Take a year off?

[bleronja]

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Okay, so i just received my pcat scores and i am not too thrilled.

Verbal: 20.. embarrassing
Bio: 76
Reading Comprehension: 34.. guess im not good at english.
QA: 86
Chem: 58 (froze on this section of the test...)
Composite: 56

I am junior and a 2011 applicant. The main question i have is if do not get accepted anywhere now, should i take a year off and apply next year or go for my bachelors and then apply? I have a 3.6 overall gpa and 3.7 science gpa with all my pre-requisites finished. Im leaning towards taking a year off because the things i believe are lacking in being a strong candidate is a good pcat, pharmaceutical work experience, and recommendations I believe taking a year off can do help me accomplish this. I am also kinda low on money so working for a year would help in that category too!

How do you guys feel about this decision?

 

[Farmacist2011]

Take the year off and get that PCAT up while gaining more work expeirence.

 

[bleronja]

Thank you for the reply 🙂! id really appreciate other suggestions!

 

[DrDrugs2012]

Some schools like to see your standardized scores match your academics, especially if you come from a lower tier college (I hate calling it such, but we need common language). When your scores are higher than your grades, they tend to believe that you are capable of more and with that being said, they also look at trends in grade... if your grades are going downhill, thats not a good sign so not even a 99th percentile on the PCAT with perfect scores across the board will save you from rejection if your grades are mostly C's and D's. When your scores are less than your grades, they question your academic achievement and aptitude. It might not be fair, but think about it this way - poor performers on the PCAT because they aren't "good test takers" will not perform well on licensing exams (NAPLEX/law). So there is some degree of competency required on 'not freezing up' during exams.

When you don't have a stellar application, you need to use other positive attributes to lead the evaluators to a positive conclusion. You lack experience and recommendations. Those are two big minuses for you right now in addition to your poor PCAT scores.

If I were in your shoes, I would put a functional end to my social life, hit the books hard for the next year. Study hard for the PCAT, pull up the scores, take some tough classes, get some experience in a pharmacy and reapply next cycle.

 

[bananaface]

It's pretty typical for grades to go down in the 3rd and 4th years of college. The lower division years are much easier.

If you stop your education now, it will be hard to go back, and you will have to apply for readmission. If you don't get into pharmacy school what are your plans? Better to work on them now vs later. Besides, schools might not like the idea of a candidate who does the minimum needed to get into their program. My advice would be to stay in school and take some classes that will improve your verbal scores and also work towards a bachelor's in something you can use if pharmacy school doesn't work out.

 

[bleronja]

I'm just trying to clear things up, my grades have actually been increasing every year. I don't know how some of you came up with the conclusion that my grades have been decreasing.

 

[monkieez]

I'm just trying to clear things up, my grades have actually been increasing every year. I don't know how some of you came up with the conclusion that my grades have been decreasing.

One of the best reasons to take time off is if your grades are suffering/you are exhausted from school and you need a breather/time to figure things out. obviously, that is not your case. i agree with bananaface, continue your studies in case you change your mind and want to go for a bachelors/do something else besides pharmacy. improving your pcat score is something that you focus on during the summer not for a whole year. if you want to take time off, at most i would recommend is a semester, a whole year just seems excessive unless you were having a major breakdown.

also don't discount extracurricular involvement. if you quit school, a lot of those opportunities decrease as well as the possibility of gaining leadership in something you already involved in.

if you do take time off, try to line up something before you leave school, or else you might really waste your time. you might have a hard time finding a job.

 

[DrDrugs2012]

I'm just trying to clear things up, my grades have actually been increasing every year. I don't know how some of you came up with the conclusion that my grades have been decreasing.

If you think thats what I said, you need to re-read what I wrote.

 

[edenstarlite]

Okay, so i just received my pcat scores and i am not too thrilled.

Verbal: 20.. embarrassing
Bio: 76
Reading Comprehension: 34.. guess im not good at english.
QA: 86
Chem: 58 (froze on this section of the test...)
Composite: 56

I am junior and a 2011 applicant. The main question i have is if do not get accepted anywhere now, should i take a year off and apply next year or go for my bachelors and then apply? I have a 3.6 overall gpa and 3.7 science gpa with all my pre-requisites finished. Im leaning towards taking a year off because the things i believe are lacking in being a strong candidate is a good pcat, pharmaceutical work experience, and recommendations I believe taking a year off can do help me accomplish this. I am also kinda low on money so working for a year would help in that category too!

How do you guys feel about this decision?

I don't recommend taking a year off unless like the other posters were saying if you feel that you really need it because you are burnt out. I think maybe for one semester will be fine. Your grades are competitive but you need to bring up your PCAT score. You should focus on that for the whole summer and try to take it in Aug but if you need to retake then you always have Oct. That should give you plenty of time to both study for PCAT and gain pharm experiences & ECs while taking the Fall' 11 semester off if you want to. Then you can focus on your apps and reply in fall for the following cycle.

 

[bleronja]

Thank you so much for the suggestions i really do appreciate them. Im now leaning towards going back home, studying for the pcat over the summer and either taking only 1 semester off or taking classes all next year back at home until i can re apply as well as a job and internships of coarse. I am not yet burnt out so ill keep taking classes. I just couldn't afford dorming so ill be taking classes back at home perhaps at a community college.

 

[veyep]

Okay, so i just received my pcat scores and i am not too thrilled.

Verbal: 20.. embarrassing
Bio: 76
Reading Comprehension: 34.. guess im not good at english.
QA: 86
Chem: 58 (froze on this section of the test...)
Composite: 56

I am junior and a 2011 applicant. The main question i have is if do not get accepted anywhere now, should i take a year off and apply next year or go for my bachelors and then apply? I have a 3.6 overall gpa and 3.7 science gpa with all my pre-requisites finished. Im leaning towards taking a year off because the things i believe are lacking in being a strong candidate is a good pcat, pharmaceutical work experience, and recommendations I believe taking a year off can do help me accomplish this. I am also kinda low on money so working for a year would help in that category too!

How do you guys feel about this decision?

Finish your school and get your degree! You can work part time and finish school. You seem to think you can either finish school or take a year off and get a good letter of rec. People do things at the same time. You can finish your degree, get a good letter of rec, and get volunteer work. Have you tried FAFSA for money issues?!?

 

[DessieW]

Thank you so much for the suggestions i really do appreciate them. Im now leaning towards going back home, studying for the pcat over the summer and either taking only 1 semester off or taking classes all next year back at home until i can re apply as well as a job and internships of coarse. I am not yet burnt out so ill keep taking classes. I just couldn't afford dorming so ill be taking classes back at home perhaps at a community college.

If you want a job in a pharmacy you'll need your pharmacy tech license.

What kind of classes are you going take at a community college when you're already in junior standing? You should be taking upper division classes not going back to lower division. I don't want to be too nosy, but why are you still living in dorms when you're a junior?

Also like a others mentioned, finishing your bachelors will make you a more competitive applicant.

 

[R2pharmD2]

If you want a job in a pharmacy you'll need your pharmacy tech license.

What kind of classes are you going take at a community college when you're already in junior standing? You should be taking upper division classes not going back to lower division. I don't want to be too nosy, but why are you still living in dorms when you're a junior?

Also like a others mentioned, finishing your bachelors will make you a more competitive applicant.

Requirements for working as a pharmacy tech vary from state to state. You can get a pharmacy tech job in my state without any prior training or certification. All you have to do is register with the board.

And what does living in a dorm as a junior have to do with anything? 😕

 

[hillwilliam]

I would recommend taking classes part-time rather than taking a complete semester off. This would keep you in school but free up some time so you can spend more time on the other things you need to focus on.

Is there a 4 year school near your home so you can take some upper level science classes? Maybe some Advanced Physiology and Biochem if you haven't already taken them. This could help towards a degree plus help with the PCAT. The community college might be a place where you can take some courses to help with the verbal portion of the PCAT.

 

[pharm B]

In your situation, I'd stick with the bachelors degree plan and apply while completing it. If you get in while completing it, then hooray. If not, you can finish your bachelors and apply again.

If you feel PCAT is your biggest issue, then you can still tackle that issue over the next application year while going to school. Start buying study materials, especially regarding your reading and verbal skills. Taking a year off won't help you more than this, I feel. If anything, it would hurt.

P.S. How many schools did you apply to this cycle, and how many have you heard back from?

 

[gsw650]

I would suggest getting your bachelors. This is just my personal opinion, but if I were on the admissions committee, a person with a bachelors degree looks much more attractive than someone who doesn't have one. Taking more classes can't hurt you in any way (unless you're doing poorly in them) and I think it makes you more competitive especially if you can get an A and boost your GPA. More schooling can't hurt you, it can only help.

So this summer, concentrate on doing better on the PCAT, start early and don't procrastinate. For the verbal sections, you can try getting the Dr. Collins stuff. It has a list of vocab words and analogies that are likely to show up and believe me, some of the exact word for word analogies I studied ended up being on the PCAT. Your math and bio scores seem alright and they'll improve the next time you take the PCAT I'm sure. The experience from taking your first PCAT can be invaluable.

There are some great stories on SDN of people who did poorly on the PCAT the first time; took it a second time and did well. So if they can do it, you can too!

 

[sweetasianpear]

There are ways to improve yourself for the PCAT. You shouldn't just take a year off to focus on getting your grades up for that section of your PCAT. There are plenty of good PCAT books to use out there. What helped me tremendously for the verbal section is to go back and peruse my old SAT books. I thought that the verbal section had similarities to my old SAT practice books.

I used Kaplan's PCAT guide and it helped me the most. Not because it had awesome questions, but I got the most tips out of their books. If you want, you can PM me and I can pass down some of the tips.

PS: I scored a 29 on verbal taking the PCAT. I realized, along with 6 other people and realized that we all can't be that bad on the verbal. So we got our sections re scored. Turns out I got a much higher score on the verbal section.