To be quite honest, my record is blemished.
To sum it up, I've been arrested twice, each time the charges were reduced (dui & resisting arrest).
I need you guys to be honest. Will this blow my chances for admission or at least an interview. I feel like I can explain myself out of both situations.
Does anyone have experience with the method pharmcas uses for background checks and will those arrest will show up.
Thanks in advance. im ****ting bricks here because i submitted my app over a month ago and still havent heard of anything
Listen do not worry or listen to anyone that has not experienced what you have concerning things like this as they are only guessing. I have had one arrest in my life and it was a misdemeanor 1st offense DUI, but nothing else. The DUI will not hurt you with most schools (public or private) as long as you explain it well within your supplemental applications (whether it asks about arrests and convictions or not on the supplemental). The resisting arrest will hurt you more than one DUI will, but do not get another one while applying and waiting on interviews because that may crush your chances with most schools. Do not get one while you are in a pharmacy program either or you probably will be dismissed from the school. You better explain the resisting arrest very well. One DUI is normal these days.
So far, I have applied to six schools, 1 of which, called me in for an interview this past Friday and called me Monday morning and accepted me into their program. I have heard from 4 of the other schools (and they also do not care about the one DUI and are only waiting until I take after I take my PCAT to interview me). They have told me this in email and by phone because I was worried about it and asked them, and they said not to think twice about it. I could apply to schools all over the nation and there will be one here or there that may turn me down solely because of a DUI, but most schools will not put to much stock into it IF you are upfront about it. ( I attached a written document with all my supplemental applications explaining how my DUI turned my life into a positive). Also, I mentioned it within my personal essay on PharmCas about how it turned my life into a positive. I did not hide it, I used it to my advantage.
As long as almost everything else is good, you have nothing to worry about. The things that really matter to most pharmacy schools besides being upfront and honest with them are overall GPA, your interview day itself ( how are you dressed, do you have questions, can you answer questions under a little pressure, and how do you handle yourself with faculty, staff and other students, and etc., and mostly did you make them like you? Sell yourself at the interview and let your stats sell you as well), your organic chemistry grades ( but this is not as important as the overall GPA is itself), and how much pharmacy practical experience do you have as a paid or volunteering tech and shadowing pharmacists? Those are the key factors. Your PCAT score itself is not everything and matters less to some schools than others. Some schools are all about the PCAT score, while most realize this is how you did on one day, and that your overall GPA is what really matters.
I hope I didn't forget anything that will help you. Do not worry about the DUI itself. Find a way to use it to your advantage and turn it into a positive. Think about how it changed your life or changed you. Think about where you would be today if you did not receive the DUI. Think about where you want to be tomorrow and go for what you want. I have experience with the DUI and I have been accepted into a professional 3 year pharmacy school program, and like I said 4 other schools that I applied to have contacted me in a very positive manner and are only waiting on me to take the PCAT test. Most schools like to see at least a 50 on the PCAT, but people get in all the time at different schools making far less IF everything else stands out.
I am sure that schools (even if they do not mention it to you), also look at your other community involvement/volunteering other than pharmacy, and the honors clubs and other clubs and organizations your are involved with, and the leadership qualities you may possess if you are on any leadership boards.
I can tell you by experience, do not worry about the DUI itself. I am not sure about the resisting arrest. Find someone with experience that has had an resisting arrest that has gotten into a professional school somewhere and ask them about the experience. Explain away on both of these items, especially the latter. I wish this was all in one event instead of two, but do not worry, and instead put the time into explaining how these event(s) has changed you. That will make all the difference in the world.
Also, you have been waiting a month?? I finished PharmCas in the middle of August 2012 and applied with supplemental applications to six different schools in the third week of August, and I did not start hearing anything from any schools until around October (unless they need something else from you to complete your file, such as a PCAT or another reference, etc).
I did not hear get my first interview until November. The interview season for most schools do not even start until around November.
Thank you