questions from a high school student

[megiddo]

I'm a senior in HS with a GPA around 2.8 unweighted. I have several question because I want to be a Pharmacist when I grow older.

1. There are 2 + 4 programs and 0 + 6 programs but can I get into them even with my low gpa(i came from a really competitive HS)

2. How difficult are the Pharm school prereqs compared to engineering courses?

3. With the Health care bill passed how will the salaries of Pharmacist look 10 years from now? 20 years from now? Or does nobody know yet.

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[SHC1984]

With a 2.8 GPA you will not be able to attend any colleges, much less pharmacy school.

Engineering is much more diffcult than pharmacy.

Salaries will go down, but no one know exactly how much.

Good luck

 

[UNMorBUST]

I feel like being nice today.

I'm a senior in HS with a GPA around 2.8 unweighted. I have several question because I want to be a Pharmacist when I grow older.

1. There are 2 + 4 programs and 0 + 6 programs but can I get into them even with my low gpa(i came from a really competitive HS)

You are not competitive at all for 0+6 programs. We are talking about kids who have their act together throughout High School. Not to mention deadlines which may have already passed.

2. How difficult are the Pharm school prereqs compared to engineering courses?

Engineering is far more difficult then pre-pharmacy course work. We are talking about 3.0engineering gpa being a great gpa at some schools.

3. With the Health care bill passed how will the salaries of Pharmacist look 10 years from now? 20 years from now? Or does nobody know yet.

Nobody knows.

Edit: I forgot to address something SHC mentioned. I don't know the cut-off for colleges you are applying to. However, with a 2.8 gpa your concern should be getting into college and figuring out how to succeed.

 

[owlegrad]

With a 2.8 GPA you will not be able to attend any colleges, much less pharmacy school.

Engineering is much more diffcult than pharmacy.

Salaries will go down, but no one know exactly how much.

Good luck

Is that so?

 

[wandernkind]

1. There are 2 + 4 programs and 0 + 6 programs but can I get into them even with my low gpa(i came from a really competitive HS)

You won't get into a 0 + 6 and more and more it's becoming 4 + 4 not 2 + 4 so keep that in mind. I am not one to judge, considering I BARELY passed high school but ended up graduate college Cum Laude. You should probably look into community colleges and go from there. Be ready to get your bachelors too because it's going that way.

 

[megiddo]

yeah I tend to slack off in certain classes(not math or science) which led to my 2.8 but to say I can't go to college because of my GPA is just straight up trolling. :/

 

[All4MyDaughter]

With a 2.8 GPA you will not be able to attend any colleges, much less pharmacy school.

Flat out wrong.

 

[SHC1984]

Is that so?

Of course there are exceptions like if the OP made a perfect SAT score or if the OP's dad donated a lot of money and is an alumni somewhere etc. But I don't think the chances of those things happening are likely.

 

[megiddo]

Of course there are exceptions like if the OP made a perfect SAT score or if the OP's dad donated a lot of money and is an alumni somewhere etc. But I don't think the chances of those things happening are likely.

wow somebody is deluded.

 

[SHC1984]

wow somebody is deluded.

I am not the one with a 2.8 GPA thinking I have a great chance of getting into a 0+6 year program.

 

[megiddo]

I am not the one with a 2.8 GPA thinking I have a great chance of getting into a 0+6 year program.

Never said that. Learn how to read.

 

[SHC1984]

Never said that. Learn how to read.

You have a chance at a community college at best. Good luck.

 

[owlegrad]

Of course there are exceptions like if the OP made a perfect SAT score or if the OP's dad donated a lot of money and is an alumni somewhere etc. But I don't think the chances of those things happening are likely.

How competitive do you think college admission is? It is no where near that competitive. I doubt the OP is trying to get into an Ivy League college.

Yeah the OP isn't going to get into a 0+6 but if he goes the X+4 years route (I don't buy this 4 year undergrad "unwritten" requirement business, but that is a different issue), his HS GPA will be meaningless.

Speaking of which OP: 0+6 Isn't going to happen, sorry. If you are committed to pharmacy than find a college you would like to attend and kill the prereqs. In the meantime, why not get some experience in the field?

 

[owlegrad]

... community college ... best. Good luck.

I agree with SHC, a community college would be best.

 

[SHC1984]

How competitive do you think college admission is? It is no where near that competitive. I doubt the OP is trying to get into an Ivy League college.

I don't know man. I had a 3.96 GPA in high school and a 1380 SAT score and I didn't get into every undergraduate college I applied to...and I didn't applied to the best schools either...I applied to schools like UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, Emory etc.

With a 2.8GPA you really need a high SAT score or some sort of connection to stand out.

And yes, a community college would be a good choice, I agree 2+4 year is the way to go. (provided that you can get in after two years of pre-pharm classes)

 

[megiddo]

A 2.8 can get into low/mid level state colleges. Even though you may not have applied to THE ABSOLUTE most competitive schools, the ones you applied to are still beyond what most people could get accepted into.

 

[SHC1984]

A 2.8 can get into low/mid level state colleges. Even though you may not have applied to THE ABSOLUTE most competitive schools, the ones you applied to are still beyond what most people could get accepted into.

Nevermind about 4 year colleges...bachelor's degree is worthless anyways...I have a degree in chemistry and it isn't worth ****.

Your best bet if you are 100% sure about pharmacy is:
1) look up what pre-pharm classes are required for the pharmacy school you want to attend
2) go to a community college and take those classes which would take you about 2 years to do...make sure you do your ABSOLUTE BEST in all those classes. I mean a 4.0 GPA...make sure you do that.
3) apply to pharmacy school.

If you get in great! if not, then just transfer to a 4 year college, get your bachelor's degree and then apply again. Your situation isn't that bad b/c a bachelor's degree from a fancy college is worthless. Good luck.

 

[owlegrad]

Nevermind about 4 year colleges...bachelor's degree is worthless anyways...I have a degree in chemistry and it isn't worth ****.

Your best bet if you are 100% sure about pharmacy is:
1) look up what pre-pharm classes are required for the pharmacy school you want to attend
2) go to a community college and take those classes which would take you about 2 years to do...make sure you do your ABSOLUTE BEST in all those classes. I mean a 4.0 GPA...make sure you do that.
3) apply to pharmacy school.

If you get in great! if not, then just transfer to a 4 year college, get your bachelor's degree and then apply again. Your situation isn't that bad b/c a bachelor's degree from a fancy college is worthless. Good luck.

I love agreeing with SHC. This is a great plan. She took the words right out of my mouth.

You may not be thinking about this now but one nice thing about doing prereqs is they tend to be similar across all the health care fields, so you have some flexibility in what you can do. If you stick with pharmacy, great. If you find some other field that attracts you, great.

Just do well in your prereqs, maybe get some experience, and try to have a little fun along the way!

 

[meimei29]

2. How difficult are the Pharm school prereqs compared to engineering courses?

While I'm pretty much on the same page as everyone about the pharm school prereqs.. It's also important to mention that it doesn't mean pharmacy is easier than engineering in the long haul. They are very different fields, and require different styles of thinking in certain aspects.

The prereqs for pharmacy school may not be as challenging as engineering, but that's not to say that more advanced biology and chemistry courses aren't challenging in their own way compared to engineering courses. It's slightly more difficult for me to compare, since I came from a school during undergrad that was top 10 in engineering.. but I do think that the more advanced chemistry/biology/etc. classes can be difficult as well.

3. With the Health care bill passed how will the salaries of Pharmacist look 10 years from now? 20 years from now? Or does nobody know yet.

Unfortunately I don't have too much information with these questions, but it has become more apparent that pharmacy is now a much more challenging job market (depending on where you'd like to practice and in what field of pharmacy); you really will need to have a passion, drive, and initiative imho to be "secure."

My recommendation is to consider shadowing a pharmacist (and remember, there are many fields out there.. so even though you shadow a pharmacist in one setting, it doesn't mean that that is the only option out there) if you haven't already to see if this is a field that you'd like to enter. It's great to see you're exemplifying initiative now as a high school senior :] ..

I'd definitely recommend following SHC's recommendations, and perhaps keep engineering on your mind since it seems that you are still in the middle of deciding between careers? Or perhaps I misinterpreted the intent of your second question. I did notice that you said you wanted to be a pharmacist above, but I guess the questions made it seem like you're still kind of shopping, which is totally understandable since you've still got many years ahead of you~

 

[lymmys]

1. I think you can do it!
Although a HS GPA = 2.8 is relatively low for 0-6. I think you should go to CC, focus and ace all the classes then transfer to a university then complete bachelor degree there. Of course you will still have to take the PCAT, extra curriculum, etc. to improve your application. Nothing is impossible you just have to focus on your goal.

 

[delano2000]

Like the majority of members have been saying, a O+6 program is more or less out the pick for you because they are super competitive. You can see if you can get into a university or at the very least a community college and work on improving your GPA. Maybe after that you can even transfer into a university (if you feel like) and start applying once you are close to finishing your degree.

 

[SHC1984]

I love agreeing with SHC. This is a great plan. She took the words right out of my mouth.

You may not be thinking about this now but one nice thing about doing prereqs is they tend to be similar across all the health care fields, so you have some flexibility in what you can do. If you stick with pharmacy, great. If you find some other field that attracts you, great.

Just do well in your prereqs, maybe get some experience, and try to have a little fun along the way!

I love agreeing with you too. One more thing I would like to add is PLEASE GET SOME WORK EXPERIENCE before pharmacy school. The most important thing to gain admissions is PCAT score and GPA, but work experience is important b/c during your second year of pharmacy school TONS of drugs gets introduced to you. And if you are like me with no experience in the pharmacy, it will be very hard to memorize every single drug that you have never seen or used before. I am doing well, but unfortunately I am just straight memorizing the drugs and it isn't sticking very well in my head. I really wish I had a job and know those drugs b/c they are routine to me...but I don't...all those drugs I have never heard of before. So please get some work experience before going into pharmacy school. It is important for your P2 year!

 

[UNMorBUST]

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