Are community colleges really that bad?

[Anthony T]

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Is it true that you're less likely to get into Pharmacy school if you take your pre-requisites at a 2-year Community College? Is it really THAT hard to get into Pharm school if you go to a CC? Will they just overlook my application as soon as they see that I took my pre-reqs at a CC?

 

[Passion4Sci]

Is it true that you're less likely to get into Pharmacy school if you take your pre-requisites at a 2-year Community College? Is it really THAT hard to get into Pharm school if you go to a CC? Will they just overlook my application as soon as they see that I took my pre-reqs at a CC?

Oh my, this AGAIN, in the same week...

Some pharmacy schools are harder on CC credits than others, and there are a variety of factors that can change things. Do you have a BA/BS already? How are your grades in CC? What state are you in (Some states have very strong CCs, like CA and TX, some don't)? Et cetera. There is NO hard and fast answer to this question. NONE. Zip, zilch. The best we can do is make educated guesses based on past experience and general consensus of population.

Only a few schools really, truly discourage CC credits, among them is USC. I suspect my 18 CC credits is what is holding up my USC application.

But you will find a huge number of CC students at UoP TJL, for example... Veronica told me somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% of their 2008 student body was only CC, not even a BA/BS!

That's for right now. No one can predict what the climate will be like in 2011, or 2012. Perhaps more schools will be more like USC? Perhaps not. No one can tell you for sure, and if someone does? They're lying.

 

[Anthony T]

Oh my, this AGAIN, in the same week...

Some pharmacy schools are harder on CC credits than others, and there are a variety of factors that can change things. Do you have a BA/BS already? How are your grades in CC? What state are you in (Some states have very strong CCs, like CA and TX, some don't)? Et cetera. There is NO hard and fast answer to this question. NONE. Zip, zilch. The best we can do is make educated guesses based on past experience and general consensus of population.

Only a few schools really, truly discourage CC credits, among them is USC. I suspect my 18 CC credits is what is holding up my USC application.

But you will find a huge number of CC students at UoP TJL, for example... Veronica told me somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% of their 2008 student body was only CC, not even a BA/BS!

That's for right now. No one can predict what the climate will be like in 2011, or 2012. Perhaps more schools will be more like USC? Perhaps not. No one can tell you for sure, and if someone does? They're lying.

I'm from New York, but the schools I'm interested in attending for Pharmacy school is either Long Island University in Brooklyn or Belmont University in Nashville. I'm not sure how flexible they are with Community Colleges...

 

[Passion4Sci]

I'm from New York, but the schools I'm interested in attending for Pharmacy school is either Long Island University in Brooklyn or Belmont University in Nashville. I'm not sure how flexible they are with Community Colleges...

If I was in your shoes, I'd call or e-mail (preferably call) the pharmacy schools in question. I know I did that when I was looking into applying... Better to know now than wonder, right? YOu'll probably get fed a PC line about how they accept everyone, or whatever, but you might as well ask.

Let me ask you this: If those schools say they discourage CC credit, what will you do? You seem to be really doubting yourself and your chosen path, and it appears as though you're trying to find ways "out".

 

[pharm B]

While you're waiting to call your school of choice, search the forums. This is one of the most frequently brought-up topics on SDN in every pre-professional area. Rather than read a few opinions here, you'll see hundreds of opinions by searching.

As P4Sci mentioned, this same topic was just hashed out a day or two ago. But good luck and let us know what the school says.

 

[Passion4Sci]

While you're waiting to call your school of choice, search the forums. This is one of the most frequently brought-up topics on SDN in every pre-professional area. Rather than read a few opinions here, you'll see hundreds of opinions by searching.

As P4Sci mentioned, this same topic was just hashed out a day or two ago. But good luck and let us know what the school says.

I have half a mind to e-mail every single school myself, get the data, and post it somewhere on here.

Something simple like,

"Do you discourage students from applying with X amount of CC credits? If not, at what value of X would you consider it risky?" Etc.

 

[Anthony T]

If I was in your shoes, I'd call or e-mail (preferably call) the pharmacy schools in question. I know I did that when I was looking into applying... Better to know now than wonder, right? YOu'll probably get fed a PC line about how they accept everyone, or whatever, but you might as well ask.

Let me ask you this: If those schools say they discourage CC credit, what will you do? You seem to be really doubting yourself and your chosen path, and it appears as though you're trying to find ways "out".

I'm actually serious now. I've been doing a lot of soul searching, and I think either Pharmacy or Physician Assistant would be great careers for me. They have very similar pre-requisites, and since PA school is less competitive, hopefully I will have that to fall back on.

 

[HopefullyPharmD]

AnthonyT -
I'm applying to Belmont right now.. waiting to see if I'm going to be interviewed, actually. I have an undergrad degree already but I've been out of school for quite some time and took a lot of prereqs at a CommCollege here. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[nicolemsm]

I'm actually serious now. I've been doing a lot of soul searching, and I think either Pharmacy or Physician Assistant would be great careers for me. They have very similar pre-requisites, and since PA school is less competitive, hopefully I will have that to fall back on.

You know you have to have a Bachelor's (or higher) on top of experience in a medical setting in order to apply to PA school correct? Plus take the GRE. 😉

 

[docss26]

I'm actually serious now. I've been doing a lot of soul searching, and I think either Pharmacy or Physician Assistant would be great careers for me. They have very similar pre-requisites, and since PA school is less competitive, hopefully I will have that to fall back on.

I was pre-med at one point. I don't think I would be completely satisfied with myself being simply a physicians aide. Most people can, but not me. It is a great field with excellent compensation though.

 

[Anthony T]

AnthonyT -
I'm applying to Belmont right now.. waiting to see if I'm going to be interviewed, actually. I have an undergrad degree already but I've been out of school for quite some time and took a lot of prereqs at a CommCollege here. I'll let you know how it goes!

Sounds good, thank you!