Hi, I'm 27 and going back to college. Graduated 5 years ago with a degree in liberal arts, went to law school for a bit, dropped out b/c of the economy, worked full time for a few years, and am trying to get into pharm school. completed most of my pharm prereqs as a undergrad, except for anatomy. have a 3.1 gpa in the sciences. am going to be taking some upper level chem classes in the fall (like medicinal chem, physical chem). is my gpa too low? am i too old for pharmacy school? do you think adcoms will hold it against me that i come from a non-science background? Thanks
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Started by whitesox2008
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Hey there,
For starters, you're absolutely not too old for Pharmacy. In fact, a really high number of us SDNers are "non traditional" Pharmacy converts, so eschew that from your mind.
A degree in Liberal Arts... Is such a creature available from a 4 year university, if not, where did you get it from? I've never heard of being able to major in LA for a Bachelor's, just an Associate's. No problem... Anyway, AdComs won't necessarily "look down" on you for coming from a non-science background. In fact, it's again, very common. Looking at just UCSF's website (Because they have a great breakdown of "Degree Held When Entering Pharmacy School"), you can see a great variety in feeders for it. Like law school, actually, you can get into the school with just about any degree, so long as you are competent in your requisite schoolwork.
Your 3.1 science GPA (What was your Cum?) is not bad, not stellar. Just kinda in-between. It won't be a hindrance, though, especially if you move it up a bit between now and when you apply.
Which brings me to my last point. Make sure that the schools you're applying to will accept classes more than 5 years old. I know that for UoP, I had to re-take a couple classes that I Aced during my undergraduate because I graduated in 2004 and they were "old". So just cover your ass there.
Welcome to SDN
For starters, you're absolutely not too old for Pharmacy. In fact, a really high number of us SDNers are "non traditional" Pharmacy converts, so eschew that from your mind.
A degree in Liberal Arts... Is such a creature available from a 4 year university, if not, where did you get it from? I've never heard of being able to major in LA for a Bachelor's, just an Associate's. No problem... Anyway, AdComs won't necessarily "look down" on you for coming from a non-science background. In fact, it's again, very common. Looking at just UCSF's website (Because they have a great breakdown of "Degree Held When Entering Pharmacy School"), you can see a great variety in feeders for it. Like law school, actually, you can get into the school with just about any degree, so long as you are competent in your requisite schoolwork.
Your 3.1 science GPA (What was your Cum?) is not bad, not stellar. Just kinda in-between. It won't be a hindrance, though, especially if you move it up a bit between now and when you apply.
Which brings me to my last point. Make sure that the schools you're applying to will accept classes more than 5 years old. I know that for UoP, I had to re-take a couple classes that I Aced during my undergraduate because I graduated in 2004 and they were "old". So just cover your ass there.
Welcome to SDN
If pharmacy is really what you want to do then go for it. 3.1 isn't too bad (maybe taking those upper level chem classes and getting A's in them would at the very least boost your science GPA). I'll be a P1 this fall and I'm 30...so I hope you're not too old 🙂
Thanks for all your input. Good luck to everyone!
