Hi guys, I'm a Pre-Pharm student in Oregon State. My current GPA is only 3.0. I talked with my advisor today and she told me it would be hard for me to get into a Pharmacy School with that GPA, she suggested me changing major. I explained to her that I have one year experience in volunteering at Pharmacy Department in the local hospital, and will be an intern of American Red Cross this summer, but my advisor said Pharmacy Schools only consider the high GPA. I'm really upset, and feel unconfident to apply for PharmD. Could anyone give me some advise for my situation? I'm appreciated it. Thank you!
Low GPA wants to have a chance to Pharm School
- Thread starter tranthan
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My advisor told me the same thing but I still got accepted to everywhere I applied and number one on the wait list at one school. There is hope if you have involvement and work experience. Just apply to realistic schools. It's not all about your GPA but it is an important factor.
Thank you for sharing with me. I really love this major, honestly I do not want to change it. I will try my best to improve my GPA, I hope I could get accepted like you.
Best
What she said would have been true several years ago, but the times have already changed and admission standards have lowered since then. While your GPA is low, I think a good number of schools will look at you since you have some work experience.
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A lot of advisors say that. If your advisor isn't specifically someone who works with pharmacy, medical, or any graduate/professional campus in your college I wouldn't take that statement seriously. My advisor worked closely with Medical schools and told me to not assume a high GPA will get you in, he had C+ students get in to Med School, although a "good" GPA helps relieve the stress of applying. Even though a high GPA will "insure" you "understand" the material in pharmacy or medical school, you also need to meet other criteria: PCAT, experience with pharmacy, letters of recommendation (at least one pharmacist for this), personal statement, volunteer work, community involvement, understanding of pharmacy trends, and why pharmacy/why our school? are major things to have down in your application and also when you interview.
If you keep the 3.0 and do well in the PCAT 80+ you will be fine, also try and get good marks 3.0 or higher on pre-reqs and science courses, because PHARMCAS calculates it a bit differently. You can also talk about why you chose your major, why you enjoy it, and the challenges you overcame through its rigorous classes in your statement. This will show your dedication, zealous, and commitment to challenge yourself. Is your major a ChemE?
I ask this because my friends who applied to UCLA medical school both got in, but one was waitlisted first. The one who was waitlisted had a 3.7+ GPA was a music major and other ~2.9 (might have been a 3.0) ChemE and was accepted. Both smart, but my buddy who was a ChemE really put in a lot more effort in improving his other experience and when applying and studying for the MCAT. So long story short, a high GPA helps, but isn't the only thing that will get you in.
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Hi tranthan,
To make it short, I got accepted to 2 out of 5 school I went to interview. Aplied to 8 schools got invited to interview 7 schools. My pharmcas GPA is 2.7 and I got into a school with 3.5 GPA average according to pharmcas school directory list. With that being said, you need to do 1 step before deciding to go to pharmacy school. Learn about pharmacy as much as you can during your volunteering and decide if pharmacy is the best fit for you. You are looking at 150-200k of debt as you graduate so it is a BIG decision that might take some time to consider. Lot of people I know went to pharmacy becausethey said it was easy, graduated, worked and told me they feel like pharmacy is not for them.
Next, if you can, try to boost your GPA higher and study for PCAT at least 2 months before and get good grade in science. That way you can increase your chance to get to pharmacy schools.
Hope it help, message me if you have any questions.
To make it short, I got accepted to 2 out of 5 school I went to interview. Aplied to 8 schools got invited to interview 7 schools. My pharmcas GPA is 2.7 and I got into a school with 3.5 GPA average according to pharmcas school directory list. With that being said, you need to do 1 step before deciding to go to pharmacy school. Learn about pharmacy as much as you can during your volunteering and decide if pharmacy is the best fit for you. You are looking at 150-200k of debt as you graduate so it is a BIG decision that might take some time to consider. Lot of people I know went to pharmacy becausethey said it was easy, graduated, worked and told me they feel like pharmacy is not for them.
Next, if you can, try to boost your GPA higher and study for PCAT at least 2 months before and get good grade in science. That way you can increase your chance to get to pharmacy schools.
Hope it help, message me if you have any questions.
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That adviser is dumber than the pharmacy students who get in these days. Gotta love that pharmacy is still a "prestigious" degree to people outside of the field. Did she also tell you that you would have a hard time getting into law school or get an MBA? With a 3.0 you will have no trouble getting into pharmacy school. Pharmacy is the law school of the healthcare world. You'll have more difficulty getting into a reputable public RN/BSN program than a PharmD program.
