Any engineers here applying to pharmacy school?

[Bob_Barker27]

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I got my mechanical engineering degree from Clemson in 2000. I got laid off from my first job after a year, and I quit my second job because it was in a small town and I just didn't like the job. I am just hoping to talk to some other engineers about their reasoning for going to pharmacy school. I'm still not sure if I should do this or not. Thanks.

 

[lgooden]

Hey fellow engineer! I graduated with a degree in Materials Engineering in June 2004. I never worked as an engineer b/c I decided in undergrad that I wanted to pursue pharmacy, but I still wanted to get my degree. I did co-op for 2+ years at Toyota, so I do have some experience in engineering work. I went on some job interviews, but as they were explaining the job descriptions, I just knew that it wasn't what I wanted to do. I know it will probably sound very typical, but I really want to work more with people. I had a lot of customer service jobs and did a lot of community service in undergrad and realized how much I liked that interaction with the public and how good I was at it. I know pharmacy is a great choice for me because it still has a solid background in science which I desire and with the variety in the field, I can still be challenged. A week after graduating with my engineering degree I was taking summer classes to make sure I could finish the pre-rec's in time to enroll for the class of 2005. Feel free to ask me anymore questions.

 

[Bob_Barker27]

Hey fellow engineer! I graduated with a degree in Materials Engineering in June 2004. I never worked as an engineer b/c I decided in undergrad that I wanted to pursue pharmacy, but I still wanted to get my degree. I did co-op for 2+ years at Toyota, so I do have some experience in engineering work. I went on some job interviews, but as they were explaining the job descriptions, I just knew that it wasn't what I wanted to do. I know it will probably sound very typical, but I really want to work more with people. I had a lot of customer service jobs and did a lot of community service in undergrad and realized how much I liked that interaction with the public and how good I was at it. I know pharmacy is a great choice for me because it still has a solid background in science which I desire and with the variety in the field, I can still be challenged. A week after graduating with my engineering degree I was taking summer classes to make sure I could finish the pre-rec's in time to enroll for the class of 2005. Feel free to ask me anymore questions.

Thanks for your response, lgooden. I was curious how you decided to pursue pharmacy instead of other health professions with a lot of people interaction like physician, optometrist, or dentist. I've been considering doing optometry instead of pharmacy, but I can't seem to make up my mind which I would like best.

 

[epix]

My major last year was ME but after the 1st semester I thought about switching to pharmacy and finally decided to do it over the summer. I'm a sophmore in college right now.

 

[Krismeese]

Hey, I too am an engineer that is, hopefully, going to be in Pharm school in 2006. I have a BS in ChE (although am working now as a programmer, go figure ) and while I enjoyed the studies, I found that I liked the pure science part of the discipline a little more than the applied if that makes any sense lol.
But the largest motivation for me I think is a desire to find the satisfaction of making a difference in peoples lives rather than churning out a few extra units of pesticide for a corporation.
And as to the decision of which health profession to go into: I see physicians as (albeit you have to have tons of knowledge as well, diagnoses etc.) a lot more of learning how to perform specific tasks. Whereas pharmacy seems to be more of taking in a lot of information and then "Teaching" the patient. That view is probably not completely accurate, but it eventually just came down to a gut feeling lol. I really do enjoy passing on knowledge to other people.
Good Luck!

 

[starsweet]

Hey engineers,

I graduated in 2002 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I kinda decided on the major on a whim after deciding CS really wasn't for me, so my heart was never in it. I've been working at the same job for the government since then and not really feeling it so I started taking prereqs for pharmacy last semester. (I should have taken a clue when I found I enjoyed the core classes at GA Tech more than the major classes...) The hardest part was just starting prereq classes all over again, cuz I'm not really sure if I want to do this either. I still work at my engineering job because I'm still not sure. So I definitely know how you guys feel. I mean, I'll be 29 when I graduate! I'm applying in Fall 2006. My question is this, how many schools are you guys applying to, and how are the following schools? I only wanted to apply to these three, but after reading all these threads I should probably apply to more... One more thing, beware of taking classes at CCs, UGA is being snotty about accepting my Bio 2 class... 😡 yes, UGA...

UT Austin
UGA
UNC

Top choice is UT as I used to live in Texas and Austin appeals to me... Also I think having an engineering degree will really help in the admissions process, what do you think? My fear is that I won't be accepted as an out-of-state student (I'm from GA...)

Good luck everyone!

 

[Bob_Barker27]

Hey engineers,

I graduated in 2002 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I kinda decided on the major on a whim after deciding CS really wasn't for me, so my heart was never in it. I've been working at the same job for the government since then and not really feeling it so I started taking prereqs for pharmacy last semester. (I should have taken a clue when I found I enjoyed the core classes at GA Tech more than the major classes...) The hardest part was just starting prereq classes all over again, cuz I'm not really sure if I want to do this either. I still work at my engineering job because I'm still not sure. So I definitely know how you guys feel. I mean, I'll be 29 when I graduate! I'm applying in Fall 2006. My question is this, how many schools are you guys applying to, and how are the following schools? I only wanted to apply to these three, but after reading all these threads I should probably apply to more... One more thing, beware of taking classes at CCs, UGA is being snotty about accepting my Bio 2 class... 😡 yes, UGA...

UT Austin
UGA
UNC

Top choice is UT as I used to live in Texas and Austin appeals to me... Also I think having an engineering degree will really help in the admissions process, what do you think? My fear is that I won't be accepted as an out-of-state student (I'm from GA...)

Good luck everyone!

If I were you, I would try to get in to UGA. Going out of state is going to cost you over twice a much (I think UNC out of state is like 23K a year just for tuition), and all that debt is going to decrease your spendable income dramatically when you get out. The cost of having to take those two biology classes again will be nothing compared the expense of going out of state. I think UGA requires the PCAT exam, so the biology classes might be a good refresher for you. I think having an engineering degree does help when applying to pharmacy school because engineering is probably the most challenging undergrad major. UGA, UT-AUstin, and UNC all have good reputations, but I know UNC is much tougher to get in to from out of state. Pharmacy schools really want to take in state students because they want students who will work in the state when they graduate to meet their state pharmacist shortage. You should also consider South University in Savannah, it's only a 3 year program, and if you could get a scholarship there, it would be a good value.

 

[blueclassring]

I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering at UCLA in 2001. My engineering experience hasn't been all that great, but I've always wanted to become a pharmacist since I can remember. Engineering is too stressful, and it's a job that you do take home with you no matter what anyone says. I'm applying to California schools, and possibly to some in Washington and Arizona. I'd prefer to stay west coast. Currently, I'm taking my remaining prereqs at a CC and hope to enter with the Class of 2010.

 

[starsweet]

If I were you, I would try to get in to UGA. Going out of state is going to cost you over twice a much (I think UNC out of state is like 23K a year just for tuition), and all that debt is going to decrease your spendable income dramatically when you get out. The cost of having to take those two biology classes again will be nothing compared the expense of going out of state. I think UGA requires the PCAT exam, so the biology classes might be a good refresher for you. I think having an engineering degree does help when applying to pharmacy school because engineering is probably the most challenging undergrad major. UGA, UT-AUstin, and UNC all have good reputations, but I know UNC is much tougher to get in to from out of state. Pharmacy schools really want to take in state students because they want students who will work in the state when they graduate to meet their state pharmacist shortage. You should also consider South University in Savannah, it's only a 3 year program, and if you could get a scholarship there, it would be a good value.

I do hope to get into UGA, but I would like to go to UT because I've lived in GA most of my life and would like to experience life in a more dynamic city. On the plus side, I've heard that pharmacy school is a breeze COMPARED to engineering school. Also, I used to live in TX when I was younger.

I saw that about 18% of UNC's accepted students are out of state, so I thought they accepted MORE out of state students compared to UT and UGA? Maybe I'm mistaken. I know that UT's out of state acceptance is very low (about 5 per entering class...)

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Bob_Barker27]

I do hope to get into UGA, but I would like to go to UT because I've lived in GA most of my life and would like to experience life in a more dynamic city. On the plus side, I've heard that pharmacy school is a breeze COMPARED to engineering school. Also, I used to live in TX when I was younger.

I saw that about 18% of UNC's accepted students are out of state, so I thought they accepted MORE out of state students compared to UT and UGA? Maybe I'm mistaken. I know that UT's out of state acceptance is very low (about 5 per entering class...)

Thanks for the advice.

Regarding UNC, I think the 18% out of state is just a limit set by the North Carolina state goverment. I would be surprised if it's greater than 10%. One good thing about going to UNC is they supposedly meet 100% of your financial need as determined by FAFSA, so if you really want to leave Georgia, UNC might be somewhat cheaper than other schools. I applied to UNC on PharmCAS, but they wouldn't waive the physics lab requirements for me even though I have a mechanical engineering degree, and I didn't want to pay to take physics labs since UNC was my backup school. If Texas only takes 5 students from out of state a year, I don't know if it's worth the fee to apply unless you are confident you will get accepted. The fact that you lived in Texas before would probably help your chances of getting in, because it's more likely you would stay in Texas to work when you graduate. I think Texas and UNC both get a ton of out of state applications. However, I think if you have an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a good GPA, you should be a lock to get in whatever school you apply at. Take care.

 

[jdpharmd?]

I got my mechanical engineering degree from Clemson in 2000. I got laid off from my first job after a year, and I quit my second job because it was in a small town and I just didn't like the job. I am just hoping to talk to some other engineers about their reasoning for going to pharmacy school. I'm still not sure if I should do this or not. Thanks.

Play up the "personal" side of pharmacy in your application/interview. We have several engineers in our class (4, 5?). You can justify your career change pretty well by saying that engineering is too impersonal/isolated. Most adcoms love to hear that you care about the patients, etc... 🙂

 

[starsweet]

Regarding UNC, I think the 18% out of state is just a limit set by the North Carolina state goverment. I would be surprised if it's greater than 10%. One good thing about going to UNC is they supposedly meet 100% of your financial need as determined by FAFSA, so if you really want to leave Georgia, UNC might be somewhat cheaper than other schools. I applied to UNC on PharmCAS, but they wouldn't waive the physics lab requirements for me even though I have a mechanical engineering degree, and I didn't want to pay to take physics labs since UNC was my backup school. If Texas only takes 5 students from out of state a year, I don't know if it's worth the fee to apply unless you are confident you will get accepted. The fact that you lived in Texas before would probably help your chances of getting in, because it's more likely you would stay in Texas to work when you graduate. I think Texas and UNC both get a ton of out of state applications. However, I think if you have an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a good GPA, you should be a lock to get in whatever school you apply at. Take care.

I think you're right, when I mentioned to the UT Pharmacy advisor on the phone that I used to live in TX and wanted to go back, he definitely seemed pleased and told me to mention that to the committee during my interview.

Thanks for the vote of confidence about having an engineering degree. I still have to do really well on the PCAT, but I'm glad that I do have an engineering background. When they look at your GPA, do they look at your undergrad GPA or do they calculate your GPA from only your prereq classes and use that to compare to everyone else?

Just curious, what school do you attend and what is it like being a pharmacy student? Is it what you expected?

 

[Bob_Barker27]

Play up the "personal" side of pharmacy in your application/interview. We have several engineers in our class (4, 5?). You can justify your career change pretty well by saying that engineering is too impersonal/isolated. Most adcoms love to hear that you care about the patients, etc... 🙂

I wouldn't say engineering is impersonal or isolated. I had to interact with clients, vendors, managers, construction people, and other engineers on a daily basis. The general public does seem to think that engineers just sit in a cubicle by themselves all day and derive equations. I would agree that pharmacist help people more directly than engineers do, so in that sense it is more personal, although engineers do advance our quality of life and help society indirectly. My biggest complaint about engineering is the profession doesn't have much job security, and it would take me 25 to 30 years (or longer) to make the salary that pharmacists are making right out of the gate. Pharmacists are also kind of their own boss right when they start, whereas young engineers can't make many decisions on their own. I chose not to justify my career change in my personal statement b/c I didn't want to come across as a disgruntled engineer. I just focused on why I want to be a pharmacist, including helping people in the community, as you suggested. I appreciate the advice.

 

[Bob_Barker27]

I think you're right, when I mentioned to the UT Pharmacy advisor on the phone that I used to live in TX and wanted to go back, he definitely seemed pleased and told me to mention that to the committee during my interview.

Thanks for the vote of confidence about having an engineering degree. I still have to do really well on the PCAT, but I'm glad that I do have an engineering background. When they look at your GPA, do they look at your undergrad GPA or do they calculate your GPA from only your prereq classes and use that to compare to everyone else?

Just curious, what school do you attend and what is it like being a pharmacy student? Is it what you expected?

I'm not in pharmacy school yet. I have applied to USC and MUSC in South Carolina, and I submitted the PharmCAS part of the application to Campbell in North Carolina, but I don't want to go there. One great thing about USC in Columbia is they don't require the PCAT, so you might want to consider applying there. USC and MUSC are planning to merge their pharmacy schools into one this year, however, and it's possible the PCAT will be required for the new school by the time you apply. I think pharmacy schools look at your pre-pharmacy GPA mostly, unless your undergrad GPA is below a 3.0 which might hurt your chances somewhat. If you had really good grades your first two years, and then your grades dropped off considerably the final two years of your undergrad program, that could hurt you. However, I have heard that having an undergrad degree improves your application greatly because only 25% or so of applicants have one.