Need advice

[mpower03]

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I am a junior in high school in florida, and i would like to be a pharmacist. Right now i have an unweighted gpa of 3.75 (which will most likely go up) and a weighted of 4.0 (which will most likely go up). I am taking Dual enrollment college algebra and precalcus + trig the following semester. Also eng. comp1 and 2. I took bio honors freshman year and chem hon sophmore year. I am currently in physics hon. Currently i have 56 community service hours, but that will more than double this year. I am in interact and am a big brother for the big bro and big sis program. I am joining FBLA this year and have applied for Youth Leadership program. Next year i will most likely do NHS and Key Club. I am taking the SAT and ACT soon.

Ok so i just wanted to know:

1. Am i on an alright track?
2. What colleges would you reccomend that i apply for in florida? Public or private
3. How long do i need to go to school for before pharmacy school?

thanks for any help!

 

[MaximBrutii]

1.) It seems like you're taking the necessary steps in jump starting your academic career. You can never have too many volunteer hours, IMO. If you can, I'd definitely try to get some experience within the pharmacy field to see if its really what you want to do, plus many COPs do require that you have some sort of experience in a pharmacy setting.

2.) As for colleges, if it were me, I'd stick to a public university to knock out those pre-req's. It'd be a helluva lot cheaper. As long as you do well in your pre-req classes, you should be fine. I don't know if many COP's bear too much weight on where you get your pre-reqs from. (Although there are some schools that require you finish your pre-reqs from a 4 year college.)

3.) Lastly, most pre-req classes for COPs take roughly 2 years to complete although more and more students are applying with a Bacherlors degree.

 

[mpower03]

When i turn 18 my senior i will go an be a pharmacy tech. I wouldn't go through all of that school to come to find out i don't like it.
The schools i am interested in for pre pharmacy studies are University of Florida, University of Miami, Florida State University. I will also apply to USF and UCF if not accepeted into one of these schools.

Also, what would my major need to be. I know UF has a major for undergad as pharmacy and it gets your gen. ed classes + pre req. classes in two years. When i look on the other colleges websites i see nothing. So i wouldn't know what to major in

 

[crazybob]

apply to private schools if you can and do your undergrad there if possible. private schools are more difficult, but you're more likely to get individual attention from your professors who can help you with whatever you need. i went to a private school before starting pharmacy school, and i don't think i would have worked as hard if i had gone to a public school. but it was only because i could afford to go to a private school. money is always the issue in college.

as for your major, it does not matter. there are poli sci majors and computer science majors who go to pharmacy school and graduate without too much struggle. most people pick bio, chem, or biochem just because a lot of the pre-requisites count towards their major. choosing a major is completely up to you and it should reflect your personal interests.

keep in mind that if you do just the pre-requisites and start pharmacy school, it will be a big change to get used to professional course work after only couple of years of college course work. pharmacy school professors move fast through material and they cover a lot every single day. it will also be a lot more studying and your tests will get more difficult. if you have a good preparation from undergrad with taking upper level science courses like biochemistry, molecular biology, animal physiology, and genetics, then you can see how difficult those courses are and get used to studying for difficult tests. and then once you start pharmacy school, the difficulty will only be slightly higher than what you had before.

you also should try to spend time in college to figure out what you really like to do. it can help you decide what type of a pharmacist you would like to be. it can be a good way to gain motivation for studying and doing well in your courses. you can also grow up more as a person before starting a professional school. once you're in pharmacy school, you will be in classes with people who are 3-5 years older than you and some of them will be married with kids. they will seem very mature and you have to be able to deal with that on a daily basis.

 

[mpower03]

thanks a lot for the help!

is it common for people to go to school for 2 years and go off to pharmacy school as long as they meet the requirements?

the upper level science classes that you were refering to about, what year of college are those in?

 

[crazybob]

at state schools, they are likely to have a pre-pharmacy club where pre-pharmacy students all get together to take all pre-requisites early and apply to pharmacy school together to start after their sophomore year of college. it takes them a while to get used to going from college course work to more difficult material in pharmacy school, but they get used to it after a while.

the upper level courses are usually junior and senior level courses. for example, if you took an upper level bio course, you would probably see only bio majors and few bio minors in that class. so upper level courses like:

• Molecular Cell Biology
• Vertebrate or Human Anatomy
• Cell and Molecular Neuroscience
• Animal or Human Physiology
• Genetics
• Molecular Genetics
• Microbiology
• Immunology
• Biological Chemistry (Biochemistry I)
• Advanced Biological Chemistry (Biochemistry II)
• Physical Chemistry

Also keep in mind that you probably will have to take the PCAT with only one year of college coursework and so it might be difficult to score well with only one year worth of college courses.

 

[mpower03]

okay that helps a lot! So would you say that extra year or two would be worth it?

 

[crazybob]

it really depends on what you want to do with those extra few years in college. if you feel you're rushing into pharmacy school and want to take more courses in college and want to experience college a bit more, then that's fine as long as you keep a good GPA and score well on the PCAT. one of my professors has told me that a year more spent in college might be more valuable than starting work a year early as a pharmacist, but that differs from person to person. i still decided to start pharmacy school when i could have been a senior in college and had taken on a easier schedule than what i have now.

you do grow up quite a bit as a person from being in college and also starting pharmacy school. that same professor told me that you can use your senior year (or junior year) in college to grow up as a person and to know yourself better and know more about how you want to live your life.

 

[mpower03]

i think i would rather start pharmacy school as quickly as possible because of the extra money and that i would rather start my career quicker. maybe if i take some dual enrollment gen ed classes and know a few out i could take some higher level courses or do they require you to be a junior or senior?

 

[crazybob]

it depends on the school. but you can always talk to the instructor for permission to take the class. otherwise you just have to have the pre-requisite courses and then take those upper-level courses anytime.

 

[mpower03]

Thanks for all the help!

 

[delano2000]

Seems like you are on the right track to me.

 

[Forrest Gump]

mpower,

I am also from Florida and am currently preparing to graduate from FSU with a degree in Chemical Science (the best major for pre-pharmacy studies at FSU). Though I have LOVED my time here, if I could go back in time I would probably have applied to FAMU's 0 - 6 pharmacy program. You start right out of high school and the cost of the program is ridiculously low! The tuition for FL residents is less than $3000 per year. Most of the schools I'm applying to right now are 4 year programs with tuition ranging from 20,000 - 30,000 per year. So, if you calculate the median of $25,000, I'll have a student loan of AT LEAST $100,000 and that, of course, does not include living expenses. FAMU, on the other hand, would be around $18,000 for 6 years + living expenses. You'd also become a pharmacist at least two years earlier than if you went to a 4 year college and then a 4 year pharmacy program.

 

[MaximBrutii]

You'd also become a pharmacist at least two years earlier than if you went to a 4 year college and then a 4 year pharmacy program.

Just because you go to a 4 year college to get your pre-reqs done doesn't necessarily mean you have to complete all 4 years. 😀 You could just do the pre-reqs then apply to pharmacy school.

 

[Forrest Gump]

Maxim,

While that is true, in my case I decided to get my degree because there is no guarantee I'll get into pharmacy school and I wanted to something to fall back on. Everyone, of course, has to decide for themselves which path is right for them.