Am I Competitive?

[151kmh]

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PCAT Composite: 80
GPA: 2.933 (appendicitis the week before finals the first semester, basically bombed every final) 😳
Pharmacy Experience: 2000+ hours over 4 years
Extracurriculars: RxPrep
SnPHA
HUGE upward trend in GPA (.5 difference from first to second semester)
Very Strong letter of recommendations (one from close family friend/boss/owner of pharmacy chain)

 

[pharmerjohn]

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[pharmdx92]

PCAT Composite: 80
GPA: 2.933 (appendicitis the week before finals the first semester, basically bombed every final) 😳
Pharmacy Experience: 2000+ hours over 4 years
Extracurriculars: RxPrep
SnPHA
HUGE upward trend in GPA (.5 difference from first to second semester)
Very Strong letter of recommendations (one from close family friend/boss/owner of pharmacy chain)

You will get a few interviews depending on where you apply. Your PCAT, ECs, and experience makes you a competitive applicant. Make sure you apply early.

 

[nyc76]

It depends on where you choose to apply and what those schools are looking for. I'm actually on the same boat as you, although your GPA is a bit better than mine. I also got an 84 on the PCAT, but will be retaking it because my top choice recommends that I do. Give your school of interest a call and see what they say. Good luck! 🙂

Damn you got an 84 and they want you to retake? geez thats what I got....I dont know what pharmcas calculates my gpa to be yet but I used that AMCAS formula and it came out to 3.0. Not sure how that will translate in pharmcas. Can I ask what your stats are? Now I'm worried. lol

 

[151kmh]

Pitt and LECOM erie are my top two choices, i'm basically content with any school around the Pennsylvania area.

 

[pharmerjohn]

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[Malay]

Yep. I spoke to 2 different advisors, and they both said the same thing. My stats aren't good, so I can see why they told me to retake:

PCAT:
- COMP: 84
- VA: 91
- CHEM: 91
- BIO: 97
- QA: 55
- RC: 14 🙁

sGPA: 2.65
cGPA: 2.65

I have a bachelor with over 200+ units, so even though I've been getting 4.0 for the past 60 units, it barely even shifted up.

Experience: 4 years PTCB certified tech in various settings (hospital, community, pbm)

I haven't submitted my application, so I used the info on here to calculate my GPA. I averaged everything and counted every plus and minuses. I also rounded everything down, to make sure my grades aren't embellished. My case may be different from yours, so I would recommend you call your school and seek their advice. Good luck! 🙂

What schools do you plan on applying to?!?!?! That sounds really insane of them to tell you to retake!!!!! Everything you have should out weigh that GPA. My goodness!

 

[pharmerjohn]

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[nyc76]

My top choice is Midwestern-Glendale, but I'm also applying to a few other schools just in case I don't get accepted there. They said they prefer candidates with at least 50% for each subtest, so it does me absolutely no good to have 14% on the reading and a 2.6 sGPA/cGPA. Hence, they recommend that I retake to improve my chance.

Oooooooooooh I see now. So they have a cutoff for subsets. So had your score been 50 on the subet then they wouldn't have asked you to retake. Seriously because your application looks fantastic to me!! Get that 50 in RC and I think you're golden. 👍

What strategy did you use for RC? Why do you think you didn't do better?

 

[pharmerjohn]

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[nyc76]

Yep. They want well-rounded candidates, and that's understandable. I only did the Pearson Practice Tests under timed conditions and got 75-95% for the RC subtests, but on the real thing, the passages were so much longer. I also had a headache and was starving during the second half of the exam, so my RC and QA plummeted. No excuses though, I will retake and give it my best efforts. I plan to use MCAT reading materials this time around to see if it helps. Good luck with your application process! 🙂

Yeah thanks you too. I'm sure you'll knock it out next time. I know the PCAT booklet says no food is admitted but at least at the center I went to they allowed it or allowed you to go to a cafe to eat. But I would bring a snack next time if you can.

If you were doing the well on the PPT's you should be ok. The PPT's are tough and I didn't do great in any of them and got a pretty similar score on that subset. My strategy was to read the passage first then the question but when I saw that was taking long I decided to read the questions first and look for the answer. That saved me time and most of the questions referred to specific paragraphs anyway.

But yeah if you're hungry or with a headache it is very easy to lose concentration on that RC section.

Good luck!

 

[pharmerjohn]

Yeah thanks you too. I'm sure you'll knock it out next time. I know the PCAT booklet says no food is admitted but at least at the center I went to they allowed it or allowed you to go to a cafe to eat. But I would bring a snack next time if you can.

If you were doing the well on the PPT's you should be ok. The PPT's are tough and I didn't do great in any of them and got a pretty similar score on that subset. My strategy was to read the passage first then the question but when I saw that was taking long I decided to read the questions first and look for the answer. That saved me time and most of the questions referred to specific paragraphs anyway.

But yeah if you're hungry or with a headache it is very easy to lose concentration on that RC section.

Good luck!

I knew that I would get hungry half way through, because I got hungry about half way through my practice runs. On the test day, I came prepared with my snacks and juice in an ice pack and I left it in the car because they said no food inside. When it was time for break, the proctors told me I couldn't leave the building to get my snack. 😡 I thought I had it all planned out, but I guess you can't plan for everything. Oh well, live and learn.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. I'll update my scores once I retake.

 

[sunxshine]

If you ask me, I think you have a great chance. Just watch out for the minimum GPA requirements.