Does prereq semester credit load affect acceptance

[ilovePharmD2]

Hi everyone. I have this question i really need to ask. I started taking my prereq in the fall of 2002 and for the first 3 semesters i took full time credits (at least 12) per semester. Since then i've been taking less credits like 7, 5 and sometimes even 4 credits (1 class) per semester. As a matter of fact, i have skipped about 2 semesters at some point. Of course these changes have been due to family concerns like giving birth and missing a semester and then combining school, full-time work and kids (I have 3). Will this in any way affect my chances of making it into pharmacy school? Will this make the adcom think i may not be able to make it through pharmacy school because of the small semester loads. Please help! Any info will be appreciated.

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[mrblah]

depends on the school. I don't remember which school that I applied to, but some schools asked " Is there a time when you were not a fulltime student, explain why?"

 

[eelo]

Hi everyone. I have this question i really need to ask. I started taking my prereq in the fall of 2002 and for the first 3 semesters i took full time credits (at least 12) per semester. Since then i've been taking less credits like 7, 5 and sometimes even 4 credits (1 class) per semester. As a matter of fact, i have skipped about 2 semesters at some point. Of course these changes have been due to family concerns like giving birth and missing a semester and then combining school, full-time work and kids (I have 3). Will this in any way affect my chances of making it into pharmacy school? Will this make the adcom think i may not be able to make it through pharmacy school because of the small semester loads. Please help! Any info will be appreciated.

Frankly, it would make me think that. However, if your personal statement is written from the aspect of 'this is why I took fewer classes and tis is what has changed and will allow me to be a full-time student...,' rather than 'I'm a new mommy so I put my scooling on the backbrner and now I'm ready to be a different kind of big girl so you should pick me...,' then you might be okay.

In all honesty, I think you ave a great deal to overcome here. At what point recently have you been able to attend school full-time? Is tere a significant cange in your life that will suddenly rid you of all the burdens that kept you from fll-time school before? For example, were you working so that your partner could complete school and now that s/he has finished, s/he'll be making enough money to pay for child care while you're in school? Perhaps an adult parent or sibling as moved in with you and will be providing child care in excange for room and board? Seriously- you'd have to demonstrate two things to me: 1) what has changed, and 2) that you're capable of being successful at full-time school.

 

[ilovePharmD2]

I am looking to changing a lot of things before applying in the fall. I hope to find a part time job so i can stop working full time.In addition I do have a relative who is living with me presently and helping out with the kids. This way, i can take 2 classes in the summer and then take full time courses in the fall and next spring. Hopefully this will help, right?

 

[Hels2007]

Work/family are very valid reasons to be part-time, however, if I were reading your application package, my question would be, will you be able to handle workload which is MORE than average pre-req full-time load, with everything else going on in your life? Admissions are based only partially on what you have done up to that point, and a large part is what is your potential. No one wants to admit a student who will withraw after a couple semesters, or who will miss half the classes and constantly ask for make-up exams... so just be careful and prepared to explain what is different in your life now, what support system you have in place to handle the demands of the full-tim pharmacy student's life.