Masters degree???

[lostplato]

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First I would just like to thank everyone on the website. I have been using this forum to answer a lot of my questions for some time, but have just recently decided to register. I am planning on applying this summer for the entrance into a pharmacy school in '07. I would like to ask everyones advice though...I have a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology, a BA in philosophy, and a minor in microbiology from Penn State. I just ggraduated last year. The problem is that my GPA was not that great...about a 2.9. I took about 19 credits a semester, sometimes more, plus completed three years of research in a lab. So, I think I overloaded myself sometimes. Not to mention I almost failed out of school my first semester, I really had to turn things around. Right now I am completing a masters in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins and so far I have all A-'s in my completed classes...about 2/3rd of the way done with the degree. My question is, although my undergrad GPA is not stellar, will the schools look more closely at my graduate GPA and maybe just the fact that I will be getting a masters? Do a lot of people with masters apply to pharmacy school? I am also working as a tech at the university doing some very interesting research. I think I will do pretty well on the PCAT and my letters of reccomendation are going to be great. I am just very worried about my undergrad GPA. Sorry for such a long post. Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give me.

 

[TheChemist]

I have a masters and I do believe that the extra degree is what makes me competitive.

 

[wheelsonfire]

First, don't panic. I think a lot of people on this site are in a similar situation.

I have my biology degree and I work in a public health lab and I'm a tech. My pre-pharmacy GPA was not great, but my upper-division courses were good and my rec letters were great. I ended up re-taking any pre-pharmacy course that I had a C in (organic, calc, etc) and got A's. I keep taking the PCAT to try and get in the 90's so the adcoms will look at me and not my original undergrad GPA(waiting on Jan score ).

However, I hear the adcoms like to see you taking 15+ hours/semester of hard core science classes with good grades in order to predict your success in pharmacy school. I know you are in grad school and working, so take the PCAT and see what you get. If your PCAT is awesome, I think you have a great chance. If not, you might consider re-taking those core pre-pharm classes and making A's. Also, try to get some pharmacy experience. I have not been accepted yet. This is just what I've done. Good Luck. 👍

 

[rxlynn]

A couple of other suggestions/comments - be sure that the schools you are applying to will look at all your work. There are some pharmacy schools that only consider the GPA from the exact pre-reqs that you have, and disregard all the rest. In your situation, obviously you want a school that will look at everything.

I also have a master's degree (chemistry) and it was confusing to me how PharmCAS calculated my overall GPA. But, I didn't think they necessarily lowered it, so I didn't inquire further as to exactly how they got the final numbers. 🙂