Canadian applying to US pharmacy schools... need your help!

[BEYOURSELF PHARMKID]

Hello everyone,

Before I start, I want to warn you all that this is gonna be a long post! So if you don't have much time now, please come back later (if you can 🙂) once you have more time! Thanks!

I am a Canadian student who just graduated with a BSc from McGill University (located in Montreal, Quebec - yes, French part of Canada).

After failing to get accepted to a Canadian Pharmacy school this year, I am seriously considering applying to schools in the States. A little bit about me:
- cGPA: 3.00 (Ooops... struggled during my undergraduate)
- PCAT: 89
- EC: a few volunteering expereince (should I count the ones I did in high school?! I have like 400+ hrs of volunteer work that I did in high school which was back in like 2008 - 2011 LOL pretty long time ago...), RA in psychiatric department, and have been a junior RA for this huge clinical research study for 2.5 years now.

As you can see, I wasn't that active in my undergraduate (wasn't involved in any club or student council except for a few volunteering groups) due to my depression problem. I am confident to say that I have been making good progress over the past few years since I started working in the research study and meeting great people around but I have no excuse for my bad grade and poor EC status, and feeling ashamed about it. But what's past is past and I know holding onto this thought and blaming myself over and over won't get me anywhere so I am moving forward and trying to seek more options.

In order to improve my stat and not waste another year, I applied to a graduate school and got in, which will start in this September. That is to pursue what I like (similar to my research job) while improving my stat (hopefully boosting GPA and take PCAT again to aim for 95+). I know my PCAT score isn't so bad but it isn't good enough to get into a Canadian school/good US school without a stellar cGPA and EC.

So I am really hoping to do well during Sep-Dec in my graduate studies to improve my cGPA and make some connections - potentially my referees for US pharmacy schools (didn't know that US schools would require up to 4 letters...). Another concern is that I do not have any pharmacy experience, except for one shadowing... so I am really hoping to get a PA job (applied to several now) or volunteer expereince in a pharmacy setting (sending emails to a few who might know some opportunities).

Here is my question:

When I was applying to the schools in Canada, I finished my application in January (bascially after I received all my grades from the Fall semester). However, I am seeing a lot of posts about applyingv to US schools in October, November... even though they don't aim for early admission decision! If I already have a good cGPA, PCAT score and stellar EC, I would wanna apply as early as I can and get it done with of course...but since I really have a lot to do for the rest of this year, I am worried that I will lose my chance to even get into any US school if I apply later than others in like January 2017.

Do most of schools in US have rolling admission system? I checked Pharmcas and most of schools I am considering atm say "no" to rolling admission system but I saw a few posts saying that they applied early because of rolling admission system so I am not sure how much I should trust Pharmcas info...?

So is it okay to apply to schools in US later in the year or early in 2017 as long as I submit everything by the deadline or should I just apply as early as I can even though I wouldn't be able to improve my stat that much...? I also need to know when I should take my next pcat/TOEFL... I was gonna take it in October/November as most of the schools I am considering have their deadlines in Jan/Feb of 2017... but after reading the posts about applying early, I am not sure whether or not I should take it in September instead, which won't give me much time to study because I am currently working full-time and also taking two online English courses to satisfy my English requirements (intensive because English isn't my first language)...

Any input would be super appreciated!

And anyone/any Canadian with the same experience knows which US schools are easy/friendly with international/Canadian applicants?

Thank you very much!!!!!

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[pms_testosterone]

US pharm schools are rather expensive unless you intend to practice in the US. I would recommend re-applying to Can schools after getting that pharmacy assistant job, which will help you. Apply to every Canadian school whose admission requirements you meet.

I know historically a lot of Canadians went to Buffalo if they couldn't get into UofT. Not sure that's still popular: check the previous SDN threads on this topic.

 

[MatchaGreenTea]

The majority of US PharmD schools have rolling admissions. I finished all my apps around Oct-Nov, and saw that some of the schools had already interviewed and accepted candidates when I was just submitting my secondary app.

Also, it is important to note when secondary applications are due for each school. Some of the schools I applied to required both PharmCAS and the secondary be completed in early November, some in December, and the rest of the schools in March. If you do decide to submit your applications before January, I would suggest that you complete the academic update as early as possible when you receive your fall semester grades and send a quick notice to the schools about your update. PharmCAS will email you in December about the academic update and how to submit your new grades. That way, schools may take into consideration your new grades in their decisions.