Right now i have lot of Bs, few As and few Cs. my gpa is 2.95 right now. i still have to take biochm 1 and 2. i am hoping to raise my gpa to at least 3.1-3.2. also i have about 1 year experience working in a pharmacy and i am certified pharmacy tech. But still i am nervous and kinda discouraged since most of the students i know, who got accepted into pharmacy school have gpa >3.5. so my plan B is to become physician assistant or do nursing (can't decide between these two). So my question is, should i get bachelors in health science or in biology? which would look good for pharmacy school? i want to get bachelors in health science as it is required for physician assistant program. PLEASE HELP ME!!!🙁
A few bits of advice for you and for all the other youngsters who may come across this:
1) While your GPA is a bit suspect, if you can string together a good semester or two, chances are that you can get your GPA up to 3.2. Acing those biochem courses would go a long way in adding some credibility to your academic profile. Also remember, that you can retake a few courses at a community college and that will reflect positively on your profile as well. The goal here is to show an upwards trend.
2) Do well on your PCAT, with a particular focus on your math and science sections. This too will add some credence to your application. Shoot for a score above 75 composite.
3) Continue working as a pharmacy technician. The more technician experience you have, the better. I applied with around 6 years of experience and it made a huge difference. Try to involve yourself patient care/clinical activities at your work place (if you work at a hospital, that is). Looks good on your app.
4) Get your BS in biology, imo. It offers greater flexibility.
5) And finally, pharmacy, nursing and PA are entirely different careers. Each will require a certain level of first hand experience (working in a pharm, shadowing a PA, patient care technician responsibilities for nursing and PA, etc). This means each has its own criteria for applicability and you'll have to focus on one at a time. For example, many reputable PA programs (like the one here at UNT HSC) require upwards of 500 patient contact hours to be competitive for admission. Well, if you're working in a pharmacy, you're not going to meet this requirement because you don't interact meaningfully with patients. Conversely, working as a patient care tech will mean little to the admissions committee of most pharmacy programs because it doesn't involve pharmacy in any way.
Bottom line, choose a career and focus on that. Get your GPA up and do well on your PCAT.
Goodluck.
