Pharmacy school admissions? PLEASE HELP!

[Alessandra20]

Hello everyone
I am a junior at the moment and have been pursuing pharmacy and plan on applying for the fall 2021 cycle. In terms of my stats, I have 3.68 gpa right now and pcat within the 80th percentile. Though my transcript is not the best and I was wondering if I have lost my chance at any pharmacy school, I retook a couple of my classes (chem1 three times, bio three times, philosophy twice, and psych two times) I didn't necessarily fail the courses I just wanted to get a higher grade of which I did. I also have an XE on my transcript (means no honorary points) because I was unable to take the final exam which resulted in that letter grade. Besides those classes, I received an A in everything else and when I recalculated my gpa in terms of school averaging out my retakes, it was a 3.32 gpa. I have a pretty solid application in terms of having more than 50+ hours of shadowing at multiple independent pharmacies, I have 6 letters of recommendations (from a physician, a pharmacist, genetics professor, orgo1 professor, calculus professor, and a language professor), an active member of a pre-health organization at my university, a pretty high pcat score, and have started working on my personal statement as well. My question is, due to the number of classes I have taken right now, does that by any chance hinder my acceptance at any pharmacy school? I would really appreciate all the advice I can get from anyone and will even take criticism, there is no sob story of why I retook those classes I just didn't have the best study habits my freshman year and should have taken school a lot more seriously but you live and you learn. I really need some advice please help me out.

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[mentos]

Why do you want to become a pharmacist?

 

[Gombrich12]

They let everyone in who applies, I wouldn't worry about getting in if you apply to more than one school. The acceptance rate is 85% across all schools, that's basically open admissions. What you should be worrying about is that the government says there will be less pharmacist jobs 10 years from now than there is today. Wasting four years of your life in school and $200,000+ is a mistake you may not come back from.

 

[VA77]

What are your top 3 schools
What is your science GPA

 

[BidingMyTime]

Are you trolling? Pharmacy schools are literally accepting anyone. Literally anyone who can get a student loan. With your GPA and PCAT you will be at the top of your class. This isn't 15 years ago where pharmacy school was competitive. Most schools have empty seats in their classes and they will literally take anyone to fill them.

 

[owlegrad]

Let me move this to the right forum for you.

 

[Alessandra20]

What are your top 3 schools
What is your science GPA

my top 3 are
1-Umich Annarbor
2-wayne state
3-Ferris state
my science gpa is around a 3.5
At this point i just want to get into at least just ONE pharmacy school and don’t care where it is

 

[VA77]

my top 3 are
1-Umich Annarbor
2-wayne state
3-Ferris state
my science gpa is around a 3.5
At this point i just want to get into at least just ONE pharmacy school and don’t care where it is

Ok. I will indulge you

UofM does not require the PCAT anymore just like almost everybody else. They do require it if your scigpa <3 or older than 5 years. You are above that and also in 80 percentile so I would submit score. All interviews are Zoom talking heads so if you can speak a coherent sentence then you are good.

Also, you have roughly an 85% chance of getting in somewhere which begs the question why are you so concerned in getting something that is now so readily attainable.

Students come up to me all the time and say, "I just got into XYZ!", like they just discovered fire or invented the wheel. I don't write reference letters anymore because I can't keep a straight face.

 

[Alessandra20]

Ok. I will indulge you

UofM does not require the PCAT anymore just like almost everybody else. They do require it if your scigpa <3 or older than 5 years. You are above that and also in 80 percentile so I would submit score. All interviews are Zoom talking heads so if you can speak a coherent sentence then you are good.

Also, you have roughly an 85% chance of getting in somewhere which begs the question why are you so concerned in getting something that is now so readily attainable.

Students come up to me all the time and say, "I just got into XYZ!", like they just discovered fire or invented the wheel. I don't write reference letters anymore because I can't keep a straight face.

i was only concerned because i thought with me having have retaken a couple classes and with the XE on my transcript (an XE at my university means i was absent for a final and do not receive any honorary points, basically a symbol for a failing grade) that it would affect my acceptance anywhere (i tend to overthink a lot for my own good). I have a pretty clean record and have never committed any violations of academic integrity and my transcript shows a great improvement in my grades over the last couple of semesters. Which is why i asked the question on whether or not i would get accepted anywhere. I just needed some closure if you will.

 

[Alessandra20]

Why do you want to become a pharmacist?

it seemed like an easy enough profession and my family owns a couple of independent chain pharmacies inside clinics and all have been working out really well for the last 20+ years.

 

[mentos]

it seemed like an easy enough profession and my family owns a couple of independent chain pharmacies inside clinics and all have been working out really well for the last 20+ years.

Well if your family owns pharmacies and they're doing well then you shouldn't have a problem getting a job, assuming they have one set aside for you. Anyone can get into pharmacy school these days so you have nothing to worry about there.

Everyone else, they'll likely end up unemployed or underemployed in BFE.

 

[rxkrafted]

it seemed like an easy enough profession and my family owns a couple of independent chain pharmacies inside clinics and all have been working out really well for the last 20+ years.

Did you ask your family for their input on this? There is no way they'd encourage you to go to pharmacy school. It's one thing to become an owner of a pharmacy because you would be more of a business person rather than a pharmacist, but it is another thing to become a pharmacist with $200K in debt. You mentioned in another thread that pharmacy is the only health profession that caught your interest.... What about it makes it so interesting? Seems like you just think its easy and a walk in the park.

 

[PharmtoCS]

it seemed like an easy enough profession and my family owns a couple of independent chain pharmacies inside clinics and all have been working out really well for the last 20+ years.

Independent pharmacies are being streamrolled by the PBMs. Can you be sure that your family's pharmacies will still even be around, not shut down or acquired by one of the big chains?

 

[Alessandra20]

Did you ask your family for their input on this? There is no way they'd encourage you to go to pharmacy school. It's one thing to become an owner of a pharmacy because you would be more of a business person rather than a pharmacist, but it is another thing to become a pharmacist with $200K in debt. You mentioned in another thread that pharmacy is the only health profession that caught your interest.... What about it makes it so interesting? Seems like you just think its easy and a walk in the park.

i of course do not see this as a walk in the park. I’ll take any advice i can get regarding school. I did ask my family and i’m of securing a job since all of their locations are inside clinics with partnering physicians. If you think pharmacy is not the way to go what do you suggest?

 

[rxkrafted]

i of course do not see this as a walk in the park. I’ll take any advice i can get regarding school. I did ask my family and i’m of securing a job since all of their locations are inside clinics with partnering physicians. If you think pharmacy is not the way to go what do you suggest?

I can't make suggestions on what you should pursue, but i can suggest what you should NOT pursue because of all the well-known facts about the pharmacy career path right now. Literally any other healthcare profession has a better outlook right now then pharmacy. I can't think of any other profession that has a negative growth rate with a 6-figure debt on top of that.

 

[rroyhen]

They let everyone in who applies, I wouldn't worry about getting in if you apply to more than one school. The acceptance rate is 85% across all schools, that's basically open admissions. What you should be worrying about is that the government says there will be less pharmacist jobs 10 years from now than there is today. Wasting four years of your life in school and $200,000+ is a mistake you may not come back from.

Would it help if pharmacists who graduate pursued something like pharmacy benefits manager? is that a worthwhile and accessible career path?

 

[PharmtoCS]

Would it help if pharmacists who graduate pursued something like pharmacy benefits manager? is that a worthwhile and accessible career path?

No. The reality is that there are very few opportunities outside of retail which had shrunk over the years.