Several U Houston Prereq Questions

[teachtopharm?]

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Caution: This post is gigantic. Sorry. 😳


I have a BS biochemistry, and my nonscience degree requirements were fulfilled through an honors program that had you take classes from lots of departments, like “Revolutions and their Consequences” and “Plato and the Greek Polis.” From looking at the requirements, this leaves me with approx. 4 nonscience requirements is what I have left for prereqs (2 history and 2 government/constitution). (This is all assuming that they will count other classes as humanities and visual/performing arts classes, etc. I am crossing my fingers)

I am trying to get my hands on official course descriptions from way back when I was a student, (BS Biochem 1998-2002, MS Math and Science Education 2002-2003), and I am going to go for Step 1 advising late this summer. Hopefully I can find some of this info out, but I need to know sooner in order to plan out the year, which will include several changes for me! 😱

So, here are my questions for people who know about U Houston:

1.Has anyone experienced ANY flexibility in nonscience courses for UH prereqs, or are they pretty much sticklers for the classes they list? (i.e. Would they count a “Film Theory and Criticism” class from another school as visual/perf arts class even if it is not an exact match with a UH class?) BTW, I did not go to a TX university, so I can't easily find out what courses are equivalent.

2.Has anyone experienced ANY flexibility in science classes for UH prereqs. (i.e. I never took microbiology, but I did take cell and molec bio I and II, biochem I and II, and vertebrate physiology, in addition to lots of chem hours. I know this is not the same science, but I have taken way more science hours than the prereqs and am wondering if they will help me at all as far as getting out of any other classes. I am not lazy, just trying to make ends meet.)

3.Are my prereqs too old? (Earliest ones were from 1998). I have a good GPA (BS 3.97, prereqs so far 4.0) but I don't know if that makes a difference as far as how long ago the classes were taken.

4.I am thinking of working out a schedule like this (Seeing that I want to work full time as a pharm tech in 2005-2006, assuming I can pass PTCE this July.) This Fall – I would study for the Nov PCAT a lot. In the spring – Microbiology (have to science finished by Spring for UH), Summer-All other nonsci prereqs. So, does it look bad or unfavorable if you have 12 hours of nonsci prereqs to take over the summer? I know they say it is allowed, and I would quit my job to do this in the summer, and then start school in 2006, but I am wondering if they will think I am not serious because I put these classes off till the end. It is just that I have bills to pay, and it would be nice to condense all of this into one short summer rather than work fewer hours all year while trying to take nonscience courses. (I would prefer to work full time to have health insurance, etc.)


Lastly, I would like to express my frustration that I didn't know I wanted to be a pharmacist in undergrad, and now have to go back to school to take freaking US History and crap like that! I envy those of you still in undergrad, because it would have been so much easier to take these classes if I had known what I know now back then. 😡

Sorry about the marathon post, but I had a lot on my mind. Any information would be great! Thanks! 😉

 

[timbo301]

Caution: This post is gigantic. Sorry. 😳


I have a BS biochemistry, and my nonscience degree requirements were fulfilled through an honors program that had you take classes from lots of departments, like “Revolutions and their Consequences” and “Plato and the Greek Polis.” From looking at the requirements, this leaves me with approx. 4 nonscience requirements is what I have left for prereqs (2 history and 2 government/constitution). (This is all assuming that they will count other classes as humanities and visual/performing arts classes, etc. I am crossing my fingers)

I am trying to get my hands on official course descriptions from way back when I was a student, (BS Biochem 1998-2002, MS Math and Science Education 2002-2003), and I am going to go for Step 1 advising late this summer. Hopefully I can find some of this info out, but I need to know sooner in order to plan out the year, which will include several changes for me! 😱

So, here are my questions for people who know about U Houston:

1.Has anyone experienced ANY flexibility in nonscience courses for UH prereqs, or are they pretty much sticklers for the classes they list? (i.e. Would they count a “Film Theory and Criticism” class from another school as visual/perf arts class even if it is not an exact match with a UH class?) BTW, I did not go to a TX university, so I can't easily find out what courses are equivalent.

2.Has anyone experienced ANY flexibility in science classes for UH prereqs. (i.e. I never took microbiology, but I did take cell and molec bio I and II, biochem I and II, and vertebrate physiology, in addition to lots of chem hours. I know this is not the same science, but I have taken way more science hours than the prereqs and am wondering if they will help me at all as far as getting out of any other classes. I am not lazy, just trying to make ends meet.)

3.Are my prereqs too old? (Earliest ones were from 1998). I have a good GPA (BS 3.97, prereqs so far 4.0) but I don't know if that makes a difference as far as how long ago the classes were taken.

4.I am thinking of working out a schedule like this (Seeing that I want to work full time as a pharm tech in 2005-2006, assuming I can pass PTCE this July.) This Fall – I would study for the Nov PCAT a lot. In the spring – Microbiology (have to science finished by Spring for UH), Summer-All other nonsci prereqs. So, does it look bad or unfavorable if you have 12 hours of nonsci prereqs to take over the summer? I know they say it is allowed, and I would quit my job to do this in the summer, and then start school in 2006, but I am wondering if they will think I am not serious because I put these classes off till the end. It is just that I have bills to pay, and it would be nice to condense all of this into one short summer rather than work fewer hours all year while trying to take nonscience courses. (I would prefer to work full time to have health insurance, etc.)


Lastly, I would like to express my frustration that I didn't know I wanted to be a pharmacist in undergrad, and now have to go back to school to take freaking US History and crap like that! I envy those of you still in undergrad, because it would have been so much easier to take these classes if I had known what I know now back then. 😡

Sorry about the marathon post, but I had a lot on my mind. Any information would be great! Thanks! 😉

theres more flexibility in your core classes/electives. theres like a bunch of different classes you could take for humanities/theatre/visual arts/etc
check out:

http://www.uh.edu/academics/corecurriculum/core_courses.html

for all of those film classes you took. as for your science classes...i don't think your upper level bio classes would be equivalent to microbio.

go to:

http://www.uh.edu/pharmacy/admissions/prepharmcoursesmore.htm

for class eqivalences if your college is there

I'm not sure, but science classes that are 5 or 10 years maybe too old and must be retaken. i can't find it but i know i read it somewhere. its either 5 or 10. so some of your classes might not be valid.

hope that helps!

 

[teachtopharm?]

Oh NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Almost all of my prereq classes were in my freshman year of my bachelors degree in 1998 and 1999!!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!!
I scoured the UH website and I can't find anything about how old your classes can be. I am freaking out!
(Please be 10 years, please be 10years....)

(Thanks for your help btw. 🙂 )

Has anyone had this experience with UH????? Are there any nontrads with old coursework that got it accepted at UH? Or do you think I really will have to go back with a bunch of 18 year olds that are almost as old as the kids I teach high school to now to retake freakin 60 hours of freshman classes????

Is this 5 or 10 years from the date you took the class, or from the date you graduated???

If PCAT scores are good enough, will they accept this?? Is it completely inflexible?? 1998, imo, is pretty darn close to 5 years ago considering the consequences.

Plus, I saw that they want to have a syllabus from every class I want to transfer so they can decide if it is equivalent. UNFREAKINGBELIEVABLE!

I really feel like if this is true about coursework policies, I wonder how many older nontraditional students have been discouraged to become pharmacist. For heavens sake, I thought that teaching for a couple of years in a poor community would improve an applicants credentials compared to a sophomore that has "newer" classes than me. I guess I was wrong. I am only 25, and right now I feel like a dinosaur. Sigh.

 

[teachtopharm?]

I found this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=194954&highlight=coursework+retake


I guess that I am not alone at all. Well, if it comes down to it and I really want to be a pharmacist, I will have to take most of my classes AGAIN. I think I am going to cry.

 

[dabumba]

I found this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=194954&highlight=coursework+retake


I guess that I am not alone at all. Well, if it comes down to it and I really want to be a pharmacist, I will have to take most of my classes AGAIN. I think I am going to cry.

Just smile.
Don't take a chance.
You can do it concurently: retake classes, and take PCAT. Who knows? If your PCAT is in 90 percentile, I think you are in good shape. But don't take a chance. What if.......?

Be glad that at this age, your brain is still working. Many people complain about their brain! Don't worry about 18-yrs old kids.

 

[teachtopharm?]

Just smile.
Don't take a chance.
You can do it concurently: retake classes, and take PCAT. Who knows? If your PCAT is in 90 percentile, I think you are in good shape. But don't take a chance. What if.......?

Be glad that at this age, your brain is still working. Many people complain about their brain! Don't worry about 18-yrs old kids.

OK, thanks for the support. I just get frustrated feeling like I have wasted years of my life. I guess it will all work out in the end for the best. 🙂

 

[teachtopharm?]

Good News Update! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

I called and found out that 5 years is a general rule but they don't always follow it, and since I have my BS in biochemistry fairly recently, my classes are NOT too old! Yaaaay! (Also, at UH nonscience prereqs are never too old.)

They were very nice and reassuring. It made me want to go to UH even more!
I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to take 60 hours of classes I have already had, and I made straight As in them all! So it looks like things are OK. They also seemed much cooler than it sounded on the website about determining course equivalencies, and said that they are generally pretty flexible as far as accepting things from other schools, even out of state. I am glad to hear this, and will see how it pans out.

I guess in the end I am glad that I had this freak out because it made me really think about whether I wanted to be a pharmacist at all, even if it meant having to do that all again. And my conclusion was that YES, it is worth it and I will do anything it takes!!! 👍

Thanks SDN for always being encouraging and informative!!! 😍