Is it a disadvantage to take only the PREREQs required?

[registereduser]

I want to be able to apply this coming January and I only completed the minimum required PREREQs in order to apply.

Will the selection process favor someone who took more courses (relating to pharmacy) such anatomy, microbiology oppose to someone who just meets the required prereqs?

NOTE: i dont want to take too many upper level courses while studying for my pcat because I dont want to risk a fallen gpa if that makes sense

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[busyizzy]

I want to be able to apply this coming January and I only completed the minimum required PREREQs in order to apply.

Will the selection process favor someone who took more courses (relating to pharmacy) such anatomy, microbiology oppose to someone who just meets the required prereqs?

NOTE: i dont want to take too many upper level courses while studying for my pcat because I dont want to risk a fallen gpa if that makes sense

Of course. That's like asking, I have 10 hours of volunteer hours at a pharmacy, will it hurt to do more?

It is not required, as you say, but more classes, especially if they are upper level classes, as well as a degree(s) will be beneficial to your application. How much, it depends on the admissions committee, and I don't think any of else can say. It is your judgment call - to forgo more classes to study for the PCAT or to risk a lower grade on the PCAT by taking more classes. You know what your application is, and what it lacks or needs more of. Play to your strengths.

 

[tahi193]

It's worth noting that the number of people with previoius degrees applying to pharmacy school is increasing. This means you're competing with people who have proven themselves by taking more advanced courses. It doesn't mean you won't get in if you have only taken the prereqs but it probably does mean that your GPA will need to be better than average to stand out in the stack of applicants.

 

[crazybob]

just doing the pre-reqs in college will mean that you might have some difficulty getting used to the level of courses you'll take in pharmacy school. if you have taken upper level courses, then you can see the amount of detail you have to know, and you'll get used to the difficulty of tests and the course work. and then in pharmacy school course work, it will be only a little more to get used to.

for example, if you take just organic chem in college and then go to biochemistry/cell chemistry in pharmacy school, they will be moving very quickly through biochem, so you'll have to keep up very well and study a lot to learn it for the first time. but, if you have taken biochem in college, then you'll be familiar with some of the topics and how much studying you had to do in college for biochem, so it will be just a little more to get used to, and you can follow a little easier in class.

 

[koercive]

having a higher gpa / strong lors / good pcat / good ecs will overshadow having the min. prepreqs imo

 

[Monalyce]

just doing the pre-reqs in college will mean that you might have some difficulty getting used to the level of courses you'll take in pharmacy school. if you have taken upper level courses, then you can see the amount of detail you have to know, and you'll get used to the difficulty of tests and the course work. and then in pharmacy school course work, it will be only a little more to get used to.

Agree!

Many of my science texts from non-prereq classes (physiology, advanced micro, immunology) are used in my pharmacy school classes. It's going to be much easier to whiz through information that I've at least seen once before.

 

[jusgillian]

I have just started my pre requisites ... and don't have an undergraduate. I wanted to just do the pre req. to save on time. What degree would anyone on here pursue and what degree do you (anyone on here) already have that made it easier to get into the PHARM D.

Jusgillian

 

[tahi193]

I really think taking a Biochem course or at least a Molecular Bio course is a good decision if you can spare the time and are pretty confident in chemistry. It makes sense that if you do well in undergrad courses that you'll have again in pharmacy school it will look nice on your transcript and give you a leg up once you're in the pharmacy program.

 

[crazybob]

if you take biochemistry and molecular biology when you do your pre-pharmacy work, then in pharmacy school, the chemistry parts of it will seem ok for you because you've had an advanced class and know enough things in detail to pick up on them when you are lectured on something new like G protein coupled receptors with cAMP and phosphodiesterase.

if you do just the minimum pre-requisites required, be prepared to study every day because every lecture could be completely new information that you have never seen before.

 

[luidji]

What classes should a person take going into pharmacy school, if the school doesn't have Pre Pharm?

 

[Passion4Sci]

What classes should a person take going into pharmacy school, if the school doesn't have Pre Pharm?

This has been covered at length.

The tl;dr is: Go to Pharmacy School X's website and go to "pre-requisites", write it all down, and start taking those classes. Besides a few oddities, like some schools requiring MCB or Biochemistry or more of any given subject (like an extra term of Calculus), all schools have the same pre-requisites. You can look at 4 or 5 schools you'd be interested in attending, and amalgamize the list of pre-requisites needed.

generally it's like,

GE bull$h!t like English, Psychology, blah blah, 2 sem/3qtr of Biology, 2 sem/3 qtr of Calculus, 2 sem 3qtr of Organic Chem, 2 sem 3 qtr of Chemistry series, and Anatomy+Physiology.

Use the search fcn next time!

 

[will7678]

I would apply at the earliest time possible if you can afford the couple of hundred dollars it will take to apply an extra time if you don't get in (not counting higher travel costs if applying to schools farther away). Sure your chances will be higher after another year of harder classes on top of the prereqs but that doesn't mean that your chances are zero right now. If you can manage all A's in the prereqs and then get a PCAT score in the 90s I think your chances would still be quite good.

I decided not to apply last cycle and finish my degree this semester. Now when I consider that I could be in pharmacy school right now I am kicking myself. I would have had a good chance of getting in even without the degree and even if I didn't get in the interview practice would be helpful if nothing else

 

[phathead]

Many of the schools are moving towards requiring an undergrad degree. I have talked to several who, while they do not advertise it, generally only look at those who either have completed a degree or are very near to it.

 

[PharmBoi757]

I've done most of my prereqs at community college. I'm gonna transfer to the school that has the pharmacy school and finish the rest of them there. Do you guys think that the students that are doing pre pharmacy at a college that has a pharmacy school have a better chance of getting in?

 

[phathead]

I've done most of my prereqs at community college. I'm gonna transfer to the school that has the pharmacy school and finish the rest of them there. Do you guys think that the students that are doing pre pharmacy at a college that has a pharmacy school have a better chance of getting in?

What prereqs have you taken? Every pharmacy school I've talked to will not take any math/science courses unless they come from a 4 year university

 

[OnlyFaith]

@PHATHEAD: What schools have you talked to?

 

[phathead]

@PHATHEAD: What schools have you talked to?

about twenty around the country.

I would seriously hope they wouldn't take those courses. I have helped a few people through chem and bio at community colleges and they were way way easier than a uni course

 

[Passion4Sci]

about twenty around the country.

I would seriously hope they wouldn't take those courses. I have helped a few people through chem and bio at community colleges and they were way way easier than a uni course

Any in California, by chance?

If so, which ones stated that they would not accept courses completed at a CC?

 

[phathead]

Any in California, by chance?

If so, which ones stated that they would not accept courses completed at a CC?

I'm not lookin in Cali because I don't like the type of people who go to school in Cali.

Where I come from community college is for the people who weren't good enough to make it into an actual four year university and thus are really just like high school classes

 

[Passion4Sci]

I'm not lookin in Cali because I don't like the type of people who go to school in Cali.

Where I come from community college is for the people who weren't good enough to make it into an actual four year university and thus are really just like high school classes

Ah, OK. Thanks.

 

[will7678]

I'm not lookin in Cali because I don't like the type of people who go to school in Cali.

Where I come from community college is for the people who weren't good enough to make it into an actual four year university and thus are really just like high school classes

Where I come from community college is also for people that aren't stupid enough to pay full price for a bachelor's degree. Then again the community college in my town is nationally ranked (as far as community colleges go) and has transfer agreements with many of the 4 year schools around the area. Of course they still have programs for people that don't belong in a university setting. I do remember seeing a lot of programs for stuff like call center worker...um really you need to take a class to work in a call center?
The calculus based physics classes that I took at a university also were easier than the anatomy class that I took at community college.

 

[Monalyce]

Where I come from community college is for the people who weren't good enough to make it into an actual four year university and thus are really just like high school classes

That's not really fair to say. There are plenty of people who cannot afford to go to a university.

It is possible, and perhaps in some cases probable, that a pre-pharmacy student from a university will score higher on the PCAT, have more extracurriculars, etc. which help them gain admission.

 

[busyizzy]

Where I come from community college is also for people that aren't stupid enough to pay full price for a bachelor's degree.

It's just a matter of fact: in MOST places (not all), community college is looked upon less favorably than a 4-year college. You can butter it up as much as you want, however you want, but that is the way of the world. People paying for "full price" of a bachelor's degree is in no way stupid. They have different priorities than you. You prioritize money. They don't. There's nothing stupid about that, unless they are taking out $100k+ loans to do it. Oh wait... there are already people doing that for pharmacy school. I guess people going out-of-state for pharmacy school must be stupid to pay "full price" for a pharmD degree, eh?

 

[Passion4Sci]

The most comical aspect of this debate is that, at least here in CA, you've got a lot of instructors in the sciences teaching at both the CC and a 4-year university for the extra cash money, akin to pharmacists working per-diem on weekends/off-time.

Additionally, not all 4-years are created equally. Unfortunately, the metric just goes

4 year > 2 year, with disregard to ranking or anything else. Luckily for me, most of my work was done at UC Davis during the accrual of my Biopsychology degree, however I do have several classes from a CC in California and thus far it has not been the slightest of problems for me.

 

[phathead]

I didn't word my previous statement properly.

The people that go to community colleges here are either adults seeking to further their education or are young kids who didn't have the grades or the SAT/ACT scores to get into a four year university.

Some of my profs moonlight at the local community colleges here, but they'll tell you the same thing I'm telling you, that the courses are dumbed down a bunch. This is mainly true in math and science courses as I haven't seen much of a difference in other gen eds.

A chemistry course at a CC is in no way equivalent to a university chemistry course around here. Often they are more for a AA rather than a BS and certainly not for a graduate degree.

The classes are often an extension of high school in a literal sense. There are daily 'worksheets', the teachers let the students know what they missed when they are absent (ALL the teachers do this, you don't see this at uni) and the way they teach is... well like a high school teacher.

And before you throw the money thing in my face, I come from an extremely poor family and am paying my way through college. Would I like to go the cheaper route and go to CC? Sure, but it wouldn't get me anywhere.

 

[NSAID01]

The most comical aspect of this debate is that, at least here in CA, you've got a lot of instructors in the sciences teaching at both the CC and a 4-year university for the extra cash money, akin to pharmacists working per-diem on weekends/off-time.

Additionally, not all 4-years are created equally. Unfortunately, the metric just goes

4 year > 2 year, with disregard to ranking or anything else. Luckily for me, most of my work was done at UC Davis during the accrual of my Biopsychology degree, however I do have several classes from a CC in California and thus far it has not been the slightest of problems for me.

were your cc classes pre reqs for pharm? (just wondering cuz USC said they frown on cc classes)

 

[Passion4Sci]

were your cc classes pre reqs for pharm? (just wondering cuz USC said they frown on cc classes)

Only a couple of them, most notably Organic Chemistry, though. I never took that @ Davis (figured why put myself through it if I didn't have to? This was a long time ago). Could be why I haven't gotten a USC interview invite yet, but that wouldn't chafe my hide very much.

Not to be argumentative here but can you cite your source at USC that says they "frown" on classes taken at CCs? Thanks!

 

[NSAID01]

Only a couple of them, most notably Organic Chemistry, though. I never took that @ Davis (figured why put myself through it if I didn't have to? This was a long time ago). Could be why I haven't gotten a USC interview invite yet, but that wouldn't chafe my hide very much.

Not to be argumentative here but can you cite your source at USC that says they "frown" on classes taken at CCs? Thanks!

No worries, valid question- Xin Gong, Jim Granderson, and an admission counselor told/emailed me. However I know a few people that have gotten in with ccs. But they took these ccs classes when they transferred from 2yrs to 4yrs to obtain there bachelors. They didnt take cc classes while they attended their undergrad.

According to the lack letter interviews are not given out until 1-3 weeks prior to interview date. (i.e Nov 15. 1st interview session)

 

[Passion4Sci]

I wonder if it'd make a difference in order - I have two Bachelor's degrees, one of them in Psychology with an emphasis in Cognition and Perception and one in Biopsychology with an emphasis in abnormal behavior, which were both in line for what I thought I wanted to do with my life. Both degrees are from reputable, well-known institutions so I don't think that'd be an issue. However, I needed to take O-Chem and 1 Calculus class and 1 Physics class at a CC as the rest was completed when I finished my Biopsych degree. Hopefully USC won't look down too much on that, but I didn't really have a choice. Re-enrolling in a 4 year school for what amounted to ~2 semesters of work seemed silly (and expensive).

 

[luidji]

This has been covered at length.

The tl;dr is: Go to Pharmacy School X's website and go to "pre-requisites", write it all down, and start taking those classes. Besides a few oddities, like some schools requiring MCB or Biochemistry or more of any given subject (like an extra term of Calculus), all schools have the same pre-requisites. You can look at 4 or 5 schools you'd be interested in attending, and amalgamize the list of pre-requisites needed.

generally it's like,

GE bull$h!t like English, Psychology, blah blah, 2 sem/3qtr of Biology, 2 sem/3 qtr of Calculus, 2 sem 3qtr of Organic Chem, 2 sem 3 qtr of Chemistry series, and Anatomy+Physiology.

Use the search fcn next time!

Can you be more specific on what the website is, because i'm having trouble finding it.

 

[busyizzy]

I wonder if it'd make a difference in order - I have two Bachelor's degrees, one of them in Psychology with an emphasis in Cognition and Perception and one in Biopsychology with an emphasis in abnormal behavior, which were both in line for what I thought I wanted to do with my life. Both degrees are from reputable, well-known institutions so I don't think that'd be an issue. However, I needed to take O-Chem and 1 Calculus class and 1 Physics class at a CC as the rest was completed when I finished my Biopsych degree. Hopefully USC won't look down too much on that, but I didn't really have a choice. Re-enrolling in a 4 year school for what amounted to ~2 semesters of work seemed silly (and expensive).

Honestly, I think you're okay.... I really think everyone stresses the cc vs uni thing way too much, blowing it out of proportion (not talking about you specifically, Passion, just people in general on the forum). In general, yes, a 4 year university looks better than someone taking CC classes. But of course, there are many reasons for people taking CC classes - ranging from trying to skip out on hard courses to the difficulty of money. If it is OBVIOUS you are trying to skip classes - ie. you are in the middle of your 4-year degree, and take all your prereqs at a CC, then yes, it probably looks bad. If you got your degree, and then took a few additional classes, I don't think it'll look too bad - people on the admissions committee are people, and they understand that you don't want to spend $2000 per class at a university. If you took CC classes then transferred to a uni, then again, it doesn't look bad. In my opinion, it's very circumstantial. Just don't do anything that would raise a question mark.

Can you be more specific on what the website is, because i'm having trouble finding it.

You must really suck at google searches. There is NO one website. Look up a few different pharmacy schools you might be interested in (for example, UCSF, USC), and find the prereqs listed. Different schools have different prereqs, although there are many classes that all schools require, for example, orgo, chem, bio.

 

[Haleyzx]

Will the selection process favor someone who took more courses (relating to pharmacy) such anatomy, microbiology oppose to someone who just meets the required prereqs?

in short: YES.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Can you be more specific on what the website is, because i'm having trouble finding it.

Well, for UCSF:

http://pharmacy.ucsf.edu/pharmd/admissions/steps/1/academic/

Maybe that'll get you started?

 

[luidji]

Oh ok i get you... I thought there would be one website for everything

 

[Passion4Sci]

Oh ok i get you... I thought there would be one website for everything

Nope not one specific site, although if you look around Pharmcas.org, you will find some awesome utilities that do have a LOT of information lumped into a list-format. For example,

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

For Mercer SoP.

If you can be clever and get back to the "start" page you'll find links to every single SoP in the States and a page much like Mercer's I linked. The reason I don't necessarily like this is that some of those pages can be outdated. BUT, you can get a general idea anyway. It's always best to go right off the school when you're making your own school schedules.

Happy hunting!