pharm in 6 years?

[xmalibu26]

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I am a high school senior am starting to fill out college apps. I am positive that i want to be a pharmacist. I was always told that it takes 6 years. However the pharmacist that i work with (i just started as a pharm tech at CVS) told me that it took her 8. If i dont get into any accelerated programs, is it still possible for me to finish in 6 years? If i do the pre-pharmacy program at UMD( or any other colleges that offers it for that matter)If so, would it look good to pharm schools if i finished my undergrad in 2 years?

Thank you so much!!

 

[Asrai]

There are many options when it comes to the path you take to be a pharmacist. You can do the 0+6 where you are automatically accepted into a schools program right out of high school (I'm not sure which schools if any do this anymore. I know Pitt still does, but other than that, im pretty clueless). You can do the 2+4 where you take only the pre-pharmacy courses for your desired schools, and apply between your freshmen and sophomore year of college. Or you can take the route your pharmacist most likely did and get your bachelors degree in whatever you wish (preferably science based if you want to be a pharmacist).

Im in the 2+4 route...its stressful not knowing if your going to get in, but its your only option besides getting a degree if you aren't automatically selected out of high school. Getting your bachelors helps you be competitive in the applicant pool...but then you have to ask yourself is it worth it to get the degree if I could have just gotten in on only the 2 years. In my experience, all of the people I know at the school I went to for pre-pharmacy went the 2+4 route. However, when I interviewed at Midwestern CCP, the majority of those that I talked to went the Bachelors degree route.

Then theres always the accelerated options of 2+3 (such as LECOM), but again you have to do the 2 years first, or the degree first...whichever. Its basically a personal choice, and how competitive you think your stats will be with others applying. Once you get through your freshmen year, you'll know what to do.

 

[sdn1977]

Asrai hit the nail on the head with his/her post.

Go check out the FAQ's & see which schools offer what paths. I know another 2 years sounds like a lot, but in the greater scheme of things, it really is not. Each school structure & style offers applicants advantages for some & disadvantages for others.

My recommendation for anyone who is really, really interested in pharmacy school to apply broadly. You may go to a state which is not your own, but that in itself is a broadening experience.

Good luck!

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I did it in 6 years (ok...6.5..long story) and I'm a complete idiot. A person who actually has their **** together enough to actually research this stuff prior to entering college surely could do it, too. I just kinda showed up and started taking classes at the local community college. After a semester of wasting my time, I had to turn it into overdrive and take a ton of hours in the summer to catch up. I'm glad I did, though. When I get that first paycheck this November it'll be worth it.

 

[xmalibu26]

Thank you all so much!

if i do the 2+4 (not through a program), do i have to take classes over the summer at a community college, or would they have me take the extra courses during the school year?

 

[pharmk011]

Thank you all so much!

if i do the 2+4 (not through a program), do i have to take classes over the summer at a community college, or would they have me take the extra courses during the school year?

You definitely don't have to do classes during the summer.. but I am doing 2+4 (will start pharmacy school in the fall) and chose to take some gen eds during the summer just to have an easier course load during the school year. If you do your prereqs at a school that has a pharmacy school, they will most likely have a suggested 2 year schedule (for your prereqs) that you should follow to keep on track.

 

[eelo]

Go to the website of one of the cxhools that has a 6-year program. I'm a little familiar with Hampton: www.hamptonu.edu.

If you go to the Prospective Students page (http://www.hamptonu.edu/academics/schools/pharmacy/prospects/admissions.htm) and then check out the Pre-professional and then the Professional links, you can see what the basic program is for their 6-year PharmD. Keep in mind that Hampton has a requirement for an African-American history course (they are an HBCU), but other schools might have a religion or other hstory/humanities requirement in the same place.

You can also get a good idea where the Gen Ed courses come in and if you're able to take them during the summer, it certainly would open up a lot of time for you during the regular school year.

Good luck!

 

[whitewasheddesi]

Hi, I am in my first professional year at USP. I entered the Pharmacy program with a bit skepticism, but now I love the program a lot and I think it is a great way to go. If you are certain that you want to be a pharmacist, definitely go to USP. It is the oldest school of pharmacy in the western hemisphere and many of its alumni were founders of big pharma, including people who started a big part of glaxo smith klien, eli lily and his grandfather, ortho mcneil's chairman-robert mcniel, john wyeth, who founded wyeth, etc, etc. USP also has some good connections, especially if you want to go in the clinical section, it has good relations with residency programs at Jefferson University and if you want to pursue a career in the industry, you can simultaneously pursue the MBA program. the MBA program has a pharmaceutical concentration and is only one of the two of its kind in the PA-NJ-DE tristate area.
for this upcoming year, they have made some changes, u need to get accepted right after high school and maintain a 2.7 overall and 2.5 science GPA by the end of second year, in addition to that, you must have taken Bio Iand II, ChemI and II, Organic I and II, Physics, Microbiology, Anatomy and Histology, Math I and II, Composition I and II, Intellectual Heritage, Sociology, Psychology, Advanced Social Science, Gym, etc, etc. As long as you do all this, you will be in the pharmacy school. Once you are in, you have to keep a 2.3 each semester. All this is not that hard. Fifth year used to be the most difficult, but will not be in future. Starting next year, USP will give Pharmacotherapeutics I and II in 4th year and Pharmacotherapeutics III and IV in fifth year. These courses are the core of the profession of pharmacy and are the hardes, each class being 10 credits. Go to the website and checkout more stuff.

 

[Hels2007]

I did it in 6 years. 2 years pre-pharmacy, and then 4-year pharmacy school. I was one of about 10 or so in my class who didn't have bachelor's. 🙂

 

[cdpiano27]

I wonder what scores and class rank the average admitted person at USP has?

I am saying this because one of my coworkers at an internship at a pharm company in suburban Philadelphia had their son apply and according to her, his SAT score was quite good, but he got a rejection e-mail with a week.

I bet that you need over 1400 (math and verbal combined) to even get in!!

I guess the SAT has changed, when I took it a long time ago it was out of 1600 and I think it is now out of 2400 with three sections instead of two.

I would think that it would be as competitive to get into a school like this as trying to apply to UPENN!!!

I am guessing the average high school rank is top 5% with half the class valedictorians and the average SAT score is 1450/1600 or something like that.

And also, I would think that they would drop a lot of people out of the program. Maybe 2.7 is a very hard GPA to get like it would be at a school like Georgia Tech where the AVERAGE GPA is 2.4!! So maybe 2.7 at USP is like 3.6 at Penn State.

 

[omnione]

With the increasing competitive level of pharmacy school admissions each year, it is tougher to maintain the ideal 2+4 route. Aside from having above-average GPAs and PCAT scores, I sense that it's more likely to see people with more than just the prereqs and two years getting into pharmacy school.

That doesn't mean that schools don't look at you, it just means that they have more great people to look at too.

 

[cdpiano27]

It seems like the 2+4 year option is doable in some parts of the US and not in other parts.

I know that in Florida, where I am from, UF definitely takes many students from community colleges provided they have high grades and high PCAT scores. They even say that "choice of institution does not affect the decision". They only require an AA from a community college in Florida at the minimum. And they have recruiting trips to the CC's.

I also know that in the not too distant past (around 2002), students from the local CC's were getting into Nova provided they had high grades in the prereqs and 80 or above PCAT with some pharmacy experience.

PBA might be a different story since there are so many people out of state.

But I bet in California, applying to pharmacy school, (UCSD and UCSF) is like applying to MD program without the MCAT.


And Philadelphia, New York City (not state), New Jersey is a bad place to be since most of the schools want people right out of high school (USP, Rutgers, LIU, St. John's, Albany).

But I think that if you are in Canada then you have it much tougher in terms of admissions, especially if you read the thread about UToronto and THEIR OWN VERSION of the PCAT, which it seems to me has no science sections on it. That is very strange way of admission indeed.

So it all depends which part of the country you live in.