Does a bachelor's degree have a greater advantage than a person that did pre-req

[gotmilklol]

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Does a person with a bachelor's degree (bio, chem, etc) have a greater advantage to a person who only did there pre-req for pharmacy school?
Will BA ppl be ahead in pharmacy school (due to substantial knowledge in that subject) verses some1 who only did there pre-req to apply to pharmacy?

 

[xxone2trixx]

Does a person with a bachelor's degree (bio, chem, etc) have a greater advantage to a person who only did there pre-req for pharmacy school?
Will BA ppl be ahead in pharmacy school (due to substantial knowledge in that subject) verses some1 who only did there pre-req to apply to pharmacy?

Are you asking if they have greater advantage in pharmacy school or do they have a greater advantage getting into pharmacy school because i know alot of schools give more weight to people who have their bachelors degree but i dont think it matters knowledge wise since the only way to succeed in pharmacy school is to be motivated on your own to study!

 

[luwical]

Having a B.A in areas such as physiology will definitely make your life easier in physiology classes in the sense that you know your troubles spots. However, a B.A in psychology does not make much difference. So, it depends on what your degree is a all about.

 

[gonj]

do pharm schools make this info avail - how many applicants they let in w/o a bachelors?

 

[luwical]

I asked a lot of schools this question. The answer is always "a significant portion of their applicants have a bachelor". You can assume a 60% and greater based on that comment.

 

[xiphoid2010]

the answer is: everything else being equal, generally yes.

Pharmacy school is competitive, and the admission criteria is rising, and applicants far out number the available spots so schools can cherry pick. Now some of the good schools don't even take non-degree holders.

 

[aboveliquidice]

What 4 yr degree you get typically does not matter - although this varies by school - so you will want to contact the schools you are interested to verify this.

Having a 4 yr degree means that you are accomplished as a student, regardless of what you got your degree in.

That being said - you will get more benefit from a science based degree - more exposure to science courses will certainly aid you in your future studies.

~above~

 

[aboveliquidice]

the answer is: everything else being equal, generally yes.

Pharmacy school is competitive, and the admission criteria is rising, and applicants far out number the available spots so schools can cherry pick. Now some of the good schools don't even take non-degree holders.

Please refrain from posting blanket statements - This requirement varies by school.

While I do agree that the future will place the Pharm D as a true graduate degree, it is not a current requirement.

To be certain, an applicant should contact each school directly.

~above~

 

[xiphoid2010]

Please refrain from posting blanket statements - This requirement varies by school.

While I do agree that the future will place the Pharm D as a true graduate degree, it is not a current requirement.

To be certain, an applicant should contact each school directly.

~above~

what blanket statement? 😕

I didn't say all schools require a degree, just pointing to the fact that some good schools either officially require a degree or de facto require a degree.

 

[tomk]

yes, while a bs or ba aren't requirements for a lot of schools, most schools give extra points for having a degree and advanced degree.
so it is an advantage.

when contacting some schools, they outright said that they prefer their applicants to have b.s.

now, does that mean you can't get in without a bachelors? no. but it is tougher seeing that you will be missing some points that others will have.
for instance, a person without a bachelors scores the same amount of points as the person with a degree (gpa, pcat, interview).

guess who they are gonna take? the guy with a degree.

 

[glowworm]

so I'm hoping to save a year or two and not get a degree. what could I do to make up the lack of competitiveness from not getting a degree? the school I want to go to has about 40% of their entering class with degrees.

My school also lets you Clep/ AP out of non-science and math pre-reqs. Does having a lot of credits like that that don't factor into your GPA hurt you? I mean assuming i do well in the classes I do take.

 

[tomk]

so I'm hoping to save a year or two and not get a degree. what could I do to make up the lack of competitiveness from not getting a degree? the school I want to go to has about 40% of their entering class with degrees.

My school also lets you Clep/ AP out of non-science and math pre-reqs. Does having a lot of credits like that that don't factor into your GPA hurt you? I mean assuming i do well in the classes I do take.

my opinion is that you should get a degree if you don't have one. It gives you more options.

however, if you don't want one, the only way i can see you making up for it is by getting a better gpa and lor than those who do have it. Also having a lot of pharm experience from what im being told makes up for a lot of things.

 

[pharmacygopher]

do pharm schools make this info avail - how many applicants they let in w/o a bachelors?

At Minnesota, the percent of accepted applicants with degrees has skyrocketed in the past few years.

http://www.pharmacy.umn.edu/pharmd/admissions/statistics/home.html

Year % with BA/BS
2003 31
2004 49
2005 61
2006 76
2007 74
2008 76

I applied one year without a BS and one year with a BS and my application got much more attention after I had a BS. I got into my top choice as well (Minnesota).

 

[joelkassam]

I will say that having a bachelors will make a huge difference..especially if it is in a science field. It will show the school that you were eligible and persistent enough to go through the four years of college and survive..For most people who gets in to pharmacy school with the first to years of college..it will be completely new experience as you will have heavy course loads and exams every single week and having a bachelors could have prepared you to deal with those changes..So far I have interviewed in 3 schools and got in to all of them I have an overall GPA of 3.4 and 83 pcat and will have a bachelors in pharmacology and toxicology by this semester, which i believe to have played an important role..So its always a plus

 

[gotmilklol]

guys guys, im not asking if you need a BS to get into pharmacy school
I asking that if u'll do better in ure class during pharmacy schhol than 2 year pre-req students

 

[confettiflyer]

guys guys, im not asking if you need a BS to get into pharmacy school
I asking that if u'll do better in ure class during pharmacy schhol than 2 year pre-req students

man, people using "ur" "ure" "ppl" "some1" and "u'll" is clearly a middle school/high school thing. you'll want to stop doing that asap, it makes you sound 12. and your original question is ambiguous/confusing.

with that said, BS/BA students, on average, initially perform better. depending on the program, things you're taking 1st year often duplicate classes you've taken before. you'll also have more experience with different professors and test styles. This advantage tends to disappear as time goes on since those with less academic experience catch up.

 

[luwical]

You can infer from the discussion above that pharmacy schools know that there is an advantage to having a degree. Do not think that having degree is merely for beautifying your application.

Moreover, don't tell me that you have much game if there is someone with a PhD in pharmaceutics in your class.

The moral of story is the higher you go, the more dangerous you are.

 

[themulya]

man, people using "ur" "ure" "ppl" "some1" and "u'll" is clearly a middle school/high school thing. you'll want to stop doing that asap, it makes you sound 12. and your original question is ambiguous/confusing.

I agree. People really need to stop doing that. My dad just learned how to text and he uses those shortcuts. I had to tell him he texts like a 13 year old girl.

 

[aboveliquidice]

guys guys, im not asking if you need a BS to get into pharmacy school
I asking that if u'll do better in ure class during pharmacy schhol than 2 year pre-req students

Do you really save time by using "ure" instead of "your"???

I know on the back end - it takes me nearly a second more to read your sentence...

As to your clarified question - The student will determine how well they do. If you go through extensive education, but brain dump the information after the course - you would in no way be better prepared to go through a pharmacy course than someone who has never taken a course in that subject matter.

Many of the most accomplished students in my class have no degree - they are just really sharp students.

In the end - the argument is mute. Apply to pharmacy as soon as you are eligible. If that means you never get a BS, great. If it takes you a few years to get in, or you already have your BS, that is fine too. Will you be better prepared for school? Maybe - but again, I tend to think that better students simply tend to do better (experience has little to do with it).

Long winded answer - my bad

~above~

 

[confettiflyer]

I've brain dumped a lot of classes as an undergrad...but oddly enough the 2nd time I've seen it, I actually did retain enough basics to do fine in the class.

Wait, I guess I really didn't brain dump after all.

 

[inquirer89]

A general question relating to the topic: Doesn't the prereqs offer the brunt of academic experience one needs to do well in pharmacy school? Most schools require Orgo II, Physics, Calculus, A&P etc., and assuming a student does well in all of them, then that person should be adequately prepared for pharmacy school. Since after all, that is how the system is set up today.

My reasoning is that if a person majors in Biochemistry, he has an advantage of taking advanced courses. But that leaves a person majoring in Biology in the same boat as the 2 year students because they did not take the same advanced courses as the Biochem major. Or am I mistaken...because at my school, bio majors have to take an array of biology electives to finish their degree, but only up to Physics II and Organic II as their required "hard classes" and not biochemistry.

And does a degree take into account of how spaced out classes are? Say, 2 science classes a semester vs. 4 science classes? The person taking the latter will be more used to the fast pace and amount of exams in pharmacy school.

 

[fenixtnlfan]

I think taking those upper division classes required for a bachelors is helpful in learning how to critically think about the information and apply it to test questions that are scenarios. Those types of tests you will run across in pharm school. However, I don't think it puts you at a huge advantage over other students. I've run across a few things in pharm school that I learned in my BS classes, but I've never felt like knowing those things actually helped because they were very small.

 

[tomk]

if we aren't talking about admissions, and just performance of students with and without degrees, i'd go with the students with a bs.

most of the schools i called prefer a student to have a bs. imo its because it gives the school peace of mind that the student will be able to handle the pace of pharm school. while taking pre req science classes may not be that difficult, stack them all on top of each other in one semester/quarter, and the difficulty shoots up. Most students with a BS have had 3 or 4 science courses stacked in one quarter, upper division included.

i think the school just wants to know if you can handle taking 4 difficult science courses all at once, something many of the students without a bs may not have done.

thats the only advantage i see to having a bs and how it would affect a student's performance in pharm school. other than that, pre reqs are there for a reason, that reason being that is what the school wants you to know, if you have them and are able to handle the pace, you should be fine. If you';ve never taken a full load of science courses, you might have a rough time adjusting, but nothing too serious.

 

[Sparda29]

My last semester of undergrad before starting Pharmacy school definitely helped me prepare for pharmacy school because of the heavy course load, I was taking Microbiology, Immunology, Physiology, Statistics, and Philosophy II.

 

[xiphoid2010]

the classes that made P1 easy for me, even eased some P2/P3 courses:

microbio, cellular bio, physio, anatomy, immunology, genetics, statistics, physical chem, bio chem, med chem. Many of these are only available to upper division students.

Yeah, BS in molecular bio helped quite a lot. I'm near the top of my class partially because of the solid background and drug research experience from pfizer.