What to do now

[desertraichu]

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I'm applying to pharm school, pretty sure i'm not gonna get in and getting discouraged. I have a 3.3 overall gpa and 3.1 science, bs in biology. I've volunteered in a pharmacy for a year, just got ptcb certified waiting for the certification to come home in the mail. Where do I go from here? I want to get into Western or USC or loma linda. I called the counselors and i guess my weakest point is experience but i can't get hired as a tech here since my area is saturated. What do I do now? I was thinking just get an associate degree in pharm tech and call that experience but yeah, I'm stuck.

 

[Passion4Sci]

I'm applying to pharm school, pretty sure i'm not gonna get in and getting discouraged. I have a 3.3 overall gpa and 3.1 science, bs in biology. I've volunteered in a pharmacy for a year, just got ptcb certified waiting for the certification to come home in the mail. Where do I go from here? I want to get into Western or USC or loma linda. I called the counselors and i guess my weakest point is experience but i can't get hired as a tech here since my area is saturated. What do I do now? I was thinking just get an associate degree in pharm tech and call that experience but yeah, I'm stuck.

You seem like you have the basic app - A GPA > 3.0, volunteering in a Pharmacy, CphT, but no work experience. I don't think you've necessarily got anything to worry about, as people with roughly the same CV have gotten into those schools in the past and will again, I'm sure. If you don't have anything else under your belt for life experience or extra-curricular, that's a shame, but hardly a deal breaker.

If you don't get in this cycle, might as well go for a Pharm Tech AS or a California Drug and Alcohol Abuse Counselor (CDAC) degree. Both will come in really handy to enhance your application.

Just some thoughts, HTH.

 

[diastole]

I'm applying to pharm school, pretty sure i'm not gonna get in and getting discouraged. I have a 3.3 overall gpa and 3.1 science, bs in biology. I've volunteered in a pharmacy for a year, just got ptcb certified waiting for the certification to come home in the mail. Where do I go from here? I want to get into Western or USC or loma linda. I called the counselors and i guess my weakest point is experience but i can't get hired as a tech here since my area is saturated. What do I do now? I was thinking just get an associate degree in pharm tech and call that experience but yeah, I'm stuck.

If you really want to get in, apply out of state too. Your GPA is good enough for lots of places, you have pharmacy experience though not paid, and you have a degree. That should get you in somewhere. Did you take the PCAT? If you haven't, make that a priority. Maybe keep trying to get a job and do some volunteering. If you apply broadly, I bet you will be quite happy when the acceptance call comes.

 

[jemini99]

Don't be down. There are tons of people who get in to pharmacy schools with lower stats than yours. Be positive. Study for the PCAT. Don't limit yourself to California schools. Apply out of state. Keeping working on it, each years that passes your application only gets better.

 

[desertraichu]

you guys really encouraged me, all forums should be as helpful as this one XD

 

[FarscapeGirl]

Find out at much as you can about pharmacy as a career. Ask to shadow pharmacists. If you know of a pre-pharmacy club, join it. I read several pharmacy blogs, which can be sarcastic and sometimes depressing, but they're also funny and let you know some problems pharmacists face and also some things about pharmacy as a career.

This can really help you write a good pharmacy statement and also do well on an interview, if you get one.

Oh, and no one expects you to know what every kind of pharmacist does and exactly what kind of pharmacy they are interested in, but if you can share some potential ideas for your future, that'll help. Also, if you're interested more in helping a certain group of people (children), in certain diseases (cancer), etc., that would also be good to bring up.