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I have a 3.4 GPA would that make me a moderate or strong candidate for a residency after pharmacy school?
depends on program - most (or at least mine) throws out anything under a 3.0. Then we look at the whole package, I personally put more weight on GPA and work experience than most of the other preceptors at my site. I would say if the rest of your package is good, a 3.4 would definitely not hurt you, it will not jump out and say, interview me! (we had 3.9 that we did not even consider, and we had 3.0 that we rated very highly), so basically it is a wash, it will put you in the discussion, but the rest of your app will decide.
My order of preference
1. work experience (esp hospital)
2. gpa
3. charitable work (medical work a bonus)
4. organization and active roles in them
5. misc research
I will preface this by saying I am only one person, other people may have differing opinions on what they value
Thank you for this! What if some of the things listed here were done overseas?My order of preference
1. work experience (esp hospital)
2. gpa
3. charitable work (medical work a bonus)
4. organization and active roles in them
5. misc research
Depends on where and why, are you a foreign grad? did you do it for charitable purposes, in my mind where you did it isn't a big deal, but why and howThank you for this! What if some of the things listed here were done overseas?
Somewhat related to this issue, I heard that 4.0's are viewed with hesitancy by residency programs because it may reflect a candidate that focused too much on academics. I was just curious.
Why is it so hard to believe? You are going to be working after school, not taking taking tests and studying all the time. If someone got a 4.0 at the expense of working and volunteering then they definitely focused too much on academics.Freaking LOL
Before coming to this pharmacy forum, I never heard of things like "focused too much on academics". Usually people are not doing that enough. Never heard complaints like this before....
I guess that the same individuals sitting in the selecting committees for those residency programs are probably the same individuals sitting in those adcoms that are admitting those students with subpar academic credentials such as 2's GPA and 10's-20's PCAT.
LOL
Freaking LOL
Before coming to this pharmacy forum, I never heard of things like "focused too much on academics". Usually people are not doing that enough. Never heard complaints like this before....
I guess that the same individuals sitting in the selecting committees for those residency programs are probably the same individuals sitting in those adcoms that are admitting those students with subpar academic credentials such as 2's GPA and 10's-20's PCAT.
LOL
I've actually heard this from program directors. It's hard to believe, but as PolarPop says, they complain that it comes at the expense of other activities.
Somewhat related to this issue, I heard that 4.0's are viewed with hesitancy by residency programs because it may reflect a candidate that focused too much on academics. I was just curious.
that is a different statement that saying we would dismiss somebody simply because of their good grades. - what you said is correct.If someone literally only has awesome grades and did nothing extracurricular (job, clubs, whatever really) it can raise concerns in the sense that they might not have as strong a time management skill set as someone else with solid grades + other activities.
Don't fool yourselves. There are plenty of candidates with 3.8+ GPA, work experience, and leadership experience. You should aim to get as high of a GPA as possible. I also hire residents now and had a near 4.0 GPA in pharmacy school. I would never think poorly of someone with a high GPA...it is a whole package deal and there are hundreds of candidates that have it all.