What to do?

[PedioDr0185]

Hi


I am not pre-pharm...I am actually pre-dent. I was wondering if someone can give me some advice so that I might be able to enlighten a friend. I have a friend who was removed from the automatic advancement at Butler for the Pharm-D program, and now she has to apply to different schools. She has not cleared the 50th percentile on any portion of the PCAT, and her GPA is between 2.8-3.0. Now I know for dental school there are some schools that might look at her if she could pull up her test scores...I was wondering if the same was true for pharmacy? Also, she has taken the test over again anywhere from 3-6x. I mean do you recommend that she re-take it again...apply to certain schools only....do a post-bac/masters...or pick a new career... I know what I think, but I don't want to tell her so and be wrong. Thus, I am asking others that are going into the field...What do you think?

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[omnione]

I would focus on applying to schools that do not require the PCAT as there are plenty of schools that don't require the PCAt. Still, she needs to boost her GPA because 3.0 is quite low without extenuating circumstances.

Though I also suggest retaking the PCAT to many people, and that some people aren't good at standardized tests, your friend has some fundamental issues with the knowledge she's retained from her courses if she has really failed to clear the 50th percentile three to six times. It sounds like she really needs to relearn some things if she's having trouble clearing the 50th percentile, especially for the science sections.

I guess that she could apply to some masters program and get a fresh new GPA to build. But she has to check with individual pharmacy schools as some will not accept people who are in a master's degree program until she is finished. She could apply to graduate schools as an student at-large where she takes graduate level courses without being committed to a degree program.

Since her academic stats are the greatest, I would add some pharmacy experiences that don't conflict with her getting a better GPA and PCAT.

 

[Rumplestiltazepam]

I agree with the above poster that adding some pharmacy extra curriculum and volunteer experiences would be good. It is hard to say where to apply, because the GPA is below 3.0 it would be just above minumum so applying to school that do not use PCAT may not be the best idea because they tend to look at GPA more because it is the only academic assessment they have to go on.
I will assume from the GPA that she has a fair amount of Cs under her belt and with the PCAT performance, I think it is obvious that a lot of the info on the PCAT she did not retain from her science courses.

PCAT 3-6 times and not above 50%? I hate to tell anyone to call it quits, but I think your friend really needs to sit down and do some soul searching on what she truely wants to do and if she has been giving her all toward academics? And if she has been giving her all toward academics and the grades and PCAT scores are the result maybe her and pharmacy were not meant for each other.
If she wants to continue......
Boost that GPA by retaking classes with Cs and below
Add some extra curric activities and volunteer
Look into signing up for PCAT tutoring course, work work work!
Look into a Masters program but remember the courses in a Masters program will be more challenging than undergrad courses so this may not help her if she couldn't make the grades during undergrad.

Like eddie would tell her, if she decides to apply, "APPLY AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE!!!!!!"

 

[sdn1977]

So...Pedio....is your friend now a second year college student (sophmore)? Sorry - I just don't know how the Butler program works & at what point they don't allow advancement.

But...if she is am I'm suspecting, a sophmore in college & she was accepted into this program as a freshman, right out of high school - then, yes, I think she needs to rethink her career choice.

This is the problem with the 0-6 programs. For whatever reason, she felt as though she wanted to be a pharmacist, but it is obvious at this point, she is not able to maintain a B average & even at that, as one previous poster mentioned, she is not able to retain that information she has been taught.

So...that makes me wonder - she is either not interested enough in the material to learn & retain it, she doesn't feel its important to learn & retain it or she just cannot learn and retain it. None of this is a judgement on her, her values or her worth. She just may not be well-matched to the profession of pharmacy because everything we learn is based on something we've learned before (well - except perhaps for that cultural anthropology class I took). But - from a science perspective, that is accurate.

Perhaps at this point, she needs to take some classes outside those she has been taking & find that which will actually stimulate her - excite her - make her want to pursue a career which will keep her interest for the bulk of her adult life. Unfortunately, being rejected often makes your interest more intense. She just needs to be sure her intensity is actually a reflection of her interest & not her rejection.

Good luck to her!

 

[Farmercyst]

You might have her register for SDN so that she can get the information from a variety of people rather than you research it for her and get it from one person. If you have her read these, that would be a start, but more questions will help her.

 

[PedioDr0185]

thank you all for your comments. i really appreciate them

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

As I'm sure you can tell I go to Butler, if there's anything I can do or you would like more information on what options your friend might want to consider, please feel free to pm me or have your friend message me.