I'm a High School student in need of some help...

[DrEaMeRcHiCk]

Hey my name's linda and I'm a senior in high school. I want to become a pharmacist, but I'm a little shakey on the process of doing so. I also have a question, I'm going to be applying to colleges soon, I live in Los Angeles and I know I'm going to appy to UCLA and UCI for sure, but i don't know which one is best for me. I know some who have gone to UCLA and majored in Biochemistry, which interested me, and they are now applying to pharmacy school. I found out that UCI has pharmacology, as a graduate major of course, and that sparked an interest also. So I really don't know what to do right now or what major...or even what schools to apply to!!! Can anyone give me some advice? I was wondering if any of you can help since you've been through this process yourselves. Any of your valuable advice would be fine as long as there's some insight for me. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

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[neonam11]

DrEaMeRcHiCk,

As far as your baccalaureate career goes, I think that either UC would offer you a challenging environment to learn science and to prepare for the rigors of pharmacy school although UCLA is supposedly the more prestiguous of the two.

Remember also that a lot of people who get accepted into pharmacy school come from non-science background. Heck, for the incoming UCSF class, we have people with majors in Japanese, women studies, and philosophy to name a few. However, a large majority of the students who got accepted do have degrees in the biological sciences and biochemistry. The main point is that if you definitely know that you will pursue pharmacy as your profession, it should not matter which major you choose, just as long as you do well in it, fulfill the prepharmacy coursework and engage in extracurricular activities, you will present yourself as a competitive candidate. Also remember that you don't necessary have to have a baccalaureate degree in order to apply to pharmacy school (although a BS or BA does make you more competitive). If you can fulfill all of your prepharmacy requirements in the first two years of your undergraduate years, you can apply. There are even some colleges of pharmacy that accept highschool students for their six-year program.

 

[LVPharm]

Hi Linda! Welcome to the forum!

I should recuse myself from answering since I'm a UCI grad, but honestly, if you get into UCLA, you oughta go there. UCI has improved itself greatly since I attended, but UCLA is still the number 2 school in the UC system, and holds more "clout". I wouldn't worry about this too much, though...if you decide to go to UCI, you'll still get a top-notch education.

As for majors, pharmacology at UCI is a graduate degree. I believe that it is a PhD program (maybe they let you "bail out" 2 years in with a non-terminal Masters...what we used to call a "consolation prize" for burned-out PhD grad students ). This shouldn't really be a consideration for you, unless you intend on doing your 4 years to earn a baccalaureate, and then commit yourself to another 4-5 years working on your dissertation for a PhD in pharmacology.

If you enjoy the sciences, by all means, major in the one that suits you. I like biology, especially microbiology. That's why I majored in Biological Sciences at UCI. You can still work on your prerequisites, and apply well before you earn your baccalaureate degree. As neonam said, there are many students who get into pharmacy school without a baccalaureate, so it wouldn't hurt any to try. If it doesn't work out, you can finish-off your baccalaureate and reapply.

Neonam also has a point about majoring in "non-traditional" areas, like humanities, literature, foreign language, philosophy, music, art, etc. Just as in med school applications, majoring in one of these non-science majors MAY help make you look more "well-rounded". You can still work on a non-science major and still complete your prereqs. I really don't know, personally, if this is a good route to take...I just remember hearing similar advice back in my premed days.

There are schools that take students out of high school. They typically have the students take 2 years of prepharmacy work at that school, and if they maintain a certain minimum GPA (usually 2.7) by the end of their 2nd preprofessional year, they are guaranteed a seat in the professional PharmD program. Most of these pharmacy schools are back east, Drake University in Iowa comes to mind.

When you have the time, please go to http://www.aacp.org and go through the "For Students & Applicants" section for more information than I could possibly give you

 

[Triangulation]

I should recuse myself from answering since I'm a UCI grad, but honestly, if you get into UCLA, you oughta go there. UCI has improved itself greatly since I attended, but UCLA is still the number 2 school in the UC system, and holds more "clout".

I disagree with the clout argument. I turned down ucsf which certainly has the higher ranking, but not the greater potential for me. You gotta figure out what system you like more and where you can see yourself thriving. My gf went to uci, but several of my closest friends went to ucla and what i can tell you is that they are two completely different balls of twine. Irvine is waaaay more chill than westwood. The beach is a lot closer and nicer at uci. The professors are not in general of the same caliber, but what i have seen from the students leaves me with no impression of one producing more competent potential pharmacists. In fact, I know vastly more uci students in pharm school than ucla students althouh i think they're the major feeder for sc. WTF was my point? You gotta base it on where you see yourself thriving. Both will provide a lot of opportunities. Personally, i would like ucla more, but mostly bc there are more cafes in westwood than irvine. I do know that the pre-med track at ucla is extremely, berkeley level competitive, so you better be prepared for that if you choose ucla, on the upside if you can handle it pharm school won't be nearly as bad.

There are like ten uci alums on this forum, so you're in the right place.

 

[Triangulation]

You should consider ucsd as well. that would present an interesting scenario since they have a pharm school. My bro went there, and that was my first choice for pharm school. To me it's like a nicer version of uci, smacked into La Jolla. They have an incredible molecular bio department as well (Francis Crick is at the Salk Institute, James Kadonaga co-discoverer of DNA Adhesion Chromotography is there. It's happening

 

[LVPharm]

UCSD is a very good school, especially in the sciences. Lots of biotech down there in SD=lots of good experiential opportunities. I would most definitely consider that school. When I talk about "clout", I'm not necesarilly referring to how a particular school would look to an admissions committee. I'm just referring to the alumni networks that are well established here in SoCal for USC and UCLA. I said "don't worry about it too much" cuz this would only come into play should you decide to enter the job market with your undergrad degree instead of going to pharm school. In such cases, where you go to school could matter to employers. In a rough economy (like we are in currently) you'll want to take advantage of that kind of "favoritism".

 

[Modnar]

Speaking as someone who is not from California, if you ever wind up moving out of state it's not going to matter which UC you attended. The UCs are all highly regarded nationally, so having graduated from any one of them will be a feather in your cap. Don't obsess over prestige. Just attend the school you like best.

As far as connections go, alumni connections are important, but one could also make connections by joining honor societies and professional organizations.

 

[Motiv8]

Personally, I would apply to pharmacy school right from high school. It is much less competitive and you won't have to worry about getting in after two years of prereq's. Also, they mostly consider your high school GPA and SAT scores along with extracurricular activities for admission. Now this is probably much easier than taking the PCAT or getting a bachelor/associate degree from a college/university. The choice is yours but this is the best option considering that it won't get any easier to get into pharmacy school in the years to come.

 

[DrEaMeRcHiCk]

Thank you everyone for replying to my post. I really didn't know what to expect out of this website mainly because I didn't know it existed until my T.A. in my pre-med program suggested that all of us in the class join the site. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I'm in summer HS prep program at UCLA. Anyways, back on topic, yeah I really would want to try and get into pharm school right out of high school, but the only one I know of is the TAP program at USC which is competative and expensive. From the UCs, I know I'll be applying to la, irvine, sd, and probaby riverside or davis and I'm considerinf them all. I'm also looking into schools back east, but would prefer to stay near home although many of the pharm programs for hs students are back east like many of you have mentioned. I really don't know what else to say right now and I'll probably remember five minutes later and post up another thread...lol so I hope I don't get annoying, but if i do...just tell me! Anyways I really appreciate everyone who took their time to help me out. You've really made me feel welcomed =).

P.S. if you have any more advice now or later in the future...please email me or something. I'm friendly and really grateful for what all of you are doing. My email is [email protected] or my AIM is azndreamer37...=) thanks!

 

[LVPharm]

Anytime, Linda! You can always PM me if you have any questions or need advice. I always check SDN so you'll get a response within a day (unless I've got pharm school exams or project deadlines).