Should I mention it in my personal statement?

[xoxoheartx3]

Hi everyone! I'm writing my personal statement right now and I wanted to ask your opinion on some things. For one, I realize that my GPA is fairly low compared to a number of other students who are applying to pharmacy school as well but because of the 4500characters cap for the personal statement I was wondering if you thought it'd be a good idea or not to talk about why GPA is so low. It was either I talked about my low GPA or about my ("minimal") experience in the pharmacy environment (i.e. volunteering, pre-pharmacy club).

Thanks in advance!

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[xoxoheartx3]

I forgot to mention that my pharmacy experience would be my one year volunteering at a hospital my senior year in high school. I know that on pharmCAS it mentions for us to state any personal, education and professional background that will help us achieve our goals. Sorry guys for so many questions...I'm just kind of confused on what to do now for my personal statement

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Hi everyone! I'm writing my personal statement right now and I wanted to ask your opinion on some things. For one, I realize that my GPA is fairly low compared to a number of other students who are applying to pharmacy school as well but because of the 4500characters cap for the personal statement I was wondering if you thought it'd be a good idea or not to talk about why GPA is so low. It was either I talked about my low GPA or about my ("minimal") experience in the pharmacy environment (i.e. volunteering, pre-pharmacy club).

Thanks in advance!

I would talk about both. If you write concisely, you will find there is enough characters.

 

[chrispharm]

i would mention it, i wrote about it in mine, my gpa was below average at every place i applied and got, i got in. i mentioned kind of what happened, and why and how i learned from it.

 

[xoxoheartx3]

Hmmm okay. Thanks for the input! I guess I should mention both. It's just killing me right now to try and edit everything to make it 4500 characters lol back to the drawing board it is!

 

[Prepharm0425]

Hmmm okay. Thanks for the input! I guess I should mention both. It's just killing me right now to try and edit everything to make it 4500 characters lol back to the drawing board it is!

Can't you mention this kind of stuff in the special circumstances section. I chose the personal statement to talk about my strengths.

 

[smercer]

I think you should just leave it blank. Then they will know that there are not words to describe how awsome you are.





Really though, yes you should include it. Be mindful not to let it eat up a lot of space though, as you do not want your PS centering on a bad point. Maybe you should try to use some spin tactics, such as pointing out upward trending GPA (if you had an upward trending GPA). Also do not place blame, ie do not blame bad professors. You can use the pharm experience you got to explain how it helped you form some goals you have for what to do with your PharmD.

 

[xoxoheartx3]

yeah as i was writing this section about my low GPA i realize it was too long. I'll have to cut it down then and try to change it where it shows something positive out of it. Thanks!

 

[xoxoheartx3]

Even if my volunteering in the pharmacy exposure was back during my senior year of high school should i still include it? i know i read somewhere that said to not mention anything that was too far in the past.

 

[The Recoverer]

Even if my volunteering in the pharmacy exposure was back during my senior year of high school should i still include it? i know i read somewhere that said to not mention anything that was too far in the past.

Whoever told you this is wrong.

Bill Gates didn't suddenly start loving computers after high school. He developed a love for computers with his experience in programming starting at 8 years old.

Michael Jordan didn't become pro right out of high school either.

The point is.

Any experience that has influenced your decision to pursue pharmacy can be talked about. Many students fall for this. MOST of your experiences that will influence you are from the past.

 

[xoxoheartx3]

Whoever told you this is wrong.

Bill Gates didn't suddenly start loving computers after high school. He developed a love for computers with his experience in programming starting at 8 years old.

Michael Jordan didn't become pro right out of high school either.

The point is.

Any experience that has influenced your decision to pursue pharmacy can be talked about. Many students fall for this. MOST of your experiences that will influence you are from the past.

hahaha makes sense. Biggest difficulty right now is condensing everything to fit 4500 characters eek:

 

[The Recoverer]

hahaha makes sense. Biggest difficulty right now is condensing everything to fit 4500 characters eek:

I feel you. my PS right now is 15,000 characters. haha I am cutting and cutting. Good luck with yours

 

[Omnipotent]

I feel you. my PS right now is 15,000 characters. haha I am cutting and cutting. Good luck with yours

I can share my personal statement

 

[pharmerbird]

I feel you. my PS right now is 15,000 characters. haha I am cutting and cutting. Good luck with yours

Geeze! I am having a hard time coming up with 4,500 words.. I don't know if I should keep writing or stop.

 

[Prepharm0425]

Geeze! I am having a hard time coming up with 4,500 words.. I don't know if I should keep writing or stop.

4500 characters, not words.

 

[pharmerbird]

4500 characters, not words.

How did I miss that after I read it in all of my extracurricular?! Now I am OVER in characters .

So is everyone leaving the low GPA, personal issues, ect. to the special life circumstances or trying to mention it twice? I am going to leave all of that OUT of my personal essay and show why I am a good candidate and put the issues i have had in my special life circumstances.

Especially since I have no more room, lol.

 

[Omnipotent]

How did I miss that after I read it in all of my extracurricular?! Now I am OVER in characters .

So is everyone leaving the low GPA, personal issues, ect. to the special life circumstances or trying to mention it twice? I am going to leave all of that OUT of my personal essay and show why I am a good candidate and put the issues i have had in my special life circumstances.

Especially since I have no more room, lol.

Well IF supplemental application that school requires you to write does not have an essay to "explain" your circumstances about your GPA/other info, you might be out of luck. Former pharmacy students who are now a pharmacist encouraged to talk about the flaws in your personal statement to show that you are a human being, and also what you are trying to do to improve them (He was also the interviewer for accepting potential students). Don't make that paragraph extremely long, but add it somewhere to make sure that you learned from your mistakes.

 

[pharmerbird]

Do you think it's a problem if my personal essay & special life circumstances now bring up the same issues, but in different ways.

For example my special life circumstances talks about how my parents never went to college/finished high school & that is the reason I struggled so much in my first couple of semesters. In the personal essay I bring up the amazing work ethic my parents taught me but the lack of academic support (b/c they didn't go to college) and how I overcame it and still pursued my dreams. ?????

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Do you think it's a problem if my personal essay & special life circumstances now bring up the same issues, but in different ways.

For example my special life circumstances talks about how my parents never went to college/finished high school & that is the reason I struggled so much in my first couple of semesters. In the personal essay I bring up the amazing work ethic my parents taught me but the lack of academic support (b/c they didn't go to college) and how I overcame it and still pursued my dreams. ?????

If you are going to make a blame game story, I would leave the special circumstance blank.Mine was blank and I have parents who never went to college either. That should have zero affect on your education. It just makes u look irresponsible and lack independence.

 

[pharmerbird]

If you are going to make a blame game story, I would leave the special circumstance blank.Mine was blank and I have parents who never went to college either. That should have zero affect on your education. It just makes u look irresponsible and lack independence.

I wouldn't call it a blame game story. My actual special life circumstance is hospitalizations. However, my parents lack of education, led to their lack of guiding me during high school, which led to me pursuing college alone being 17.

I get what you are saying though. It might not be a "life circumstance" but an important part of who I am.

 

[The Recoverer]

I wouldn't call it a blame game story. My actual special life circumstance is hospitalizations. However, my parents lack of education, led to their lack of guiding me during high school, which led to me pursuing college alone being 17.

I get what you are saying though. It might not be a "life circumstance" but an important part of who I am.

like 90 % of my high school got through college fine with no help from their parents in high school. I left this section blank, because unless you have an extreme illness, putting anything here will just give schools the impression that you can't hold your own. Seriously, if your GPA is not below a 3, there is no point in writing anything here. both my parents had PhDs and never helped me in high school. Not a legitimate reason.

 

[pharmacy studen]

my story is the same. I strongly agree with you. If your parents aren't well educated, you won't have have anybody to guide you. I am the first person in my family who received bachelors degree. Its been extremely hard for me. I also had to suport them too b/c they could not speak english so I had to go with them to doctors and had to take all the major household responsibility. If your parents are well educated, you have higher chances of doing well in school and being successful. This explains why rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer.

 

[Pojman]

my story is the same. I strongly agree with you. If your parents aren't well educated, you won't have have anybody to guide you. I am the first person in my family who received bachelors degree. Its been extremely hard for me. I also had to suport them too b/c they could not speak english so I had to go with them to doctors and had to take all the major household responsibility. If your parents are well educated, you have higher chances of doing well in school and being successful. This explains why rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer.

This is only one of the many reasons why the rich are getting rich, and the poor are getting poorer.

 

[owlegrad]

This is only one of the many reasons why the rich are getting rich, and the poor are getting poorer.

Yeah, no offense to anyone, but I think the whole "first one in the family to attend college" thing is overplayed. I was the first in my family, so what? It's not like I didn't know what college was or didn't have any clue how to get into one. The reason the "rich get richer" is quite a bit more complicated than "the parents went to college".

I will say that my family was very supportive of me going to college, I can see it being much harder for some whose family is not supportive.

 

[anchoi]

my story is the same. I strongly agree with you. If your parents aren't well educated, you won't have have anybody to guide you. I am the first person in my family who received bachelors degree. Its been extremely hard for me. I also had to suport them too b/c they could not speak english so I had to go with them to doctors and had to take all the major household responsibility. If your parents are well educated, you have higher chances of doing well in school and being successful. This explains why rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer.

Many people have the same situation and they do well in their life. It is yourself, not your family. I am an immigrant, and live here for around 6 years. I always feel lucky to have opportunity to study here. Sometimes I feel very stressful, but I always try not to blame the people around me.