Do schools consider grade trends?

[FutrPharm]

Hey guys, I'm sure this kind of question has been beat to the ground in the past, but I didn't see anything on the first page about it so here it goes:
Do pharmacy schools place a lot of emphasis on most recent grades? My particular situation is that my GPA is only a 2.86, but in my last 36 hrs I've managed a 3.82, with A's in Organic II, Bio II, Physics I, Anatomy/Physiology I, and Calculus I. Also, I managed an 82 on the Pcat in October on my first try... so would it be worth applying? or should I just wait till next year and continue to pad my GPA and maybe re-take the PCAT? I'd be willing to consider attending any school that grants me an interview.

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[bananaface]

They don't put that much emphasis on recent grades. You have to at least get yourself high enough to get in the consideration pool. It would be worth applying to a few places just to familiarize yourself with the process, but an interview is a very long shot. I would recommend applying for the hell of it if you can afford it, keeping up your grades, and retaking science or other prerequisite classes you didn't do so well in, since some schools will take the highest or average of two grades.

Your PCAT scores are fine. It's up to you if you want to risk going down.

 

[jemc2000]

I agree with Banana. My grades from 1982 kept me out of pharmacy school this year, hopefully this next year I'll have a better chance. I have retaken some classes, raised my gpa some, and will have my BS summer.

But if you can afford it, apply. You may hit somebodies spark and make it in, it is surely worth a try.

 

[FutrPharm]

Hey thanks for the advice everyone... I'll probably just end up applying anyway... I mean what do I have to lose?

 

[calrx]

If you read through the websites carefully, you will find that a few of them do look at grade trends. For example:

This is directly from the Midwestern-CCP website:

"The Pharm.D. program at CCP is rigorous and challenging. In light of this, the CCP Admissions Committee will assess the quality and rigor of the prepharmacy academic records presented by each applicant. When assessing an applicant's prepharmacy academic record the Admissions Committee will:
Consider the institution where coursework was taken, the credit load per term, the difficulty of coursework taken, and trends in grades as factors when evaluating the quality and rigor of an applicant's prepharmacy academic record."

And this is directly from the University of Cincinnati's website:

"Although the cumulative GPA is considered a measure of academic ability, the evaluation takes into account performance in science lecture courses and compares it to performance in non-science courses. The most recent academic performance of applicants is viewed as being more indicative of ability, and is given more weight than earlier performance."

 

[pinkyrx]

Hey guys, I'm sure this kind of question has been beat to the ground in the past, but I didn't see anything on the first page about it so here it goes:
Do pharmacy schools place a lot of emphasis on most recent grades? My particular situation is that my GPA is only a 2.86, but in my last 36 hrs I've managed a 3.82, with A's in Organic II, Bio II, Physics I, Anatomy/Physiology I, and Calculus I. Also, I managed an 82 on the Pcat in October on my first try... so would it be worth applying? or should I just wait till next year and continue to pad my GPA and maybe re-take the PCAT? I'd be willing to consider attending any school that grants me an interview.

I would highly recommend going ahead and applying! I'm sure not all schools look at grade trends, but my school certainly does. They specifically told us during our interview meeting that trends are important and that if you started off having a bad time with school but then improved your grades and have been consistent with the improvement for a several semesters that the earlier "bad" stuff won't weigh in as much. I think it will look great that you've done so well in such difficult classes! Is there a reason that you didn't do so well before? Were you working too much or did you have personal things going on? If there is an obvious difference in your grades before and now the committee will probably ask you about why your grades are so much better now, also, it couldn't hurt to point out your grade trend in your intent letter.

I would probably even make an appointment with the dean of the school that you are interested to discuss your situation. Your recent grades are excellent and it would be nice if they could focus on that instead of your overall GPA. If you discuss your situation with them, when it comes time to go over your application they will hopefully remember your meeting and look at more than just the gpa number.

I should also mention that I am a success story when it comes to "grade trends" so I feel really strongly about this subject. Definitely apply! Like you said, what do you really have to lose.

 

[Kyra]

What type of grades do you need to be competitive for the pharmD program?

 

[pinkyrx]

What type of grades do you need to be competitive for the pharmD program?

The better the grades the better your chances are! I think most people that get into pharmacy school probably have mostly A's and B's. There are plenty of people that get in with C's as well. It's more about the overall picture than just the grades though.