Can I apply before completing all the prerequisites?

Started by phoebemoonlight
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phoebemoonlight

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Hi everyone! I'm a pre-pharmacy student. Can I apply before completing all the prerequisites? I still have organic chem I & II, anatomy I & II, and some elective classes. I plan to take and complete those classes this fall and next spring and I will take PCAT this August. Should I apply for pharmacy school now? Hope to hear some advices! Thanks a lot!
 
Yes, you will be allowed to apply for the 09/10 application cycle. PharmCAS will open up their application in June, I believe. It will benefit you to complete your application over the summer. Check with any schools you wish to apply if they do not participate in PharmCAS.


Good luck.
 
phoebemoonlight said:
Hi everyone! I'm a pre-pharmacy student. Can I apply before completing all the prerequisites? I still have organic chem I & II, anatomy I & II, and some elective classes. I plan to take and complete those classes this fall and next spring and I will take PCAT this August. Should I apply for pharmacy school now? Hope to hear some advices! Thanks a lot!
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A majority of students apply and are accepted while still completing pre-reqs. Be mindful that your acceptance will be conditional upon you satisfactorily (C or better) completing all those classes. Should you fail to do so, your acceptance can be taken away.
 
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phoebemoonlight said:
Hi everyone! I'm a pre-pharmacy student. Can I apply before completing all the prerequisites? I still have organic chem I & II, anatomy I & II, and some elective classes. I plan to take and complete those classes this fall and next spring and I will take PCAT this August. Should I apply for pharmacy school now? Hope to hear some advices! Thanks a lot!
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Yes, but you must be prepared to finish all your pre-requisites before matriculation should you make it to pharmacy school. To be safe, that should be April. Some pharmacy schools allow you to take some humanities classes during the summer but this is quite uncommon.
 
Each school is different, so I would call and talk with admissions staff specifically about which classes they will accept as summer course credit. Some universities offer 10 week summer courses and some offer two 8 week sessions for the summer. For non-science classes my university would accept the 8 week courses.
 
Thank you very much everyone! Uh, just one more question about letters of recommendation. Do I ask the professors to write several or just one and then make copies? Because I'll be applying to more than two schools, and each requires at least 2 letters. Thanks a lot. Good luck and best wishes to you all!
 
phoebemoonlight said:
Thank you very much everyone! Uh, just one more question about letters of recommendation. Do I ask the professors to write several or just one and then make copies? Because I'll be applying to more than two schools, and each requires at least 2 letters. Thanks a lot. Good luck and best wishes to you all!
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Some schools will not allow you to finish prerequisites the summer prior to matriculation...so aim to be done in May for sure.

You may not even end up handling the letters at all. For PharmCAS, they can be mailed or submitted electronically by the letter writer. For supplementals, it varies. I had a supplemental that required the letter writer to write the letter, fill out an accompanying form, and seal in an envelope with their signature across it. Then I mailed that envelope in a larget envelope to the school. Wait until June when PharmCAS opens; ask your letter writers to be sure to save an electronic copy, as you may need them again some supplemental time. Hope this helps.
 
Monalyce said:
Some schools will not allow you to finish prerequisites the summer prior to matriculation...so aim to be done in May for sure.

You may not even end up handling the letters at all. For PharmCAS, they can be mailed or submitted electronically by the letter writer. For supplementals, it varies. I had a supplemental that required the letter writer to write the letter, fill out an accompanying form, and seal in an envelope with their signature across it. Then I mailed that envelope in a larget envelope to the school. Wait until June when PharmCAS opens; ask your letter writers to be sure to save an electronic copy, as you may need them again some supplemental time. Hope this helps.
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Thank you so much!!!That helps a lot. I really really hope I will get accepted to pharmacy school. I'm trying my best right now but still feel so nervous, there are so many geniuses out there. My current GPA is 3.79, but still have lots of classes to complete, I volunteer at a small private pharmacy ( I have fun helping there but not sure if it's counted), preparing for the PCAT this August,... Wow, I really don't see much chances for me. I greatly admire you guys!
 
phoebemoonlight said:
Thank you very much everyone! Uh, just one more question about letters of recommendation. Do I ask the professors to write several or just one and then make copies? Because I'll be applying to more than two schools, and each requires at least 2 letters. Thanks a lot. Good luck and best wishes to you all!
Click to expand...

Depends on which schools you are applying to. If all you schools use pharmcas then your professors only need to write one letter each. However I applied to pharm schools in Texas this year, and none of the public schools use pharmcas. So in my case I had to humbly ask 2 professors and 2 pharmacist to write 5 letters each, 1 to pharmcas and 1 to each Texas public school. I was sure to thank each of them...a lot.
 
phoebemoonlight said:
Thank you so much!!!That helps a lot. I really really hope I will get accepted to pharmacy school. I'm trying my best right now but still feel so nervous, there are so many geniuses out there. My current GPA is 3.79, but still have lots of classes to complete, I volunteer at a small private pharmacy ( I have fun helping there but not sure if it's counted), preparing for the PCAT this August,... Wow, I really don't see much chances for me. I greatly admire you guys!
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You can definitely apply before you complete your courses; you'll have to list your intended courses when you work on your file. Keep in mind some schools require you to finish all of their pre-requisites by the end of the Spring semester. Also, not every school has the same pre-requisites in terms of gen. ed. and maybe even some higher level electives so take some time to really look at the few you want to apply to. If you can't honestly complete all the requirements for certain schools, I'd not bother checking them off on PharmCAS; same your money and paperwork for their staff.
 
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