PharmCAS Questions

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I know there are many posts about this topic but I am still very confused...so I repeated one of the courses, in the first time I took D second time I got A..the course is for 5 hours...how Pharmcas calculate it into GPA,,,they say on website that they will calculate BOTH grades,,.does this mean they do it as two difference courses...??:scared:
 
probably. they would consider each attempt and say you got a D in a 5-hour course and an A in another 5-hour course.
 
I just submitted my pharmcas application on Monday so of course I have only checked the status ohhhh once an hour since then. I was just wondering if anyone else has recently submitted and can tell me about how long it took them to have their GPA calculated and and application mailed to schools. Or if anyone else is in the same boat as me post here and we can take turns checking when it has updated and let everyone else know 👍

Heres hoping it won't take the full 5 weeks they warn about on pharmcas :xf:
 
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Hi there, actually it took 24 hours to calculate my GPA once I E-submitted. Then it took 3 weeks to send to all the schools.
 
manutdmax said:
I know there are many posts about this topic but I am still very confused...so I repeated one of the courses, in the first time I took D second time I got A..the course is for 5 hours...how Pharmcas calculate it into GPA,,,they say on website that they will calculate BOTH grades,,.does this mean they do it as two difference courses...??:scared:
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My understanding was that both grades are counted separately. You could also call them to find out or email them.
 
so if i havent sent in like 2 transcripts yet and did that tomorrow. I then esubmit tomorrow. Then i can take.... 2 weeks for delievery and 5 weeks for calculating GPA. SO total of 7 weeks from now. That means ill technically be applying by 2nd week of OCT?

Any1 not done with apps? i feel SOOO behind.
 
SYPHARMACY said:
so if i havent sent in like 2 transcripts yet and did that tomorrow. I then esubmit tomorrow. Then i can take.... 2 weeks for delievery and 5 weeks for calculating GPA. SO total of 7 weeks from now. That means ill technically be applying by 2nd week of OCT?

Any1 not done with apps? i feel SOOO behind.
Click to expand...


I haven't even started yet.
 
I need advice on how to drop out of early admission I applied thru Pharmcas. I applied to this school and they already received my appilcation with the supplimental + check. but I would like to drop out of it because I don't think the school is not a good fit with my situation now.

and I didn't know my pharmcas applicaion will be on a "pending" mode till Oct 23rdish and I don't want to wait around being unable to apply more-

Should I call Pharmcas? or the school?
I don't mind wasting a $100 check I sent to the school.

😡
 
Every semester of college, (except my last semester) my school has done only + grades (A, B+, B, C+, C, D+, D ....) where a B+ was considered a 3.5 a B a 3.0 etc.

When I put my grades into pharmcas, it counts a B+ as a 3.33 instead of a 3.5..

Is there a way to correct this??

Wouldn't this give applicants who attend schools with +/- grades a big advantage over applicants who attend schools that only do + grades??

say for instance I made a 89% in a class--at school one, that would be an A-(3.6) and at another school that would only be a B+ (3.33)...
 
It took about 24 hours for my GPA calcs and about 10 days to mail out my applications (I think they were waiting on my PCAT scores and transcripts). I've been checking my appl. a few times a day since then as I'm tracking the response from my references (2 completed, 2 in-progress). As I need at least three refs for most of the schools I applied to, I'm hoping one of my "in progress" refs will come through soon. I just found out one of them hasn't returned from school due to cataract surgery! Don't they know I have a schedule to keep?😀
 
From the pharmcas website:

The Early Decision program is a binding option for applicants who have decided that a particular pharmacy degree program is their first choice and that they will enroll if accepted. As an Early Decision applicant, you can apply to only one pharmacy degree program. Contact your selected pharmacy program directly for information on Early Decision eligibility requirements.

From what I gather from that, you are obligated to wait until the pharmacy school has made a decision about your application. This is a contractual relationship with the school that you've applied to. I'm not sure if you are able to withdraw your application from them and then go on to apply to other schools. I will say that you can kiss your chances goodbye with whatever school you initially applied to if you do that.

This may be a good learning experience for you. Always read the fine print when you enter a contract with someone or some entity.

Addendum: You need to contact the school directly since this is a contract between you and the school. Good luck!
 
Unfair... is life.

Seriously, there's nothing you can do about it. Your time is better spent not complaining about this arbitrary procedure, but working on your personal statement or something.

At least you guys get +. We have no + or - so I get stuck with 3.0, even for high Bs. I am usually always on the borderline, so I could have benefitted a lot from a + system .... but we don't use it. Alas. C'est la vie.
 
Yeah, I say contact the school and explain your situation. I'm sure most schools would be willing to talk about it and trying to work things out. It's not like they accepted you and THEN you want to back out - you still have some time, albeit not a lot! Go call up someone and talk. If they say no, try to ask if you can talk to a higher-up person, e.g. dean or someone.
 
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busyizzy said:
Unfair... is life.

Seriously, there's nothing you can do about it. Your time is better spent not complaining about this arbitrary procedure, but working on your personal statement or something.

At least you guys get +. We have no + or - so I get stuck with 3.0, even for high Bs. I am usually always on the borderline, so I could have benefitted a lot from a + system .... but we don't use it. Alas. C'est la vie.
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Agreed. Such a waste of time to worry or complain about these things. What about the people who get the really hard professor for Biology I and therefor get a B (and are thankful for it) and the person who gets an easy professor and gets a B (and barely learned anything)? Or, like mentioned above, the person who gets an 89% in a class and gets a B (no + or -)...and then there's the professor that counts anything above an 85 average as an A.

There's always someone who has it better, but also someone who had it more difficult, too.

Do your best and let that be enough. 🙂
 
and P.S.

We are being nice to you. There are many students on this forum that will give you a hard time for complaining about this...mainly because these students have a lot more that they could complain about, but don't...so they have no pity.

in summary, take the kind advice, but ignore the mean replies that I'm sure are on the way.
 
First of all, calm down and call the admissions offices of schools you are applying to, to ask how they look at/calculate GPA. Because when I talked to the adviser at the school I'm applying to, she said the committee will re-calculate our GPA and won't even look at the PharmCAS GPA. Yeah, I don't know if that's true but I'm sure it's partly true for at least grades from required pre-pharm courses.
 
Thanks for the input and replies. I think I am going to call my potential schools and ask about this.

I'm just concerned and wondering of there's a way to input grades differently.
 
That's how grades have always been calculated. +'s are given 0.3 more points and -'s 0.3 less points. All the schools that I applied to (and went to) had that same point system as well, so I'm not sure why your school is so different.
 
dbmgator,

No, there is not another way to input your grades into pharmcas as they compare what you input to your transcripts. I'm not a fan of their method either as it caused my pre req science GPA to fall under the minimum for two schools I was applying to.

There are some schools with supplemental applications that also have you list your pre reqs and they say they go by that rather than pharmcas. Every school varies so it pays to know exactly how each school you are considering applying to operates and how it affects your chances.

Don't despair, just learn the system and find a way to work with it. As for me, I dropped the two schools I didn't qualify for and found two to replace them (that I actually have a better shot at anyway - yea for me😀)
 
Will PharmCAS mail the reference to the schools next week? PharmCAS say they have weekly mail to schools, but how do I know they mailed or not?
PharmCAS mailed my application to the school on 08/24, the pharmacist e-submitted on 08/27. Today 09/01, the school contacted me saying that they need the pharmacist' reference letter.
 
Give it another week and you should get another email from the school confirming that your application is complete (assuming it will be complete after PharmCAS sends the letter). The same thing happened with my PCAT scores but I got another email within the week saying everything was in. Good luck!
 
48 hours down and no GPA calculated yet 🙁 So still probably a long way away from having it actually sent out to schools.
 
will7678 said:
48 hours down and no GPA calculated yet 🙁 So still probably a long way away from having it actually sent out to schools.
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What irritated me was, is that once your GPA is calculated Pharmcas will send you an email saying your application is complete and that it will be mailed out in the next mailing. Ok. Well I was too anxious to wait for the next mailing, so I contacted them and asked them when is the next mailing. Well they give me a generic answer, on the lines of, it happens once a week we just don't know the exact day. Well I checked it everyday for 13 days (after my GPA was calculated)... and FINALLY it was mailed out. It is a long process.... grrrr. I know. If you can finish all of your supplements and start mailing those out, so at least by the time the schools get your Pharmcas your application should be totally complete.
 
I've never heard of a B+ being 3.50 grade points. Stickyrice said it best... a B is 3.0, a B+ is 3.3... I mean, what's an A- if a B+ is 3.5? 3.85? 3.9? I'm so confused by that system, LOL.

You just gotta deal with it, though.
 
Grades are calculated uniformly to correct and account for the differences in grading between different institutions.
 
will7678 said:
48 hours down and no GPA calculated yet 🙁 So still probably a long way away from having it actually sent out to schools.
Click to expand...

I had to wait for one more transcript from one of the community colleges I went to back in...oh 2000. They received it on Monday, so I am sitting tight waiting, too. Clenching my teeth is more like it...:bang:
 
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Hi I'm trying to finish up my pharmcas asap but I was just wondering, can I submit even if my LOR's aren't all submitted yet? I want to turn it in asap so that my pharmcas gpa can be calculated and all that but I didnt know if the whole application has to be done including recommendations or if it is updated as they arrive even if you have submitted. If someone can please help I'd appreciate it!
 
SYPHARMACY said:
me...

just wanted a count. seems like EVERYONE is done.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, I'm not done! I have my personal statement to finish up. But I am also trying to study for PCAT and do my supplementals all at once .... I'm thinking it might be a better idea to just finish PharmCAS THEN study some now...
 
I'm taking the October PCAT should I esubmit my pharmcas application now or wai until I get me scores
 
cheburashka said:
Grades are calculated uniformly to correct and account for the differences in grading between different institutions.
Click to expand...

Well said.

From the Pharmcas FAQ, "PharmCAS calculates a standardized GPA to help participating colleges and schools evaluate applicants using uniform and consistent criteria, regardless of different institutional transcript policies. PharmCAS GPAs are likely to be different from those calculated by the colleges and universities you attended due to the PharmCAS grade standardization process. (Institutions may choose to use the PharmCAS GPAs or calculate new GPAs for their own institutional use.)

You should be glad. The school I just started counts 93-100 as an A. There are no +'s or -'s. A 92 is a B, equivalent to a 3.0. Ack!
 
Yes you can submit if your ELORs aren't turn in yet, BUT you can't change your ELORS information afterwards. I know I had issues with my recommenders not turning them in or not even getting them, so I had the option to resend it over again, and also switch to another recommender when my last one never responded. Just to be safe I'd wait till they're all completed, because once you E-submit you can't resend the ELORs nor can you change out your recommender. Unless you know for sure these recommenders are writing you one and you have good contact with them.
 
Yes as long as you have the october pcat listed on your pharmcas application you can submit it.
 
I'm pretty new to PharmCAS.
How late is too late for you to submit your PharmCAS application for a school with a Dec.1st deadline. I am trying to fill out everything asap but it really takes a long time. Does it really take typically 5 weeks to process everything in your application?
 
I'm still trying to fill it out too... I'm really new to PharmCAS. When can I have this thing done by at the latest if the deadline for the school accepting PharmCAS is Dec. 1st? It seems as if I am always bogged down in school work and I don't have any time to fill this damn thing out! 😡
 
Don't feel bad. I haven't because I am waiting for my summer micro class grade to be posted, submit the transcript so it can arrive at PharmCAS, and then I will submit....I hope to submit at least by the end of next week (very optimistic here...)
 
i haven't finished yet! my goal is end of september. i need to write my personal statement. i also just asked all my references (2 prof, 1 pharmacist, 1 instructor/person I TA'd a class for) and they all said they would be happy to write one. sooo will be waiting for that. also just got my summer grades so need to get that to pharmcas.

oh yeah, need to finalize the 9 schools i'm applying to! have it down to 11; 9 is my lucky number so here we go.
 
I still have not started yet. I am too busy with school work and studying for the PCAT and PTCE. I am looking to start early October. I will have my transcripts sent about the first day of October so they might get it before I start. Not sure yet. :scared:
 
roziak said:
I'm pretty new to PharmCAS.
How late is too late for you to submit your PharmCAS application for a school with a Dec.1st deadline. I am trying to fill out everything asap but it really takes a long time. Does it really take typically 5 weeks to process everything in your application?
Click to expand...


I am also curious about this because I will not start on mine until October.
 
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I submitted my pharmcas on 8-27 and the GPA was calculated on 9-3. Anyone know if pharmcas will send your information to the schools before all your letter of recs are in? Or will they just send in what you have then forward your last letter once it comes in
 
will7678 said:
Grrrr over 96 hours and still no calculated GPA. Yes yes I know I need to be patient....
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You submitted in September! When I applied and submitted around this time, it took about 6 weeks for my GPA to be calculated. Unless PharmCAS has changed, you should only expect a quick GPA calculation time if you submit early.
 
Passion4Sci said:
I've never heard of a B+ being 3.50 grade points. Stickyrice said it best... a B is 3.0, a B+ is 3.3... I mean, what's an A- if a B+ is 3.5? 3.85? 3.9? I'm so confused by that system, LOL.

You just gotta deal with it, though.
Click to expand...



Yeah, I did my undergrad at University of Florida and the scale was
A = 4.0
B+ = 3.5
B = 3.0
C+ = 2.5
C = 2.0

They just NOW switched to the +/- system. I am hoping they calculate their own GPA because I am right at the boarder line for the cut off..that's why I am stressing so much about it. It just sucks that most of my B+'s and the C+'s I got were high + grades and would of probably been respectively A- and B- on the +/- system which would actually have helped me... I am awaiting reply to an email I sent and I will post what I found out in case anyone on here is interested. Thanks everyone!
 
rxlea said:
No offense, but you gotta get started!!! I don't know how many years of schooling you have, but it took me a whole day just to enter in every class I ever took (I started college in 2000).
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Well I started in Spring '07. So far I have 61 hrs. I need to find the funds to get all that done plus I am studying for the PCAT and PTCE at the same time along with managing school work. I know I am behind but I was thinking of starting and completing PharmCAS on October 1. I really hope that is not too late.
 
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