Advice please: Best route to pharmacy school

[pinkpharm]

Here's my situation:

I graduated HS in 2000 with 22 college credit hours (dual-enrollment courses with the community college). After graduation I moved away from home at the last minute and went to a community college in-state, basically bombed b/c I was lazy and unmotivated. Ended up working most of my time there. I got married in 2003 and moved out of state and started working in the criminal justice field full-time. Now, I'm in ANOTHER state, still working in the criminal justice field, re-married and set on being a pharmacist.

What options do I have? Am I only able to go to a community college due to my prior (albeit pathetic) credits from my past? Would I be able to try for a 4 year school for my pre-pharm (and if so, would a 4 year school increase my chances of getting into pharmacy school?) I plan on taking mass amounts of student loans out (which I was dead-set against before, but having a mapped out plan makes it justifiable to me) and trying to get a job as a pharmacy tech while in school to assist with tuition and living expenses.

Any help, suggestions, advice, opinions would be GREATLY appreciated!

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[shaolinRX]

It really depends on the schools that you plan on applying to. I went to a community college and was accepted to all the schools I applied to (no bachelors). Schools like USN have academic forgiveness, where you can retake many of the classes you bombed in your past and re-calculate your new GPA accordingly (ignoring the past scores)....or Western U. where they use the grade you most recently receive (you still have to post both). There are many institutions that unofficially require bachelors as almost all of their students have a bachelors of some sort, but with a little research you can find the right one for you. Also, you absolutely must check out the prerequisite's thread-link below (has tips on what order you should take classes, useful websites that review professors, etc.)!

Good luck!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=434193

 

[SCCpharm]

You would probably be able to get into a university or community college. If you go to a cc, its really important to get as close to a 4.0 GPA as possible.

For the fastest route to graduation - Take all of the pre-reqs in 2 years, either at a university or at a cc. Then go to a 3 year accelerated program.

PROS - you will get done in 5 years and graduate one year early

CONS - you probably won't have a lot of extra time to work part time. you will have less summers off.


For a more rounded education - get a 4 year bachelor's degree, then go to a 4 year pharmacy school.

PROS - more free time and it will be easier to work part time

CONS - 8 years of school

 

[RxWildcat]

I would say it really depends on if you are confident in your ability to complete the pre-pharm. coursework. You could knock out the prereqs in 2 years, and I would really recommend going to a 4 year college. If you did go to a CC you would want to have excellent (3.8-9ish) grades and a decent pcat just to be safe and keep your options open when applying to different pharmacy schools. I guess it depends on the CC but most of the courses I took at a CC the summer before college (out of HS) were an absolute joke.