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Okay I'm new to this forum, and I'm looking for some guidance. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated.
I've looked through these boards and haven't really found any posts about anyone whose situation is really quite comparable to mine.
The biggest quandary I'm facing right now is my GPA. I'm starting my senior year with just over a 2.5 GPA, so already I'm limited to my selection of schools based on the info provided by PharmCAS about certain schools' minimum GPA to be considered requirements. I do go to a pretty prestigious university, and I'm a engineering major, but I have practically no interest in engineering at all. In hindsight, I probably should have changed majors into something that was both easier and more interesting to me, but now it's my final year so I might as well just stick it out to the end. But I'll still be stuck with my shabby GPA, which I think is probably going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
Anyways, I took the PCAT once in June, and scored in the 93 percentile overall, but I did really horrible in the chemistry section, scoring in only the 65 percentile, and only mediocre in the writing section. I just recently took the PCAT again on Saturday, and I felt much better about it this time around. The problem here, however, is that I'll have to wait a few weeks for PharmCAS to receive these second scores before I can send it, and from what I've heard, the earlier the application, the better the chances for admissions, and I could use all the help I can get. A lot of the posts I've read on this forum are from people with GPAs well above 3.0, so it's been hard finding anyone in a similar situation as mine.
Anways, the other major challenge I'm facing is probably lack of any outstanding recommendation letters. I'm not the extroverted type; I don't think any of my engineering professors even know who I am. And I only performed mediocre in their classes; mostly B-. The only professors who might write a somewhat above-average GPA are some of the professors from the liberal arts classes I took and excelled in. The issue there is that they aren't really science-related. I assume that pharmacy schools place emphasis on science-related recommendations, and so a letter from an Art History professor would not really help my cause for admission would it?
And the third biggest challenge I'm facing right now is the lack of work experience and extracurriculars. I'm in a couple of clubs where I've been an officer in the past two years, but other than that, I haven't really done much out of school. No work or volunteer experiences in pharmacies to write about.
So based on this, I figure my only possible redeeming qualities will lie heavily on the PCAT score, which I do feel pretty good about, and the personal statement. As far as school application choices; I'm planning on applying to University of Maryland - Baltimore as my first choice. They do have an early decision program, which would probably help my chances were I able to get actually decent recommendation letters within a week and were my PCAT chemistry section score not as dismal, but since this is not the case, I'll probably be forced to apply in the regular pool.
Oh and UNC-Chapel Hill has a minimum GPA requirement of 2.8... should I still take a chance and apply and hope to do really well this semester and pray for admissions or should I just stick to the schools with the 2.5 minimum GPA reqs?
So if anyone has any suggestions on what schools to apply to or tips on how to make my situation seem less dire to pharmacy schools' admissions, please help! I really could use any helpful tactic possible in minimizing the
big problems with my stats.
I've looked through these boards and haven't really found any posts about anyone whose situation is really quite comparable to mine.
The biggest quandary I'm facing right now is my GPA. I'm starting my senior year with just over a 2.5 GPA, so already I'm limited to my selection of schools based on the info provided by PharmCAS about certain schools' minimum GPA to be considered requirements. I do go to a pretty prestigious university, and I'm a engineering major, but I have practically no interest in engineering at all. In hindsight, I probably should have changed majors into something that was both easier and more interesting to me, but now it's my final year so I might as well just stick it out to the end. But I'll still be stuck with my shabby GPA, which I think is probably going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
Anyways, I took the PCAT once in June, and scored in the 93 percentile overall, but I did really horrible in the chemistry section, scoring in only the 65 percentile, and only mediocre in the writing section. I just recently took the PCAT again on Saturday, and I felt much better about it this time around. The problem here, however, is that I'll have to wait a few weeks for PharmCAS to receive these second scores before I can send it, and from what I've heard, the earlier the application, the better the chances for admissions, and I could use all the help I can get. A lot of the posts I've read on this forum are from people with GPAs well above 3.0, so it's been hard finding anyone in a similar situation as mine.
Anways, the other major challenge I'm facing is probably lack of any outstanding recommendation letters. I'm not the extroverted type; I don't think any of my engineering professors even know who I am. And I only performed mediocre in their classes; mostly B-. The only professors who might write a somewhat above-average GPA are some of the professors from the liberal arts classes I took and excelled in. The issue there is that they aren't really science-related. I assume that pharmacy schools place emphasis on science-related recommendations, and so a letter from an Art History professor would not really help my cause for admission would it?
And the third biggest challenge I'm facing right now is the lack of work experience and extracurriculars. I'm in a couple of clubs where I've been an officer in the past two years, but other than that, I haven't really done much out of school. No work or volunteer experiences in pharmacies to write about.
So based on this, I figure my only possible redeeming qualities will lie heavily on the PCAT score, which I do feel pretty good about, and the personal statement. As far as school application choices; I'm planning on applying to University of Maryland - Baltimore as my first choice. They do have an early decision program, which would probably help my chances were I able to get actually decent recommendation letters within a week and were my PCAT chemistry section score not as dismal, but since this is not the case, I'll probably be forced to apply in the regular pool.
Oh and UNC-Chapel Hill has a minimum GPA requirement of 2.8... should I still take a chance and apply and hope to do really well this semester and pray for admissions or should I just stick to the schools with the 2.5 minimum GPA reqs?
So if anyone has any suggestions on what schools to apply to or tips on how to make my situation seem less dire to pharmacy schools' admissions, please help! I really could use any helpful tactic possible in minimizing the
big problems with my stats.
