Has anybody here been accepted without ever working in a pharmacy?

[Bob_Barker27]

Most students live in either the West Ashley area or in Mount Pleasant. A few do live downtown but it can be very expensive. There aren't that many that live in North Charleston, but there are a few. Driving from North Charleston can be a pretty long commute due to construction. However, I think the construction should be done sometime in the next year and that will definitely make the commute much easier.

Thanks.

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[Bob_Barker27]

I read the U of Michigan's admission critiria before and only for African and Hispanic Americans can earn the extra 20 points but not Asian. Because there are more Asians already in the University than the "quota" they should be allocated based on their population. Better science and math is not a born charateristics of Asian. Everyone can be good at it if he works hard on it.

I agree.

 

[starsweet]

The essay was just about why I am interested in pharmacy and what my career goals are in the pharmacy field. I thought that I did a pretty good job on it. I made A's in all my english composition courses, and I think that I write fairly well. I had my mother read over it because she is a teacher, and she said she thought it was great. I don't really see how an essay can really hurt or help you unless your spelling or grammar is awful. There really can't be a wrong answer on why a person decides to do pharmacy unless you write that you want to hook friends up with some drugs that they don't have prescriptions for . I personally thought the essay was kind of a silly requirement.

I would recommend applying to as many schools as possible. I was sure that I would get in to USC this year so I was just not going to worry about taking the PCAT which is required by the other school in South Carolina, MUSC. However, I decided to take the PCAT at the last second this January and I am glad that I did or I would have been up the creek without a paddle. MUSC called me and invited me in for an interview a few minutes before I checked my mail and found out USC had rejected me.

According to USC's website, only 25% of their students have an undergrad degree. It appears to me they don't give much weight to having an undergrad degree compared to other schools. I would recommend that you apply to a pharmacy school that takes a lot of students with an undergrad degree. MUSC claims that 50% of the students they accept in a year have one, and they take 1/3 of their students from out of state, so you probably would have a good shot there. Charleston is a nice town too. I think that I saw on their website that UNC takes a lot of engineering students, and chemical engineering was the most represented branch, so I think you would have a good chance there as well. I think your chemical engineering degree would look good to most schools because a lot of chemical engineers work for the drug companies. I would recommend that you apply to schools that require the PCAT and an interview because that gives you more opportunities to separate yourself from other students. You probably should try to work in a pharmacy for at least three months so they can't use lack of pharmacy experience as an excuse to reject you. That would also allow you to use a pharmacist as a reference, which probably goes a long way.

Well as a last resort, if it's really bugging you, I might try calling USC up and asking them what you could have done to improve your application, which I think someone suggested in a previous post. Not that it will make a whole lot of difference at this point, but at least you will have some sense of closure. You ARE from SC, right? I couldn't find any post that said for sure that you are. Because if you aren't, then that could obviously be a possible reason for rejection.

I'm very glad you brought this to the forum. Now I'm *definitely* going to make sure I get some experience at a pharmacy before I apply. I shadowed a hospital pharmacist for a day and thought that was enough, but apparently not! If I wasn't still working full time, this might be easier. Oh, I'm a mechanical engineer too, by the way, and am planning to apply to UNC, like you suggested.

Does anyone know why it is so difficult to get a technician job or even voluntary job with a pharmacy?? I thought there was a SHORTAGE in the field? I guess there is a surplus of technicians!

Good luck at the MUSC interview.

 

[PHARMDhope2b]

I guess you missed the part about the U. of South Carolina not requiring an interview. There goes your "bob barker didn't get in because he is arrogant and it came through in the interview" theory. Acknowledging that colleges often use race as a factor in admissions is not a sign of arrogance. I never blamed black students for causing me not to get into this pharmacy college - students do not set the admissions criteria at a college, the college does. If I were to say that I don't think student should be accepted just because one of their parents went to the school , would you accuse me of arrogance? Probably not. I have said that I believe the main thing that hurt me was not having worked in a pharmacy, but that race MAY have also been a factor. I do believe that a black male with my stats would have most likely been accepted by the pharmacy college. I am curious, is there a reason you capitalize every word in every sentence? I have never seen that done before. Take care.

yeah the reason was because the caps lock button was pressed down.
before this gets out of hand, i dont know why you didnt get in. That is for you to wonder or find out, not me. I was just trying to get us on the right track. I am not trying to argue with the white students on here. So if you think the way that you do, that is on you and I respect you opinion. I do hope that you get in somewhere, good luck. Peace.

 

[gotgame83]

Well i sure hope i get accepted without pharmacy experience. I just recently decided to make the switch from pursuing med school to pursuing pharmacy school. Im not planning on doing any actually work in the pharmacy prior to interview or admissions, hmmm after reading this thread maybe ill try to get a few hours a week in just so i can say i have done it...

 

[dgroulx]

yeah the reason was because the caps lock button was pressed down.
before this gets out of hand, i dont know why you didnt get in. That is for you to wonder or find out, not me. I was just trying to get us on the right track. I am not trying to argue with the white students on here. So if you think the way that you do, that is on you and I respect you opinion. I do hope that you get in somewhere, good luck. Peace.

Was this a selective caps lock that only works on the first letter of each word?

 

[Betty'sBeast]

Was this a selective caps lock that only works on the first letter of each word?

That's what I was wondering.

 

[imperial frog]

Maybe he/she meant to capitalize every letter but the first one of each word. That would explain it.

 

[PHARMDhope2b]

What do you all mean by saying that I capitalized the first letter of each word?

Anyway, how has you all's day been ?

 

[freshbeatschris]

Dearest Mr. Barker-

I reminisce with peace in my heart on the quiet times when you disappear from this board for a period of time. It seems to me that your main objective here, and possibly in life is merely to inflame others and create rifts. I pity you. My only hope regarding you is that I don't, by some cruel twist of fate, end up at the same school as yourself.

Sincerely-
Chris

 

[Glycerin]

What do you all mean by saying that I capitalized the first letter of each word?

This is what everyone means:

Wasnt This Supposed To Be A Thread About Getting Into Pharmacy School Without Pharmacy Experience.

However, Once Again Another Thread Has Gone Downhill.
First We Put Pharmacists Against Physicians, Now We Put Black Prepharms Against White Prepharms.
1. The United States Will Never Be A Place Of Equality, So Whichever Race You May Be, Just Deal With The Way Society Is And Keep Moving Forward.

2. I Dont Care If You Are White, Black, Asian, Etc. If You Get Into Pharmacy School And I Dont Then, I Assume That You Had Something That The Adcom Saw That I Did Not. Albeit, Grades, Extracurriculars, Good Essays, Good Interview. Im Just Glad That You Got In.

3. What Would Happen If Everyone Blamed Another Race For The Fact That He/she Didnt Get Into Pharmacy School? Ever Consider The Fact That Someone Of Your Own Race Could Have Gotten In With Lower Gpa, But Had A Much Better Attitude In The Interview. Adcoms Know If You Are An Arrogant Person, That's An Innate Attribute, And We All Can See And Hear It In Your Actions.

4. Just Congratulate Each Other For Our Accomplishments And Console One Another In Our Setbacks, Evantually We All (hopefully) Will Be Pharmacists Working Together Some Day.


Just My Few Cents

 

[PHARMDhope2b]

This is what everyone means:

Thanks, lol

When I view my post, it shows up as all caps.
So I didnt know what in the world you all were talking about, however when you quoted it, I saw how weird it looked.
Sorry to all of you that it bothered so much.

Thanks again,

good luck at Shenandoah

 

[Bob_Barker27]

Well as a last resort, if it's really bugging you, I might try calling USC up and asking them what you could have done to improve your application, which I think someone suggested in a previous post. Not that it will make a whole lot of difference at this point, but at least you will have some sense of closure. You ARE from SC, right? I couldn't find any post that said for sure that you are. Because if you aren't, then that could obviously be a possible reason for rejection.

I'm very glad you brought this to the forum. Now I'm *definitely* going to make sure I get some experience at a pharmacy before I apply. I shadowed a hospital pharmacist for a day and thought that was enough, but apparently not! If I wasn't still working full time, this might be easier. Oh, I'm a mechanical engineer too, by the way, and am planning to apply to UNC, like you suggested.

Does anyone know why it is so difficult to get a technician job or even voluntary job with a pharmacy?? I thought there was a SHORTAGE in the field? I guess there is a surplus of technicians!

Good luck at the MUSC interview.

I sent one of the assistent deans an email asking if he could tell me what hurt my application, but he wouldn't give me any specifics but he listed general things they look like the essay, references, pharmacy work experience / shadow, GPA, and extracurricular activities. I haven't done any charity type of work in a long time, and I wasn't in a pre-pharmacy club (i'm not sure if one even existed at USC), so maybe that hurt me. I am from South Carolina, I've lived here for all my 27 years, and I worked in SC for over 3 years as an engineer. I'm trying to stop analyzing why I didn't get in, but I can't seem to let it go. One thing I wish I had done is gone talk to all of the deans and assistent deans so they all knew who I was. I only talked to one of the assistent deans for about 15 minutes last summer, and he told me at the time to come by and talk to the other guys a few more times during the fall, but I got a temporary engineernig job up in Charlotte in the fall that paid well and I couldn't make it over to USC during the day to talk to them. One other thing that I wish I had done is submitted my application in earlier - I turned it in on the day of the deadline. They don't claim to have rolling admissions, but they may view a student who turns their application in early as having more desire to get in.

The best reason for you to work in a pharmacy is you can get the pharmacist to write you a reference letter. A pharmacist that you work with on a daily basis will be able to provide more insight than a professor you have for a lecture.

Most of the retail pharmacies that I tried to get on with wanted a student that was already in pharmacy school, or they wanted a certified pharm tech.

 

[Bob_Barker27]

Dearest Mr. Barker-

I reminisce with peace in my heart on the quiet times when you disappear from this board for a period of time. It seems to me that your main objective here, and possibly in life is merely to inflame others and create rifts. I pity you. My only hope regarding you is that I don't, by some cruel twist of fate, end up at the same school as yourself.

Sincerely-
Chris

All I do is state my opinion. I do not seek to offend. However, sometimes when a person states an opinion, others will be offended. However, I do have freedom of speech, and that includes speech that may offend others. I do not personally attack people in here, although I have in the past talked some trash when a person like yourself falsely demonizes me, but I'm trying not to do that anymore after the moderator scolded me about it. I'm not sure I understand this strong dislike you have of me other than I express strong opinions on various issues that you disagree with. If you find me too offensive, you are not required to read what I write - just avoid the bob barker threads. It appears to me that only a very small minority of people in this forum are offended by what I have to say, and in my opinion, these people often misunderstand or mischaracterize my viewpoints.

 

[Glycerin]

One thing I wish I had done is gone talk to all of the deans and assistent deans so they all knew who I was. I only talked to one of the assistent deans for about 15 minutes last summer, and he told me at the time to come by and talk to the other guys a few more times during the fall, but I got a temporary engineernig job up in Charlotte in the fall that paid well and I couldn't make it over to USC during the day to talk to them.

Here's a thread started by spacecowgirl on how she got into USC two years ago: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=147411. I'm not sure if you've seen it, but it's something to ponder.

One other thing that I wish I had done is submitted my application in earlier - I turned it in on the day of the deadline. They don't claim to have rolling admissions, but they may view a student who turns their application in early as having more desire to get in.

I think this is a good point. That was the difference in my application experience from last year to this year. Last year, I applied late in the cycle (not to USC, but to other schools), and this year, I began my application the day PharmCAS made this year's application available, and I submitted the it in August. I think timing is very important, even for some schools that claim not to have rolling admissions.