Still in Highschool, making plans

[Pharmacy321]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello everyone, I'm a junior in highschool and my gpa is around a 3.5
I haven't taken the ACT yet, but im scheduled to take it in april and june, but im sure i will do fine.

Finishing up my junior year of hs, my classes are:

Honors Precal
AP statistics
AP English
engineering processes

I have A's in all of them, except english, in which i have a B.
But ive been looking into pharmacy for along time (for a highschooler, haha), and i have a couple of questions too ask you all, who would know, or could help me.


PLANS

Throughout Highschool, ive taken some AP classes, and ill be taking the AP tests in: Psychology, Biology, english, statistics, Us history.

If i get a high enough grade on the AP tests, i could pass out of: bio 1 & 2 w/ labs, Us history 1 & 2, psychology I, English I, and statistics.

I wanted to know if you all thought it would be a good idea to test out of those classes, and get college credit, or if it would just be better to take them in college anyways for my prereqs, because it would be more of a stable feeling, or maybe just some test out of some, and take some, just give me some ideas.

I was wanting to graduate early, after taking a fall term my senior year, becaues i would have the required amount to graduate, and i was wanting to go to a community college for that spring term, to take Physics, and Calculus, and someother classes, so i wouldnt have to take it at a university, I would then go to the University of Tennessee, to take the rest of my prereqs, and get in early for pharmacy (hopefully) but my plan is just a rough draft, and i wanted to know if you guys could help me outt.


any advice would be greaaaaaaat

 

[inquirer89]

Seems like you're on the right foot. I would read the numerous topics posted on this board- they're full of great, resourceful information.

Definitely get some pharmacy experience. Volunteer and/or train to become a pharmacy tech- do it long enough at one setting and you can develop good relationships with your advising pharmacists (which means useful guidance and recommendation letters). Doing extracurriculars with leadership roles would be great too.

 

[k1451372]

Hello everyone, I'm a junior in highschool and my gpa is around a 3.5
I haven't taken the ACT yet, but im scheduled to take it in april and june, but im sure i will do fine.

Finishing up my junior year of hs, my classes are:

Honors Precal
AP statistics
AP English
engineering processes

I have A's in all of them, except english, in which i have a B.
But ive been looking into pharmacy for along time (for a highschooler, haha), and i have a couple of questions too ask you all, who would know, or could help me.


PLANS

Throughout Highschool, ive taken some AP classes, and ill be taking the AP tests in: Psychology, Biology, english, statistics, Us history.

If i get a high enough grade on the AP tests, i could pass out of: bio 1 & 2 w/ labs, Us history 1 & 2, psychology I, English I, and statistics.

I wanted to know if you all thought it would be a good idea to test out of those classes, and get college credit, or if it would just be better to take them in college anyways for my prereqs, because it would be more of a stable feeling, or maybe just some test out of some, and take some, just give me some ideas.

I was wanting to graduate early, after taking a fall term my senior year, becaues i would have the required amount to graduate, and i was wanting to go to a community college for that spring term, to take Physics, and Calculus, and someother classes, so i wouldnt have to take it at a university, I would then go to the University of Tennessee, to take the rest of my prereqs, and get in early for pharmacy (hopefully) but my plan is just a rough draft, and i wanted to know if you guys could help me outt.


any advice would be greaaaaaaat

I agree with inquirer89.
I took honors science classes in high school and got college credit for them but still took them at the university I attended. They really helped me in my classes made my science base even stronger and I spent more time understand and applying. The thing is some AP classes may be hard and you may have passed the test but It is easy to memorize the material at least in high school it felt easy. You can't memorize the test for the pcat so the better you understand the material, the better your score will be. Your plan sounds great just try to do your best. Start volunteering(doesn't have to be pharmacy related all the time), getting extracurriculars once in college( not to many focus on your favs), and build relationship with people you may ask for recomendations later( like a pharmacist you may work for🙂 ). Hey and don't forget that you may change you mind once in college I know I did and so did most of my friends. Granted we all stayed within the health profession, but some decided to be doctors, dentist, optometrist etc. after they did alot of volunteering they had more of an idea what they wanted to do🙂. Good luck

 

[sle3pyguii]

I took AP Physics in high school and passed the test. Same with Calc. I recommend that you retake all the classes in college, seeing how not a lot of schools take AP credits. Not only that, but it'll help you once it comes time to take the PCAT.


If you are REALLY set, like 100% sure, on pharmacy, you should look up some 0-6 programs.


Volunteer to see if you really like pharmacy. I was actually very hesitant about pharmacy at first, and thought I wanted to do medicine. But when I volunteered in the hospital (ER and Pharmacy), I found that I liked pharmacy more for various reasons.

 

[smsc2009]

Hello everyone, I'm a junior in highschool and my gpa is around a 3.5
I haven't taken the ACT yet, but im scheduled to take it in april and june, but im sure i will do fine.

Taking the ACT twice is useless. It is not like the SAT. The ACT knowledge based test and you probably are not going to be learning much from April to June so your score will most likely not change. Goodluck.

 

[OKgirl]

Taking the ACT twice is useless. It is not like the SAT. The ACT knowledge based test and you probably are not going to be learning much from April to June so your score will most likely not change. Goodluck.

I was thinking the same thing.

See how the first test goes before you sign up for another. The only reason I re-took mine was because I ran out of time on the math section and ended up guessing on a lot of them and didn't do as well as I wanted to. I raised my score 3 points and now I am elligible for more scholarships.

You might look into Kaplan's ACT computer program. It was helpful for me because I got to take practice tests and it did some reviewing.

It is great that your planning so far ahead. I figured out what I wanted to do the summer before senior year (I'm graduating this May!). You might consider taking all the general ed classes (take english, history, psychology/sociology, and any math classes leading up to calc you have to take) because I've been told university classes are better for math & science.

For the AP credits, I think you might want to still take your science classes at college because you'd be surprised how much more you learn in college classes.

 

[herpa767]

If I had to do it over again I would have gone to a 0-6 school directly out of high school. Basically what this means is that the school will admit you into their college of pharmacy directly from high school. I know Findlay, Duquesne, Toledo, Albany, Northeastern, Ohio Northern just to name a few will admit you directly from high school in the 0-6 pharmacy program. That way you do not have the stress of applying to schools after completing your pre-reqs, and do not have to worry about the PCAT. This would have taken so much stress off of me!!! I felt like my undergrad was so stressful because I knew I had to have an excellent GPA / PCAT score to be admitted.

Just a thought! Look into some of these schools and give it consideration. If pharmacy is really what you want to do I think this is the best route.

 

[futurepharmer12]

I would have to disagree about the ACT thing. It is not a knowledge based test. I took both the ACT and the SAT. The is really very little difference except for format and grading. I know a lot of people who improved their score significantly on the second or third try. Becareful about your ACT score, it will affect some of the schools, and you cant do anything about it later.

 

[Pharmacy321]

Thanks for all the replys guys :],

The reason i was thinking about taking the ACT twice was beacsue at the University of Tennessee, they take your ACT "super score", and i live just like 15 minutes away from the campus. and 15 minutes away from the community college, going the other direction.

I've looked into some 0-6 schools, but i was kind of scared to apply, because i thought you had to have a gpa in highschool above like a 3.8, or something spectacular, and even if i got accepted into one of those, i would be away from my home, and probably paying 3 times as much to go there, then just the instate tuition, i would be paying at UT.

The reason i was wanting to go to the community college in the spring, was beacuse i heard there isnt any physics on the pcat, and everyone always talks about how hard it is, and how much they dread it on these forums, haha.

Thanks for all the help though, really 🙂

 

[Medicaljunkie]

They probably won't take the AP credit for Stats and I would recommend taking the college bio classes (they have more material (more detailed) and it is good to relearn it). Volunteer at a free clinic (you get to do more).

 

[OKgirl]

The reason i was thinking about taking the ACT twice was beacsue at the University of Tennessee, they take your ACT "super score", and i live just like 15 minutes away from the campus. and 15 minutes away from the community college, going the other direction.

Does your state offer concurrent enrollment? If it does, you really might consider taking the classes at UT instead of the community college. Since you only have to pay for the fees, I think it would really be worth it to get the feel of the campus, already know some professors, and not have to worry about transferring the credits. I wish I would have known that when I started looking into concurrent enrollment because it would save so many headaches!

 

[trailrider400]

Hey! I think your are in a great spot right now... you are lucky that you know know what you want to do so early... I haven't read the other threads because there are too many and frankly I don't care... But if someone could go back in time and tell me what to do here is what I would tell someone in your situation... (this part of a reply I did read) get a job volunteering in a pharmacy... I thought it would be hard to volunteer in a hospital pharmacy... I called the volunteer department of one pharmacy and I have been volunteering there ever since... Volunteer work is great and shows dedication but they don't want an application fluffer they want commitement... but I would also recommend trying to get a tech job somewhere (this builds knowledge)... This might not be so easy but be persistent and a pain in the *** and you should find someone who will take you even with little experience... And finally get A's and B's when you are in college and try to join groups where you can show leadership... you are a very motivated person... any more questions pm me... and make sure you have fun and go out and drink once in a while!

 

[mike36]

Regarding AP credits, I think it depends on how comfortable you are with the material. For instance, I accepted my AP credit for Biology because I knew it inside and out. I knew I was ready for upper division biology classes.

However, I did not take the credit for chemistry because I felt I was still weak in it. Having taken AP chemistry in high school really helped for when I took it in college. Taking it over again in college was very beneficial to me for later chemistry courses.

Someone did bring up a good point about course difficulty in AP classes versus college. I think it will depend on your individual experience. Both of my AP chem and bio classes in high school were at a difficulty level on par with my university. This may not be the case with you.

 

[THE MTL]

I would recommend taking AP Chemistry nxt year. Chemistry is very very important and AP Chem class is the best AP to take when looking into Pharmacy. I wouldnt AP out of classes because retaking them in college will strengthen ur base. Also, ur going to need all the strength you can get when in Pharm school.

I'm a senior in High School and was accepted into Rutgers Pharmacy School, which is a 0-6 year program. I love the security of 0-6 year programs. If I was you, I would look into a 0-6 year program. If money is an issue they have loans, aid, and scholarships waiting for you. Also, when u graduate you'll be earning over 100 grand, which is way more than a single person needs to live on. You can easily live on 50,000 and use the other 50,000 to pay off loans.

 

[bwsalvas]

Nothing beats a college class taught by a college professor. I had 42 credits going into my freshman year of college....Chem 1/2, English, Calc....I did good on my AP's and had taken classes at a local college.

As an undergrad at UB I found myself taking the classes over for higher grades...In the case of calculus where I got a 5 on the AP I went 18mo before taking calc 2...It was hard to go from a high school calc class to a UB Calc 2 class...

I personally didn't benefit from taking the classes early. I inevitably retook most of them or studied things hard for the PCAT, putting in just as much work as if I hadn't already taken them.

 

[bwsalvas]

I would recommend taking AP Chemistry nxt year. Chemistry is very very important and AP Chem class is the best AP to take when looking into Pharmacy. I wouldnt AP out of classes because retaking them in college will strengthen ur base. Also, ur going to need all the strength you can get when in Pharm school.

I'm a senior in High School and was accepted into Rutgers Pharmacy School, which is a 0-6 year program. I love the security of 0-6 year programs. If I was you, I would look into a 0-6 year program. If money is an issue they have loans, aid, and scholarships waiting for you. Also, when u graduate you'll be earning over 100 grand, which is way more than a single person needs to live on. You can easily live on 50,000 and use the other 50,000 to pay off loans.

It'd be nice if it was that simple-

 

[wishful08]

wow, you're so lucky! I wish I knew about this website when I was in high school!!