I'm 32 years old and have been out of school since 1995. I was previously a biology major but stopped after winter term my sophmore year. I had personal issues in my life that changed my focus around this time. I ended up going to Korea to teach English for a while then returned home to pursue a (seat of my pants) IT career.
Since then I've done a couple of years of telephone tech. support, 2 years of hands on hardware/software troubleshooting in a corporate and customer support environment and 3 years as general technical manager of the same company. After 7 years of working with computers I've realized that I prefer them as a hobby. I'm really fed up w/supporting them for a living.
I'm currently in India nearing the end of a year long trip through Asia. During this time I've been thinking hard about what to do with myself when I return home. I've been leaning towards a BS in chemistry for quite a while and recently have developed an interest in Pharmacy. I'd love to work in the health care industry and pharmacy seems like a good match for my personality.
Regarding my academic history; I had great grades during my time at community college and aced all of my science/math classes (although I didn't go past math 111 or general chem. there). At university things in my life interfered and I wasn't able to apply myself as well. I don't recall my GPA but I received a C in OChem fall term and a D winter term (an A and a B in the labs though). Molecular biology was a similar situation but up a step each term (slid from a B to a C).
So, now I've decided to pursue a BS in either bio-chem or biology. I'll have my eye on pharmacy school and I'm certain that my grades will reflect my currently much more stable situation.
My plan is to use the time between now and Sept. 2006 to review everything I can get my hands on and to possibly take care of some at a community college. I'll then begin taking classes at my local state university (portland state) and work towards my BS. I'll then apply to pharm school ASAP.
My first question is; do you think that my plan to work towards a BS is my best option? I like the fact that it'll be there even if I don't get into pharmacy school. However, I've noticed that the requirements for my local pharmacy schools are such that I could qualify for them w/much less work than would be needed for a BS. The two schools I'd be applying for would be OSU and WSU (OSU being my in state school). I could save quite a bit of time and a decent amount of money by just aiming straight for pharm school w/o receiving the BS first.
Would I be properly prepared for pharmacy school after a year of ochem, physics, statitstics, economics, biology and math? Also, my biology classes from 1995 fulfil the pre-requisites for pharmacy school. Is this too much of a gap (either as a hard rule defined by most schools or will I just be way too rusty)?
Lastly, is my life experience likely to be a boon to me when it comes time to apply? In the time I've been out of school I've spent many hours communicating technical terms/ideas/actions to non-technical people. I've also managed an IT team at a medium sized company and travelled the world. Is this the kind of thing that makes an application stand out or would they just as soon accept a bright eyed and bushy tailed youngster?
Alright, I think this post is long enough; thanks for taking the time to read it and for any help/advice you might be able to offer. Also, thanks to all of the people who have answered questions for the rest of this board. The pages of prior posting have gone a long way to educating me about pharmacy as a profession and as a path of study.
Since then I've done a couple of years of telephone tech. support, 2 years of hands on hardware/software troubleshooting in a corporate and customer support environment and 3 years as general technical manager of the same company. After 7 years of working with computers I've realized that I prefer them as a hobby. I'm really fed up w/supporting them for a living.
I'm currently in India nearing the end of a year long trip through Asia. During this time I've been thinking hard about what to do with myself when I return home. I've been leaning towards a BS in chemistry for quite a while and recently have developed an interest in Pharmacy. I'd love to work in the health care industry and pharmacy seems like a good match for my personality.
Regarding my academic history; I had great grades during my time at community college and aced all of my science/math classes (although I didn't go past math 111 or general chem. there). At university things in my life interfered and I wasn't able to apply myself as well. I don't recall my GPA but I received a C in OChem fall term and a D winter term (an A and a B in the labs though). Molecular biology was a similar situation but up a step each term (slid from a B to a C).
So, now I've decided to pursue a BS in either bio-chem or biology. I'll have my eye on pharmacy school and I'm certain that my grades will reflect my currently much more stable situation.
My plan is to use the time between now and Sept. 2006 to review everything I can get my hands on and to possibly take care of some at a community college. I'll then begin taking classes at my local state university (portland state) and work towards my BS. I'll then apply to pharm school ASAP.
My first question is; do you think that my plan to work towards a BS is my best option? I like the fact that it'll be there even if I don't get into pharmacy school. However, I've noticed that the requirements for my local pharmacy schools are such that I could qualify for them w/much less work than would be needed for a BS. The two schools I'd be applying for would be OSU and WSU (OSU being my in state school). I could save quite a bit of time and a decent amount of money by just aiming straight for pharm school w/o receiving the BS first.
Would I be properly prepared for pharmacy school after a year of ochem, physics, statitstics, economics, biology and math? Also, my biology classes from 1995 fulfil the pre-requisites for pharmacy school. Is this too much of a gap (either as a hard rule defined by most schools or will I just be way too rusty)?
Lastly, is my life experience likely to be a boon to me when it comes time to apply? In the time I've been out of school I've spent many hours communicating technical terms/ideas/actions to non-technical people. I've also managed an IT team at a medium sized company and travelled the world. Is this the kind of thing that makes an application stand out or would they just as soon accept a bright eyed and bushy tailed youngster?
Alright, I think this post is long enough; thanks for taking the time to read it and for any help/advice you might be able to offer. Also, thanks to all of the people who have answered questions for the rest of this board. The pages of prior posting have gone a long way to educating me about pharmacy as a profession and as a path of study.
