Exactly. I don't want to sound elitist, but lower grades at an Ivy League school is much different than lower grades at a community college. There's going to be more competition at certain Ivy league schools. Or at MIT (probably the best school in the country in my opinion), for instance, students get 40%'s on exams and it's considered a good grade... At other schools, (where the tests are usually easier) if you're not getting 90's, you're out of the game... The problem with pharmacy school admissions is that it's number-based for the most part, and there's not much knowledge of academia in a regular admissions office. They don't weight a B at MIT as high as an A at Podunk U. There's no appreciation for intelligence beyond the numerical grade. It's much more of a robotic process. It's a little embarrassing for the profession, as other doctoral programs make these considerations.
I went to an Ivy for college, and got a 3.6 gpa. Had I gone to a state college in my state, I'd have gotten a 4.0. Now if some joe schmo in a pharmacy school admissions office has never heard of Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, brown, Upenn, one would be at quite a disadvantage for having gone to a highly competitive school. That is why the PCAT is the "great equalizer". It should be made a little more challenging, IMO.
Too bad Columbia ditched its pharmacy school. I know folks who have attended it a while back. There's surely room for pharmacy schools at these places. Maybe I'll donate to my alma matter one day and get one named after me. 🙂
