Is this possible?

[amarettogirl]

Here's a bit about me: mid thirties, been working as a Nanny since losing my job in early 2008. I want to shoot for pharmacy school, but I have received 0 support from friends and family, and am now wondering if I'm being unrealistic. I know a fair bit about the job, as I have an aunt and uncle who have worked in the field for over 20 years. I don't have a great deal of impressive work experience, but I have taken some math classes (finishing Calculus 2 soon through ucb extension), took statistics summer 2008, and received As in nearly everything. I have looked into postbac courses and am wondering if it wouldn't be better to finish my pre-reqs there since it may help convince admissions that I can handle the coursework. Any advice would be much appreciated.

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[Passion4Sci]

Gotta say, amaretto is delicious!

OK, you're in a tough spot. Best-case scenario has you practicing pharmacy by your early 40's... still a long time to practice, undoubtedly... but it puts you behind the 8-ball in terms of getting into a school. If you don't have a lot of ECs (you said not much work experience, so I have to assume the remainder of your ECs would be bad too, is that the case?) then you will need those great grades, and while the extension is nice, you really do need to show you can take 15+ units a term. Just about anyone can get an A in any class if that's the only class they're taking, or even one of two classes. The real academic skill shines through when you're carrying 16, 17, or 18 units and still get mostly As, and that's what schools will be looking for.

I assume you're in CA so you'll be skipping the PCAT, that's good, although you might want to plan to take it so you can widen your search to out of state schools that'll accept a lower GPA and more non-traditional aspects of your application in exchange for necessitating the PCAT.

 

[diastole]

Ace your classes, get a great PCAT and you will look a lot more impressive to the adcoms. You can do this. I'm sure your friends and family will come around when you make real steps to make this happen. I was a stay at home mom when I was redoing my prereqs. I took two to three classes a semester at night and on the weekends at a CC so I could watch my daughter in the day. I only took one semester full time with a lot of tough classes when my daughter went back to school. I guess they cared more about the recent 4.0 than the fact that I had to take most of my classes part time. It is probably better to take your classes full time if you can but if you can't, it won't be a fatal blow to your application if you do well and show you know your stuff on the PCAT.

 

[wes011]

I prefer bourbon.

I am turning 31 in November and will be starting an accelerated 3-year program in July. Finished my chemistry degree in 2001, finished up my 4 pre-reqs this past September. I am going for a career change, so why can't you? I know of some people that are in their 50's that are going back to school.

If that is your dream, shoot for the moon....that is what I say.

Here's a bit about me: mid thirties, been working as a Nanny since losing my job in early 2008. I want to shoot for pharmacy school, but I have received 0 support from friends and family, and am now wondering if I'm being unrealistic. I know a fair bit about the job, as I have an aunt and uncle who have worked in the field for over 20 years. I don't have a great deal of impressive work experience, but I have taken some math classes (finishing Calculus 2 soon through ucb extension), took statistics summer 2008, and received As in nearly everything. I have looked into postbac courses and am wondering if it wouldn't be better to finish my pre-reqs there since it may help convince admissions that I can handle the coursework. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Silvermist]

you really do need to show you can take 15+ units a term. Just about anyone can get an A in any class if that's the only class they're taking, or even one of two classes. The real academic skill shines through when you're carrying 16, 17, or 18 units and still get mostly As, and that's what schools will be looking for.

She seems to be a postbacc though, since she uses that word. I just got accepted ED to UMD after taking nearly all of my postbacc classes part-time. I think there was one semester where I hit full-time status because of public speaking, but because of childcare reasons, I rarely took more than 8 credits a semester.

Your mileage may vary, but UMD didn't mind, and the admissions deans for both VCU and Shenandoah also told me that since I was a postbacc, that taking classes onesey-twosie wasn't going to hurt me. For the record, I never really took a whole bunch of credits as a "real" undergrad either, I think 15 credits max ever.

 

[Passion4Sci]

She seems to be a postbacc though, since she uses that word. I just got accepted ED to UMD after taking nearly all of my postbacc classes part-time. I think there was one semester where I hit full-time status because of public speaking, but because of childcare reasons, I rarely took more than 8 credits a semester.

Your mileage may vary, but UMD didn't mind, and the admissions deans for both VCU and Shenandoah also told me that since I was a postbacc, that taking classes onesey-twosie wasn't going to hurt me. For the record, I never really took a whole bunch of credits as a "real" undergrad either, I think 15 credits max ever.

Well, "post-bacc" has so many meanings.

If I graduate w/ a Bachelor's degree and take a single class at Open University at UC X, I am now a post-bacc student. Just the same as if I am enrolled in UC Davis's full-time "post-bacc" program. It's an ambiguous term and OP also made it seem as though she was only taking one course at a time, hence my advice.