Not having any extracurricular experience, but working in a pharmacy

[gatorgirl1214]

So, I'm in classes full time (12-18 credits a semester - taking 16 this fall) and I work 35 hours a week as a retail pharmacy tech at a national chain.

I have a lot on my plate, and it's stressful enough keeping A's and B's in pre-reqs while working. My grades are good, which should help me. I've not had anything lower than a B in a pre-req.

How much will not having extracurriculars hurt me? I already have a degree, but again, I had no extracurriculars because I was doing the school full time/work full time thing.

Thanks

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[gh0lee]

So, I'm in classes full time (12-18 credits a semester - taking 16 this fall) and I work 35 hours a week as a retail pharmacy tech at a national chain.

I have a lot on my plate, and it's stressful enough keeping A's and B's in pre-reqs while working. My grades are good, which should help me. I've not had anything lower than a B in a pre-req.

How much will not having extracurriculars hurt me? I already have a degree, but again, I had no extracurriculars because I was doing the school full time/work full time thing.

Thanks

There is no "perfect" answer regarding to answering your question, but there is a lot of criteria that pharmacy schools look for when ranking the candidates:

GPA
PCAT
Volunteer/EC's
Personal Statement
LORs
Work Experience
Honors/Scholarships
Publications (It's a plus)
Etc.

But I believe many schools want you to do some volunteering to show your personality (do you want to help? empathetic?) ...in many cases they'll count 10% towards the candidate ranking or 15% ~ not sure how ADCOM thinks but it's really good to have.

Think about it, at least 600 ~ 1000 applicants will apply and when you compete with these people, your selection will be reduced because other candidates may have volunteering.

It's not just having 4.0 with 90+% PCAT, you also need to have a well rounded background which includes other factors as well.

Hope this helps

 

[Corpseman]

You're going up against other applicants with 4.0s, CPhT with many hours of experience, etc etc....you need to set yourself apart.

 

[JonPrePharmD]

If you hit the mark in the other spots, it shouldn't hurt too bad. I didn't have any, and I got interviews to top 5 schools. I was like you, worked a lot of hours during the week and was so focused on my crammed school schedule that I didn't make time for extracurricular activities. Certainly mention it in your personal statement and that you would love to help the community once in pharmacy school, that can help. I think most people fatten up their application with volunteer work here and there and it does help I'm sure (I'm no adcom), but it gets to a point where anyone can volunteer somewhere, what else sets you apart from the rest? If you do have time to volunteer I suggest doing something your passionate about and including that in your personal statement. Good luck!