extra-curriculars: do they matter?

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philapharm7

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  1. Pre-Pharmacy
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Every "getting into pharmacy school" guide I have read (or getting into any school, for that matter) has always stressed that both extra-curricular activities and just little "extras" on your application in general are incredibly important. I recently talked to an academic adviser to tell her my list of extras so far and ask her opinion on what I have so far and see if there's anything else she recommends. I was SHOCKED when she told me she really doesn't think any of it makes a difference. For the record, I have talked to this adviser plenty of times before, I really like her and she normally knows her stuff (or if she doesn't, she has no problem admitting she doesn't know and refers me to someone who will know), which is why I am taking this to heart and not just blowing off her comment.

What are your opinions on this?

To be complete, this is a condensed list of my extra-curriculars/what I consider my selling points:
- By next year I'll have a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from an accredited, well-known, respected pharmacy school
- I'm in a sorority and hold two positions within it.
- I was a pharm tech for two years
- I'm a member of the Medical Reserve Corps
- I was awarded a free membership to AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists) -- ten students from my school are awarded membership each year, I was one of them this year

Any feedback on the issue in general is much appreciated. And if you have any feedback on my particular activities, that's even better 😀
 
I didnt have a single extra curricular. I got three interview offers and got into my top pick.

Of course I'm not proud of this, nor do I say go and be a lazy person like me but it is possible to get in without a rap sheet the size of hardcore criminals 🙂

My advisor also said about the same thing about extra curriculars, but I still felt bad when it came to filling out my PharmCAS app.

Cheers :laugh:
 
philapharm7 said:
Every "getting into pharmacy school" guide I have read (or getting into any school, for that matter) has always stressed that both extra-curricular activities and just little "extras" on your application in general are incredibly important. I recently talked to an academic adviser to tell her my list of extras so far and ask her opinion on what I have so far and see if there's anything else she recommends. I was SHOCKED when she told me she really doesn't think any of it makes a difference. For the record, I have talked to this adviser plenty of times before, I really like her and she normally knows her stuff (or if she doesn't, she has no problem admitting she doesn't know and refers me to someone who will know), which is why I am taking this to heart and not just blowing off her comment.

What are your opinions on this?

To be complete, this is a condensed list of my extra-curriculars/what I consider my selling points:
- By next year I'll have a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from an accredited, well-known, respected pharmacy school
- I'm in a sorority and hold two positions within it.
- I was a pharm tech for two years
- I'm a member of the Medical Reserve Corps
- I was awarded a free membership to AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists) -- ten students from my school are awarded membership each year, I was one of them this year

Any feedback on the issue in general is much appreciated. And if you have any feedback on my particular activities, that's even better 😀
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Is she a pre-health adviser? EC's are an important aspect of your application because it shows you are a well-rounded individual. Pharmacy experience shows that you have some knowledge of the field. Both of these are incredibly important...especially if you do not have a 3.8-4.0 GPA and high PCAT score. Even so, some people don't get in with a high GPA/PCAT when they lack EC's. It depends on the school and everything else on the application- essays, LORs, coursework.

I would say that you have good EC's. But, it is the pharmacy experience and the fact that you have a degree that is going to hold more weight than any additional EC's you try to fit in.
 
It's all about being in equilibrium if you get my drift. If you are not so stellar in one area like GPA (like Rxlea said), you better have something else to help make your app more attractive and ECs can do that.
 
I agree with what the others have said above. I just want to add that this will also depend alot on the school(s) you're applying to. Some schools you can get in with just a solid GPA/PCAT, others you cannot. I was talking to the dean of admissions at Purdue and he told me about a time he rejected (didn't even interview) a student with 4.0 GPA because of the lack of volunteer experience.
 
I am 99.9% sure I would not be going to pharmacy school had I not had a good amount of work experience/research. I did not have a ton of ECs, but the ones I did have I did 100%
 
without speculating as to whether or not pharmacy school admissions is getting more competitive (more applicants, a lot of new schools), the biggest thing to consider is this: You need to do whatever it takes to stand out as an applicant. Pre-meds have to bolster their application with insane EC's (including research) to have a solid chance of being accepted their first try. It's common for people to apply several times before being accepted.

Luckily pharmacy isn't that competitive, but you still have to ensure that you're a better applicant (on paper) than your peers if you want to guarantee having a seat at your school of choice. GPA and PCAT are only two factors in the equation, with EC's carrying the rest of the weight.
 
GPA and PCAT are most important. EC just helps a bit.
 
IMO, your EC's look good. props to the two years as a pharmacy tech, and the leadership role in your sorority. quality > quantity 😎
 
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I wasnt a 4.0 GPA student or a 90 percentile PCAT, but I was still accepted. I in large part credit it to having many EC's and leadership roles that I had to bolster up my app. Like was mentioned above, you want anything and everything to give you the edge over the rest of the applicants. It does vary from school to school, some schools will only take you because of high GPA/PCAT and not care about EC's...others care more about what type of person you are and what kind of pharmacist you will be. Both approaches have their pros and cons, but thats a diff arguement for a diff thread.
 
bottlecap1990 said:
GPA and PCAT are most important. EC just helps a bit.
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Heh, not really (depends on the school)

UH looks a lot at volunteer activities with a 3.5 GPA. PCAT can be at 80s.
 
ShadowRX said:
Heh, not really (depends on the school)

UH looks a lot at volunteer activities with a 3.5 GPA. PCAT can be at 80s.
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OH my god. I am being gangbanged by shadow and his homies again LOL.
 
bottlecap1990 said:
OH my god. I am being gangbanged by shadow and his homies again LOL.
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I doubt they are "gangbanging" you. I think they are just making sure you know your material, and that the OP has good information.
 
I think they're very important. Obviously, it will depend largely on the school and the particular ADCOM you're dealing with, but in general, it is definitely a good idea to get EC's, volunteer, and career experience. I got waitlisted at a school last year, and my interviewer specifically told me it was because I was lacking in EC's/volunteer work when compared to other applicants. You have to realize that your admissions stats are relative to those of the other students in your applicant pool. EC's and volunteer work are a relatively easy way to add a little extra flair to your application and make you stand out more. It also helps during interviews to give you something to fall back on (e.g. relating questions/scenarios they may ask you about back to your experiences). That said, I don't think you're necessarily lacking in EC's by any means, but I wouldn't trust your advisor saying that thinks that any of it makes a difference. It can definitely make or break you.
 
what if you currently don't have any ec but you will start researching this week and expect to be volunteering in a pharmacy very soon after the summer is over. what do I write on my pharmcas app?
 
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delano2000 said:
Kinda strange that at my old school the clubs aren't mentioned on the transcripts at all apart from the Honor society.
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I've never heard of schools printing club memberships on academic transcripts.
 
bottlecap1990 said:
GPA and PCAT are most important. EC just helps a bit.
Click to expand...

I'll repeat myself again here too: Almost all undergrads tend to think GPA is way more important than it really is. (Not just for pharmacy school acceptance but for many other things too)

Because it is a number GPA it is easy to look at. GPA will not get you accepted - it will get the rest of your application looked at... Most but not all people with very high GPA's also have quality well rounded applications and; therefore, get accepted. I would argue that in most cases, GPA only needs to be "good enough", higher is better but not nearly as important as many people think.

phathead said:
I didn't have any ECs, BUT I was also working 35+ hours a week so I didn't have time
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ArkansasRanger said:
I have a unique resume. I'm relying on that as my EC, lol.
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I think a lot of people on this board use different definitions of EC's. What you put under EC's on PharmCAS is a very small subset of what a true definition of extra curricular is - if it's not something you do as part of a class...

I would think that most people are intelligent enough to realize that responsibilities like children and jobs take up time and prevent some people from having as many EC's as others. Likewise some activities take more time than others. I've said in the past, and I'll stick with it - that having many different EC's can actually look bad. Far better to have a few and to show that you actually spent time with them and/or made a difference.
 
b1234 said:
I've said in the past, and I'll stick with it - that having many different EC's can actually look bad. Far better to have a few and to show that you actually spent time with them and/or made a difference.
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I have to agree with this. I was helping a friend of mine with her application and my advice to her was to cut back on which EC's she listed. She listed practically every dollar she ever put in a Salvation Army bucket. She had over 20 EC's listed, many of them unimaginably insignificant. It looked awful. But she was certain that all those charitable events would set her apart. She got in to her first choice school, so who knows, maybe she was right. To me it just looked terrible. Quality over quantity, ya know? I would prefer to see a very small number that showed a long history of involment coupled with some since that your involement was extremely impactful. 20+ seperate small acts of kindness? Not so much.
 
owlegrad said:
I have to agree with this. I was helping a friend of mine with her application and my advice to her was to cut back on which EC's she listed. She listed practically every dollar she ever put in a Salvation Army bucket. She had over 20 EC's listed, many of them unimaginably insignificant. It looked awful. But she was certain that all those charitable events would set her apart. She got in to her first choice school, so who knows, maybe she was right. To me it just looked terrible. Quality over quantity, ya know? I would prefer to see a very small number that showed a long history of involment coupled with some since that your involement was extremely impactful. 20+ seperate small acts of kindness? Not so much.
Click to expand...

I agree, and not just with volunteer/community service activities but with all EC's. I do think though that are cases where with certain volunteer activities you simply cannot spend much time on any given activity and thus need more... examples would be like a charity ball or a special olympics competition - any type of one time thing. If all of your volunteer activities are one time things, but you do a lot of them in a single community or towards a specific goal that is much different than being a member of a dozen different student organizations but not being able to tell how your membership in any of those organizations made a difference. IMO - A long history of volunteering at many different small charitable events is similar to a long history of involvement in a single organization.
 
wow thank you so much for all your input! I didn't realize how much feedback i had gotten haha.

as some of you asked, no my GPA is not stellar. I bombed my first year and a half (which is why I'm getting a bachelor's instead of trying to go right from pre-pharm into pharm school), but since then my grades have come way up (A's and B's). Unfortunately, as some of you may know, once you're past second year it becomes damn near impossible to drastically change your GPA.
 
b1234 said:
I agree, and not just with volunteer/community service activities but with all EC's. I do think though that are cases where with certain volunteer activities you simply cannot spend much time on any given activity and thus need more... examples would be like a charity ball or a special olympics competition - any type of one time thing. If all of your volunteer activities are one time things, but you do a lot of them in a single community or towards a specific goal that is much different than being a member of a dozen different student organizations but not being able to tell how your membership in any of those organizations made a difference. IMO - A long history of volunteering at many different small charitable events is similar to a long history of involvement in a single organization.
Click to expand...

This is where we disagree. A long history of strong involvement with one or two organizations that you strongly believe in shows much more commitment -to me - then twenty one time event charities. I don't think it matters too much though.
 
owlegrad said:
This is where we disagree. A long history of strong involvement with one or two organizations that you strongly believe in shows much more commitment -to me - then twenty one time event charities. I don't think it matters too much though.
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This i agree with.
 
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owlegrad said:
This is where we disagree. A long history of strong involvement with one or two organizations that you strongly believe in shows much more commitment -to me - then twenty one time event charities. I don't think it matters too much though.
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Unless they are multiple events surrounding a theme, volunteering for Relay for Life, and Breast Cancer Walks, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society shows dedication to a certain topic, while still not being all for the same organization.

I do agree that working at a soup kitchen, then an animal shelter, then doing habitat for humanity and special olympics would seem more like trying to beef up a resume than a concerned citizen...unless they have a superhuman/save the world complex.
 
b1234 said:
I'll repeat myself again here too: Almost all undergrads tend to think GPA is way more important than it really is. (Not just for pharmacy school acceptance but for many other things too)

Because it is a number GPA it is easy to look at. GPA will not get you accepted - it will get the rest of your application looked at... Most but not all people with very high GPA's also have quality well rounded applications and; therefore, get accepted. I would argue that in most cases, GPA only needs to be "good enough", higher is better but not nearly as important as many people think.
Click to expand...
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I completely agree. My GPA was only a 3.5 with a 3.6 science GPA, my pcat was nothing special, but I feel that my "EC's" are what got me to the interview. I Had volunteer hours, church service, shadowing, and leadership roles in projects. I personally feel that the leadership roles in organizing and conducting a few things added a great deal to my app. Once I was at the interview, it was all about what type of person and pharmacist I would become, not what my numbers were.
 
owlegrad said:
This is where we disagree. A long history of strong involvement with one or two organizations that you strongly believe in shows much more commitment -to me - then twenty one time event charities. I don't think it matters too much though.
Click to expand...


I agree. That's why I only stuck with 2 clubs my entire college life.
 
owlegrad said:
This is where we disagree. A long history of strong involvement with one or two organizations that you strongly believe in shows much more commitment -to me - then twenty one time event charities. I don't think it matters too much though.
Click to expand...

Ok I should have specified, I thought I did - I meant many things that are at least somewhat related like all things working with youth in a single community or over time volunteering at the same annual event each year, etc.
 
from my personal experience, EC doesn't worth jack..... high PCAT and GPA are all they care
 
ummm, yea. when u have 4.0 GPA and 90+ PCAT. EVERY pharmacy school will beg u to come
 
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