seriously considering pharmacy

[batista_123]

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hi
I have been a premed for the last 7 years or so. However, I have decided against becoming a doctor. because I just dont have it in my heart.
I have taken all the premed classes (1 yr bio, 1 yr physics, 1 yr gchem, 1 yr ochem, English, math, etc.)
I want to be a pharmacist. I was surprised to find that pharmacy schools have more requirements...and the requirements vary a lot. for example, one school may require anatomy, but another school may require physiology, yet another school may require both - yet another school may require anatomy, but it has to be focused on the human body and not animals. for premeds, the requirements are much more uniforms. you take one year of everything, you can apply to 99% of schools.

and then the courses that I totally dont see the point of - econ? are you serious? speech? really?

ok now my question is
1. should i take microeconomics or macro?
2. I cant possibly satisfy the requirements for every school. how do I know which classes to take?

 

[megandupe]

You really dont see the point of econ or speech??
Econ is one of the most crucial classes you can take in your undergrad, if you want to contribute a service to the market you should know how it works. take micro.
And speech- most schools dont allow you to graduate with your BS without speech, everyone needs that one, and if you dont think you're going to be doing a lot of speaking, and giving speeches then you thought wrong.

 

[phathead]

You will be more intertwined with business as a pharmacist than any healthcare profession. I would argue that its helpful to take more than just a single econ class.

That being said, pick a couple schools that you're seriously interested in and shoot for those. If you have a good GPA, you should generally be okay. For other schools you can check to see if they will accept credits rather than following their strict guidelines.

 

[fuuuuuuuark]

So where are you in the process right now? Did you get your bachelors? I did the same thing, I was pre-med and I graduated last June. After graduating, I decided Pharmacy was the path for me, and I didn't take speech, econ, or microbio at my university. So in the time off, I took speech, microecon and microbio at a local community college. I just finished those classes and am applying now.

As for your questions, you need to check the pre-reqs of the schools you want to apply to. I'm in CA and I'm only applying to the 8 CA schools...thankfully they all pretty much required microecon, speech, and microbio.

 

[batista_123]

So where are you in the process right now? Did you get your bachelors? I did the same thing, I was pre-med and I graduated last June. After graduating, I decided Pharmacy was the path for me, and I didn't take speech, econ, or microbio at my university. So in the time off, I took speech, microecon and microbio at a local community college. I just finished those classes and am applying now.

As for your questions, you need to check the pre-reqs of the schools you want to apply to. I'm in CA and I'm only applying to the 8 CA schools...thankfully they all pretty much required microecon, speech, and microbio.

ok, I got my bachelors 2 yrs ago. i took the mcat. i have one yr of everything. one yr bio, one yr physics, etc..
I want to enter pharmacy school as soon as possible. can u plan out my life for me (lol)???
can I apply now and take all those classes in the fall? when does the app cycle begin?
I am also in CA and i checked those schools - i dont agree with u, i think the prereqs are so different???

 

[UES Girl]

ok, I got my bachelors 2 yrs ago. i took the mcat. i have one yr of everything. one yr bio, one yr physics, etc..
I want to enter pharmacy school as soon as possible. can u plan out my life for me (lol)???
can I apply now and take all those classes in the fall? when does the app cycle begin?
I am also in CA and i checked those schools - i dont agree with u, i think the prereqs are so different???

It's interesting, you aren't the first person to find out the hard way that pharmacy has a lot more pre-reqs the hard way. For some reason, all my pre-med friends thought that med school has more pre-reqs, when it's the other way around. Speech is an important pre-req because they want well spoken individuals to represent profession, you'd be suprised how intense it can get when you have to give a presentation in front of a 150 people or talk to a stranger at a health fair about their vaginal discharge, so being well spoken is a must.

Apply now, pick the schools you want to apply to and plan your schedule out for the next year based on what pre-reqs you are missing. Make sure it's what you really want to do - we had one person drop out after the first year to go to medical school and not only she has additional 50k of loans but she cost someone a spot, so make you this is what you want to do.

 

[fuuuuuuuark]

ok, I got my bachelors 2 yrs ago. i took the mcat. i have one yr of everything. one yr bio, one yr physics, etc..
I want to enter pharmacy school as soon as possible. can u plan out my life for me (lol)???
can I apply now and take all those classes in the fall? when does the app cycle begin?
I am also in CA and i checked those schools - i dont agree with u, i think the prereqs are so different???

What classes are you missing? The curriculum I took as a Bio Major and having been pre-med, pretty much matched up with all the pre-reqs other than speech, microecon and microbio.

If you don't have many more classes to take, you can always apply now and take those classes in the fall (They told me to have them done before November 2011, leading up to when Pharm School begins - Fall 2012).

The problem was getting into those classes at a local community college. I was super lucky, and won the raffle to get into those 3 classes this last spring semester, and so i finished my pre-reqs right before apps started. You CAN be taking classes while you're applying though, not sure if it hurts chances or not.

 

[batista_123]

What classes are you missing? The curriculum I took as a Bio Major and having been pre-med, pretty much matched up with all the pre-reqs other than speech, microecon and microbio.

If you don't have many more classes to take, you can always apply now and take those classes in the fall (They told me to have them done before November 2011, leading up to when Pharm School begins - Fall 2012).

The problem was getting into those classes at a local community college. I was super lucky, and won the raffle to get into those 3 classes this last spring semester, and so i finished my pre-reqs right before apps started. You CAN be taking classes while you're applying though, not sure if it hurts chances or not.

well I wasnt a science major so I took the minimum science classes required for premeds. What I am missing depends on what school I am applying to. for some schools, I am missing speech and econ. for some schools, physiology. for some schools, anatomy. for some schools, microbiology. for some schools, biochemistry.
Nov. 2011 is fall. so I have to be done by fall? you are telling me i cannot take spring semester?

 

[Jabberwocky12]

well I wasnt a science major so I took the minimum science classes required for premeds. What I am missing depends on what school I am applying to. for some schools, I am missing speech and econ. for some schools, physiology. for some schools, anatomy. for some schools, microbiology. for some schools, biochemistry.
Nov. 2011 is fall. so I have to be done by fall? you are telling me i cannot take spring semester?

A lot of schools will be willing to conditionally accept you if you complete those courses in the spring but it'd probably be a little bit against you if they want to see the grades based on other performance.

Just do the schools you are seriously considering. I will say that 1-2 semesters of A&P usually satisfied all anatomy and physiology requirements and a lot of schools will want public speaking and econ. Those would be my biggest suggestions first. Microbio is required for some other schools and biochem but not nearly as much as A&P, speaking, and econ. I'd do microecon rather than macro just because some schools don't care but other schools do care and mainly want micro, so you aren't limiting yourself.

 

[pharm B]

It's interesting, you aren't the first person to find out the hard way that pharmacy has a lot more pre-reqs the hard way. For some reason, all my pre-med friends thought that med school has more pre-reqs, when it's the other way around.

I think it varies by region or state. In Texas, it seems like med schools require more than med schools. Not to mention the fact that a bachelors is basically a pre-req for med school, while you can still get into many pharmacy schools without one.

To the OP, follow the advice of the above posters. Look at schools you would be interested in and then make a list. Start figuring out what pre-reqs they share and then start figuring out the outliers and the time requirement to complete them if you want to apply to all of these schools.

Econ I could have done without, but the lack of public speaking ability in some students in a professional school can be astounding. It's an easy course, and you need the practice. Suck it up! 😉

 

[UES Girl]

well I wasnt a science major so I took the minimum science classes required for premeds. What I am missing depends on what school I am applying to. for some schools, I am missing speech and econ. for some schools, physiology. for some schools, anatomy. for some schools, microbiology. for some schools, biochemistry.
Nov. 2011 is fall. so I have to be done by fall? you are telling me i cannot take spring semester?

You are applying for next year to start in the fall of 2012, so this means you have this summer, next year and for some CA schools even next summer to complete your prereqs. That's a whole calendar year, if you move around fast, you can stilll get into summer classes and hammer out a couple by the end of this summer.

Jabberwokky is more referring to a situation where someone has maybe 2 years of pre-reqs done and schools want to see more of their academic progress and wait for their spring grades. You are on entirely different play field level - you have a bachelor's degree and schools have entire undergraduate degree worth of coursework to go by ! So register away and apply now.

 

[UES Girl]

I think it varies by region or state. In Texas, it seems like med schools require more than med schools. Not to mention the fact that a bachelors is basically a pre-req for med school, while you can still get into many pharmacy schools without one.

To the OP, follow the advice of the above posters. Look at schools you would be interested in and then make a list. Start figuring out what pre-reqs they share and then start figuring out the outliers and the time requirement to complete them if you want to apply to all of these schools.

Econ I could have done without, but the lack of public speaking ability in some students in a professional school can be astounding. It's an easy course, and you need the practice. Suck it up! 😉

That's true, I always forget that, since bachelor degree is pretty much an unofficial requirement in california/official now at UCSD even I believe, I always forget that other states are much more relaxed with their admissions.

 

[Passion4Sci]

That's true, I always forget that, since bachelor degree is pretty much an unofficial requirement in california/official now at UCSD even I believe, I always forget that other states are much more relaxed with their admissions.

It's also required for Touro, CNCP & USC.

The only thing not making us the most strict state for admissions is the fact that we do not require the PCAT. If we also required the PCAT then I'd say we have the most stringent of schools by far.

@ OP - Look at 5-8 schools you'd realistically attend if admitted and tailor your coursework to them. California schools aren't THAT bad. Beyond the general bio, chem, etc the only real differences are in A&P and Biochem (And I guess Micro?). To be safe, take a full series of A&P, Biochem and a Micro class. Make sure you check articulation agreements if you can (UoP, UCSF, maybe others) as that'll help you deduce which classes at your school will be acceptable for the pharmacy school in question.

 

[Jhon11]

At first i ask you what is your target?If you want to be a quality pharmacist you should better to know about physiology and biochemistry.If you like to join in marketing determent you should learn economics.Pharmacy is a professional subject, so be professional.