Need some help with Pre-Pharm

[JakeOgle]

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So I'm just starting my journey into college. I am doing my Pre-Pharm classes at a community college then applying to Pharmacy School, hopefully University of Michigan. My question is that if I'm not full time at community college will it harm my chances of getting into a Pharm School? My dads also in school to become a nurse at community college so he had to cut hours on work. My parents can't afford for me to go full time for at least 3 semesters. While I am only taking 2 courses at a time for a few months, the classes I am taking are important such as Chem and Bio. Any feedback could help and any pre-pharm and pharmacy advice for the new guy would be cool. Thanks.

 

[Rx Jezter]

Do you have an undergraduate degree? It won't count against you to spread your prereqs over more semesters but some schools might want to see an indication of your ability to handle a full course load.

 

[Rx Jezter]

Also, Have you considered applying for financial aid and/or getting pharmacy technician experience with your extra free time?

 

[CHOPKINSCaFe]

I asked a school I'm interested in "What makes a student competitive?" They told me five things: 1. good GPA 2. good PCAT score 3. shadowing a pharmacist or working as a pharm tech 4. volunteer work 5. History course loads. These are not in order of inportance I think the school finds them all equally important

 

[blueheron]

It is ok but at some point you want to show your ability to handle a big course load especially with 2-4 sciences at once. Most hard science degrees require this at some point anyway for a normal load.

 

[PhunwithPharm]

As long as you take at least 1 semester of full-time classes before applying, I think you will be fine. I had a couple of semesters where I only took 2 courses, but I had 2-3 semesters that had 5-6 classes with 3 upper division science courses. Schools never asked me about those odd semesters where I took 2 classes only and I got accepted just fine. Good luck!

 

[317935]

I don't think not being full time will harm you when you apply to pharm school. Like everyone above already said, you will want to take one full-time semester or two to prove that you can handle the amount of work and stress that you will face in the program and in the profession in the future. As for now, I recommend work as a tech so you can see how working in a pharmacy is like. If not, volunteering or shadowing as many different types of pharmacy as possible. Also participate in clubs, organizations, community service. If you like research, get involved in one. My point is: even though you only take 2-3 classes in one semester, you can still show them that you are working your best to overcome this heavy load of duties that you have to do. You can use all of these and your family story into your personal statement, it will show how determined and hardworking you are. Good luck 🙂

 

[NVPham]

some but not all schools will particularly pay attention to your course load. You can start slow to get a good understanding of basic concepts of science courses before challenging yourself with full course load. However, your science courses must not be older than 5 years , 7 years, or 10 years when you apply for pharmacy school . GPA, PCAT, passion, interview are what counts.