Research vs. Volunteer/Pharmacy Experience

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cindyt515

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I work in the pharmacy at CVS and I also volunteer at a retirement home. My friend tells me that research is important for getting into pharmacy school. Is this true? Would it be terrible if I didn't do research or would it hurt me?
 
I work in the pharmacy at CVS and I also volunteer at a retirement home. My friend tells me that research is important for getting into pharmacy school. Is this true? Would it be terrible if I didn't do research or would it hurt me?


I think the goal of pharmacy school admission is to select the students who are the most likely to succeed and complete pharmacy study and subsequently pass the board exam (i.e. the NAPLEX).

The items below are ranked according to importance according to my experience (I've applied on Feb 3. 2014, got 6 interviews/9 school applied to (no rejection yet from other 3), accepted to a mid-tier pharmacy school for the class of 2018, on wait list of a low-tier school, and am waiting for reply from a top-tier school). The most important is being #1, then next #2, etc:

1. PCAT: this is a standardized test that tests the students the pre-pharmacy core knowledge, the ability to comprehend, analyze, define a problem, then utilize and integrate new data/info w your prior knowledge to solve the problem. Also the essays will measure your writing ability. Everyone has to take the same test. I think this is the most important factor. (In my case, my pre-req coursework was old (some schools have a cutoff line as how old your prereq can be), and only because of my high PCAT score (which was recent) that I got many interviews and later acceptance to pharmacy schools).

2. GPA: high GPA shows that a student is a good student at the school he went to. Thus the students are more likely to possess good study habits and succeed in pharmacy study. A student should try to aim for a GPA as high as possible (esp. the prereq and science prereq) to be competitive for pharmacy school admission, esp. for top-tier/ranked pharmacy schools.

3. Recommendation letters: from your college professors, pharmacists, and/or work supervisors: the admission committee wants to see if you have a good working ethics and can interact well with your co-workers.

4. Pharmacy/Volunteering experience: a pre-pharmacy student should know what he/she will get into. Thus any pharmacy experience such as shadowing, volunteering, working in the pharmacy would suffice this requirement. Long record of volunteering also tells about how much the students care about the community where they are living and are not being selfish. Some schools would want you to have some pharmacy experience; some do not care much. But almost of all of them would want you to have some sorts of volunteering experience.

5. Degree: In one of my pharmacy interviews, the dean there told us (the interviewees) that he did not care what degree you got. It could be a two-year or four-year degree or even graduate degree, it does matter. This would tell him that the students who possess a degree more likely to have the will, strength and persistence to go through with the study and finish the program. Degree requirement is more important with top-tier or even mid-tier schools because of the competition (as you will have to add more extra points to your application to be competitive). Most pharmacy schools only require a student to have a minimum approximately 60+ to 70+credits from an accredited college or university, including the prereq (i.e. core coursework that you must take), to be considered for admission. No degree and having only the pre-req will not stop you from applying and/or getting admitted to pharmacy schools in general.

6. Research experience: this is the least importance factor to consider a student for admission. This is only an extra bonus to your pharmacy application. This only shows the admission committee that the student could take on additional work in school. This only helps when you have already had a solid PCAT, high GPA, good recommendations, pharmacy experience, and a degree. I personally did not have any research experience but have all 5 above (i.e. PCAT, GPA, recommendations, pharmacy/volunteering experience, and a degree).

So, the answers to your questions (which I highlighted above in bold) are NO and NO. You should worry more about your academic work first for a good GPA then try to get a good PCAT score. Throwing some good recommendation letters and pharmacy/volunteering experience and you are already good to go. Adding some degree (e.g. a bachelor or master degree), you are very competitive for top-tier pharmacy school admission. If you also can put on your pharmacy application some research experience accompanied by good recommendations then you could get into all the pharmacy schools you choose to apply.
 
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