Chances of getting into pharmacy school in California?

[Ry930933]

Hi all!

This is my first time posting on the forum. I have read many similar posts so it made me really nervous/curious about my own stats. I am currently applying to pharmacy schools, and I live in California so I really want to be accepted to schools here in California. However, I'm scared that I don't have a high enough chance of getting into good schools here that I might have to start looking into some out of state schools.

-I have a GPA of ~3.4 from University of Michigan with a major in neuroscience
-I don't have any pharmacy experience, but I do have a lot of volunteer experience (almost 1000 hours from various kinds of healthcare provider, which also includes direct patient care) and one year of research experience
-I have pretty decent letters of recommendation
-I am taking the upcoming PCAT in September, even though most California schools don't require PCAT.

So what I'm most worried about is my GPA which is not very competitive. And also, my lack of pharmacy experience, which I'm hoping having many volunteer experience could help overlook(?)

I really wish I could get in a good pharmacy school in California, please give me some advice! Thank you!!

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[remi136]

For your GPA and background, you can easily get an interview for every school except UCSF and UCSD(the only reason is that I didn't apply these so I don't know their requirements, but you probably can get the interview since average admitted GPA for UCSF is 3.52)
Then you just need to do well in the interview to get the offer. Your GPA is not so competitive for UCSF, USC and maybe UCSD. But it doesn't mean you don't have chance. Emphasizing on your research experience will be a plus for these schools.
For the rest of the CA schools, it's very easy to get in, especially for relatively new schools. They need YOU rather than you need them to accept you.
BTW, I don't have any pharm exp neither.