University of Toronto Application Thread

[fungikid]

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you don`t get paid. its mandatory free labour. imo, your expectations of the faculty is too high.

Incorrect. You PAY to work. Part of your tuition fees go towards these placements, because you are essentially a drain on their resources (i.e. taking up pharmacists' time for mentoring when they could've been doing something more productive for the organization).

 

[Hot Pot]

Incorrect. You PAY to work. Part of your tuition fees go towards these placements, because you are essentially a drain on their resources (i.e. taking up pharmacists' time for mentoring when they could've been doing something more productive for the organization).

More correct. Uof T Pharm for unlucky kids and Waterloo for lucky kids financially.

 

[deleted287769]

🙂 hi.

this is my first time applying to toronto, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they're revamping their curriculum, and that I made the semi-conscious decision to apply. i applied once to UBC but got rejected; it was most likely my interview.

er, my stats.
PCAT=77, cGPA=83-ish, lots of volunteer and EC.

hopefully, this year will be the year for me and for everyone else in this thread. 👍

 

[Pharmaniac]

.

 

[Pharmaniac]

Wow eh, when it seems like it can't get more f'd up, OUR ENTIRE class that's in CHM247 gets this mass-email:

Dear CHM 247 Students (Pharmacy),

Last week and this week materials from the IR of the Vanillin experiment were left in the laboratory fume hood without being cleaned or put away.

Unfortunately, we do not know which students were responsible for leaving behind the mess. However, we have not had this problem in any other area, and on any other days. It appears this problem is with the Pharmacy students.

Part of your grade for each experiment is to keep the laboratory clean and safe. Although we cannot identify the individuals, we are asking you to help each other keep the laboratory clean, and we will hold the entire Demo Group responsible if there any further problems.

Sincerely,

CHM 247
Lab Coordinator

Jesus fricking christ- I removed the lab coordinator's name but

But woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

 

[Pharmaniac]

EVERYONE OFFICIALLY HATES US LOLOLOLOL

Same thing is happening to a friend in WISCONSIN

Jesus

 

[mochaswirl]

Wow eh, when it seems like it can't get more f'd up, OUR ENTIRE class that's in CHM247 gets this mass-email:

Dear CHM 247 Students (Pharmacy),

Last week and this week materials from the IR of the Vanillin experiment were left in the laboratory fume hood without being cleaned or put away.

Unfortunately, we do not know which students were responsible for leaving behind the mess. However, we have not had this problem in any other area, and on any other days. It appears this problem is with the Pharmacy students.

Part of your grade for each experiment is to keep the laboratory clean and safe. Although we cannot identify the individuals, we are asking you to help each other keep the laboratory clean, and we will hold the entire Demo Group responsible if there any further problems.

Sincerely,

CHM 247
Lab Coordinator

Jesus fricking christ- I removed the lab coordinator's name but

But woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

We have the same policy at our school as well...dirty glassware/lab materials = losing marks. It sucks but that's their way of ensuring that the labs run efficiently. It's super frustrating with chem labs when you expect that the glassware is clean and uncontaminated and then you get messed up results b/c someone forgot to clean it thoroughly from the last experiment. So I think that email is pretty fair.

I agree its silly to send it to the whole class, but really all they're asking is to do your part in keeping it clean right?

Meh, it's university and on top of that a professional program so unfortunately you gotta deal with that kinda stuff.

 

[RustyHalo]

There's a rumour floating around that over 75 first year pharmacy students are reapplying for the 2011 admission cycle due to the indecisiveness about a track-in program and its potential cost. Gonna be a tough admission cycle.

Ummm yeah.. like most rumours, this is false. I think you should stop worrying about what we are doing and focus all that energy into prepping for your interview.

 

[helloeveryone]

Ummm yeah.. like most rumours, this is false. I think you should stop worrying about what we are doing and focus all that energy into prepping for your interview.

This issue has already been clarified. We now know, officially, that 2 people from 1T4 have reapplied. And we all agreed that 2 people is nothing to worry about specially considering that faculty is unsure about what to do with those 2 people.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone here are focusing entirely on the interview preprations, thanks for your advice 🙂 👍

 

[helloeveryone]

We have the same policy at our school as well...dirty glassware/lab materials = losing marks. It sucks but that's their way of ensuring that the labs run efficiently. It's super frustrating with chem labs when you expect that the glassware is clean and uncontaminated and then you get messed up results b/c someone forgot to clean it thoroughly from the last experiment. So I think that email is pretty fair.

I agree its silly to send it to the whole class, but really all they're asking is to do your part in keeping it clean right?

Meh, it's university and on top of that a professional program so unfortunately you gotta deal with that kinda stuff.

I agree. We have the exact same policy here at Western. Lab TA's check our stations before we leave and mark us on our "clean up performance"... and yeah, believe it or not, 1 out of 10 marks is devoted to clean ups 🙄
And I can imagine getting a email like that if someone leaves a mess in the lab too, although I would disagree if they blame EVERYONE for a simple mistake.

 

[Pharmaniac]

a

 

[helloeveryone]

is it just me, or does everyone feel that this forum has a "weird" energy this year compared to last years?

 

[pharmacy0]

is it just me, or does everyone feel that this forum has a "weird" energy this year compared to last years?

do explain 🙂 i wasn't apart of last years thread but i did read it, so maybe its different?

 

[RustyHalo]

Exactomundo!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm from BC but rumours our flowing through pretty nicely 😀
If you guys need help give us a shout- love to help 😉

Sigh. Thank you I guess.

This issue has already been clarified. We now know, officially, that 2 people from 1T4 have reapplied. And we all agreed that 2 people is nothing to worry about specially considering that faculty is unsure about what to do with those 2 people.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone here are focusing entirely on the interview preprations, thanks for your advice 🙂 👍

Are you a 1T4? If you're not, then you don't know anything officially. If you are, then you know that our class is very very tight knit so if anyone decided to re-apply (which in itself is actually kind of ridiculous), then we would know.

 

[helloeveryone]

Sigh. Thank you I guess.



Are you a 1T4? If you're not, then you don't know anything officially. If you are, then you know that our class is very very tight knit so if anyone decided to re-apply (which in itself is actually kind of ridiculous), then we would know.

No I'm not from 1T4, but FYI I talked to talked to the admission's assistant over the phone and she explicitly stated that TWO people from 1T4 have reapplied. Now, I don't know if you would want to say that she was lying to me or not, but I believe her.

Also, it's always very questionable when someone, all of a sudden, decides to join SDN and talk about such issues that have already been dealt with long time ago 🙄 😕 Please forgive me if I'm wrong, but people need to STOP creating multiple accounts and should have the courage to say what they wanna say using their existing identities... as I said, forgive me if I'm mistaking and I'm not trying to target you, rather those who have indeed created multiple accounts for various purposes... and those people KNOW who they are 🙂

 

[helloeveryone]

do explain 🙂 i wasn't apart of last years thread but i did read it, so maybe its different?

well a great example is posts like those posted by "newbies" to this forum... I don't get why people (who might be already in pharmacy) would care so much to come here and try to ruin our spirits. But I can talk for myself, no matter what some people say here, I will not let their negative and pessimistic comments effect my determination toward pharmacy... so those few people might save some time and just focus on their studies rather than posting negative comments here.

After all, SDN has always been a very valuable source for me to get info regarding pharmacy, so lets keep it that way people 😀 stay positive and keep working hard.

 

[nylo]

Does anyone know how we can try to prepare for the multiple mini interview? Any advice from students who have attended it in the past? 🙂

 

[Hot Pot]

Good imagination but poor judgment.

 

[iicecream]

is it just me, or does everyone feel that this forum has a "weird" energy this year compared to last years?

I totally agree with you. I find it really weird how pharmacy students who are currently in 1T4 would come and post up all this stuff that is happening to their class? I mean....to be honest. its not any of our business really and it shouldnt be either.... because all of this stuff that has been happening isn't exactly positive. So to spread this around isnt really putting a good imagine to their class (because if nothing is posted, not many people are going to know....) I mean like i dont feel like anybody hates the 1T4's. I dont think TA's are going to be like oh just because they're in pharmacy and the curriculum is changing i have to pick on them? If anything i think they would pick on little arts and sci students since theres more of us....and they can actually kill us off with bad lab marks (+ bad midterm marks as well)....HAHA..

But i think this forum should be like a little help for us pre-pharm kids. You know, by having current pharmacy students come back and answer our questions or reassure us, help us gain a little more confidence....
Just my personal opinion...i hope i didnt offend anybody. I just thought this forum is starting to get a little gloomy thats all

🙂

 

[mochaswirl]

I really wonder why the heck it takes to long to get interview offers out...we submitted our back apps in December and Jan PCAT results probably are in already, so why do they need so much time especially when there wasn't even an extra supplementary form etc. This is kinda crazy 🙁

 

[910803]

...

 

[chemtai]

Do I really need to pay to see mu own PCAT score?
Will the Pearson send the PCAT score to test taker by mail?

 

[iicecream]

Do I really need to pay to see mu own PCAT score?
Will the Pearson send the PCAT score to test taker by mail?

Yeah person will send out PCAT scores to test takers. I believe you will receive it by sometime next week?

 

[Hot Pot]

Does anyone know how we can try to prepare for the multiple mini interview? Any advice from students who have attended it in the past? 🙂

During MMI interview you are going to meet a lot of current pharmacy students so be nice to them and you won't loose anything but just gain.

 

[RocketJumper]

Okay.. So I just got my PCAT scores.

I guess I did okay but one of the section is VERY bad..


Do you think I'm competitive enough to get an interview??

cGPA of around 3.5 (but did VERY bad in organic chem I.. it's higher than C though.. so probably won't get flagged? and i got 91 in chem in pcat)

PCAT:

Verbal - 35 (does this meet the minimum cut-off? ugh!)
Bio - 84
RC -65
Quant - 97
Chem - 91
COMPOSITE - 85


Thank you so much.

Last years offical UT PCAT cut offs were:
Conventions of Language: 3.0
Problem Solving: 2.5
Composite: 50

Chem: 50
Bio: 20
RC: 20
Quant: 20
Verbal: 20

This was published on last years PharmSIS under PCAT Data (for those of you who applied last year).

There were people who had extremely high Composites who didn't make the 3.0 conventions of language (plus some some who didn't make the other cutoffs) and were not invited to the interviews, so UT is VERY strict when it comes to these numbers.

Your verbal is higher than last years cut off and I doubt they will go up since the general consensus is that there are less applicants in this years pool. Your composite of 85 should be competitive so well done! Also check your two writing scores since that's where a lot of applicants got cut.

Hope this helps relieve to some stress!

 

[UTP]

Hey Everyone,
I'm in a little dilemna here, I did well in chem, bio and math, and writing, and horrible in reading and verbal!!!
Do you think I will get invited to the interview?

cGPA 3.80

VERBAL -----------17😱😱

READING ----------29😱😱

CHEMISTRY--------97

BIOLOGY ----------94

QUANTITATIVE ----99

COMPOSITE -------75

WRITING ----------3.0 and 3.0

I would really appreciate you help!!

 

[RocketJumper]

Hey Everyone,
I'm in a little dilemna here, I did well in chem, bio and math, and writing, and horrible in reading and verbal!!!
Do you think I will get invited to the interview?

cGPA 3.80

VERBAL -----------17😱😱

READING ----------29😱😱

CHEMISTRY--------97

BIOLOGY ----------94

QUANTITATIVE ----99

COMPOSITE -------75

WRITING ----------3.0 and 3.0

I would really appreciate you help!!

Hey UTP,

First off your math, science, and writing marks are great! Your RC is above last years cut offs but your verbal is 3 points below. I think there were a few people last year who had this same problem and were not invited to interviews. As previously stated UT seems to be VERY strict with cut offs.

That said, the cut offs I posted were LAST YEARS when there were ~1600 applicants. The pool this year seems to be significantly smaller, so admissions may lower the cut offs . The purpose of the cut offs is simply to cut the pool to a size that they can accommodate for interviews (~500 people is my guess). So hang in there and don't lose hope!

 

[UTP]

Hey UTP,

First off your math, science, and writing marks are great! Your RC is above last years cut offs but your verbal is 3 points below. I think there were a few people last year who had this same problem and were not invited to interviews. As previously stated UT seems to be VERY strict with cut offs.

That said, the cut offs I posted were LAST YEARS when there were ~1600 applicants. The pool this year seems to be significantly smaller, so admissions may lower the cut offs . The purpose of the cut offs is simply to cut the pool to a size that they can accommodate for interviews (~500 people is my guess). So hang in there and don't lose hope!

Thank you RocketJumper!!👍

 

[pharmacy0]

ahh this wait is killing me. but i refuse to give pearson 20$ more dollars, such a scam.. must use all my willpower not to cave! i think i'll get it in the mail by the end of next week

 

[Hot Pot]

ahh this wait is killing me. but i refuse to give pearson 20$ more dollars, such a scam.. must use all my willpower not to cave! i think i'll get it in the mail by the end of next week

Don't let the wait killing you, pay 20$ and have the peace of mind .

 

[helloeveryone]

Don't let the wait killing you, pay 20$ and have the peace of mind .

Couldn't have said it better myself... Just pay the 20, that's what I did last time and I was SOOO relieved. And if it was't for someone else's persistence, I would have not done it and I would've regretted it.

 

[helloeveryone]

Hey Everyone,
I'm in a little dilemna here, I did well in chem, bio and math, and writing, and horrible in reading and verbal!!!
Do you think I will get invited to the interview?

cGPA 3.80

VERBAL -----------17😱😱

READING ----------29😱😱

CHEMISTRY--------97

BIOLOGY ----------94

QUANTITATIVE ----99

COMPOSITE -------75

WRITING ----------3.0 and 3.0

I would really appreciate you help!!

First of all, congrats on those amazing scores in the science sections, well done 😉

Secondly, your situation is very similar to my situation last year... I had good sciences scores and a good composite but my RC was 19. And since the cutoff was 20 last year, I did not get an interview.

But I hope that either the cutoffs are lowered OR UofT come to their senses and allow some exemptions so people with overall good scores but just one low one will at least get an interview 🙂 Good luck.

 

[masterfunk]

Hey does anyone know approximately how many people applied this year?

 

[PhArMaCiSt1]

We are soooo close to the 'interview invite' day!! A little more than 2 weeks yayyyyyy🙂

 

[PhArMaCiSt1]

Hey does anyone know approximately how many people applied this year?

There is no way to exactly know the number of applicants until this admission cycle is over but it will defn be less than the last years because of the new preqs and the cuts to the pharmacy profession. However, altho im not 100% of the number, I'm guessing its hovering somewhere in the 600s..

 

[pharmacy0]

We are soooo close to the 'interview invite' day!! A little more than 2 weeks yayyyyyy🙂

Wow you are right! For some reason I was thinking it was further away. Does anyone know when the PCAT cut offs for this year's cycle is posted, is it March 11 when we get interview invites?

 

[RocketJumper]

Wow you are right! For some reason I was thinking it was further away. Does anyone know when the PCAT cut offs for this year's cycle is posted, is it March 11 when we get interview invites?

It's probably on or shortly after that date. Last year it was posted on March 19, the same day interview invites went out. I guess it was to minimize the number of emails they would receive from rejected applicants, since publishing the PCAT cut offs with basically confirm if your rejection was due to failing a cut off.

15 days to go!!

 

[helloeveryone]

Wow you are right! For some reason I was thinking it was further away. Does anyone know when the PCAT cut offs for this year's cycle is posted, is it March 11 when we get interview invites?

Last year they posted the cutoffs right at midnight on the day of invitations. So if they follow the same trend, we should find out the cutoffs at 12:00 AM on March 11th.

 

[910803]

...

 

[RocketJumper]

Luckily i got 3/3 on writing.

However, has anyone got in with such low verbal score as 35 (composite of 85)?? =(

Also, although i have a 3.55 cgpa, I have 1 C+ in orgo I. This is the only C that I have and I have like 5 Bs total.

I got 91 in Chem in PCAT but i don't think it will cover up my mark in organic I.

Any possibilities?!

In short, you should be fine. The cut offs for each section are usually set low especially in RC and Verbal, since performance on these sections tend to fluctuate a lot. I know someone from last year who did poorly in RC and still got an interview since he meet all the cut offs. It seems to be an all or nothing system; you can have a 99 composite and 2.5/2.5 and be cut due to the 0.5 in writing or you can have mid 70s and 3/2.5 and be invited. It kind of makes you wonder if a computer's screening us!

You might get flagged with the C+ in orgo (other forum members seem to be more knowledgeable on this) but it's only one course and your cGPA is still good. A lot of people have said that flagging puts you at a disadvantage but I don't know how much impact it will have. Obviously if you consistently achieve Cs then your academic abilities would be put into question, but if its just a single course and you've shown improvement then you should be fine. The 'disadvantage' IMO just means if there are two candidates of similar caliber (i.e. cGPA / PCAT / interviews) the one who was flagged for a C would be ranked lower. If someone knows more about how much a flagging will affect ones application, please enlighten the rest of us!

Overall you look to be in good shape with a competitive PCAT and cGPA 👍. 14 days until interview invites, so good luck to all!

 

[druggeek]

Someone explain to me the percentages for the PCAT. Surely a 20 doesnt truly mean a you only got 1/5th right? (that's one of the cut offs I saw above). Or does it mean you did better than 20% of the other test takers... and even in that case... how is that accurate in showing anything?

 

[910803]

...

 

[RocketJumper]

Someone explain to me the percentages for the PCAT. Surely a 20 doesnt truly mean a you only got 1/5th right? (that's one of the cut offs I saw above). Or does it mean you did better than 20% of the other test takers... and even in that case... how is that accurate in showing anything?

They are percentiles and not percentages. A 20 means you performed better than 19% of the test group on that section.

How is that accurate in showing anything?
Applicants come from many different academic backgrounds and it's difficult to gauge them based on marks alone (since UT doesn't seem to consider letters of recommendation or anything else for that matter). Thus a standardized test like the PCAT is used since it allows all applicants to be measured on the same scale.

 

[PharMarley]

they are percentiles and not percentages. A 20 means you performed better than 19% of the test group on that section.

how is that accurate in showing anything?
applicants come from many different academic backgrounds and it's difficult to gauge them based on marks alone (since ut doesn't seem to consider letters of recommendation or anything else for that matter). Thus a standardized test like the pcat is used since it allows all applicants to be measured on the same scale.

no more sdn? After march first? Well this sucks. Whats going on?

 

[1ive2die]

no more sdn? After march first? Well this sucks. Whats going on?

Just the blogs. Not the forums.

 

[Hot Pot]

no more sdn? After march first? Well this sucks. Whats going on?

Silent moment before the big storm come on March 11/2011.

 

[PhArMaCiSt1]

For all of those who had questions about the pcat cut off scores for the 2011 cycle, I found this in the Q&As:
"It is anticipated that in 2011 the minimum requirements will be no lower than in 2010".
So most likely the mininum cutoffs will be the same as those in 2010.

 

[helloeveryone]

For all of those who had questions about the pcat cut off scores for the 2011 cycle, I found this in the Q&As:
"It is anticipated that in 2011 the minimum requirements will be no lower than in 2010".
So most likely the mininum cutoffs will be the same as those in 2010.

oh did they update the website or something?

 

[MayMay123]

Got my scores today.

VA: 58
Bio: 84
RC: 65
Math:89
Chem: 81
Writing: 3/3

Composite: 82

My current GPA is 2.97, but if I pull it up to at least a 3.0 by the end of the year, would I have a chance in getting in University of Toronto pharmacy? My first time taking so Idk..

 

[mochaswirl]

Got my scores today.

VA: 58
Bio: 84
RC: 65
Math:89
Chem: 81
Writing: 3/3

Composite: 82

My current GPA is 2.97, but if I pull it up to at least a 3.0 by the end of the year, would I have a chance in getting in University of Toronto pharmacy? My first time taking so Idk..

I would say you stand a fair chance if you pull it up to 3.0. I would aim for higher than that though to be more competitive. Your pcat score is great! 82 is a solid score and you definitely meet all the cutoffs, so you're fine in that respect.

Also, the interview seems to be a huge component in the decision so doing well in that would increase your chances as well! 🙂