admittance with 45 credits at application time?

[nampa1]

I'm an older student starting undergrad full time this summer. I hope to do 22 this summer and 20 next and apply for fall 09 this december after fall grades come in. I hope to get organic, general and some bio done by then. I also have several years as a pharm tech.
If I get good grades and good pcat, what chance would I have for admittance.

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[tharper14]

22 credit hours in the summer

 

[tschu8482]

I'm an older student starting undergrad full time this summer. I hope to do 22 this summer and 20 next and apply for fall 09 this december after fall grades come in. I hope to get organic, general and some bio done by then. I also have several years as a pharm tech.
If I get good grades and good pcat, what chance would I have for admittance.

Im in the same boat as you, returning student w/ 7yrs long term care experience. Im going to take a little slower though aiming for fall 2010 admission. I figure balancing my coarsework with work and improving my app. is not something to be rushed.

 

[cdcase]

I would think that if you got good grades, a good PCAT score, and considering your years of tech experience you'd be competitive with any candidate. I took 20 credit hours this past fall, 24 hours this spring, and will be taking 5 credit hours in the summer and was admitted to pharmacy school for Fall 08; so it is very doable. Plus you have tech experience whereas i didn't. But out of curiousity...is it even possible to take 20 hours in the summer? Or did you mean for the fall? If you did mean in the summer, I would suggest thinking about stretching your schedule out over the summer, fall and next spring for admission in Fall 09.

 

[RxWildcat]

I understand wanting to finish school asap, but what you're talking about is pretty extreme. With taking so many classes in such a short amount of time, you're at a serious risk of really screwing up your GPA if you can't handle the courseload. Why not stretch it out over another year?

 

[nampa1]

i think i can handle it. Just worried about what the schools might think with so little time in school. also, i am not a matriculated student. I am a non-enrolled as they say.
i have decided to take less this summer, only 14 and 21 in the fall and spring with 18 in the summer 09. hoping to apply in 12 08 for fall 09. apply with 38 credits and have 63 by the time of matriculation.

 

[tharper14]

That's exactly what I did... you'll be fine.

 

[PrepharmKID]

I think you'd be fine. Do well on that PCAT though. That advice goes for myself as well. I'll have 50 by the time I apply and planning on having 68 pre-pharm credits at the end of spring 09.

On a different note, anyone have problems with their counselors at school? I have had some of the worst. Completely unhelpful. Mine actually told me I had to take chem 107 and chem 130 before taking 151. That set me back 2 semesters. Oh well, met all the girls taking the chemistry required for nursing school.

 

[tootoo30]

Yep I'm doing the same thing too, trying to cram alot of classes in one year. I am applying this December too. This spring I took 23 credit hours and did really good so now I know what I can handle. This summer I am taking 13 credit hours, so when I apply I will actually only have about 45 credits also. Just try it out and drop classes that you think are gonna take up alot of time and you may need to take during a regular term, other than that you should do just fine.

HTH

 

[PrepharmKID]

Hey tootoo what schools are you applying to?

 

[tootoo30]

Hey tootoo what schools are you applying to?

I'm only applying to one school Xavier. I have a good shot because I work there and thus know everyone that does the acceptance, plus my department VP is going to write me a letter of recommendation. How about you where are you applying?

 

[PrepharmKID]

Well my school of choice is Midwestern. Maybe the one in glendale. But I am going to apply to chicago location as well. Maybe UH Hilo? I love surfing so that would be nice. The other 2....wow totally slipped my mind....

I've taken pre-req's for both schools though. Just a rundown of what I've taken:

Eng101 and Eng102
O-chem I and II
Chem I and II
Brief Calc
Sociology
Psychology
Anthropology
Art(Photography)
Economics
Communication
Biology I and II
Human A&P I
Microbiology
PLus a ton of other humanities and general education

What I need are:
Human A&P
Calc I
Physics I
Statistics
World History
World Religions

I think that's it. I want to have as many as I can to help boost my gpa as well as give me more school options.

 

[tootoo30]

Well my school of choice is Midwestern. I live down the street from the one in glendale, az. But I am going to apply to chicago location as well. Maybe UH Hilo? I love surfing so that would be nice. The other 2....wow totally slipped my mind....

I've taken pre-req's for both schools though. Just a rundown of what I've taken:

Eng101 and Eng102
O-chem I and II
Chem I and II
Brief Calc
Sociology
Psychology
Anthropology
Art(Photography)
Economics
Communication
Biology I and II
Human A&P I
Microbiology
PLus a ton of other humanities and general education

What I need are:
Human A&P
Calc I
Physics I
Statistics
World History
World Religions

I think that's it. I want to have as many as I can to help boost my gpa as well as give me more school options.

Wow! Your way ahead of me. Here is what I have taken so far

General Biology I w/ Lab
General Chemistry I w/ Lab
English I
Precalculus Algebra
Medical Ethics
Theology
Speech
Microeconomics
Intro to Sociology
Elective

Summer Session
English II
Intro to Philosophy
Precalculus Trig
General Chemistry II w/ Lab

Fall Session
Organic Chemistry I w/ Lab
Microbiology
Calculus

Spring Session
General Biology II w/ Lab
General Physics I w/ Lab
Organic Chemistry II w/ Lab

After that I am done! I'm trying to plan my schedule so I get the summer before pharmacy school off

 

[PrepharmKID]

Right now though I am focusing on studying for the June PCAT exam. I took a short Vocab exam and scored an 84, a 74 on biology, but got a 68 on chemistry. That was without studying. I felt rushed through the chemistry cause I just drank a bunch of coffee. haha.

Good Job on your courses! You seem to be on the right track. Are you taking the June PCAT as well?

 

[tootoo30]

well to be honest, I'd rather be in your position kinda. I'm what they call a "life-time" learner. haha. I was going to school for business and got pretty bad grades. Then I decided pharmacy was the way to go. My counselor signed me up for several intro classes that dont even transfer though. Then about 3 semesters ago I started taking the actual pre-req's(while working full time, night shift). I had a 2.8 GPA prior to 3 semesters ago. So I think I am at a 3.03 right now. I'm hoping taking these remainder courses will bring me up to like a 3.2 or so(crossing fingers). My science GPA is 3.47, so that is good at least. Hopefully Human A&P II helps boost that as well.

Right now though I am focusing on studying for the June PCAT exam. I took a short Vocab exam and scored an 84, a 74 on biology, but got a 68 on chemistry. That was without studying. I felt rushed through the chemistry cause I just drank a bunch of coffee. haha.

Good Job on your courses! You seem to be on the right track. Are you taking the June PCAT as well?

Nope, Xavier does not require the PCAT so that's one less thing I have to worry about. I started out on a different path also and took a detour to pharmacy I actually have my BS in Computer Science and I have four classes left to receive my MS in Computer Science also, but decided to drop the master's program and focus on my prerequisites for pharmacy school, so don't feel bad, we live and we learn

 

[PrepharmKID]

I'm actually wondering if I will be able to take all those courses I said I need. So many.... Kinda freaking out. I HATE statistics and I HATE physics. Calculus will not be any more fun for me. Damn....

 

[tootoo30]

I took statistics during my undergrad for my BS and didn't like the class much either or maybe it was the teacher that was teaching the class making it harder than it needed to be at the time. Physics I'm saving for after I already apply because I'm not looking forward to that class either. I actually like math, go figure, I'm into classes that require computation because I know there is only ONE right answer to every problem.

 

[PrepharmKID]

well you're lucky you are done with those already. I heard physics isn't too bad at my local CC. I'm torn though cause I'm afraid my options for schools to apply are narrow cause I dont know if I will have pre-req's for all the schools. Schools say they require lets say 64 but another school might have different and additonal courses. so technically i'd have to take like 75 credits to cover all of my bases.

 

[tootoo30]

I know I think there should be some kind of regulation that sets the standard for all pharmacy schools. Running around trying to fullfill prerequisites for all those different schools would drive me crazy

 

[DoctorRx1986]

Personally, I found statistics to be very boring and dull. Most it was simply elementary school level math applied to probability and measures of central tendency along with other concepts. The only statistical tool I was taught and found useful and interesting is that of standard deviation, z-scores, bell curve, and Chebychev's theorem. Everything else, such as expected value, and probability, etc... did not appeal to me in the slighest. Ochem, on the other hand, is a beauty. So, for tootoo, if you haven't taken ochem yet, I hope you like chemistry and enjoy it. It will require substantial studying and effort, but you'll learn many interesting things about our good old friend, carbon.

 

[tootoo30]

Yeah I think I'm mentally prepared for ochem LOL

 

[PrepharmKID]

Yeah, I thought O-chem I was pretty hard. I got 40-44 out of 50 on the 4 exams. I ended up with my B. O-chem II was a lot easier I though. You weren't learning so much as applying what was taught in o-chem I.

 

[tootoo30]

Thanks for the heads up! I tried to schedule it so I wouldn't have alot going on at the time so I can focus