Safety school?

[ewoowe]

Hi guys, I have a quick question. What is a good pharmacy school to consider as a backup school? I've looked through some past threads, but didn't find many strong opinions on the subject.

My situation: I'm in my mid twenties and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in CompSci. I have been working in the tech field for the past two years and recently decided to go for a PharmD. Because of some poor grades in the past I have serious doubts about being accepted to the U of M program (but I'll try anyway).

So, what four year programs out there have high admission rates?

Thanks.

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[LVPharm]

Although perhaps a year or so ago, you may have been able to single out "safety schools", I don't think that's at all possible now. I suspect just about every school has a waiting list, and applicants to "acceptees" are at least a 3:1 ratio. Perhaps some of the very new schools that have "pre-candidate accreditation" status like Wingate University in North Carolina, and South University in Georgia...but I really don't know.

You earned a BS in Computer Sci...did you take all your prereqs yet?

 

[rutpharm]

in general public schools are going to be more selective, so depending on which state you are in you may want to focus more on private schools

 

[ewoowe]

Since last winter I have taken Organic Chem I & II, a calc Physics course, and a Psychology class. I got an A in all of them and that has raised my GPA from 2.90 to close to a 3.0. By the time I finish my Fall term I should be above a 3.0, but I don't think that will be enough to get into the U of Minn PharmD.

I found an old thread on this

http://www.studentdoctor.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55294&highlight=pcat

In it people mention MCP in Boston and Nevada College of Pharmacy. Any thoughts on those schools?

 

[LVPharm]

I can only speak of the school which I attend, NVCP. While it may be true that a few years ago you may have gotten in easily, you can't say the same thing these days. For this coming year's class, we had ~800 applicants, we interviewed ~400, for ~100 seats. I don't have any idea what the average profile of an accepted student was.

I can't even tell you with any certainty that the other "candidate accreditation status" schools like Lake Erie and Palm Beach Atlantic are sure shots. They may have experienced a huge number of applicants this year as well.

While it's still true that state schools are harder to get into than private schools, that's relative. It's harder to get into pharm school, even private, as of this last application cycle.

You aced both semesters of OChem...it appears you're doing quite well in your prereqs so far. If you keep it up, you'll have a very good prerequisite GPA. Have you taken a biology series? How did you do with general chem?

Bear in mind that prereqs usually have to be taken within 5 years of applying to many pharm schools.