Can someone please give me an idea on whta kind of EC are considered good for pharmacy application? I know pharmacy experience is probablly helpful but what eles? For example: do I need to be an exceutive of a club or organize some large project? or would participating in club events and volunteering at a hospital be enough? please help!
Extra curricular Activities
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One advice I can give you is don't just sign up to do something just to fill up your resume. Adcoms can see through you. Look around and find something you are REALLY interested in and feel passionate about even if it's kind of self serving.
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I know the dean of my school wanted to see that you were committed to one thing instead of spreading yourself out everywhere for just a little bit of time. Anything where you give your time to help out someone or a group in need will be fine. Volunteer to pack food at a food bank, serve food at a homeless shelter or read to people in a nursing home or hospital ward.
IMO just being employed as a certified technician is harder, more beneficial, and shows more drive than being the leader of some organization or just volunteering at a pharmacy for a few weeks.
Give that a shot, it's very helpful.
Otherwise, or in addition too, join a school club that organizes volunteer events.
Give that a shot, it's very helpful.
Otherwise, or in addition too, join a school club that organizes volunteer events.
Thanks for all the replies! How can I get a position at a pharmacy as a technician? don't they need tobe certified at some college? I tried looking at a few pharmacies that are hiring technicians and they allrequire some sort of certification. Is there perhaps, another position I can apply for that doesn't require any certification?
I've heard from other people too that any kind of volunteering is great.. I just realized tho, that I have tons of volunteering experiences but none of them are really related to pharmacy. plus, I've joined a few clubs at school but I'm only a member in all of them, not a leader or VP. do you guys think, just based on that, the extracurricular activities, make me agood enough applicant?
I've heard from other people too that any kind of volunteering is great.. I just realized tho, that I have tons of volunteering experiences but none of them are really related to pharmacy. plus, I've joined a few clubs at school but I'm only a member in all of them, not a leader or VP. do you guys think, just based on that, the extracurricular activities, make me agood enough applicant?
I'm not accepted yet so I don't know if my advice is accurate, but I've got a couple of thoughts for you:
I would say that simply being a member of a club isn't very convincing to an adcom unless you actually hold a position in the club of value. Many clubs at my school hold events that require membership to attend in order for them to make money for the club (review sessions and such), so obviously holding a membership card doesn't necessarily prove that you are an active participant in the club itself.
I got a pharmacy tech job at the neighbourhood drug store without any certification. It's an independently owned pharmacy and I started in the eleventh grade as a cashier then started working in the post office. When I started my biology degree, my boss offered to let me work in the pharmacy itself every thursday evening and eventually that expanded to the saturday tech rotation and full time summer (and winter holiday) employment. Yes, I lucked out, but if a store won't hire you directly as a tech, you can always try the strategy of starting at the bottom and proving your worth so that you might be able to land a job behind the counter one day.
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OldPharm, totally agree with you....
I think one of the best things you can do is participate in activities YOU LIKE and you BELIEVE IN, not just for the sake of looking good on the application. Find things that you feel are interesting and that you like because if you do activities that look good on paper and only for that reason and they ask you during an interview chances are you'll get caught for being lackluster about them. You won't have anything meaningful to say about the activity during the interview. Believe me I've been questioned at just about every interview about at least one of my activities. I think what matters most is exploring what you find fulfilling whether it be in research, community service, sports, culture, leadership. I believe that no matter what activities you do, the skills you develop and the professional/personal experiences you encounter will somehow be transferable and beneficial to you in applying to pharmacy school and during school.
Ultimately doing what you like and believe in will lead to you probably being more than a member and getting more involved.
Also with pharmacy experience, it's so valuable to get some insight into what a pharmacist does and how a pharmacy is run. You can start off as a clerk and then some pharmacies will actually assist you in getting a pharmtech license. Also depending on the state you live in, you may be able to automatically become a tech without needing to take a test by completing X amount of hours. I had a friend who was able to do that a few years back in CA...i believe before the rules changed.
Ah~! Another good point! Interviewers can see our eyes light up and hear the excitement in our voices when we talk about something we are REALLY passionate about. That's what happened during my UCSF interview, I think. I got all worked up/fired up talking about my research and the Japanese import auto club I administered. That's right... Japanese import auto club...
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I had some pretty good EC. Maybe my experiences will help you. I was on the executive board of 3 university organization, shadowed an oncology/hematology specialist for a week, ER volunteer, volunteerd at a local muslim community school, a year of independent research. The possibilities are endless. Suffice it to say that adcoms like to see you do things without monetary incentives.
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Check at your local hospital to see if you'd be able to get some experience in pharmacy as a volunteer without a certification/license. I took and passed the PTCB test on my own (no schooling involved), which allowed me to apply for a tech license (in California). As I waited for the license to be issued, I volunteered in the pharmacy administration office doing office type of work - only thing I could do without a license. But, when the license was finally issued (took 3 months to process), I was then allowed into the in-patient pharmacy and do volunteer work there.
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From my experience, this is not true at all. I have 4 years experience as a tech and got rejected and waitlisted at both schools I applied to last year. After asking the assistant dean at one school what I needed to improve, he told me that despite having a lot of tech experience, I didn't have as much extracurricular/community service (I did have some) as their typical applicant. He said pharmacy is a field where you have to help people, and volunteer work shows that you are interested in helping people.
what specific ecs did you do to improve your standing?
