Advice for upcoming freshman

[Blinkme323]

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First off, I want to thank a lot of you guys for being so helpful. I've finally settled on pharmacy for a career path, which is an accomplishment for someone as fickle as myself. Anyway, I plan on attending Widener University in the Fall. My parents want me home as long as possible and I got a full scholarship there so it fits the bill for now.

However, I don't plan on living in Philadelphia the rest of my life. I hate the congested city and cold winters. So, I will be transferring to a pharmacy school eventually. Right now my top picks are USC, UCSD, and Nova.

Obviously the California schools are extremely competitive to get into, so I want to make sure I am well prepared. Here are my stats now as a senior in high school:

1360 SAT (710/650)
3.97gpa

About half of the courses were honors. I took AP Statistics and got a 4 on the AP test. My school has a dual enrollment program, so I am currently enrolled in Political Science 120 and History 120 at a community college. Extracurriculars are a bit lacking outside of sports.

My work ethic hasn't been the best in the past, but I'm not as lazy anymore. I know that I am more then capable of pulling close to a 4.0gpa. Will grades alone be enough to get into a school like USC. There will always be people out there who are better than me. It would probably be a good idea to get a job as a pharmacy tech as soon as possible. Outside of this, what can I do to distinguish myself from the thousands of other applicants?

Looking back on my time at high school, there is so much stuff that I wish I knew back in my freshman year. I'm sure the same goes for college. What advice do you have for me? What would you have done differently if you could do it over again?

If I know that I want to be a pharmacist before starting college and have 9 credits under my belt, how long will it take me to get into one of those schools. Is a bachelor's degree pretty much required nowadays? I'm hoping for only 2yrs if it can be done. Also, what major would you suggest to best fulfill the prerequisites.

This forum has been a gold mine for information thus far. I really appreciate how helpful everyone has been. Thanks again, I can't say it enough.

 

[Lindsey129]

Hey!
Im a freshman in college and you sound just like me. Im trying to get things done in 2 years as well! Its hard work, but possible. Im having to take Organic Chemistry over the summer to be ready for the PCAT, but besides that its just a lot of cramming in of classes during the year.
I was Valedictorian of my high school class, and you sound like you are doing very well in high school as well. I had never made a B until this semester because college is so much different then high school. I still have a 3.7 in college, but know how much harder I have to try to keep it up. Just be sure to manage your time very well, since you will have so many hard classes all at once.
Also, make sure you check exactly what the schools you want to go to require so that you dont take any classes you dont need, since you really dont have time for extras. If the school requires about 60-70 pre-requsite hours, its definitely possible in 2 years.
Im still learning, since i've only been through one semester, but thats what I've learned so far. Hope it helped!
Good Luck!
If I think of anything else that would be helpful, I'll let ya know!

 

[GreyFox2002]

First off, I want to thank a lot of you guys for being so helpful. I've finally settled on pharmacy for a career path, which is an accomplishment for someone as fickle as myself. Anyway, I plan on attending Widener University in the Fall. My parents want me home as long as possible and I got a full scholarship there so it fits the bill for now.

However, I don't plan on living in Philadelphia the rest of my life. I hate the congested city and cold winters. So, I will be transferring to a pharmacy school eventually. Right now my top picks are USC, UCSD, and Nova.

Obviously the California schools are extremely competitive to get into, so I want to make sure I am well prepared. Here are my stats now as a senior in high school:

1360 SAT (710/650)
3.97gpa

About half of the courses were honors. I took AP Statistics and got a 4 on the AP test. My school has a dual enrollment program, so I am currently enrolled in Political Science 120 and History 120 at a community college. Extracurriculars are a bit lacking outside of sports.

My work ethic hasn't been the best in the past, but I'm not as lazy anymore. I know that I am more then capable of pulling close to a 4.0gpa. Will grades alone be enough to get into a school like USC. There will always be people out there who are better than me. It would probably be a good idea to get a job as a pharmacy tech as soon as possible. Outside of this, what can I do to distinguish myself from the thousands of other applicants?

Looking back on my time at high school, there is so much stuff that I wish I knew back in my freshman year. I'm sure the same goes for college. What advice do you have for me? What would you have done differently if you could do it over again?

If I know that I want to be a pharmacist before starting college and have 9 credits under my belt, how long will it take me to get into one of those schools. Is a bachelor's degree pretty much required nowadays? I'm hoping for only 2yrs if it can be done. Also, what major would you suggest to best fulfill the prerequisites.

This forum has been a gold mine for information thus far. I really appreciate how helpful everyone has been. Thanks again, I can't say it enough.

Do yourself a favor an earn a bachelor's degree, preferably in the sciences. Take advanced science courses besides the pre-reqs, it will prepare for the rigors of pharmacy school. Also, a B.S. is a good backup plan to enter a graduate program if pharmacy just doesn't work out. You sound smart enough to get in though. Biochemistry is generally the most well-rounded, and most pharmacologically-relevant degree program. It is also more challenging than biology, so it looks better (sorry bio majors 😛)

Good luck.

 

[GatorRxGirl]

Word of advice: make shorter posts. I do enough reading for class. 🙂

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

GatorRxGirl must be back in class again!! One of my professors once told me a story about a friend of his. He said his friend was applying to Harvard Law or somewhere of the caliber and he had to write an essay. The essay topic was why should we admit you to Harvard Law. His answer, "I am concise". My professor told us he got in.

On a separate note, since you are attending a school that does not have a pharmacy school, pick a course of study you enjoy, fit in your pre-reqs, take the PCAT, and apply to programs you are interested in. You're in college now and since you aren't in a 0+6 program, your HS stats really don't matter much.

Best of luck!

 

[penguins429]

I think the most important thing for you to do right now is gain experience, to make sure this is definitely something you want to do ... out of high school, I wanted to be a chemical engineer major ... why? - i dont know ... i just had a hunch that I might like it (i was wrong - i hated it) ... and i wasted more than enough time trying to make myself like it, just because i thought it was too late to change ... so make sure this is where you want to be ...
Also, high school is a lot different than college ... back in high school, i was the perfect student ... tons of ec's, gpa 4.0... AP scholar with distinction, all AP/honors classes, etc, etc, etc ... now 4 years later, I am struggling to get accepted to pharmacy schools ... why? ... there are a ton of distractions in college that i never had to deal with in high school (and i'm not talking about clubs and ec's) ... parties on monday nights, parties on tuesday nights, girls, parties on wednesday nights, thirsty thursday, etc, etc, etc ... I know if i tried harder, i couldve done a whole lot better, but the distractions killed me

basically-- dont lose sight of youre goals ... if you want to be a pharmacist, and you are sure of it, dont let all the other crap that youre going to face get in the way of that: study hard, do well, and you won't have a problem getting in ...

 

[Blinkme323]

Thanks for the replies, hell thanks for even reading that long post. I looked into Widener University and they have a special pre-med program which fits exactly what I was looking for. It is a basically a biology major with plenty of free electives that can be completely in 3yrs. After that, it's just a matter of getting accepted to UCSD or USC.

Also, somebody sent me a pm about this site: Looks to be very helpful, I'll definitely make use of it in the future while selecting classes..

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/index.jsp

 

[Lindsey129]

Another really good website for selecting teachers is www.profeval.com
Definitely use something for the pre-req classes because teachers can vary a lot in difficulty.

 

[omnione]

Here is some advice I would have told myself five years ago:

1. Don't let personal issues weigh you down and get help from someone-These issues can really affect your GPA if you let them linger.

2. Get to know your professors-You don't have to sign up to work in their lab group, but the interaction needs to be more than "when will you post grades" random stuff. Since these people will be your potential LOR sources, you need to distinguish yourself from hundreds of your classmates

3. Don't overexert yourself-my GPA started to slide when I started to work part-time for the first time in my life, stayed at home more to help my parents, and took a demanding leadership position with an active student organization. Some people can handle the workload, some people can't. You just have to find your limits. Though it would be super to have a 90+ PCAT, 4.0 GPA, multiple published papers, class presidency, hundreds of hours as a pharmacy tech, and multiple shawdowing experiences, you don't need all of that to get into pharmacy school. Though I would have kept doing my lab position and organization presidency I had the chance to do it over again, I overestimated myself anyway.

4. You are now in college- Neither the college nor the pharmacy schools you will apply to give a darn about your high school performance. I took too long to adjust.

5. Get some pharmacy experience. Even if you just have some shadowing experience, that's something that shows schools that you are familiar with the environment. Don't go overboard, but I wish I would have at least shadowed more.

I hope this helps!