Those applying with <3.0 cGPA and <75 PCAT

[Pharm Cat]

Forget about passion and experience for a couple of minutes. A lot of people have passion and believe it or not, a lot of students also have some form of pharmacy experience these days.

Those of you applying with a <3.0 GPA and mediocre PCAT, why do you want to be a pharmacist?

Yes, there are schools that will accept you, but what makes you think you can academically compete with students that have repeated minimal to no courses and are applying with >3.3 GPAs and >80 PCAT scores while balancing extracirriculars?
Why would you even consider dumping ~110k (or ~210k because a decent number of you will end up out of state/private) and 4 years of your life into a graduate program that you can't handle?

I am genuinely curious why so many people continue to pursue a career in pharmacy when they can't even maintain a 3.0 GPA after 4 years of undergrad.

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[EastBay80]

How hard is it to study pharmacy? Is it harder than college general biology and chemistry? Can you pass if you get 2.0?

 

[sspharmy]

How hard is it to study pharmacy? Is it harder than college general biology and chemistry? Can you pass if you get 2.0?

I hope you're trolling.

 

[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

I'll start. to be honest, I was dumb. No other way to put it. If I could go back, I'd save myself aloooot of time and money. I got out into the real world and realized just how lost I was. Had a job post grad and hated every second of it. Moving on my GPA is sub 3.0, but unlike some, I refuse to apply with a pcat of less than 80. I have my eyes set out on a specific school and their average is a 79 so I'm aiming for a little bit better.

My reason? I truly love my job, I love what I do. I'm a CPHT at a busy retail store. You cant truly put passion and experience aside, all that would be left is education. And out in the real world having just the education still isn't enough.

Keep in mind. There may be "more than a few" people with sub par gpas and pacts in these forums, but That doesn't mean that these people actually make it into a PharmD. Hell its no guarantee that I'll make it. I've only seen two stories so far where they make it in the prepharm forum and one of them failed out from what I was told. Plus, if you want, go to the "nontraditional" tab in the medical forum. There are plenty of <3.0 in there as well. The only difference is medschool makes them work harder to prove themselves whether it's an extensive research program, expensive SMPs or another graduate program. I often wonder if I should do a graduate program to further prove myself. I'm not quiet sure yet.

I think people get so caught up in the whole "my grades don't define how smart I am." They get told "we look at the full package and not just your gpa" but what they hear is "your gpa isn't important." They don't grasp the fact that it's still a huge part of your application.

There are plenty of people who get it right the first time and there are plenty of people who don't.

 

[Pharm Cat]

I'll start. to be honest, I was dumb. No other way to put it. If I could go back, I'd save myself aloooot of time and money. I got out into the real world and realized just how lost I was. Had a job post grad and hated every second of it. Moving on my GPA is sub 3.0, but unlike some, I refuse to apply with a pcat of less than 80. I have my eyes set out on a specific school and their average is a 79 so I'm aiming for a little bit better.

My reason? I truly love my job, I love what I do. I'm a CPHT at a busy retail store. You cant truly put passion and experience aside, all that would be left is education. And out in the real world having just the education still isn't enough.

Keep in mind. There may be "more than a few" people with sub par gpas and pacts in these forums, but That doesn't mean that these people actually make it into a PharmD. Hell its no guarantee that I'll make it. I've only seen two stories so far where they make it in the prepharm forum and one of them failed out from what I was told. Plus, if you want, go to the "nontraditional" tab in the medical forum. There are plenty of <3.0 in there as well. The only difference is medschool makes them work harder to prove themselves whether it's an extensive research program, expensive SMPs or another graduate program. I often wonder if I should do a graduate program to further prove myself. I'm not quiet sure yet.

I think people get so caught up in the whole "my grades don't define how smart I am." They get told "we look at the full package and not just your gpa" but what they hear is "your gpa isn't important." They don't grasp the fact that it's still a huge part of your application.

There are plenty of people who get it right the first time and there are plenty of people who don't.

I see what you're saying for the most part and definitely agree with the second to last paragraph, however I don't agree that education isn't enough. I too am a CPhT at a busy retail store and I've seen a decent number of successful pharmacists with little passion for the field. At the end of the day being passionate about the field is honestly great, but your passion and experience will only get you so far. Despite someones passion for the field, if they're not academically competent, they will never have the opportunity to practice pharmacy.

There's nothing wrong with getting it wrong the first time and making a few mistakes in undergrad. 2 or 3 C's, heck, even an F, but to make so many mistakes over and over again that even after a bachelors degree and fluff classes your GPA drops below 3.0 because you just didn't care is something else entirely. There are plenty of do overs in undergrad and you know what, there's probably also a couple in pharmacy school as well. Out there though, in the real world when you're a practicing pharmacist or any kind of health professional for that matter, there are no do overs for mistakes. Your mistake could have drastic impacts on a patients health and even cost them their life.

Yeah, just because you screwed up undergrad doesn't mean you're gonna make big mistakes as a pharmacist and just because you were a bright shining star in undergrad and pharmacy school doesn't mean you won't ever make a mistake. It is something to think about though.

Good luck to you. If you get accepted to a pharmacy program, I hope you take it seriously and do well. I hope you do better than some of your classmates that were bright shining stars in undergrad. I really do. It's depressing that someone would put so much time, money, and effort into improving their extracurriculars and retaking classes to raise an extremely low GPA only to get kicked out of pharmacy school a few years later after taking out $x amount in loans for tuition.

 

[Pharmacistalmostmaybe]

Forget about passion and experience for a couple of minutes. A lot of people have passion and believe it or not, a lot of students also have some form of pharmacy experience these days.

Those of you applying with a <3.0 GPA and mediocre PCAT, why do you want to be a pharmacist?

Yes, there are schools that will accept you, but what makes you think you can academically compete with students that have repeated minimal to no courses and are applying with >3.3 GPAs and >80 PCAT scores while balancing extracirriculars?
Why would you even consider dumping ~110k (or ~210k because a decent number of you will end up out of state/private) and 4 years of your life into a graduate program that you can't handle?

I am genuinely curious why so many people continue to pursue a career in pharmacy when they can't even maintain a 3.0 GPA after 4 years of undergrad.

Honestly, just being academically competent in the science field doesn't mean you will enjoy being a Pharmacist. Yes, you will be able to become a Pharmacist, but why would you presume students with low gpas won't succeed? I have been working as a tech in the hospital and retail environments and honestly, the Pharmacist's job is mostly on the job training. Having the capacity for learning and having a willingness to learn the field you are passionate will ensure success.

I have a 2.87 GPA with a BA in Biology. My science GPA is low, where my other course work is 3.5+. My comp PCAT was a 37. I have worked 45-60 hours a week for the past 5 years while being a full time student. I have failed more than a few courses, but does that mean I won't last in Pharmacy school? Of course not, while in this last leg of my education, I won't be working more than 20 hours a week (maybe two days a week, if I can). Priorities are what makes the difference. I didn't want to go to pharmacy school until the last year of college, by that time my GPA was already in place to be a science teacher.

Never doubt anyone, because you don't know their backgrounds or the story behind their GPA. Since graduating, I took about 18 credits and got a 4.0 while working an average of 52 hours a week. I am more than ready for the challenge of Pharmacy school and my struggles will ensure that I am a competent and compassionate Pharmacist.

 

[Sang Nguyen]

Honestly, just being academically competent in the science field doesn't mean you will enjoy being a Pharmacist. Yes, you will be able to become a Pharmacist, but why would you presume students with low gpas won't succeed? I have been working as a tech in the hospital and retail environments and honestly, the Pharmacist's job is mostly on the job training. Having the capacity for learning and having a willingness to learn the field you are passionate will ensure success.

I have a 2.87 GPA with a BA in Biology. My science GPA is low, where my other course work is 3.5+. My comp PCAT was a 37. I have worked 45-60 hours a week for the past 5 years while being a full time student. I have failed more than a few courses, but does that mean I won't last in Pharmacy school? Of course not, while in this last leg of my education, I won't be working more than 20 hours a week (maybe two days a week, if I can). Priorities are what makes the difference. I didn't want to go to pharmacy school until the last year of college, by that time my GPA was already in place to be a science teacher.

Never doubt anyone, because you don't know their backgrounds or the story behind their GPA. Since graduating, I took about 18 credits and got a 4.0 while working an average of 52 hours a week. I am more than ready for the challenge of Pharmacy school and my struggles will ensure that I am a competent and compassionate Pharmacist.

that sounds really positive