How many schools should I apply to?

[SDgirl858]

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How many schools should I apply to next year assuming that by then I will get at least a 3.10 gpa and hopefully a pcat of 70+. I am thinking of 30 schools to guarantee that I will at least hear from 1 or 2. Is this a good idea? money is not a factor when applying to schools for me.

 

[Spock87]

How many schools should I apply to next year assuming that by then I will get at least a 3.10 gpa and hopefully a pcat of 70+. I am thinking of 30 schools to guarantee that I will at least hear from 1 or 2. Is this a good idea? money is not a factor when applying to schools for me.

Well if money is not a factor, then go for it...lol. A few things:
1/ Apply to both full accredited and candidate/ pre-candidate schools
2/ Choose both PCAT and non-PCAT schools
3/ You really have to try for PCAT 80+
4/ You might have to write essays for the supplemental applications so make sure you won't be too exhausted to write 30+ essays

I applied to 11 schools this year and got 10 interview invites. If you apply to 30, I'm sure you'll hear from some of them.

Good luck!

 

[wolfpackhal]

I think 30 schools is overkill. Actually, I think anything over 10 is overkill. However, if you are that worried, do not care about money, do not care where you go as long as you get accepted, and are really determined to apply to 30 schools then go for it. Be sure that you can meet ALL requirements for ALL of the schools you apply to. Some schools require immunology, for example, whereas others may require econmics, public speaking, or TWO semesters anatomy and physiology. You will waste your time and money if you apply to schools where you don't, or can't, meet minimum GPA, PCAT, or prereq requirements. They will be happy to take your application and fees, but not accept you. Just make sure you pay attention to all of the application details and requirements for every school. I imagine you will have to pay a thousand or two or three in application fees alone, not to mention any possible interview expenses. Good Luck!

 

[SDgirl858]

LOL, 30 is a lot. I guess I should bring it down to 15. I'll go anywhere that accepts me. I thought 70+ on pcat was considered competitive? i guess not, now I have to aim for 80+. Anyways thank you for your help!

 

[krystal2812]

Do you guys think that I should apply more schools at this time since I remember some schools deadline is march or not? I went 4 interviews but got no acceptance, still in waiting list. Any advice?

 

[xangelx]

Do you guys think that I should apply more schools at this time since I remember some schools deadline is march or not? I went 4 interviews but got no acceptance, still in waiting list. Any advice?

i say go for it. i don't know if you took the pcat, but with your high gpa, you are sure to get in somewhere. waiting another year would be awful, for me at least. apply to places where you can imagine yourself being for the next 3-4 years though. good luck.

 

[trailrider400]

Damn... I'd say 4 is more like it and maybe a max of 8... Really if 8 schools won't take you then no one probably will...

 

[krystal2812]

i say go for it. i don't know if you took the pcat, but with your high gpa, you are sure to get in somewhere. waiting another year would be awful, for me at least. apply to places where you can imagine yourself being for the next 3-4 years though. good luck.

I don't have PCAT score. Do you know any other schools that don't require PCAT?

 

[kimd4]

How many schools should I apply to next year assuming that by then I will get at least a 3.10 gpa and hopefully a pcat of 70+. I am thinking of 30 schools to guarantee that I will at least hear from 1 or 2. Is this a good idea? money is not a factor when applying to schools for me.

I applied to about 16 schools last year. I had about a 3.1 GPA and 70's on the PCAT. About 2 years of retail pharmacy work experience as a CPhT. Not too much EC's but did some volunteer work and joined a few clubs. I got 4 interview invites and I got accepted into 3 schools. None of the 3 schools that I got accepted to were fully accredited. If you can hit AT LEAST a 70 on the PCAT, you should get a few interview invites if u apply to about 15 schools, and thats assuming that you applied to several of the newer schools.

 

[krystal2812]

I applied to about 16 schools last year. I had about a 3.1 GPA and 70's on the PCAT. About 2 years of retail pharmacy work experience as a CPhT. Not too much EC's but did some volunteer work and joined a few clubs. I got 4 interview invites and I got accepted into 3 schools. None of the 3 schools that I got accepted to were fully accredited. If you can hit AT LEAST a 70 on the PCAT, you should get a few interview invites if u apply to about 15 schools, and thats assuming that you applied to several of the newer schools.

What are the three school you got accepted?

 

[Calypso522]

I had a 3.19 GPA with an 80 PCAT and I applied to 5 schools. Money was an option for me 🙁 I got interviews at VCU and Shenandoah almost immediately and Shenandoah has accepted me. VCU will let me know in a couple weeks, but I got great feedback at my interview. I haven't heard anything from the out of state schools I applied to. Just from my experiences, it seems that an amazing personal statement and exceptional letters of recommendation will overshadow a low-ish GPA. Some very wise person on here pointed out that the application will help you get past the first weed-out and get an interview, which is the most important thing. Then, you have the chance to prove that you will do great things at thier school... I don't know if just applying to all the schools around will help you as much as spending a lot of time putting together the application....

 

[ValeRx]

Yeah, 30 schools is asinine. Not only will you be spending $1300.00 to PharmCAS alone just for their fees, add an additional 40-80 dollars per school for their supplemental fees. I would say five, MAX. Any more than that and you are going to have some serious financial issues with plane tickets and hotel costs, not to mention serious interruptions in your studies, if you still have classes to take while flying around the country during the school year.

 

[sprinkle0420]

I think four is a good safe number.....if you try to apply to something ridiculous like 30 schools, are you really looking at whether the school is a good fit for you?

 

[WhiteSnows]

Instead of spending more than $1k to apply, why not take the Pcat, and score high. I think it is your best option. I applied to 3 schools, and got in all 3 without no pain. Hope you take the Pcat.

 

[luckyphooey]

You should apply to as much school as you can afford to, it can get very expensive.

 

[Storm90]

I applied to 14 schools last year to get an idea of who would be interested in me, and where I would be interested in going. I got 2 interviews out of the whole thing, so this year my plan was to apply to ~5 schools, but I got accepted to the first one I applied to. 30 schools is extreme. Even with 14, I was loaded with schoolwork and all the essay questions they wanted me to answer, so really consider it before you do it. Good luck!

 

[thephoenician88]

30 schools dude are you freaking insane? tell that to the interviewer and he'll either be knocked off his feet or think you're insane, or both.

5 tops, it'll be more than enough to keep you busy, have you looked at the apps yet, each school usually requires pharmcas and a supplemental, where they ask everything pharmcas just asked and more.

 

[Lance13]

I applied to 13 schools, as I was pretty nervous about hearing back from anyone too. But I was offered interviews to all but two of them. I regret applying to all of those schools, because I wasted a lot of money that I could have used elsewhere. Do not apply to thirty schools. You will spend a ton of money on PharmCAS/supplementals, and then when you start hearing back from all thirty schools it will be impossible to schedule interviews that dont overlap with other interviews. You will be very pissed with all the money you wasted! I would say 10 or under is completely safe.

 

[dangerdog]

OP, I know you are trying to play it safe. But 30 is overkill. I applied to 10, and that turned out to be too many. I got 10 acceptances. LOL. Pick 1-2 schools in the top/middle/low end (so no more than 6 total) should be enough.

 

[tieungao35]

hi Krystal,
I think u should need to figure what u need to improve. For example, i applied two schools this year and both invited me for interview. However, I failed both. So i can say my gpa is good enough, but why communication skill is horrible. As a result, i must work on it for next year.

 

[RXsocal]

How many schools should I apply to next year assuming that by then I will get at least a 3.10 gpa and hopefully a pcat of 70+. I am thinking of 30 schools to guarantee that I will at least hear from 1 or 2. Is this a good idea? money is not a factor when applying to schools for me.

Hi SDgirl858, I'm going to apply to around 12 schools this fall because I don't have a degree and I dropped out of UCSD which area code is 858, exactly where you're from. However, I turned it around at home and studying extremely hard to get a high gpa now days.

UCSD GPA= 2.5 (around 30 quarter units)
CC GPA= 3.7 (around 40 semester units)
Final GPA= around 3.4
PCAT= I'm going to be realist and say 70% percentile (which I will take this June, August, and October if i don't break 75)

 

[Scott80]

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[cdhoward]

I applied to 12 schools because I thought I my stats wouldn't be good enough.

So far, I've received 6/10 interview offers (2 have yet to begin interviewing) and 1 acceptance. I've only received 1 rejection and that was without an interview.

I have a 3.15 GPA with my best PCAT composite being 56. I took it 4 times. I also have 13 years of pharmacy experience in retail, hospital and informatics. I'm not sure how much my experience played into earning interviews. My point is that I would say both my gpa and pcat are below average and I was accepted. 10 schools will be plenty.

 

[jyw003]

i agree with some previous post. 30+ is overkill. do your research on the schools and identify which schools you have a higher chance of getting into. if the average acceptance gpa is 3.6 and you have a 3.1, skip that school. go for the 2.9-3.3 schools...just my 2 cents

 

[luckyphooey]

^ Yup, you should definitely do your research on the school before you apply. It will save you a lot of money and time.

 

[Lance13]

If you are worried about not getting in you should apply to lots of schools. I had a 3.1 cumulative gpa and a 94 PCAT and I applied for around 25 schools because $2000 in application costs < $120,000 of 1 year lost salary. It doesn't take that much longer because some schools don't require supplementals and all you have to do is check boxes + have good credit. Best to make damn sure you get in the first year. I got in to 2 schools before I started turning down interviews.

I think 25 schools is a little outrageous.

 

[SHC1984]

Depends on your PCAT/GPA. 5-8 schools sounds about right. I only applied to 4 (withdrawn from Erie), but I also applied very late....some of my top choices had early deadlines and don't take the Jan PCAT score.🙁

 

[SDgirl858]

Goodbye Pharmacy, I'm going into Occupational therapy instead.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Goodbye Pharmacy, I'm going into Occupational therapy instead.

Happy trails, and best of luck!

 

[rxlea]

 

[ksacayanan]

Yea I agree that applying to 30+ schools is a bit much. I would pick out my top 25 choices and narrow it down by looking at their pre-reqs and statistics and then narrow your choices down based on their mission statement and curriculum, etc. This was my first year applying and I got into the 2 schools that I applied to. Now I'm going to attend the University of Florida!!

If you feel like one part is lacking like your GPA or PCAT, I would work harder on the other part to balance it out and make it up with a lot of community and volunteer service. Good luck! 🙂

 

[SDgirl858]

Happy trails, and best of luck!

Thank you! I got an interview with University of St. Augustine for Occupational Therapy. I'm excited.

 

[rxlea]

Thank you! I got an interview with University of St. Augustine for Occupational Therapy. I'm excited.

Congrats 🙂 Good luck to you in all your endeavors. Don't be shy about visiting your pharmacy friends every now and then 😉

 

[letsskate]

I'm wondering where do you find the lists of most updated accredited school, candidate, and pre-candiate schools?

 

[rxlea]

I'm wondering where do you find the lists of most updated accredited school, candidate, and pre-candiate schools?

http://www.acpe-accredit.org/students/default.asp

 

[deleted329060]

I applied to 3, all in-state. I really wanted to interview at out-of-state schools but the fees + flying costs scared me away

 

[docss26]

I didn't think I would get in anywhere and was very discouraged, so I had applied to 15 schools. I was invited to interview to all but 2 schools, so I obviously was wrong about my chances.

When deciding what schools I had the best shot at I had originally sifted through all the school requirements and checked off all those pre-requisites I had met. After that I narrowed it down further to the average GPA of accepted first year pharmacy students and had then selected schools I thought I had the best chance of getting into.

Good luck!

 

[dnguyen401]

I don't have PCAT score. Do you know any other schools that don't require PCAT?

http://www.pharmcas.org/collegesschools/AAGRequiredTestsT.htm

 

[bottlecap1990]

How many schools should I apply to next year assuming that by then I will get at least a 3.10 gpa and hopefully a pcat of 70+. I am thinking of 30 schools to guarantee that I will at least hear from 1 or 2. Is this a good idea? money is not a factor when applying to schools for me.

You seriously have that much money? LOL.

 

[delano2000]

How many schools should I apply to next year assuming that by then I will get at least a 3.10 gpa and hopefully a pcat of 70+. I am thinking of 30 schools to guarantee that I will at least hear from 1 or 2. Is this a good idea? money is not a factor when applying to schools for me.

30? 😱
Well since money is not a factor, I say give it a go. That's gonna be a lot of traveling and expenses and be prepared for those essays.👍