extremely low gpa in california

[ImAnAlternative]

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[88888888]

Buy Dr. Collins. Study for a couple weeks, take the pcat get above 90+ and get out of cali. It's as easy as that. You're not gonna get into any cali schools with that gpa.

 

[oldstock]

here's my story, I was always pushed to go to med school and always thought that's what I wanted but I was never motivated. Tried a lot of volunteering and internships, but never tried hard in school for it. Recently I decided to tell my parents and haven't spoken to them in months now because of this. It was their dream for me not mine.

However, I found out that pharmacy has given me a second wind of hope. Currently I work as a pharmacy assistant, which ironically I started as an internship to look good for med schools, and recently got hired. And am now getting ready to get my pharm. tech license. I don't want to stop here... but my grades might be holding me back.

I'm going to graduate in a few days, but a final I took has gotten me a D+ in an upper-division class. My only ever D, but I have a few C's/C+'s and 2 C-. My GPA is hovering over a 2.5, with a degree in neuroscience. My plans were to surprise my parents with a pharmacy school acceptance letter, but will pharm tech be the end of the line for me?

more and more pharm schools keep popping up every years. Take your time to retake some classes to bring up GPAs and study and score well on the PCAT. The later you apply the more schools there are for you to apply and play that to your advantage (demand/supply law will ensure that the standards for pharmacy admission in the next application cycles will only go lower and lower. Right now, I have read about people getting in with 2s GPA and 10-20 percentile on the PCAT. Imagine what we are going to see in the next few cycle.) Not to say that you want to apply with low GPA and PCAT, but the point is you have nothing to worry about.

So NO, pharm tech will not be the end of the line for you. You will get in !! GL 🙂

 

[oldstock]

Would a high PCAT score make them overlook my GPA?

yes


check this thread,

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...er-pharmacy-experience.1060955/#post-15032844

 

[radio frequency]

Seriously? Take a few years off of school. Finish up; work in a pharmacy full time for a while and see if this is truly what you want to do.

Most people have lower GPAs in their PharmD program than in undergrad. If a 2.5 was the best you could hack, you run a real risk of not making it through, even if you magically make it into a pharmacy school. In spite of what others are saying here, I think you'd need rainbows coming out your ass to make it into school with a lowly 2.5. You'd have to be extra special in some other way.

In a few years you'll have a clearer picture of what you want and need out of life. Consider applying then, after retaking courses you did poorly in.

I really don't think a high PCAT is considered that impressive, and it definitely won't mitigate a 2.5. Mine was in the 90s and nobody cared. I had a solid undergrad GPA too (3.7ish); it seemed the GPA was much more important than the PCAT as long as your PCAT was at a baseline level (~70+).

Another bit of advice? Stop worrying about what will impress your parents. You have to do this for yourself. Your life is yours to live and you clearly will be miserable (based on your past performance) trying to live it for them.

 

[88888888]

Would a high PCAT score make them overlook my GPA?

Yes.

Are you even eligible for cali schools? I had a 2.7 and wasn't eligible... Take the PCAT. It's pretty easy. What college do you go to?

 

[88888888]

Thanks for the help so far guys.

So should I even consider applying to pharm schools in the fall? I still have to take econ, speech, microbio and a psych class which I was planning to take at a nearby CC.

If you do well on PCAT. Sure.

Go get some pharmacy experience. Don't waste so much time on trying to raise your GPA. It prob won't do much. You got so many units under your belt. Control what you can.. like PCAT, leadership, volunteering, pharmacy experience, etc...

 

[88888888]

Seriously? Take a few years off of school. Finish up; work in a pharmacy full time for a while and see if this is truly what you want to do.

Most people have lower GPAs in their PharmD program than in undergrad. If a 2.5 was the best you could hack, you run a real risk of not making it through, even if you magically make it into a pharmacy school. In spite of what others are saying here, I think you'd need rainbows coming out your ass to make it into school with a lowly 2.5. You'd have to be extra special in some other way.

In a few years you'll have a clearer picture of what you want and need out of life. Consider applying then, after retaking courses you did poorly in.

I really don't think a high PCAT is considered that impressive, and it definitely won't mitigate a 2.5. Mine was in the 90s and nobody cared. I had a solid undergrad GPA too (3.7ish); it seemed the GPA was much more important than the PCAT as long as your PCAT was at a baseline level (~70+).

Another bit of advice? Stop worrying about what will impress your parents. You have to do this for yourself. Your life is yours to live and you clearly will be miserable (based on your past performance) trying to live it for them.

Depends on how hard your undergrad is. I'm doing almost a full point better in pharmacy school so far. The longer you wait, the more saturated the market may be. A 90+ PCAT on science/math sections will mitigate a 2.5, given you have decent extracurricular/leaderships, pharmacy experience, and can carry on a conversation.

Your 90 PCAT didnt mean much cause your GPA is solid, a 70 would suffice. But if you have a 2 something...you'll need to score in 90s to look good, but you may get into some schools with 70s/80s.

 

[88888888]

Yeah, it's a relief but I can't go on forever not talking to them. Pharmacy is something I found myself though, as stressful as it is I honestly do enjoy working in that environment and the way that pharmacists interact with patients seems much more personal than the way most doctors are nowadays.

I've tried neuroscience research, volunteer in the ER, OR and many things even remotely related to things I may be interested in and nothing has ever stuck enough to make me want to go back as much as working in the pharmacy does.


Thanks for being honest though. I'm still not giving up on CA schools, as unlikely as it'll be for me. I'll retake as much as I can in CC and just score really well on my PCAT, I know schools in CA don't care for PCATs but it's the only other thing I can do to prove my knowledge.

My advice, give up on california schools. You're gonna waste so much time and money trying to bring up a 2.5 to a 3.0..... While you can just take the PCAT and get out of state. Experience something new in your life, While, likely end up in less debt. California schools are so ridiculously overpriced. Trust me. California state schools cost as much or more than many out of state tuitions.

The longer you wait, the longer it'll take for you to make money and the more competitive it will be to get a job and plus the ridiculous amount of loans you'll get from california schools. If you have rich parents that will pay for it, then maybe that's a different story.