Pharm school GPA composition

[azrk]

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Hello everyone 🙂

I would like to thank all of you in advance for taking the time to read and hopefully address a couple of my concerns.

I am only about a semester away from completing the courses I need for Pharm school. Ironically I just happened to accumulate most of the requirements I need just from taking random classes all these past couple of years. I have quite a few credits from switching majors and my GPA is sitting at about a 3.2 at the moment.

This is probably because of my lack of interest in the majority of my classes. I learn extremely fast during my short bursts of motivation that come and go and of course if a particular subject catches my interest.

Enough about myself though and onto my question:

Will Pharm schools take all of my courses into account or will they only look at the GPA from the prereq classes that are required for admission?

Im mainly asking because I plan on Cleping out of Bio II Chem I and Chem II but this would only give me credit and wouldnt give me the chance to improve my overall GPA.

If only prereq classes are taken in consideration I beleive I can raise my GPA to a satisfactory level with the classes I have left 3-4 depending on whether my Microbiology class is substitutable.

I understand I need OChem but I can complete the second semester over the summer.

What are your thoughts suggestions?

Should I sped an extra semester trying to boost my GPA abit if they look at overall GPA or should I place my bets on being able to score an extremely high PCAT score in January?

Thanks in advance and am looking foward to your kind and informative responses ^^.

 

[purplepower]

I think they mainly look at your prerequisite GPA. If I were you I would start studying for the PCAT now (Kaplan) and take the test in January. If you can make high scores in the science portion that will help a great deal, but it needs to be fresh in your mind, so study. Actually I know that University of Georgia accepts these January scores (most schools cut it off in October) so if you could be finished with your coursework by the end of summer you may want to consider applying there. However, most schools don't like admitting you if you haven't finished your sciences by spring. If you can't get the PCAT scores up, you'll probably need to pull your science/math GPA scores up.

 

[payme2]

What are the prereq classes that they use to calculate gpa?

Gen chem, ochem, bio, math, and physics? Does upper level science courses add onto their science gpa? I read a post about people who submitted their application and it took pharmCAS couple days to calculate their gpas. What classes are used in that calculation?

 

[fenixtnlfan]

Schools consider GPAs differently, so it's really best to find out what the schools you are applying to do. You should make sure they accept Clep credit for those courses because some schools really want you to take those core sciences courses at the college level. You could also try to find out if the schools put emphasis on GPA or PCAT to help make your decision. I suspect you would have a hard time raising your GPA much if you have almost all your pre-reqs done, so maybe focus more on the PCAT.

 

[fenixtnlfan]

What are the prereq classes that they use to calculate gpa?

Gen chem, ochem, bio, math, and physics? Does upper level science courses add onto their science gpa? I read a post about people who submitted their application and it took pharmCAS couple days to calculate their gpas. What classes are used in that calculation?

If a school is calculating the GPA individually, they would consider all the courses they require for admission. They might also break that GPA down into science, math, or humanities.

PharmCAS breaks your GPA done into a couple of different categories. They have that info listed on their website. The science GPA includes all science courses you have taken.

 

[wolfpackhal]

First off, a 3.2 GPA is not bad to apply for pharmacy. That is about where mine is. However, more importantly you may want to check the school(s) you are interested in to see if they accept CLEP credits...I bet most do not when it comes to the science prereqs (but, they may accept them for the for the non-science prereqs).

 

[pvaiyapu]

to answer your question azrk really depends on the pharmacy school.......

here is a list i have composed which will help you answer your question and to pick good pharmacy schools to apply to
http://www.4shared.com/file/6594740...s_2009_Checklist.html?dirPwdVerified=c15fce3c

Good Luck on your future pursuits
-PV

 

[azrk]

to answer your question azrk really depends on the pharmacy school.......

here is a list i have composed which will help you answer your question and to pick good pharmacy schools to apply to
http://www.4shared.com/file/6594740...s_2009_Checklist.html?dirPwdVerified=c15fce3c

Good Luck on your future pursuits
-PV

Thanks everyone for the replies ^^ and thank you PV that list is very very helpful. I have been combing through it and will be calling a few of them tomorrow to hopefully get some more questions answered.

Thanks again!