Alternate Plans

[lacarthic]

What are you guys going to do if you are not admitted into pharm school, I know I don't want to think about this, but do any of you guys have any back up plans. I have thought about going to medical school in the Carribbean if I dont get in.

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[Leah27]

I have two plans if I get rejected from pharmacy school.... First I am going to think long and hard about if I really want to go to pharmacy school.... If I decide I do, I am going to try my damndest to get a pharmacy tech job for a year and take community college courses to get more prereqs so I can apply to more pharmacy schools next time. If I decide I really don't want to be a pharmacist (or I'm too bitter to reapply!) I plan on entering a nursing program, and working my way up to a NP over the course of my career. Goodluck on getting some acceptance letters lacarthic... i'm in the same boat as you!

 

[gdk420]

In all honesty, if u keep on applying, ur chances will increase on getting accepted only if u keep up the hard work and improve youself every year. One of the question they might ask u during an interview or during an essay is, did u apply last year and what have u done to improve urself. Most of the people I know who got rejected first time around, got accepted second time. They took more classes, improve their gpa, work part time as a tech, and got good letter of recs. They also learned to apply earlier in the application process. If u apply too late, then it is very difficult to get an interview spot. In addition to the school they applied to first time around, they expanded their application process to include schools outside their state and included more private schools.

 

[eddie269]

I think one of the BIGGEST reasons why people don't get in is because of their GPA. So how would you improve in that area if you didn't fail any classes. I know most schools actually won't allow you to retake your pre-req's if you took them a year earlier. Because if I could, I'd love to retake general chem 1 to replace my C, but I doubt that's possible because I took that a little over a year ago.

But anyways, I am not applying until next year and I wanted to ask this question too but I didn't want to think negatively. But I'm glad someone asked.

But if I didn't get in, I'd probably work as a pharm tech the following year for some real experience.

 

[michelleca4]

You can always retake classes even if it was a C. Schools always look at the higher grade, but Pharmcas averages all couses you have taken. At a UC, you can always retake a couse, but to replace the grade it has to be a C- or below. If the grade is above, then they'll just average it into the cummulative GPA.

 

[NYCDOC74]

lacarthic:

I found your post to be of interest. I wish you the best of luck with your admission to Pharm School. I graduated from pharmacy school back in 1998 and went to a carib med school thereafter. Graduated last summer, and will be starting my residency in NY this July.
What you need to do now is really evaluate your future goals. Interested in Pharmacy or Medicine? Both are very worthwhile endeavors, however require a lot of $$ and time committment. Even though, my pharmacy knowledge gave me an incredible upper hand in med school, I still feel I should have pursued the latter from the beginning, as I am 29 and just beginning residency.
If you or anyone else have any q's regarding pharmacy or medicine, please feel free to take advantage of me.

 

[eddie269]

Michelleca4: At UC Davis, they have a quarterly system hence each series of courses has 3 classes (i.e. chemistry has chem 2A, chem 2B, and chem 2C). I received a C in both chem 2A and chem 2B but I got a B in chem 2C. If I were to retake chem. I at a JC, it would only cover half of the chem. series. How will they calculate my GPA then?

hmmm, ok, this post might get confusing so maybe I should make a separate post on it.

 

[michelleca4]

Eddie, for some of my friends who didn't do well in 2 quarters of chem/ ochem. They either retook the courses at UCI or they completed two semesters of chem at a JC. Lets say if it was only the third quarter of chemistry to retake, then you would take the 2nd semester of chem at a JC. I know how the UC system works, because I do attend a UCI. For me, I retook a few couses at UCI just to be safe.