pcat sub 60

[humtum]

how good are my chances with pcat below 60 and GPA @2.5, The day of my pcat, I had family problem, we had just found out that my grandfather had past away back home. i don't know what to do anymore, I really wanted to get in pharmacy school by fall 2005, I GIVE UP.



I'LL APPRECIATE YOUR REPLY GUYS.
THANKX

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[Glycerin]

how good are my chances with pcat below 60 and GPA @2.5, The day of my pcat, I had family problem, we had just found out that my grandfather had past away back home. i don't know what to do anymore, I really wanted to get in pharmacy school by fall 2005, I GIVE UP.



I'LL APPRECIATE YOUR REPLY GUYS.
THANKX

Sorry to hear about your grandfather's passing. I hate to bring anymore bad news to you, but with a PCAT below 60 and a 2.5 GPA, your chances of getting in for Fall 2005 are slim to none.

Why the rush for this fall? Here's something I had to learn and accept since graduating from high school eons ago: Life doesn't always go the way we planned it to go. The path to get to where you want may take longer than expected, and if you truly want to be a pharmacist, then you will continue to press on no matter how long it takes. There are great rewards and admiration for perserverance.

So your GPA and PCAT aren't stellar. Improve them. Retake the PCAT, and do a search on here for the many ways to study. I personally used www.pcatprofessor.com and increased my PCAT score by 21 points the second time I took it. Retake classes of C or lower. Continue to work on a bachelors in order to increase your competitiveness. Good luck.

 

[humtum]

thank you very much for your sweet words, I have hurry b/c I want to help my parents financially. My dad has been working like 20hrs/day. I feel so bad and I want to help them.

But I will of course try again and again. thank you very much though

 

[Superman22]

thank you very much for your sweet words, I have hurry b/c I want to help my parents financially. My dad has been working like 20hrs/day. I feel so bad and I want to help them.

But I will of course try again and again. thank you very much though

Good luck and Best Wishes to you and family

 

[OSURxgirl]

I agree with the other posters. You are going to need a GPA above a 3.0 (the higher the better) and a large improvement on the PCAT. Don't ignore the other aspects, either...like the letters of recommendation, essay, volunteer and extracurricular experience, and pharmacy experience. If you've gotten a C or lower on any of your prereq courses, I would advise retaking them and making sure you get A's.

Also, try to correct the factors that caused you to get a 2.5 in the first place. Were you attending class? Working or partying too much? Not studying enough, or studying the wrong way? Try to pin point your academic weaknesses and address them.

These things will all take time, so try to be patient. I've found that in almost anything you do, the more you hurry, the more mistakes you make. Good luck to you.

 

[endlesslove]

how good are my chances with pcat below 60 and GPA @2.5, The day of my pcat, I had family problem, we had just found out that my grandfather had past away back home. i don't know what to do anymore, I really wanted to get in pharmacy school by fall 2005, I GIVE UP.



I'LL APPRECIATE YOUR REPLY GUYS.
THANKX

Sorry to hear about your grandfather's situation. Since I am not on the admissions committee and ANYTHING can happen in the admissions process, I'll refrain from commenting on your admissions status (not a good or bad thing). However, what I will say is that should you have to reapply (God forbid), one way to easily raise your GPA quickly by end of August (this is when you will want to turn in all your apps for early admissions) is to take a bunch (2-3) of easy courses at a JC (best if they are pre-reqs too so you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone). Look into those intersession courses that are usually offered for anywhere from 2 weeks - 4 weeks long. That way, you can deal with 1 (or at most 2) course for EACH summer session in Summer 2005 and wind up with a nicely padded GPA that is above 3.0. To calculate how many units you need to raise your current 2.5 GPA to a 3.0, Try the following: say u currently have 8 units and got all C+s, so 8*2.3 = 18.4points). So (18.4 + 4.0x)/(8+x) = 3.0 where X = # of units. So in this case, X = 5.6 or to get a 3.0+, you would need 6 units of solid A's.

i'm sure you will have fantastic letters of recommendation and extracurriculars that will help you stand out. So all you really need is a bare minimum of a 3.0 GPA to be considered competitive (and if possible, retake the PCATs for the schools that require them)

At any rate, hope you don't have to reapply (and do that funny math up there !

Best of luck!

 

[humtum]

thank you so much endlesslove, I don't know what I would do without you guys, you are like my family, a family tht just listents to bad stuff and gives good in return. I will do as u suggsted, I have good LOR, and I work in a hospital as a pharm tech. so I have that under control, its just my gpa and pcat. And the reason for2.5 is b/c i was working two full time jobs and attending school full time too. I wanted to help my parents as I mentioned before. My parents barely make $20,000, so i had to help them survive in this country. I hope my days are better, so I can help them. that is my only goal to give my dad back what he had given me by working like an animal.
thank you guys so much, and good luck in school

I'll keep on trying, you guys made me open my eyes.

 

[OSURxgirl]

I definitely understand and respect your desire to help your family, but I hope you realize that it is not realistic to expect to raise your GPA to where it needs to be if you try working 2 full time jobs and going to school. Even one full time job would make it tough. Ouch. Do your parents have citizenship? Can your family qualify for any kind of financial assistance? If there are programs out there that your family qualifies for, it could take some pressure off of you as well as help your family. Good luck to you. Every thing will fall into place, it just may take some time.

 

[WVURxGal]

I know the feeling about wanting to help parents. My dad hasn't had a job for over a year now, and that's after coming off a 2-year stint with no job and then 6 months of employment. He's a total computer genius and does stuff like networking, project management, anything IT, and can fix any problem with Windows. Only problem is, all those jobs went bye-bye, and even though he has 30 years experience in the field, he never went to college so it's impossible to get a job! If anyone here knows of a company that needs a computer guy, let me know Thankfully he's using the time he's not working to get a degree (I think it's something around 40 credits he needs), and if he's still unemployed he'll go for his associates degree. Even though my dad was never really able to buy me things or even keep the electric/water on constantly, he still did a pretty good job raising me and I wish I could help him out now! The best I can do is let him borrow money out of the college fund that my grandfather set up for me right before he died. At least I should be able to get more loans once I'm in pharm school (I start in the fall) 'cause I don't know how I'm going to cover $10000/semester without that money :/

What you have to understand is that right now, school HAS TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE. You need to boost your GPA and PCAT. If you're not a certified tech yet, take that exam. If your energies aren't focused on school, it's going to take you much longer to raise your GPA to the necesary level. If you have to keep taking the PCAT over and over, that's just going to add up cost-wise. You'd really be best off dropping down to 20 hours a week working and taking summer session classes to raise your grades, going through another year of school and doing as best you can. If you're close to getting a BS, you might want to go ahead and finish. If not, spend your energy re-taking classes you got Cs in and taking some high level courses and getting As. If you can get a 4.0 throughout the summer and fall (or something like a 3.8), that'll speak very loudly even though your overall GPA might not be where you'd like it. Make sure you're extremly prepared for your interview. Emphasize changes you've made. You're alreading working on experience, so good, keep that up.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, and I hope your family's situation improves!

 

[afablej]

they're right humtum, everything will fall into place if you just give it time. It is obvious you have a passion for pharmacy and that will matter in the long run. I'm sorry about your family problems, but I do agree that school has to be your LIFE right now. in the end, it will be all worth it..=) i know what you mean tho..we have a lot of pressure on us and i want to graduate asap too. my mom has been working night shifts 7-7am ever since i started college and she said she will continue until i graduate. so i feel ur pain dont worry ..we're all rootin for ya..

I know the feeling about wanting to help parents. My dad hasn't had a job for over a year now, and that's after coming off a 2-year stint with no job and then 6 months of unemployment. He's a total computer genius and does stuff like networking, project management, anything IT, and can fix any problem with Windows. Only problem is, all those jobs went bye-bye, and even though he has 30 years experience in the field, he never went to college so it's impossible to get a job! If anyone here knows of a company that needs a computer guy, let me know Thankfully he's using the time he's not working to get a degree (I think it's something around 40 credits he needs), and if he's still unemployed he'll go for his associates degree. Even though my dad was never really able to buy me things or even keep the electric/water on constantly, he still did a pretty good job raising me and I wish I could help him out now! The best I can do is let him borrow money out of the college fund that my grandfather set up for me right before he died. At least I should be able to get more loans once I'm in pharm school (I start in the fall) 'cause I don't know how I'm going to cover $10000/semester without that money :/

What you have to understand is that right now, school HAS TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE. You need to boost your GPA and PCAT. If you're not a certified tech yet, take that exam. If your energies aren't focused on school, it's going to take you much longer to raise your GPA to the necesary level. If you have to keep taking the PCAT over and over, that's just going to add up cost-wise. You'd really be best off dropping down to 20 hours a week working and taking summer session classes to raise your grades, going through another year of school and doing as best you can. If you're close to getting a BS, you might want to go ahead and finish. If not, spend your energy re-taking classes you got Cs in and taking some high level courses and getting As. If you can get a 4.0 throughout the summer and fall (or something like a 3.8), that'll speak very loudly even though your overall GPA might not be where you'd like it. Make sure you're extremly prepared for your interview. Emphasize changes you've made. You're alreading working on experience, so good, keep that up.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, and I hope your family's situation improves!

 

[pharmerted]

improving your pcat score should be the easiest. it really shouldn't be that bad. a concerted effort over 3-5 months part time should do the trick. and yes, try to raise your gpa by taking classes at a community college.