Chemistry is not my forte. Is pharmacy for me?

[futurpharmacis]

I am applying to only one school...it's the University of Toronto. I don't consider myself good in chem, and I don't know if pharmacy is for me. I got 63% in chem in Grade 12 (i.e., Senior year) the first time I took the course. I retook the course in high school and got a 76%. In first year chem in university, I got a B (73-4%). In second year, I got a 65% in orgo Part I and 83% in part II. On the PCAT I got 40-50 on the chem section, and a composite score of 60. I'm still waiting for the admissions comittee, and I don't know whether I'm going to get in. I heard that pharmacy is a lot of chemistry, and since it is not my thing...I don't know if I should continue this path?

I am majoring in biology and psychology (not a lot to do with chem).

Someone please give me your opinion. I would like to hear from the people who are in pharmacy, but others are welcome too.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Venicat]

you're a chemistry person and you just don't know it


Can you study harder and improve your chemistry PCAT score next year?

 

[unichick512]

I am applying to only one school...it's the University of Toronto. I don't consider myself good in chem, and I don't know if pharmacy is for me. I got 63% in chem in Grade 12 (i.e., Senior year) the first time I took the course. I retook the course in high school and got a 76%. In first year chem in university, I got a B (73-4%). In second year, I got a 65% in orgo Part I and 83% in part II. On the PCAT I got 40-50 on the chem section, and a composite score of 60. I'm still waiting for the admissions comittee, and I don't know whether I'm going to get in. I heard that pharmacy is a lot of chemistry, and since it is not my thing...I don't know if I should continue this path?

I am majoring in biology and psychology (not a lot to do with chem).

Someone please give me your opinion. I would like to hear from the people who are in pharmacy, but others are welcome too.

If your a bio and psych major, you must be good at memorizing.
So... yeah, I think you're cut out to be a pharmacist. I thought there was a lot more bio/biochem in our program than straight up chemistry.

Are you good with people? Communicating, working in a team, counting by 5s? You should be ok.

 

[Okie7123]

I'm going to disagree with the responses so far. If you have trouble in undergrad, you're going to have a lot of trouble in grad school. What is more, the high school grade isn't horribly important as you could have had senioritis. But you should not be getting D's and low B's on core classes for pharm pre-requisites. Unless you can retake these and get higher grades, I'd say you're wasting your money applying to school. Plus your PCAT grade is a bit low. Average PCAT score for those accepted is 70, although, people can score lower but offset with good grades. I think unless you can turn it around you may want to find another health profession to try.

 

[nehe87]

I'm going to disagree with the responses so far. If you have trouble in undergrad, you're going to have a lot of trouble in grad school. What is more, the high school grade isn't horribly important as you could have had senioritis. But you should not be getting D's and low B's on core classes for pharm pre-requisites. Unless you can retake these and get higher grades, I'd say you're wasting your money applying to school. Plus your PCAT grade is a bit low. Average PCAT score for those accepted is 70, although, people can score lower but offset with good grades. I think unless you can turn it around you may want to find another health profession to try.

I agree with this. I know that there are some areas of pharmacy, retail being a good example, in which you don't necessarily have to be a hard-core chemistry genius, because people skills and thinking on your feet are way more important. BUT, I will say that if you struggled in the basic chem classes like general chemistry and organic chemistry, you will struggle in chemistry-based classes in pharmacy school, because they don't get any easier. I know all pharmacy schools are different, but at UT, our first semester, we had medicinal chemistry, medicinal chemistry lab, , biochemistry, physical chemistry, and physical chemistry lab. I think if chemistry is something you're really not very good at, you wouldn't make it through the first semester.

I think you could still be a good pharmacist even if chemistry isn't your strongest point. But the thing is, you have to make it through pharmacy school to be a pharmacist, and in order to do that, you have to have a good grasp on chemistry. Yes, biochemistry is not straight-up chem, but it does involve a lot of electron-pushing and understanding/applying basic chemistry concepts.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[pinkpillowzz]

Alot of people associate "pharmacy" with ONLY "chemistry". This is so not true. Pharmacy education involves just a whole lot more than "what's a mol?" and rate limiting reactions and all that non-sense. It involves a lot of biology and biochemistry and anatomy and physiology.

Right now, in my pharmacy school, medicinal chemistry is only a small part of our curriculum. Our main drugs and diseases courses consist of pathophysiology, pharmacology, medical chemistry, and therapeutics. Among these 4, you have to have a general understanding of biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology. Even if you took these courses and forgot what you learned in them, the professors will always go over it with you and refresh your memory.

You can get 60's in all your chemistry classes and hate chemistry. But that doesn't mean you won't be a good pharmacist. Chemistry just takes work to understand it. I look at it as "math", except put into "structures" and other "rules".

 

[trailrider400]

Oh yeah because I've seen so many pharmacists at work bust out SN-2 reactions and practice the backside attack. And you know they always have that periodic table in their back pocket. It is important to be able to understand chemistry and how the drugs work in the body but all thats really necessary is for you to be able to get through the classes and learn the core science. If pharmacy and pharmacy school was all chemistry I would not even think about becoming a pharmacist. Have you tried biochem yet? See how that goes and go from there

 

[Scikotic]

I work with an amazing pharmacist and she got a 19 on her organic chem final when she was in her undergrad, sooo I wouldn't stress too much. And apparently after talking to several P1-P3 students, there is no organic chem in pharm school, it's more bio/med-chem. (they did say there was an occasional mechanism and some structures to learn) But based on what they told me, organic II is the hardest class you will ever have to take when compared to pharmacy school classes, so if you can get through that you should be just fine. Good luck!

 

[pharmtechgirl26]

You can definitely still be a pharmacist! Chemistry is not my strongest area either, but I make up for that in other ways. In fact, I was just accepted into a great pharmacy school, and I have average grades and my pcat chem score was low. If this is the career that you want, you should not let your chemistry scores stand in your way. If you are persistent enough, you will get what you want. Schools are looking for more than just good test scores. You can have the best grades in the world and still get turned down from a school because you weren't the right fit for the program. Good luck to you!

 

[SHC1984]

Please don't tell me there is Physical Chemistry in Pharmacy school! I hate that class almost as much as physics!

 

[aboveliquidice]

While I understand the intent of pre-pharmacy students chiming in - Telling people there is no ORGANIC chemistry is just FALSE.

Pre reqs have (2) purposes.

1. Provided ground-level, basic knowledge that everyone in this field should understand.
2. Provide a significant barrier to entrance for individuals to pass - by doing so, it is assumed that you have the ability to complete pharmacy school (not just start it).

ALL pre req chemistry is brought again at some point. What the heck do you think MED CHEM is???

Case in point - why do some beta-lactam ABX get destroyed by beta-lactamases and some do not??? Answer is Steric hinderence (amongst other mechanisms) - That's why you need to know what a back side attack is.

This is just one example - I could go into first pass / second pass metabolism, pK / pH and how drugs are affectede - why toxic metabolites make sense - etc...

Our very first block of pharmacy school was an chemistry review. It was both semesters of gen chem and organic chem shoved into 2 weeks. It was assumed that you knew how to do it already - trust me - you need chemsitry.

Every school is different - you might want to find out from current students (at the school you wish to attend) how much chemistry you need to know.

Please do not enter pharmacy school thinking you do not need chemistry

To the OPs question - there are many reasons why one person can struggle in chemistry - Re-evaluate yourself, why you didn't do well. If you can make changes, spend extra time with the chem - you can certainly make it in this field.

 

[RXsocal]

I am applying to only one school...it's the University of Toronto. I don't consider myself good in chem, and I don't know if pharmacy is for me. I got 63% in chem in Grade 12 (i.e., Senior year) the first time I took the course. I retook the course in high school and got a 76%. In first year chem in university, I got a B (73-4%). In second year, I got a 65% in orgo Part I and 83% in part II. On the PCAT I got 40-50 on the chem section, and a composite score of 60. I'm still waiting for the admissions comittee, and I don't know whether I'm going to get in. I heard that pharmacy is a lot of chemistry, and since it is not my thing...I don't know if I should continue this path?

I am majoring in biology and psychology (not a lot to do with chem).

Someone please give me your opinion. I would like to hear from the people who are in pharmacy, but others are welcome too.

General Chemistry was one of my most HATED classes of undergrad. I am a biology major and I love what I specialize in. I tutor bio and will never have the chance of teaching somebody Chem! no way! Nevertheless, I studied EXTREMELY hard and got A's in both semester of Gen chem after getting both C's a year earlier. I love the profession of pharmacy and I'm not going to stop just because calculating enthalpy, entropy, and determining heat of fusion for this and that was driving me nuts. Good luck! PHARMACY all the way

 

[Okie7123]

I think some of the replies are missing the point about some pre-requisites...

Many are assuming that pre-requisites means they are used extensively in pharm school. While this is the case with many, there are others on the list for schools that separate the wheat from the chaff. It's the difficulty of the class and your ability to overcome the challenge and do well that is also important. So yes, there may be some pre-reqs that barely come back, but it is just another way to differentiate and is equally important that you do well in. Also, OP remember that to pass a class in any graduate school, you need B's at the minimum...you will not pass with a C+. You need to be comfortable taking difficult classes in undergrad, like biochemistry, and getting strong B's to A's. Then consider taking more classes simultaneously of a similar difficulty and maintaining a 3.0. It's just one more thing to consider, if you can handle a difficult work load.

 

[futurpharmacis]

I guess I'm good with people.

I think the reading comp of the PCAT tests for something like that...what is the author's point of view...etc. It's a pretty hard section as well.

 

[futurpharmacis]

If your a bio and psych major, you must be good at memorizing.
So... yeah, I think you're cut out to be a pharmacist. I thought there was a lot more bio/biochem in our program than straight up chemistry.

Are you good with people? Communicating, working in a team, counting by 5s? You should be ok.

I guess so. I found the reading comp hard, but it tests for whether you know what people have in mind (e.g., what is the authors point of view) which I thought I was good at? Weird. I guess it's different when it's in writing.

 

[futurpharmacis]

Alot of people associate "pharmacy" with ONLY "chemistry". This is so not true. Pharmacy education involves just a whole lot more than "what's a mol?" and rate limiting reactions and all that non-sense. It involves a lot of biology and biochemistry and anatomy and physiology.

Right now, in my pharmacy school, medicinal chemistry is only a small part of our curriculum. Our main drugs and diseases courses consist of pathophysiology, pharmacology, medical chemistry, and therapeutics. Among these 4, you have to have a general understanding of biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology. Even if you took these courses and forgot what you learned in them, the professors will always go over it with you and refresh your memory.

You can get 60's in all your chemistry classes and hate chemistry. But that doesn't mean you won't be a good pharmacist. Chemistry just takes work to understand it. I look at it as "math", except put into "structures" and other "rules".

Yeah, I agree with you! Ever since I took orgo part 2 with calculus, I have realized that chemistry can be thought and learned like a math course. That fact helped me a lot, and that's how I got a 83%, the highest chem mark.

 

[futurpharmacis]

I work with an amazing pharmacist and she got a 19 on her organic chem final when she was in her undergrad, sooo I wouldn't stress too much. And apparently after talking to several P1-P3 students, there is no organic chem in pharm school, it's more bio/med-chem. (they did say there was an occasional mechanism and some structures to learn) But based on what they told me, organic II is the hardest class you will ever have to take when compared to pharmacy school classes, so if you can get through that you should be just fine. Good luck!

Thanks for your comments. It help me feel better.

 

[futurpharmacis]

While I understand the intent of pre-pharmacy students chiming in - Telling people there is no ORGANIC chemistry is just FALSE.

Pre reqs have (2) purposes.

1. Provided ground-level, basic knowledge that everyone in this field should understand.
2. Provide a significant barrier to entrance for individuals to pass - by doing so, it is assumed that you have the ability to complete pharmacy school (not just start it).

ALL pre req chemistry is brought again at some point. What the heck do you think MED CHEM is???

Case in point - why do some beta-lactam ABX get destroyed by beta-lactamases and some do not??? Answer is Steric hinderence (amongst other mechanisms) - That's why you need to know what a back side attack is.

This is just one example - I could go into first pass / second pass metabolism, pK / pH and how drugs are affectede - why toxic metabolites make sense - etc...

Our very first block of pharmacy school was an chemistry review. It was both semesters of gen chem and organic chem shoved into 2 weeks. It was assumed that you knew how to do it already - trust me - you need chemsitry.

Every school is different - you might want to find out from current students (at the school you wish to attend) how much chemistry you need to know.

Please do not enter pharmacy school thinking you do not need chemistry

To the OPs question - there are many reasons why one person can struggle in chemistry - Re-evaluate yourself, why you didn't do well. If you can make changes, spend extra time with the chem - you can certainly make it in this field.

thank you for your honesty. I will take your advice into consideration.

 

[tootoo30]

When I got my undergrad degree, I steered clear of all science courses because I hated science classes in high school, so I got my undergrad in the computer field. When I decided to pursue pharmacy, I went in with the mind set that science courses would not defeat me (YEAH) I studied harder than most but I walked away with A's in Gen Chem II, Organic I and II and a B in Gen Chem I, I also got A's in Gen Biology I and II, so it can be done, you may have to study harder than the average person, but don't give up!

 

[Passion4Sci]

When I got my undergrad degree, I steered clear of all science courses because I hated science classes in high school, so I got my undergrad in the computer field. When I decided to pursue pharmacy, I went in with the mind set that science courses would not defeat me (YEAH) I studied harder than most but I walked away with A's in Gen Chem II, Organic I and II and a B in Gen Chem I, I also got A's in Gen Biology I and II, so it can be done, you may have to study harder than the average person, but don't give up!

I'm of a similar mind, although my UG was in Psychology.

Did you take those courses at your alma mater, another 4-year school, or a CC?

Just curious, as it's oddly similar to my situation.

 

[tootoo30]

I'm of a similar mind, although my UG was in Psychology.

Did you take those courses at your alma mater, another 4-year school, or a CC?

Just curious, as it's oddly similar to my situation.

I'm all over the place taking classes LOL. I work fulltime, so I have to schedule my classes accordingly. Right now I've taken classes at a four-year institution that is not my alma mater and I have taken some classes at a CC. I have even taken some of my science classes online. I was trying to make the cutoff for the 2009 application period because waiting was not an option for me.

 

[thephoenician88]

once you take biochemistry, everything makes sense. It all just fits, it's really interesting.

 

[HayMay18]

I know a girl who did very well in chemistry I and II in high school and when she got to college she didn't do very good at all and didn't get in Pharm school.