where people got in good/established schools w 2ish GPA and/or 10 - 20s PCAT. Some report there are cases where the PCAT is in the single digit (yes like 5 percentile for an example).
buffing up your app with good LORs / EC + personal essay, and you are good to go.
You might also need to do more research about the current state of saturation in pharmacy and the job market and where things are heading. Because of nonstop school opening, while it is getting easier for people with your stats to gain acceptance for pharm schools, the fact that there are more and more schools means the market is flooded with more and more rx grads. Job market is not growing while the number of grads are exponentially increasing. There are 14 - 21K grads graduating from 140s schools annually while there are only ~ 5K jobs per year according to the Bureau of Labor of Statistics which based their calculation on 2013 data. Wages start going down. More grads have to accept part time or per-diem jobs. Working conditions for pharmacists, esp. in retail, are deteriorating as employers are taking advantage of the saturation in pharmacy
But you need to do more DD/research about pharmacy to see for yourself. Volunteer/shadow/work in pharmacy and talk to pharmacists on and off line to gain more insights. You want to know everything there is about pharmacy, risks and rewards-wise to see if pharmacy is a good fit for your personal situation and make sure pharmacy is really the thing you want to do. Because you are going to invest 4 yrs of your life in pharmacy schools and take on an avg ~ 160 - 180K in student loans and possibly more time in post grad residency/training.
On the other hand, there are many alternative career choices that would not involve high student loans and long training time with equal and even better job prospects, compensation, and satisfaction (e.g. nursing/NP, PA, medicine, dentistry, software engineering, business/finance/accounting, plumbing, truck driving, car mechanics, etc). Explore more of what are out there for you. Pharmacy is not the only thing one can do to make good money or gain job satisfaction as a career. So choose your career wisely !!
Keep us posted w your progress. GL 🙂
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Never give up, but have a backup plan. Also never go to an unaccredited school.
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