Choosing Schools and Backup

[phyun]

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Hi everyone. I'm currently in the process of selecting schools. I'm having a hard time grasping which schools I should go to, let alone backups.

Obviously the "big names" is something everyone tries to apply to, but what do you look at when looking for backups?

A lot of thought goes into this process because of fees, interviews, flying, and etc. And I've heard that its not atypical for people to apply to 20+ schools.

I would really appreciate some guidance in this process.

Here's a list of questions I have:
- What does into the process of picking a school, or a backup schools.
- How much is location considered into this process?
- I hear a lot about people going to the Carribeans as backup, but I've also heard that there are drawbacks in doing so.

For the record, I live in California and let's assume that I have neither an abyssmal nor extraordinary GPA.

Thanks a lot guys!

 

[bohomojo]

Although I haven't started this process, many of my family members have gone through it and we've had these conversations so many times because I am looking to do the same. The younger ones chose schools far away and their local school. They both ended up at their local pharmacy school (Long Island University) and the reasons were due to tuition and close proximity to home. My aunt decided to go to Long Island University as well and that was her only choice, she didn't have a backup. The speech I was given was that location matters only because of your comfort level. If you want easy access to home, then going local is better than going away. If you think you'll be more productive away from home (like I am), then go to an out of state/out of your local area school.
As for the Caribbean schools, I don't know much, but I could imagine the transition for licensing and etc being very difficult if you wanted to come back to the US.
Hope I helped!

 

[tehshield]

Haven't heard much about Caribbean schools other than Caribbean schools for M.D. Anyways I'm from California too and my selection process for backup schools is based on the schools average accepted GPA/PCAT scores as well as tuition prices. Since California schools were pretty high in tuition costs even for instate I chose schools that were in a similar range or lower (which are a lot of schools even though you have out of state tuition).

 

[tehshield]

Also I already applied for the Fall 2014 cycle and travel expenses do tack up but I applied mostly to west coast schools due to flight costs and tuition and aforementioned reasons and only to a few east coast schools.

 

[Jibby321]

Hi everyone. I'm currently in the process of selecting schools. I'm having a hard time grasping which schools I should go to, let alone backups.

Obviously the "big names" is something everyone tries to apply to, but what do you look at when looking for backups?

A lot of thought goes into this process because of fees, interviews, flying, and etc. And I've heard that its not atypical for people to apply to 20+ schools.

I would really appreciate some guidance in this process.

Here's a list of questions I have:
- What does into the process of picking a school, or a backup schools.
- How much is location considered into this process?
- I hear a lot about people going to the Carribeans as backup, but I've also heard that there are drawbacks in doing so.

For the record, I live in California and let's assume that I have neither an abyssmal nor extraordinary GPA.

Thanks a lot guys!

I bolded your problem. Cali schools are too damn expensive and if you apply as OOS they become just as damn expensive. If you need to take >100K personally I wouldn't invest in a pharmD.

 

[RxEvileye]

From what I've seen, people do not typically apply to 20+ schools or to Caribbean schools (those are both pre-med things).

Pre-meds apply to very many because they are typically invited to do supplementals. Most pharmacy schools have you do the supplemental right away to complete your app. Prioritize which schools you really want to go to and spend more time on their supplementals. Also make a timeline. Due dates and interview dates differ. You don't want to waste money and time sending out 5 applications to your lower-ranked schools then get interviewed and accepted to one of your top choices.

 

[Amicable Angora]

No way to help you without knowing your GPA and PCAT.