Online Pharm Prerequisites

[sabbath1981]

I am considering a career change after graduating with a degree in Finance. I'm considering Pharm School but I am concerned about completing the requisites. I see some colleges offer classes online. Such are Oregon State with their General and Organic Chemistry classes and labs. Taking classes online would be very convenient to me however I am concerned that they would be looked down when applying to Pharm School. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

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[Texas PharmDoc]

I would contact each pharmacy school you have interest in and ask them that exact question. Many times I have contacted my schools to ask the committee's about certain classes and how they would be perceived for admission.

We can speculate all we want, but each school will have the better answer.

 

[TechHusband]

My wife has been looking at prereqs for a few schools, and she said that at least one specifically states that labs must be completed in person.

 

[UNMorBUST]

We can speculate all we want, but each school will have the better answer.

That sums it all up.

 

[FresnoPharmD]

I would look into what the class gets posted as on the school's transcript. I have some friends who took a particular biology course online through a community college, without even an in-class lab section...but the school posts it just the same as it would if they took it normally. There's no "online" designation or anything so nobody would even inquire about it because the school has agreed to count it exactly the same as an in-class lecture/lab course. If this is the case for you, you won't have a problem at all unless you bring it up.

 

[JJVmom]

Creighton's website states this:

*The chemistry courses must be a two-semester, eight-hour or equivalent course sequence. A course sequence is considered to be a correlated pair of courses offering in-depth coverage of a specific field and must be at a level such that the courses would be acceptable as prerequisites to advance towards a baccalaureate degree in that discipline. For chemistry and biology courses, survey courses, courses without associated laboratories, courses designed for non-science majors, online science courses utilizing a laboratory kit, or abbreviated courses targeted toward health science majors are not acceptable as prerequisite science courses.

 

[calisoca]

To answer your question: yes, online courses are touted by a lot of pharm schools...because they are a joke. Every school I applied to had rules against online courses.

 

[bluesickle]

I didn't think these classes showed up on the transcript as "ON-LINE" classes. I know you have to specify which classes were taken on-line in PharmCAS but if you don't specify, I don't think these schools would know.

Anyway, I agree that on-line classes are a joke. It's just wrong to take an important class such as general chemistry or organic chemistry on-line. Take statistics or economics on-line if you have to but avoid the on-line science courses.

 

[xscpx]

I have personally spoke with both UF and LECOM on this matter. My school only offers A&P online, no in class sections at all. When I took gen chem, they also were only offered only, with an in class lab component. They said both were fine and there is no difference on the transcripts. Call the schools your are interested in to verify.

 

[Storm90]

I did a few of my pre-reqs through correspondence (orgo 1 & 2, biochem & economics). The material was difficult obviously, but it's certainly feasible to complete. I had to fly to the school to do the labs (2 semesters worth of organic labs crammed into 6 days). It was a recognized school through PharmCAS and all the schools I applied to recognized the program, so I had no problems. Try to find what your prospective schools say, and go from there.

 

[ajh88]

Creighton's website states this:

*The chemistry courses must be a two-semester, eight-hour or equivalent course sequence. A course sequence is considered to be a correlated pair of courses offering in-depth coverage of a specific field and must be at a level such that the courses would be acceptable as prerequisites to advance towards a baccalaureate degree in that discipline. For chemistry and biology courses, survey courses, courses without associated laboratories, courses designed for non-science majors, online science courses utilizing a laboratory kit, or abbreviated courses targeted toward health science majors are not acceptable as prerequisite science courses.

That is interesting because my online (through the local CC no less) A&P courses were enough to get me waived out of my P1 anatomy and physiology courses (after they reviewed the syllabus and samples of our assignments) at Creighton. Of course, they weren't pre-reqs and neither one required a lab, so maybe that is why.

Anyway, to the OP, I think the best advice was already given - contact your schools of interest and see what they say because I'm fairly certain each one will have their own requirements/restrictions.

And as an aside, in my experience, not all online classes are "jokes" - the ones I took as pre-reqs actually allowed me to spend course appropriate time - I didn't waste 3 hours a week sitting through economics or logic lectures when I could spend an hour(or less) on homework and be done with it. On the other hand, A&P took up HOURS of time a week to get the homework done, and I expected no less.