Advice, please?

[nwhilk]

Hi Everyone!

I've been reading all the helpful advice on this forum, and greatly benefited from it, and so now I hope it's OK for me to ask for some advice as well?

I'm really considering becoming a pharmacist, because it seems like such a wonderful, brainy profession , but unfortunately my background is definitely non-traditional. I was an humanities major in college, so already possess a bachelor's degree. I have a good but not great GPA (~3.5 or so), although that's of course without any of the more difficult science classes. I'm a little older, still 20 something, but certainly not a recent college grad, sadly enough. And I live in California. But that last part probably doesn't make me non-traditional.

Anywho, here's my question: I wonder what you guys would recommend for me as far as what I need to do to get into a PharmD program?

Basically, I see two options:

1. Take my prerequisites at a community college (or would a 4-year university be better, e.g., Cal State or University of California for me?), and then apply.

2. Apply to a 5 or 6-year PharmD program. I don't really know too much about this route, but it sounds great, because if I am admitted into such a program, I'd be able to start right way at a PharmD school and not worry about applications later on. But it might be really hard to get into, I don't know.

What do you guys think? Are there advantages or disadvantages? I guess the time is about the same, maybe a little shorter on the 5 or 6-year program? Please give me your thoughts, opinions, etc., or even feel free to knock some sense into me since I don't exactly know what's best.

Thanks again!

Nat

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[mspaic]

you can do one year of uni and get all your prerequisites and apply to pharmacy school in toronto canada

you only need one year for it of pre pharm courses, that's it

 

[drhemi70]

nwhilk,
Congrats on wanting to become a pharmacist. You can go either way. A six year program that will let you go directly into the pharm d would be nice. If you don't get into one of those then go ahead and take the classes at the community college, while doing this reapply to the prepharm 6 year program until you get in. Only catch here is making sure that the classes that you take at the comm college will transfer into the 6 year program.
DR
PS 3.5 is an awesome gpa in any major. keep that and you will have no problem getting into school.

 

[Oneday_9]

Well if you're in CA, you can bet you'll have to head East for a 6 year program. I think it's unnecessary, you can get the credits at a CC, then apply to some Cali schools. With a 3.5 already plus science courses, you should do fine.

That's my opinion. PM me for any other advice, I'd like to help.

 

[nwhilk]

Thanks so much for responding everyone! VERY much appreciated!

mspaic: That's a novel idea, I must say! How does applying to pharmacy school in Canada work? And perhaps more importantly, are pharmacy degrees from Canada easily transferrable back to the United States? If it's only a year, though, that might not be too shabby. I'll have to think about this one. I have to admit, ideally, I'd want to live in California to be near family and friends, if at all possible.

drhemi70: Thanks for such nice words! I have a feeling that my GPA will drop once I start taking science classes, though, so I am a little bit worried about that. But can you tell me please, why do some people do the 6-year program? Are there any advantages other than the obvious one of knowing that you're pretty much "in" at a pharmacy school? Because, to me, it otherwise seems like it'd be more or less the same as just taking 2 years worth of prerequisites at a community college + entering into a 4 year pharmacy school? And it'd most likely be cheaper to go the community college route? Any further thoughts on this?

Oneday_9: Thanks so much, I'll send you a PM right away!

 

[OoShimmeroO]

What do you guys think? Are there advantages or disadvantages? I guess the time is about the same, maybe a little shorter on the 5 or 6-year program? Please give me your thoughts, opinions, etc., or even feel free to knock some sense into me since I don't exactly know what's best.

Thanks again!

Nat

You should forget about the 5 or 6 year program option. Those programs primarily accept first time freshmen and you're in your 20s and already have a college degree. Those programs will make you take english and social science courses along with your science pre-reqs. I doubt that they would waive classes you've already taken. Your best bet is to focus on taking your pre-reqs at a Community College and gain pharmacy experience. If you maintain a science GPA over a 3.3, at a CC, you'll have an excellent chance of gaining acceptance into a Cali pharm school. Also, it's not that difficult to do well in science courses at a CC if your motivated and focused.

 

[mspaic]

Thanks so much for responding everyone! VERY much appreciated!

mspaic: That's a novel idea, I must say! How does applying to pharmacy school in Canada work? And perhaps more importantly, are pharmacy degrees from Canada easily transferrable back to the United States? If it's only a year, though, that might not be too shabby. I'll have to think about this one. I have to admit, ideally, I'd want to live in California to be near family and friends, if at all possible.

ya i know, not many ppl would want to move
but hey, its an idea!

about applying, google university of toronto pharmacy school, and when you're on their website you can see the prerequisites you need and stuff
it's very easy to apply

also, i am pretty sure it is transferable to the usa.
in canada, alot of our medical professionals go to the states anyway (better pay..)!

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

6 year Pharm.D. programs are for students who enter college directly from HS without any previous course work. Since you've already attended and graduated from a university/college, I don't believe that the 6 year program would be an option for you.

 

[nwhilk]

Well, I guess so much for the 6-year route then.

One question for clarification, though: For pharmacy schools here in California (i.e., Loma Linda, UCSD, UCSF, UoP, USC, and Western -- I think that's all of them?), does it make any difference to take classes via community college vs. via a traditional 4-year university? I've emailed a couple of them, and all they've really said is that I should take "rigorous" courses, which to me would imply a 4-year university, but then they didn't outright say "No" to the community college either. Any thoughts?

Thanks again.

 

[nwhilk]

ya i know, not many ppl would want to move
but hey, its an idea!

about applying, google university of toronto pharmacy school, and when you're on their website you can see the prerequisites you need and stuff
it's very easy to apply

also, i am pretty sure it is transferable to the usa.
in canada, alot of our medical professionals go to the states anyway (better pay..)!

Hey mspaic, I will go and google University of Toronto like you suggested, thanks! (However, the community college route makes a lot of sense for me financially... Well, I'll research both avenues and see what's best.)

Is Toronto the only PharmD school in Canada, or are there others I should also look into?

 

[mspaic]

Hey mspaic, I will go and google University of Toronto like you suggested, thanks! (However, the community college route makes a lot of sense for me financially... Well, I'll research both avenues and see what's best.)

Is Toronto the only PharmD school in Canada, or are there others I should also look into?

tornto is not a pharmD program
it gives you a bachelors of science in pharmacy

i kno it sux

that's why i wanna go to the states
but we have more than one pharmacy of course
about 7 if i remmber it right

 

[Requiem]

There are 9 pharmacy schools in Canada I think, two french schools.
UofT (University of Toronto) DOES have a PharmD program, which is two years after your B.Sc Pharm.

A B.Sc pharm is accepted anywhere and has NO effect on your financial earnings as a pharmacist, also once you complete the NAPLEX you can go between America/Canada.

 

[nwhilk]

Thanks guys. You give Canada a good name (well it always had a good name in my book, but you give it a better one). Although I have to admit it's hard for me to leave behind family and friends even for a few years. We'll see though.

Right now, three quick questions, please:

1. Are there any BS/BSc pharmacy programs left in America? Based on what I've found, it seems like pretty much every single school now only offers PharmD and not a BSc.

2. Related to this, do you think getting a BSc will hurt career prospects in the future because everyone will probably have a PharmD?

3. Anyone out there by any chance know if it's okay to take my prereq classes at a community college, or would pharmacy schools highly prefer a traditional 4-year university?

Thanks,

Nat