Apply this year or wait another year?

[Commander Shepard]

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I am creating this post to help my sister as I don't know much about applying to pharm schools and she is not on SDN.

So my sister is currently in her fourth year at Cal state Fullerton. She was a business major her first two and she HATED it. Had about a 2.7 oGPA. To pay rent her second year, she got her pharmacy technician license and has worked at CVS where my mom's friend is the head pharmacist. She works about 20 hours a week. She is also the inventory specialist for the entire district.

She has another year and half of school left. Her sGPA is around a 3.3 or 3.4. Her oGPA, 3.1, is low because of the business classes she took her first 2 years. She hasn't taken the PCAT yet but she will study for two months for the July PCAT to hopefully destroy it. She bought Dr. Collin's study guides but any other recommendations or tips? She can probably get 4 letters of rec: two from science professors, 1 from her pharmacist, and 1 from the district manager. The pharmacist is also part of a program at Chapman that allows pharm students to come in and do rotations.

Since some pharm schools don't require a bachelor's degree, should she apply this year to see if she can get in without finishing her last semester or wait to until next year. I'm thinking she should apply this year as, if she gets in, she doesn't have to wait another year. If she doesn't get in, then she could use the experience from this cycle to improve on the next cycle. Also, if she does want to get a bachelor's, she can probably finish it the summer before matriculation. She has only looked at chapman, roseman, midwestern, pacific university Oregon, and Marshall B Ketchum but she will do more research when she starts studying for the PCAT.

Any advice on applying to pharm school would also be helpful! Thanks! And sorry for the wall of text!

 

[Mao263]

I don't think you can apply to start this year. But you can apply early to get accepted and have a year without worrying about

 

[Commander Shepard]

Ye

I don't think you can apply to start this year. But you can apply early to get accepted and have a year without worrying about

Sorry I meant she can apply fall 2017 to matriculate fall 2018 without a bachelor's.

 

[common scents]

She should take the PCAT first and go from there. If she gets a 70+ she should apply this year. If she scores below she should keep retaking.

 

[Apples2Oranges]

Take the PCAT. If she makes above a 70 (preferably above an 80), she can offset her GPA. Get the Pearson practice tests and do them.

If she is concerned about her financial future debt from pharmacy school, by god do NOT go to Chapman. That $75k tuition (even if it's a 3 yr program) is ridiculous, and it doesn't have has good of a reputation as other schools near the area. I'm sure she can get into a state pharmacy school that has better reputation AND has cheaper tuition than any of those schools listed above. Unless she likes the schools she considers, she should really look into better programs...you know...ones that are more established and not over $35k a year.