how many schools to apply?

[jewel2]

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how many schools do u plan to apply for those of u who want to shoot for entrance in fall 2009?

 

[Alby]

how many schools do u plan to apply for those of u who want to shoot for entrance in fall 2009?

I can tell you what I did for 2008... I applied to 5 schools. I ended up turning down interviews after getting accepted to 2, what a waste of money...🙁

However, the more schools you apply to the better your odds- hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[bigomar20]

😕

 

[phuang06]

how many schools do u plan to apply for those of u who want to shoot for entrance in fall 2009?

1 for early decision, and depending on that one, perhaps 2 more?

 

[PharmApp2008]

I would take a look at the statistics on the Pharmcas website if I were you. According to that, most people who apply don't get in even if they apply to 10 schools. Therefore, I chose to apply at 10 schools. I didn't need to apply to all of them but the cost for me to miss one more year was a lot more than the cost of applying to 10 schools. Who knows how competitive you are until you are right in the thick of it!

 

[laimyours]

I'll probaly apply to 4 or 5. That seems like a good number to me. I'm also very broke haha, so we'll see.

 

[lovelyletha]

I'm from Florida so I think I am just going to be applying to all the in state colleges right now and if (God forbid!) I don't get in then next year I'll go for the out of state ones.. and that's my plan!

Good luck everyone!! 🙂

 

[PharmApp2008]

Just a heads up, I am from Florida also and applied to UF, LECOM, Nova, and PBA. I applied to 6 out of state schools. UF was the 3rd interview I got invited to (and from what I have seen from other apps that was actually the earliest in their cycle). The actual interview though was my 5th overall. The other schools I didn't even hear from until after all of the other schools had responded (3 acceptances, 4 invites). Lesson learned--Florida schools are slooooooow!!! Don't get discouraged.

 

[inquirer89]

I will only be able to finish enough prereqs for a few choice schools. So this year, I will be applying to 3 schools...1 in-state and 2 out of state. If I don't get accepted, then I can take the next year finishing other general prereqs and be able to apply to a lot more schools.

 

[PCPharm]

The advice I got was to apply to 3-4 schools that you think have the highest chance of getting accepted after going through their stats.

 

[AggiePharmer]

Hindsite IS 20/20 and by my own estimates I probably over applied too, but my opportunity cost paranoia over possibly having to wait another year was too great for me not to apply to 9 schools. I'd recommend breaking it down and applying to (2-3) high, (1-3) mid, and (1-2) low tier schools to offset your chances of getting accepted.

If you want to mathematically break it down, I systematically developed a crude formula for gauging the risk of being rejected/waitlisted to every school that you applied to.

This does however assume that you meet each school's admissions criteria and are an "average" incoming student according to what PharmCAS and other websites recommend.

1) look at the applicant pool for schools that you're interested in and compare the values over the past year for the # of students accepted compared to total # of applicants
2) Subtract the # of students admitted from the total applicants - this is essentially how many people were turned down 🙁

(# Total Applicants - # Accepted)
______________________________ = Risk of being denied (according to last year's statistics for your school of interest)
(# Total Applicants)

3) Multiply each school that you're interested in applying to.

[(Risk @ School#1) X (Risk @ school#n) X (Risk @ school n+1)] X 100%= Your total risk of being denied from every school you applied to (if you had applied during last year)

4) IF you're comfortable with a risk of 10%, then apply to as many as you need to obtain a value lower than 10%. If you're comfortable with less risk, apply to as many schools as theoretically required! Granted this is an estimation, but hey whatever works, right?! and oh! I figure you could fenagle your own formula to do whatev's you wanted, so good luck!

*and for the record, no I'm not a math major, and if there's anyway to improve this... shoot. Go for it *

 

[cinnamoroll12]

I applied to 8 schools this year: 2 in Cali, and 6 out-of-states. I got an interview invite and am on the alternate list for another (both out-of-states). If I don't get in this year, I'm planning to apply to more schools here in Cali, plus more out-of-state schools that I think I have the best chance of getting accepted based on statistics on PharmCAS. So, I may be shooting for ~15 schools for Fall 2009 admission.

 

[tk1tpod]

Your chances are better if you apply to schools in the state you live in. So apply to a couple in state as back ups.

Good luck!

 

[UES Girl]

I applied to 8 schools this year: 2 in Cali, and 6 out-of-states. I got an interview invite and am on the alternate list for another (both out-of-states). If I don't get in this year, I'm planning to apply to more schools here in Cali, plus more out-of-state schools that I think I have the best chance of getting accepted based on statistics on PharmCAS. So, I may be shooting for ~15 schools for Fall 2009 admission.

I think I'm going to apply to 20 schools and I don't care how much it is going to cost me because I am graduating college loan free and don't have to worry about any loans/financial obligations.

My biggest problem is that my boyfriend who is currently a masters student, plans to apply for Ph. D in biochem. We want to keep living together and not separate, so as hard it is going to be for me to get accepted with my pathetic 3.3 GPA, it's now going to be even harder since my major headache is going to be if both of us can get into the same school and not all pharm schools offer graduate programs in biochemistry.

He is a picture perfect student, excellent GPA, amazing research, mind-blowing letters of recs from his PI's, yet I really really worry that he'll get into a great school here in CA and I'll have to move out of state.

 

[Jimminator21]

Your chances are better if you apply to schools in the state you live in. So apply to a couple in state as back ups.

Good luck!

You would think that. The last two years I applied to every school (4) in my home state and didn't get in. This year, I applied to those same schools plus four or five out of state schools. So far, I've been accepted to 2 out of state schools and rejected at 2 in state schools.

I just didn't know who to blow in my state to get in. Pharmacy School adcoms in my state wouldn't know a good future pharmacist even if they bit them on the ***!

 

[phuang06]

You would think that. The last two years I applied to every school (4) in my home state and didn't get in. This year, I applied to those same schools plus four or five out of state schools. So far, I've been accepted to 2 out of state schools and rejected at 2 in state schools.

I just didn't know who to blow in my state to get in. Pharmacy School adcoms in my state wouldn't know a good future pharmacist even if they bit them on the ***!

well.. I would think that a god future pharmacist wouldn't bite adcoms on the ***. 🙄 Are the schools you applied to private or public, cause that would make a difference as well. Too bad there's only 1 public state school in my state. The rest are private or not accredited or just plain bad. lol

 

[PearLBenzene]

I applied to 5, all in-state, and 1 out of state just in case.

However, I ended up turning down interviews when I got into my school of choice. If you don't have a lot of $$$ to hash out on applications, I would think practical. Do you have good stats? Check the averages for your desired schools. That way you can kind of get an idea where you stand and maybe save yourself a few hundred bucks.

 

[tk1tpod]

You would think that. The last two years I applied to every school (4) in my home state and didn't get in. This year, I applied to those same schools plus four or five out of state schools. So far, I've been accepted to 2 out of state schools and rejected at 2 in state schools.

Interesting...what state are u from?

 

[Pharmpills]

how many schools do u plan to apply for those of u who want to shoot for entrance in fall 2009?

look at your stats and Pcat. If u have a 90-95 pcat and 3.7-4.0 with experience then 2-3 is fine. If not then apply to more as ur stats go down. I would say probably 10 is max in my view but apply to schools that you have a good shot at which means dont be applying to schools that have an average GPA of 3.7 that dont take the pcat when all u have is a 3.2.

I applied to 9 but finished the supplimental to 7 or so. Got interview offers from 4 but didnt go to all of them 🙂 but got into one which was my first interview 😀 but not my first choice 🙁 and denied by 3 or 4.

 

[collegegirl247]

I think that no matter what your pcat and gpa you should dedicate your self completely to just a few schools. If you get scared and apply to too many you will likely make mistakes with deadlines and requirement and not present yourself as a desirable candidate....if you apply to too few you may not get in. I think that 2-4 is a good number.

 

[benmap]

yup. I think that you should depend on stat to apply...such as GPA and PCAT + work experience...for me, I just wanted to go to in-state school in florida....Therefore, I only applied to 2 school, lucky...I got accepted by one, and it was my first choice.....