Personal Statement and Other Application Questions

[WSUWarrior012]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi everyone. As you know, PharmCAS for the 2014-2015 application cycle opens on July 14th. For anyone who was already accepted into pharmacy school or knows someone that did, would you mind giving me some advice on how to go about starting my personal statement?

What should I include?
What should I exclude?
How much do you elaborate on details without making your personal statement too strenuous to read?
Etc.

Also, I am thinking about sending my application before I take my PCAT (on september 5th). Would this hurt my chances at all if I send in my application without the PCAT score being recieved later? Also, do LORs have to be sent in simultaneously with your application or can they be sent separately as well as your PCAT score? The reason for this is since PCAT scores generally take about 5 weeks to be sent to you, that means by the time I get my PCAT score it will be early-mid October, and my application for the school I am applying to (Wayne State) has a deadline of November 1st. I am worried that if I wait that long to send in my application, my chances will be lowered since Wayne State uses a rolling admittance system.

I know this is a lot of questions I've asked but I want to make sure I get my personal statement/application in good shape. If anyone wouldn't mind, would you be able to type a brief "mock" personal statement just to get an idea of how to go about starting it?

Thank You

 

[WSUWarrior012]

General details for now:

Community college GPA: 3.40
Wayne State GPA for undergrad: 3.76
PharmCAS GPA would be around about a 3.65ish
Science GPA: ~3.62
-Includes following classes (Years (1st,2nd,3rd) refer to my years at Wayne State):
Intro Bio: A- (1st year)
Basic Life mechanisms w/ lab: B+ (1st year)
Microbiology w/ lab: A (2nd year)
Human A&P w/lab: Currently taking (have an A- at the moment) (2nd year)
Intro Chem: B+ (1st year)
General Chemistry 1 w/ lab: A- (1st year)
Organic Chemistry 1 w/ lab: A- (2nd year)
Math GPA: 3.76 (Done with all math requirements)
-Includes:
Intermediate Algebra and trigonometry: A
Elementary functions (Pre-calculus): A-
Calculus 1: A-

I Have had an upward trend in my GPA for Wayne State. After my first year taking basic sciences and other gen eds, I had around a 3.66. After taking the upper level science classes along with gen eds, I inclined my GPA to a 3.76.

Extracurricular: Member of the AAPA (Arab American Pharmacist Association), volunteering in nursing department at my local hospital; Currently in the process of trying to find a pharmacist to shadow.

 

[WSUWarrior012]

bump

 

[bmclinn]

My best advice would be look at some of the threads and stickys in these forums about personal statements. It doesn't have to just be the pharmacy forums either since personal statements are pretty uniform across the board. I found some help on starting mine in the premed sub forum.

 

[WSUWarrior012]

I'm planning on applying to WSU as well..

To get this straight, you are saying that you completed three years total worth of pre reqs, instead of two?

Yes I completed my first year of college at a community college and completed a lot of my non-science requirements there. Then I spent two years at wayne cracking down on everything else. Wayne State requires you to take all math and science courses there in order to apply there.

 

[ramizlol]

Yes I completed my first year of college at a community college and completed a lot of my non-science requirements there. Then I spent two years at wayne cracking down on everything else. Wayne State requires you to take all math and science courses there in order to apply there.

I dobt believe you have to takw ALL science and math coures at wayne state in order to apply there. I have taken all my claases at community college

 

[ramizlol]

i am also taking all my classes at community college.

how long did it take you? 2 years?

I havent finished taking all classes yet but when i do it will be 2 years.

 

[ramizlol]

When are you taking your PCAT? After you finish your two years?

I will be taking it in 4 days 🙂 and I'll apply this fall. We do not need to finish all the required classes before we apply but we need to finish them before we start pharmacy school.

 

[ramizlol]

You have already taken orgo, calc, gen chem 1 + 2 and the bio requirements?? i feel like those should be finished prior to taking it seeing that there will be quite a bit of questions on them in the test. Not sure though.

I have taken calc in HS but not at college yet. Chemistry section is not that bad. Nothing really difficult enough that you cant teach yourself. Same thing goes with bio. I have done practice tests and i have been scoring in 80-99 range.

 

[WSUWarrior012]

I have taken calc in HS but not at college yet. Chemistry section is not that bad. Nothing really difficult enough that you cant teach yourself. Same thing goes with bio. I have done practice tests and i have been scoring in 80-99 range.

I haven't taken Orgo 2 yet. If you had to estimate, out of the 48 questions in the chem section how many would you say roughly were orgo 2 material? And also, how do you feel about the time constraint for it? I feel like 30 minutes to do 48 questions is not enough at all. I feel like they should have made verbal 30 minutes then chem 40 minutes

 

[ramizlol]

I haven't taken Orgo 2 yet. If you had to estimate, out of the 48 questions in the chem section how many would you say roughly were orgo 2 material? And also, how do you feel about the time constraint for it? I feel like 30 minutes to do 48 questions is not enough at all. I feel like they should have made verbal 30 minutes then chem 40 minutes

I am not sure how many are from Organic 2 but I do know that about 15 are organic chemistry question. Some are simple and some are little more difficult.
Also, I do not feel rushed during the Chemistry section. Some take 10 seconds to answer and some take about 1 minute. I would leave the time consuming problems to the end. On the other hand, math is a race. You have to go as fast you can go. Ohh, know your naming for organic and your reactions thats about 12 out of the 15 questions.

 

[WSUWarrior012]

I am not sure how many are from Organic 2 but I do know that about 15 are organic chemistry question. Some are simple and some are little more difficult.
Also, I do not feel rushed during the Chemistry section. Some take 10 seconds to answer and some take about 1 minute. I would leave the time consuming problems to the end. On the other hand, math is a race. You have to go as fast you can go. Ohh, know your naming for organic and your reactions thats about 12 out of the 15 questions.

Yeah math I am definitely worried about but I am gonna try to practice with the "PITA" method to make story problems easier to answer without having to go through the trouble of picking of variables and so and so. The only thing I am worried about for the chem portion is blanking on a formula. Do you think they would ask something like "which of the following represents Boyle's law" or something along those lines?

 

[ramizlol]

Yes

Yeah math I am definitely worried about but I am gonna try to practice with the "PITA" method to make story problems easier to answer without having to go through the trouble of picking of variables and so and so. The only thing I am worried about for the chem portion is blanking on a formula. Do you think they would ask something like "which of the following represents Boyle's law" or something along those lines?

They would but only for one question or so. Most questions are conceptual. Very few math problems. Also, what is PITA method? i do run into troubles with story problems.

 

[Jibby321]

Yeah math I am definitely worried about but I am gonna try to practice with the "PITA" method to make story problems easier to answer without having to go through the trouble of picking of variables and so and so. The only thing I am worried about for the chem portion is blanking on a formula. Do you think they would ask something like "which of the following represents Boyle's law" or something along those lines?

When I took it in 2012 I remember quite a few gas law questions.

 

[WSUWarrior012]

Yes

They would but only for one question or so. Most questions are conceptual. Very few math problems. Also, what is PITA method? i do run into troubles with story problems.

PITA stands for "Plugging In The Answer" which means you basically plug in one of the possible answer choices into the problem to reduce time on having to assign variables. Its in the princeton review book if you wan't to look more into it.

 

[ramizlol]

PITA stands for "Plugging In The Answer" which means you basically plug in one of the possible answer choices into the problem to reduce time on having to assign variables. Its in the princeton review book if you wan't to look more into it.

Ohhh okayy, I'll try that. I would pick up Dr. collins for review for pcat. Worth every penny.

 

[WSUWarrior012]

Ohhh okayy, I'll try that. I would pick up Dr. collins for review for pcat. Worth every penny.

Yeah definitely will be picking that up. I am not risking doing poorly on the PCAT by over-straining myself with details that I don't need to know.

 

[ramizlol]

Yeah definitely will be picking that up. I am not risking doing poorly on the PCAT by over-straining myself with details that I don't need to know.

If you would like I would give you my copy, has some writing on it, for 30 bucks + plus shipping or in person if you live around me.

 

[WSUWarrior012]

If you would like I would give you my copy, has some writing on it, for 30 bucks + plus shipping or in person if you live around me.

What general area do you live around? and is it 2014?

 

[ramizlol]

What general area do you live around? and is it 2014?

Warren/sterling heights/troy and I believe its 2013 I bought it off a girl on cragilist lol.

 

[linaxo]

Warren/sterling heights/troy and I believe its 2013 I bought it off a girl on cragilist lol.

Hey, if WSUWarrior doesn't buy it, I will be happy to lol

 

[ramizlol]

I unfortunately would end up taking calc 1 my second year of pre pharm..

Do you think I could still do okay/well if I teach myself, based on extensive studying (PCAT books) ?

If your precal skills are good than you should be fine being able to teach yourself. Youtube is a great.

 

[TigersWings]

Im applying to Wayne State as well. Anyone know when the interview dates are/start?

 

[WSUWarrior012]

Hey, if WSUWarrior doesn't buy it, I will be happy to lol

I think I wanna go with the 2014 edition just to be on the safe side since the PCAT is changing the format. So it's all yours lol

 

[Alex_PharmD]

Hi, just wanted to revive this thread and was wondering what my chances were at Wayne State?

GPA- 3.4 with science probably higher.
PCAT- 81% with Math, Bio, Chem all in the 90s.
Work Exp-At a restaurant for two years not really related but might help.
EC- I volunteered at a local pharmacy in the summer for about 120 hours.
LOR- From two professor and a really good one from Orgo professor.