Newbie Questions about starting towards pharmacy school

[mana20]

Hey all I'm new around here, I have a few questions with my situations I'm wondering, for the classes you need before you can start pharmacy school, would I be able to do these in a community college/Jr college, or would I have to transfer to a real college do 2 years there also and than go to pharmacy school? and how is the student aid for pharmacy school? the only plus I really have is Veteran(millitary) status, otherwise I'm starting college from out of high school, was planning on taking the classes I need at my local community college than going to pharmacy school. So if you guys can give me some guidance I would appreciate it

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[ultracet]

head over to the pre-pharm forum and check out the FAQ.

 

[DownonthePharm]

... would I be able to do these in a community college/Jr college, or would I have to transfer to a real college do 2 years there also and than go to pharmacy school?

A community college is a REAL college.
Sheesh....

I think the phrase your looking for is four year school. And yes, you can just do 2 years at CC and get in. Happens less and less now though.

 

[RxRob]

The PCAT serves as an equalizer for the quality of the education you received. You are weighed against everyone from community college to Duke or Yale that takes it. If you do well on the PCAT it won't matter where you went.

I went to 3 years of community college, then 2 of a 4 year university... I can tell you that community college is definitely guilty of grade inflation in comparison, however I really felt I learned more because it was more manageable and more focus on the important stuff... plus you could concentrate on studying and learning better because you don't have any of the psychological crap to deal with and getting poorer grades when you study your butt off like at a more pretentious university. All in all I would recommend to anyone to go to community college on purpose in order to have a great GPA AND do really well on the PCAT. It could be YOUR university keeping you out of pharmacy school by being ridiculous, especially if they are chasing a reputation.

 

[insipid1979]

All in all I would recommend to anyone to go to community college on purpose in order to have a great GPA AND do really well on the PCAT. It could be YOUR university keeping you out of pharmacy school by being ridiculous, especially if they are chasing a reputation.

And you don't think the admission committees realize all this? They take the difficulty of your school into consideration when looking at your GPA.

 

[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

They take the difficulty of your school into consideration when looking at your GPA.

What i know and experience is that no matter where you got your GPA, it matters.
Now, accepting a student from the four year college is a new trend among pharm schools as they try to have stronger candidates..less likely to drop the pharm program..it seems that they have the proof that the candidate from 4 years coll tend to be more resistant.

my advise is to go with the school you want to apply guidelines...if what the classes they are asking and the timing fit a community college..go for it and save yourself some bucks...but if the programme is obviously design for applicant with a bachelor....then you might start at a CC and tranfer or just go to the 4yC to save yourself the troubles of transfering to a different teaching style..less individualized. My school make it clear that they will favor people with a previous degree...(Bachelor)

Bottom line: if they want you to get a bachelor before pharm school you will know by looking at their requirement and statement on their web site.

 

[RxRob]

And you don't think the admission committees realize all this? They take the difficulty of your school into consideration when looking at your GPA.

Yes of course, however, here I am. Do the math... DEFINITE great GPA verses risk of GPA and STILL do well on the pcat.

To further derive the equation, two years at a university before applying verses two completed years at a community college doesn't say a lick of difference to the committee about "stick-to-it-iveness", perhaps more about socio-economic background. And anyone with a degree FINISHED no matter how it broke down.

 

[insipid1979]

What i know and experience is that no matter where you got your GPA, it matters.

Yes...of course it matters. Noone said it didn't. But a 3.5 GPA at Yale looks a lot better than a 3.5 GPA from a community college in Montana though.

 

[insipid1979]

Yes of course, however, here I am. Do the math... DEFINITE great GPA verses risk of GPA and STILL do well on the pcat.

To further derive the equation, two years at a university before applying verses two completed years at a community college doesn't say a lick of difference to the committee about "stick-to-it-iveness", perhaps more about socio-economic background. And anyone with a degree FINISHED no matter how it broke down.

It makes a big difference to the committee because they realize the workloads are different. Everything else being the same they are going to take the person from the university because they know that usually the workload is greater.

You make a good point though about risking your GPA at a university. But if you go to a community college you have to make sure your GPA is really good unless your are in a lot of trouble.

 

[RxRob]

that's true... every comment made has to rely on the fact that the person in question is a quality candidate that is going to do whatever it takes.

My experience with community college is that (especially since course requirements are mandated by state statute with respect to federal guidelines) testing is done more at recognition level and universities tend to test only the more in-depth details, which will likely not appear on the PCAT. There is much more of a fudgefactor to keeping your GPA high and at a university you can basically NEVER let up.

I'm sure the committees have their own take on this, but it is illegal for them to discriminate or post multiple GPA requirements depending on what type of school you went to. I guess in the end I recommend community college because that's what I did and I got in, even though I PROVED I didn't stick to it by dropping out 10 years ago and starting back a couple years ago.

 

[insipid1979]

I'm sure the committees have their own take on this, but it is illegal for them to discriminate or post multiple GPA requirements depending on what type of school you went to.

It is common practice for a university to use the difficulty in the one you went to before to see how good of a candidate you are. Why do you think people bother going to schools that are hard to get into and very rigorous? It is not illegal at all. On a lot of the schools webpages for medical school they say they take into account the difficulty of the institution that you received your degree.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

It is common practice for a university to use the difficulty in the one you went to before to see how good of a candidate you are. Why do you think people bother going to schools that are hard to get into and very rigorous? It is not illegal at all. On a lot of the schools webpages for medical school they say they take into account the difficulty of the institution that you received your degree.

I think it is truly difficult to evaluate how difficult one college is vs. another school, although there are a lot of stereotypes about this out there.

That's why I think many schools rely heavily on the PCAT. Its hard to compare a 4.0 at Large State University to a 4.0 at Rural Liberal Arts College to a 4.0 at Metropolitan Community College, but a 99 on the PCAT is a 99 on the PCAT no matter where you went to school.

 

[insipid1979]

I think it is truly difficult to evaluate how difficult one college is vs. another school, although there are a lot of stereotypes about this out there.

That's why I think many schools rely heavily on the PCAT. Its hard to compare a 4.0 at Large State University to a 4.0 at Rural Liberal Arts College to a 4.0 at Metropolitan Community College, but a 99 on the PCAT is a 99 on the PCAT no matter where you went to school.

A 4.0 at Yale or Standford or University of Michigan etc. is better than a 4.0 at a community college.

PCAT a good way to compare yourself to other applicants from other schools. It is a way to test your long-term knowledge compared to cramming for a test and forgetting everything. What it doesn't do is tell the adcom how well you can handle heavy courseloads. Where that comes from is the reputation and difficulty of the school you attended. I'm not saying it is the only factor in your application...but it is a factor and I am sure a deciding factor in some cases.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

A 4.0 at Yale or Standford or University of Michigan etc. is better than a 4.0 at a community college.

PCAT a good way to compare yourself to other applicants from other schools. It is a way to test your long-term knowledge compared to cramming for a test and forgetting everything. What it doesn't do is tell the adcom how well you can handle heavy courseloads. Where that comes from is the reputation and difficulty of the school you attended. I'm not saying it is the only factor in your application...but it is a factor and I am sure a deciding factor in some cases.

The majority of applicants aren't coming from schools whose reputations are as concrete as Stanford, Yale and UMich. It's easy to assume that those schools are pretty rigorous, but for the vast majority of schools out there in the so-called "middle tier," definitive evaluation of the degree of difficulty is more difficult.

In my home state, for example - it would be hard to evaluate which is more rigorous, University of Louisville (large public research university), Madisonville Community College, or Midway College (small private liberal arts school). Having attended 2 of the 3 and worked at the 3rd - I can't really tell you. They all have some hard and some cake classes. The environments are so different it's almost like apples and oranges.

The only pharmacy school in the state is UK and it's extremely competitive. They use a minimum GPA and a minimum PCAT as a screening cutoff for interviews. Once you get to the interview stage it is 1/3 GPA, 1/3 PCAT and 1/3 interview. Doing it that way would mitigate some of the problems with evaluating GPAs from different schools.

 

[insipid1979]

The majority of applicants aren't coming from schools whose reputations are as concrete as Stanford, Yale and UMich. It's easy to assume that those schools are pretty rigorous, but for the vast majority of schools out there in the so-called "middle tier," definitive evaluation of the degree of difficulty is more difficult.

In my home state, for example - it would be hard to evaluate which is more rigorous, University of Louisville (large public research university), Madisonville Community College, or Midway College (small private liberal arts school). Having attended 2 of the 3 and worked at the 3rd - I can't really tell you. They all have some hard and some cake classes. The environments are so different it's almost like apples and oranges.

The only pharmacy school in the state is UK and it's extremely competitive. They use a minimum GPA and a minimum PCAT as a screening cutoff for interviews. Once you get to the interview stage it is 1/3 GPA, 1/3 PCAT and 1/3 interview. Doing it that way would mitigate some of the problems with evaluating GPAs from different schools.

Yup you are absolutely correct. Everything I was saying about rigorous 4-year institutions with good reputations compared to community colleges is completely wrong. You are right once again.

If I told you the sky was blue you would argue with me about that too.

Do you just like following me around and arguing with me?

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Yup you are absolutely correct. Everything I was saying about rigorous 4-year institutions with good reputations compared to community colleges is completely wrong. You are right once again.

If I told you the sky was blue you would argue with me about that too.

Do you just like following me around and arguing with me?

I agreed with what you said about places that have a clear-cut reputation. Your examples were Stanford, UMich and Yale. I also don't disagree with you that you can differentiate between Ivy Leagues and CC's pretty easily.

I guess I was taking the topic in a related but slightly different direction. My point is that for the vast majority of institutions out there, it's hard to evaluate how difficult they are compared to others BECAUSE you don't have the "reputation factor" of a Stanford, Ivy, Top 10 State U. See the Kentucky example. I think it's a valid point (and in no way diminishes the correctness of your point, by the way.)

Oh, and this is a public message board. I'm interested in the topic and have every right to post here. If you don't like my posts, you can ignore them.

Stuff like this:

insipid: Do you just like following me around and arguing with me?

doesn't add anything to the discussion and is especially silly when no one is arguing with you.

 

[mana20]

thanks for all the responses, For me going to a community college starting off is less of a choice and more of the only option for me I cant afford to go to a 4 year school off the bat and doubt that I would be accepted anyhow, I need to work my way, so what I got out of it is that I can do 2 years, of community college, than possibly transfer to a Pharm school, or another option would be do 2 years of community college, transfer to a 4 year do two more years there, so it would be a 2+2 than transfer to a Pharm school, now my question about this is would that lower the years of my pharm school? or would i be doing a total of 8 years of school if I transferred to a 4 year before I went to Pharm school?

 

[insipid1979]

Oh, and this is a public message board. I'm interested in the topic and have every right to post here. If you don't like my posts, you can ignore them.

Stuff like this:

insipid: Do you just like following me around and arguing with me?

doesn't add anything to the discussion and is especially silly when no one is arguing with you.

It just seems a little odd that whenever I post you are always there to quote me and argue about something which isn't really what I posted. It seems like you are just going out of your way to quote me and make some point you want to argue about.

I post with an example about a 4.0 gpa at Yale or Standford and you are there to post about some unrelated circumstance. What is the point? You can easily bring up that discussion without quoting me...making it seem like you are trying to refute what I said. Over and over...it is getting a little annoying.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

thanks for all the responses, For me going to a community college starting off is less of a choice and more of the only option for me I cant afford to go to a 4 year school off the bat and doubt that I would be accepted anyhow, I need to work my way, so what I got out of it is that I can do 2 years, of community college, than possibly transfer to a Pharm school, or another option would be do 2 years of community college, transfer to a 4 year do two more years there, so it would be a 2+2 than transfer to a Pharm school, now my question about this is would that lower the years of my pharm school? or would i be doing a total of 8 years of school if I transferred to a 4 year before I went to Pharm school?

You can do it any of those ways.

If you start at the community college you can get your pre-reqs out of the way and apply.

If you get into pharmacy school directly from the CC, great!

If you aren't admitted, you then have the option of transferring to a 4-year school to complete a BS/BA.

Then you can apply to pharmacy school with the degree.

You really can do it any way you want. Just get good grades and do your best on the PCAT.

Good luck!

 

[All4MyDaughter]

It just seems a little odd that whenever I post you are always there to quote me and argue about something which isn't really what I posted. It seems like you are just going out of your way to quote me and make some point you want to argue about.

I post with an example about a 4.0 gpa at Yale or Standford and you are there to post about some unrelated circumstance. What is the point? You can easily bring up that discussion without quoting me...making it seem like you are trying to refute what I said. Over and over...it is getting a little annoying.

Wow, I think you are feeling a little senstive. I agreed with a point you made and posted a slightly different example for discussion. Yes, I can see why you are concerned. I must be following you around because you are sooooo smart and soooo cool and I want to have your babies.

Or not.

Guess what? Anyone can post anywhere they want to discuss.
If you don't want to read my posts, DON'T.
I've been on this board for a while now, and I'm not going anywhere.

 

[insipid1979]

I must be following you around because you are sooooo smart and soooo cool and I want to have your babies.

Why thank you.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Why thank you.

You're welcome, stud.

 

[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

Yes...of course it matters. Noone said it didn't. But a 3.5 GPA at Yale looks a lot better than a 3.5 GPA from a community college in Montana though.

The only thing that proove is that you got one with money..!!! and one with less money...a "big buck GPA" versus a "less expensive GPA"

you think that most of these rich people go to Yale because they are smarter than the A+ guy at a community college or that going to Yale show the "financial status of your family" ..( except for the scholarships they give to really brillant mind, to help out the lower classes) Rich like to hangout with themselves..and guess where you find them Yale..what a coincidence...

Yales=Money..find another school to convince me of the comparison you are trying to establish..

I do agree with you that if some yerks in an admission committe are impress by one family financial status..oh yes Where you got your GPA or how much it cost you MATTERS a lot..

 

[Glycerin]

Please address the topic and not attack other users. There IS the option for everyone to put others on an ignore list, so that petty arguing doesn't occur.

 

[insipid1979]

Yales=Money..find another school to convince me of the comparison you are trying to establish..

University of Michigan then. University of Illinois (urbana-champaign...not chicago ) , University of Wisconsin-Madison, all of the University of California schools. University of Indiana...University of Iowa.

How many do you want me to list exactly?

 

[aboveliquidice]

To be perfectly honest - no one except the Adcom at whatever school you apply to knows anything thing about their own specific desires. Unless "Bob and Lolita" (dont know the names) are actually members of the adcom you are applying to - they dont know. They are talking out of their rear-ends.

University of Florida doesn't care where you got your GPA - They look at >80 PCAT and >3.4 GPA. Once you have that, then they go by personal statements and supplemental application. They dont have interviews. But then, thats just info someone told me... I dont know for sure if its 100% true
(well the interview part is)

My main point(s) are thus:

1 - They dont know - truly no one does (except Adcoms)
2 - whether you go to a community college or a 4yr university, you have to be an awesome canidate = ie have an awesome GPA
3 - assuming you have an awesome GPA - you need to do very well on the PCAT
4 - If you have a 4.0 GPA on all Pre-Reqs along with a 99 PCAT, your going to Pharm school - even if you went to "Bob & Lolita's timbuctoo community college"

Hope this helps - dont get caught up in the drama - If you want it, go get it

 

[Sosumi]

Just from personal experience at my school (interviewing candidates and my own college), they definitely value which school you graduated from. A 3.3 from a top 20 university looks better than a 4.0 from community college due to the difficulty of course load. Also at the top 20 schools, they're often graded on a curve with nothing like test retakes that I see being done at community college. In essence, you're competing against other top notch students, so your grades might not be as good as at another school. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Poland]

I am not running for a seat at a top U.S. pharmacy school, but I am a community college student and I am hearing alot of others tell me that they should have started here first. It's less expensive and it's more interactive for sure. At the end of the semester we don't always enjoy saying goodbye and running from our teachers. One example is a top Math teacher at my CC has agreed to review with me calculations and equations for the technician certification exam. I have no hands-on experience right now and I am happy to report that many CC teachers will give you confidence throughout these things. You may say this is a fault and that they are "holding your hand" through everything, but I believe we may retain more information when more classroom response is required out of us.

Also for the poster-- I plan on applying after completing the Pre-Pharmacy requirements for one of my state schools. If I am not accepted then I will continue on with the Chemistry requirements and pursue a B.S. degree in Chemistry until they let me in! I am a paying customer!!