Anyone heard from Nevada yet?

[riskhk]

I talk to my lab partner and he was rejected pre interview. He said that all the people were already given a phone call regarding their acceptance. I haven't heard from them yet.

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[LVPharm]

Yeah, one of the pharm techs at my rotation site got a call from Dr.DeYoung a week or two ago. I don't know if he's finished calling everyone yet.

 

[pomelolover]

same here... rejected post interview. i know some people at a community college that averaged about a 3.8 gpa and were accepted. these individuals do not have good english but took many remedial classes and worked themselves up at the community college level. on the other hand, i went to ucla and graduated with a 3.2 gpa. i scored a 1500 on my sat and had a 3.9 gpa from high school . i would have easily gotten a high gpa had i taken all the remedial math and english classes and social sciences at a community college. i know because i am attending one right now. and i tell you, community colleges are so washed out. i am now getting straight a's in all three science classes with labs: microbiology, o chem, and biology and i hold a job at a pharmacy during my free time.

it just seems strange and i wonder about their classes competitiveness if they are selecting their classes this way. I spoke with Dr. Deyoung and with all due respect, asked him if they considered the fact that it is much more difficult to get an a at UCLA or a larger university compared to a community college. he said they he understands that discrepency and "are tinkering with the admissions system for next year". LVPharm you have sat on the interview panels before, would it be possible to bring this concern up again because i truly think that basing acceptance purely off gpa and not where the individual has attended school is quite crude.

 

[dgroulx]

I totally agree with you. I'm taking A & P at a junior college and it is unbelievably easy to make an A. Yesterday, some students were complaining that the lab instructor talked too fast and erased stuff from the board before they could copy it down. And I thought that she was going too slow! The lecture teacher actually prints out her power point slides and hands them out before the lecture. She then reads the slides and occasionally knocks on the desk. That is the signal to the students that it will be on the next test. The tests are multiple choice, you drop your lowest exam and are exempt from the final with an A or B average.

These students ought to try taking classes at a 4 year institution. They wouldn't be able to cut it.

 

[keiki]

wow.. its seems as if you are bashing the education one can receive at a community college. and to tell you the truth.. i used to believe the same thing. however, i took o chem at a community college here (just finished the second semester.. yay!) as a refresher, and let me tell you... i was thoroughly amazed. the professor i had addressed this issue also before the end of class. he got his phd from berkeley, and his teaching style is up to par of what would be taught if you went to uc berkeley. i was challenged in everyway in this class. i know people whom have taken o chem at other state universities, and when i looked at their exams.. it was merely regurgitation of lecture material. i can understand why the tests would be this way, because the class size there is upwards of 100 students... you don't have time to be grading questions that require explanations and reasoning. my professor loved to test us on theory and concepts.. not just on 'what reducing agent will give you X product...' in a way, i felt i was at a disadvantage, because as most people see it, community colleges are supposed to be 'easy.' what i enjoyed about taking the class at a community college was that half our class (which only had 15 students) were working towards a higher degree (planning on going to pharm school, nursing, etc..), so there was a broad range of knowlege in the class. the small class size was also a plus because the professor will actually know your name.

i guess it all just depends on who you get as a professor... but i had an excellent experience. i'm sure this class was a big exception to the rule tho.. which makes it even harder for me to prove that the grade i got was really earned, and not just given to me because the class was easy... (tri no comments.. hehe)

 

[LVPharm]

Originally posted by pomelolover
same here... rejected post interview. i know some people at a community college that averaged about a 3.8 gpa and were accepted. these individuals do not have good english but took many remedial classes and worked themselves up at the community college level. on the other hand, i went to ucla and graduated with a 3.2 gpa. i scored a 1500 on my sat and had a 3.9 gpa from high school . i would have easily gotten a high gpa had i taken all the remedial math and english classes and social sciences at a community college. i know because i am attending one right now. and i tell you, community colleges are so washed out. i am now getting straight a's in all three science classes with labs: microbiology, o chem, and biology and i hold a job at a pharmacy during my free time.

it just seems strange and i wonder about their classes competitiveness if they are selecting their classes this way. I spoke with Dr. Deyoung and with all due respect, asked him if they considered the fact that it is much more difficult to get an a at UCLA or a larger university compared to a community college. he said they he understands that discrepency and "are tinkering with the admissions system for next year". LVPharm you have sat on the interview panels before, would it be possible to bring this concern up again because i truly think that basing acceptance purely off gpa and not where the individual has attended school is quite crude.

I'll see what I can do, which at this current point is...not much. When they start up the application cycle for the next year, I'll try to bring it up with Dr.DeYoung and students sitting on the responsible committees. I agree with your viewpoint, and I think there should be SOME weighting in favor of graduates of four year universities.

 

[pomelolover]

Thanks LVPharm, and Keiki I agree with you too but only partly. I have an amazing organic chemistry professor as well. he makes sure we really know the material. he tests us on a conceptual basis as well. sure there are those few stellar community college professors that help students learn to the nth degree. having said that, i must add that this is not the norm. the norm at community colleges are much lower and it is a BREEZE getting an A in my mind. and trust me, i am NO einstein. also, the professors you and i have may not reflect what we will need to go thru in pharmacy school. many professors expect students at the professional level to be aggressive and self learners. sure, the profs are there to help and explain but i am sure most of the profs are not the beloved o chem profs both you (keiki) and i have. i know that successful students usually are self learners. at ucla i had some science profs that were also med school profs and i know from experience... across the boards it is truly not the level of teaching going on at the comm college level. true you may find a few anomalies in the system.

the bottom line is that pharmacy schools could potentially overlook some valuable talent by choosing the classes merely off gpa and not looking at which institutions one attended nor the student as a whole. sure high grades are important but high grades are so relative. relative based upon which school one has attended. i busted my butt getting into and through ucla and this is the pay back i get? seems a little unfair to me.

 

[jason UCSD2000]

I agree with you 100% pomelolover. I took some courses at a community college before I went to UCSD, and have just recently taken some courses at a community college here in Baton Rouge. They are by no means on the same level. Many times I felt like I was in high school again, and the level of difficulty was much, much lower. Granted, I'm sure there are professors out there teaching at community colleges who actually challenge their students, but for the most part...
-jason

 

[LVPharm]

I took some courses (including retaking OChem because it was so long ago) at a JC after I graduated UCI. What immediately "struck me" about the experience was the lack of competition. I forgot (correct me if I'm wrong here), but don't UC campuses admit students from high school in the top 10% or better? At a UC, it seems as though your fighting to get to the top end of the distribution curve on any exam (it's harder to score above the mean). You're competing against fellow students who are much closer to your own intellectual level. At a JC, the curve seemed to be a joke...it was easy to be one of the 2 or 3 A students in the class. I aced OChem, without breaking a sweat. I don't think I was denied harder material at the JC, in fact the exams themselves aren't that much easier than at UCI (at UCI I had a prof who gave multiple choice tests...for OChem!), it's just that you didn't have to score anywhere near as high to do well.

 

[riskhk]

Guess I didn't get in Nevada. Oh well...got in UOP anyways. I was just surprised about the wait at NVCP. I took Ochem at UCI and at OCC (Orange Coast College). Had the hardest professor over there. Doctorate of Org. Chem at Stanford and had the worst curve ever. 2 A's 1 B's and the rest C's (inclduing me). But he was a good professor. At least UCI had a set curve, just have to be in the middle of the class.

 

[TC714]

Well, I believe that classes at local community college is pretty much same material covered in 4 yr college . I am a community college student myself and I used to take classes at UC Irvine for 2 quarters...In community college, the professor is really the king..for some cases, students might end up getting an A for nothing, but that is not always true. I used to take Physics at UC, got an A, coming back to JC taking another physics...the professor is crazy....Ffirst day of school, there was like 60 people....The final exam? 13 people only left....
So the bottom line is nothing is easy...

 

[Monkeyguts]

Community College = high school w/ash trays

(not an original quote)