Just an opinion...

[iwannabpharmer]

Hi everyone. Just an opinion I wanted to sound off - and I think others have mentioned this before, but I think I'm getting concerned with how many people are focused on numbers alone (i.e. GPA and PCAT). Even if someone were to get high marks in both, this may make them competitive academically, but this is not all that a school will evaluate a candidate on. So, what bothers me is this, this constant emphasis on numbers, and the way certain individuals (whom I've spoken to, not on this board) are confident in their admission to pharm school based off of the numbers and what school they went to. I'm not saying that they do not count, but my point is that the ideal candidate will be well-rounded, not just have the stats to prove it.

Not sure if I'm overreacting, but I feel strongly that as a pharmacist I need to provide quality care to the patients I am entrusted to. Getting a 4.0 GPA and 99% on my PCAT does not necessarily mean I have the compassion and drive to care for my patients. I hope my point is coming across.

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[jg12]

Absolutely. I totally agree.

 

[ForcedEntry]

Hi everyone. Just an opinion I wanted to sound off - and I think others have mentioned this before, but I think I'm getting concerned with how many people are focused on numbers alone (i.e. GPA and PCAT). Even if someone were to get high marks in both, this may make them competitive academically, but this is not all that a school will evaluate a candidate on. So, what bothers me is this, this constant emphasis on numbers, and the way certain individuals (whom I've spoken to, not on this board) are confident in their admission to pharm school based off of the numbers and what school they went to. I'm not saying that they do not count, but my point is that the ideal candidate will be well-rounded, not just have the stats to prove it.

Not sure if I'm overreacting, but I feel strongly that as a pharmacist I need to provide quality care to the patients I am entrusted to. Getting a 4.0 GPA and 99% on my PCAT does not necessarily mean I have the compassion and drive to care for my patients. I hope my point is coming across.

You are correct; however, the 4.0 GPA and 99% PCAT will make sure you get an interview.

 

[eelo]

Hi everyone. Just an opinion I wanted to sound off - and I think others have mentioned this before, but I think I'm getting concerned with how many people are focused on numbers alone (i.e. GPA and PCAT). Even if someone were to get high marks in both, this may make them competitive academically, but this is not all that a school will evaluate a candidate on. So, what bothers me is this, this constant emphasis on numbers, and the way certain individuals (whom I've spoken to, not on this board) are confident in their admission to pharm school based off of the numbers and what school they went to. I'm not saying that they do not count, but my point is that the ideal candidate will be well-rounded, not just have the stats to prove it.

Not sure if I'm overreacting, but I feel strongly that as a pharmacist I need to provide quality care to the patients I am entrusted to. Getting a 4.0 GPA and 99% on my PCAT does not necessarily mean I have the compassion and drive to care for my patients. I hope my point is coming across.

Oh, I absolutely agree..... and I think you'd find that adcoms probably agree with you too. I think there are a lot of people on here who may have "embellished" their scores, and I also think we're getting a skewed reality here on SDN- the ones who do find this website tend to be the ones who have the uber-high marks (or at least, they claim to have them).

I think it's a pretty safe bet that nobody is a shoo-in for acceptance based on marks alone. That's why the schools do interviews, and that's why we have a decent amount of people on here who have gotten accepted to school despite having PCATs below 80% and/or GPAs below 3.5.

It seems to me that, looking at the people who've gotten accepted and told us hre in the forum, there seems to be a pretty diverse crowd: we have non-traditional students, returning students, some from CCs, some with bachelor's degrees, some publics, some privvates, some who already have families and will be returning to school, some with GPAs below 3.0, some with PCATs below 70%....... each of those people clearly had something about them that made the adcoms say yeah, this is a good prospect.

I'd say that the 4.0/98 PCAT crowd has it's share of dropouts, too.

 

[eddie269]

Getting good grades = able to handle the curriculum at p-school.

Having good interview = making someone believe you will be a good pharmacist.

Stat's matter only so the school won't waste its money (and yours) teaching you for 1-2 yrs to only have you drop out. Everyone loses. But I agree with the OP 100%.

 

[Saladfingers]

I can certainly attest from personal experience that the stats aren't everything.

I could only apply to one school this application cycle with the pre-reqs I had done, but with a 3.75 and 99 PCAT I didn't even make the wait list.

So yes, I agree with the OP in that the adcoms certainly don't just care about stats.

 

[RX student]

My GPA is horrible (3.0) and my PCAT is okay (85), but at one of the interviews my essay was "If you were a member of this admissions committee, would you rather pick someone with high stats and no pharmacy experience or average stats and lots of pharmacy experience." I was so excited when I picked that topic randomly out of a bowl. Just thought I would share this.

 

[PharmDream]

Hi everyone. Just an opinion I wanted to sound off - and I think others have mentioned this before, but I think I'm getting concerned with how many people are focused on numbers alone (i.e. GPA and PCAT). Even if someone were to get high marks in both, this may make them competitive academically, but this is not all that a school will evaluate a candidate on. So, what bothers me is this, this constant emphasis on numbers, and the way certain individuals (whom I've spoken to, not on this board) are confident in their admission to pharm school based off of the numbers and what school they went to. I'm not saying that they do not count, but my point is that the ideal candidate will be well-rounded, not just have the stats to prove it.

Not sure if I'm overreacting, but I feel strongly that as a pharmacist I need to provide quality care to the patients I am entrusted to. Getting a 4.0 GPA and 99% on my PCAT does not necessarily mean I have the compassion and drive to care for my patients. I hope my point is coming across.

However stats matter very much. If one has an ok GPA and a crappy PCAT score no one is even going to look at anything else. Someone sees a PCAT score ~50, no matter how much work experience one has or how strong the essay or refernces are, they wont even look at that. First they look at stats then they look at everything else! So having good stats matters a lot! I am not saying that work experience, references or essay do not matter, but the way I see it, stats play a HUGE role in determining one's exeptance.

 

[eelo]

My GPA is horrible (3.0) and my PCAT is okay (85), but at one of the interviews my essay was "If you were a member of this admissions committee, would you rather pick someone with high stats and no pharmacy experience or average stats and lots of pharmacy experience." I was so excited when I picked that topic randomly out of a bowl. Just thought I would share this.

So, at what point in this interview did you realize that the planets were aligned, the gods were on your side, and all was right with the world?

Too funny- I HOPE that was the school you selected....

 

[TRG23]

I completely agree with this thread GPA and PCAT do not equal admissions, but they definately help. I know one kid who I met last summer who fits this thread perfectly. He finished his degree in molecular and cellular biology with only one or two B's (basically a 4.0). Now he is currently working on his second degree in chemical engineering and is still maintaing these grades. He took the pcat once last june and recieved a 99percentile on the composite. So I saw this kid at one of my interviews and he seemed to be a "shoe in" with his stats. Not only did he have these stats, but I know he volunteered a great amount of time for various science organizations at his university. He had only one problem SOCIAL SKILLS. I knew this by the way he spoke to me and other people, but with his stellar stats I thought the admissions committee may look past this. Obviously they did not because he was not even wait-listed, but rejected after the interview. I spoke to him afterwards, and he told me the admission committe felt that he was academically ready for pharmacy school, but not socially. It was actually sad to see because he was a really nice kid and seemed to be passionate about becoming a pharmacist. My point is if a kid with stats like these has to reapply next year then grades and test scores truly are not everything.

My advice for pharmacy school applicants APPLY EARLY (especially if your stats are not high). This greatly increases your chances and if I would have submitted my pharmcas earlier than mid january I probably would have been accepted to more of the schools I applied to. Next, become a well rounded individual. Volunteer your time at a pharmacy or become a pharm tech and have a life after school that you can put on your application. Finally, if you do get an interview realize the main thing you need to show the interviewee(s) is that you can communicate clearly and effectively. This is what they are looking for at interviews. As long as you show this I really do believe your answers to questions do not matter (as long as they are appropriate.)

 

[brasilia01]

What I am pissed about are schools that invite you to an interview, claim that at that point your GPA and PCAT scores were good enough so not to worry, then you feel that you did really well at the interview. A few weeks later you recieve a rejection or waitlist position. Why do schools inivite you for a interview, knowing you'll have to spend all this money if they are just going to reject you or put you on a waitlist with 300 other people? Why do they not tell you that the interview has no weight as to your acceptance. Sorry but I'm just really pissed off about this.

 

[constance730]

I think your stats gets you a spot for an intevriew.. but to get accepted.. it has more to do with you interview. I have a friend who has a 3.9, lots of extracurricular and research. I thought she can get into any schools she wanted..of course she got the interviews. But she was waitlisted/rejected and I'm guessing it had soemthing to do with her interview because she is very quiet. Then I have another friend who has a very low gpa, lots of extracurricular and experiences, but he is extremely articulate and personable and he got in! Not waitlisted or anything. I think how you present youself during the interviews is very important.

 

[MR. C]

However stats matter very much. If one has an ok GPA and a crappy PCAT score no one is even going to look at anything else. Someone sees a PCAT score ~50, no matter how much work experience one has or how strong the essay or refernces are, they wont even look at that. First they look at stats then they look at everything else! So having good stats matters a lot! I am not saying that work experience, references or essay do not matter, but the way I see it, stats play a HUGE role in determining one's exeptance.

I disagree.. My good friend was accepted last year with a PCAT of 56 I believe. He had a good GPA and has worked in a pharmacy since he was old enough to have a job, and volunteered before that. He just isnt a good test taker. He got 3 interviews.

obviously some school looked right over his application, but some schools look at the person before the numbers.

Another guy I know had a 3.8GPA and a 91PCAT but went to his interviews thinking he was God's gift to pharmacy (he really thought he was something, we didnt get along well, lol)... he didnt get accepted anywhere I dont believe.. although I havent talked to him in some time.

 

[davyjone96431]

well grades will definitely get you an interview that's for sure. but your personality will get you an acceptance.

 

[Jack555]

You are correct; however, the 4.0 GPA and 99% PCAT will make sure you get an interview.

End Thread

 

[LECOMorBUST]

I think your stats gets you a spot for an intevriew.. I have a friend who has a 3.9, lots of extracurricular and research. I thought she can get into any schools she wanted..of course she got the interviews. But she was waitlisted/rejected and I'm guessing it had soemthing to do with her interview because she is very quiet. I think how you present youself during the interviews is very important.

well grades will definitely get you an interview that's for sure. but your personality will get you an acceptance.

I personally think the "numbers" (GPA, standardized test scores) are for "filtering" pools of applicants, especially with PharmCAS handling the "number crunching" (GPA calculations). If you don't meet the "numbers" cutoff for a certain school, then why would they bother wasting time even looking at the application. Numbers seem to be the initial screen before an actually human being even looks at an application for any type of consideration.

In the end, application of the technical knowledge and personally experiences are critical for developing into a high quality, highly competent professional... being affable is always nice.