Selection to interview

[mun1012]

How do pharmacy schools select students for interview? Do they select based on the gpa, say the top 300 students with highest gpa will have interview with them? Do they rank the students based on the pcat too?

Also, I saw on Pearson website that there are three more PCAT test dates for this year, in June, August and October. Would it be ok if I take it in August? I went to this one advising and all they mentioned about were June and October, August was left out so I don't know if it's ok to take it in August ?

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[PharmGrrlJax]

How do pharmacy schools select students for interview? Do they select based on the gpa, say the top 300 students with highest gpa will have interview with them? Do they rank the students based on the pcat too?

Also, I saw on Pearson website that there are three more PCAT test dates for this year, in June, August and October. Would it be ok if I take it in August? I went to this one advising and all they mentioned about were June and October, August was left out so I don't know if it's ok to take it in August ?

I don't see why you couldn't take all three, it depends on the school requirements. Some schools take only take your highest scores, some take the most recent score. So I would say take it when you are most comfortable.

 

[IrishRxMan]

Pharmacy schools usually select applicants for interviews based off of all the information submitted to them prior to the interview. It can be different for each school, but usually it's based on GPA, PCAT score (if the school uses that), personal statement, LOR's and any volunteering experience you may have. As for the August PCAT, the school you were speaking to may not have known they were giving one in August. Pearson Education is changing the times they give the PCAT all the time. I remember they opened up a January test date the year I had to put my application in. I'd say take the first one and see how you do and go from there.

 

[mun1012]

If a person who took all the prereq at community college and got a 3.8 vs someone who took all the prereq, and getting a bacherlor at university with a 3.4 gpa, do they take in considerations about these situations too? Since they are looking at the gpa first, would that affect the second person with a 3.4 gpa?

 

[IrishRxMan]

I took most of my pre-reqs at a CC and some at my university. I did not have a bachelor's and my GPA wasn't stellar, a 3.3. My PCAT was 89. I got an interview and accepted the first year. I don't know where you live, but most schools don't look down upon credits taken at a CC versus a 4 year university anymore. If you take some at a CC then transfer to a university and still do the same or better, then you have proven yourself. Don't sweat so much where you take the courses, just do well in them and gain the knowledge so you can do well in the courses that come later.

 

[Project2015]

I took most of my pre-reqs at a CC and some at my university. I did not have a bachelor's and my GPA wasn't stellar, a 3.3. My PCAT was 89. I got an interview and accepted the first year. I don't know where you live, but most schools don't look down upon credits taken at a CC versus a 4 year university anymore. If you take some at a CC then transfer to a university and still do the same or better, then you have proven yourself. Don't sweat so much where you take the courses, just do well in them and gain the knowledge so you can do well in the courses that come later.

If a person who took all the prereq at community college and got a 3.8 vs someone who took all the prereq, and getting a bacherlor at university with a 3.4 gpa, do they take in considerations about these situations too? Since they are looking at the gpa first, would that affect the second person with a 3.4 gpa?

I suppose they don't "look down", but it's not as competitive. It's a hard question to answer. The trend is that a bachelor will be required (explicitly or implicitly) and if two people have the same GPA with all else equal except for CC vs Uni, then they will almost always take the Uni grad. It's not to say that it's not possible for the CC student to get accepted, but it'll just take a lot more amazing attributes (PCAT, experiences, LORs, etc.).

 

[gator09]

Depends on each school...don't waste hours of your time trying to figure each school out. Just do you best in your courses and PCAT, try to get in come volunteering and apply.

 

[Chinese Bandit]

How do pharmacy schools select students for interview? Do they select based on the gpa, say the top 300 students with highest gpa will have interview with them? Do they rank the students based on the pcat too?

Also, I saw on Pearson website that there are three more PCAT test dates for this year, in June, August and October. Would it be ok if I take it in August? I went to this one advising and all they mentioned about were June and October, August was left out so I don't know if it's ok to take it in August ?

It would be easier to check the websites of the schools you are interested in. Most of the time they post infomation about how they select candidates.

 

[fighton09]

For me I took most of my pre-req's at my 4 year and then I came back and did like microbio, anatomy, public speaking, and econ at a CC. I was still able to get interviews at a variety of different schools that I think traditionally looked for different things in students whether it be high stats or experiences or well roundedness or had weird numerical formulas that they plugged into spreadsheets.

I think that all you can do is do the best that you can in all your classes regardless of where they are and write meaningful and interesting essays that you'll be able to do based on your life/work/professional experiences

I took my pcat august 2009 and didn't encounter any problems with schools with early deadlines like December. The pcat is grading surprisingly quickly and there's a way for you to check your score online even before you get the score in the mail.