what would you do if you were in my situation?

[pharmgirl026]

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I'd like to get some feedback please:

I've applied to dental school twice so far and I've been rejected each time. I've taken the the DAT three times 🙁, but I couldn't bring up my scores (I have slightly above average scores), my cumm. gpa is 3.3, sci: 2.97.

I am giving up on Dental school because I can't afford (emotionally and financially) being rejected again . I am wondering if I have a better chance at pharmacy schools? (I have two months working experience at a pharmacy). I'm from cali and my undergrad major is biochem from UC. I want to apply to cali schools because I don't want to take the PCAT. I'm tired of taking tests .

Should I just take scie classes at a 4-yr university to bring up my gpa or should I apply to a MS program? I'm so confused at this point. Please tell me what would you do if you were in my situation? tnx

 

[TTUMike]

I think that you will find pharmacy school to be just as competitive. I think working in a pharmacy definitely helps but I would work on bringing up your gpa. I personally would not even consider CA schools if you have a gpa that is under 3.5 so you might want to think of studying for the PCAT. I'm not sure what I would do if I was you because if I was trully passionate about dental school I'm not sure that moving into a whole different competitive field will help. Just work on improving your transcript and go from there.

 

[jyw003]

why do you want to apply to pharmacy school? i hope you arent applying to pharmacy school just with the notion that you have a better chance. pharmacy school is JUST as competitive or maybe even more. you've been rejected twice to dental school, did schools give you reasons why? did you get any interviews? was your personal statement weak? did you have experience in the field that supports your desire to become a dentist? now if you put yourself in this pre-pharm forum's shoes....we all desire to go to pharmacy school with those similar questions about pharmacy. i hope you think twice before you change your goal. once you've decided come back to the forum and we'll help you on your road to getting into pharm school.

 

[pharmgirl026]

Thanks for the replies 🙂


I did work as a dental assistant for 5 years. I've done many things to show them I am interested in dentistry. Schools told me I was not competitive enough because 3500 people apply to each dental school for about 100 seats...that's about 3% chance right?

I was checking the ratio for pharm schools...the max ratio of applicants to admit was about 18:1 (for UCSF, UCSD). That's 6% chance of getting in almost two times better that Dentschool. Even some schools have 7: 1 (14% chance ) Doesn't that make pharmacy school less competitve? or are there other factors that I am not aware of?

P.S I am interested in the health field and I believe I have the ability and desire to succeed in whatever I do as long as it's related to health.

 

[TTUMike]

You can't simply use the number of applicants vs acceptance as a means of determining competitiveness. In fact, this says nothing about the quality of the students applying to dental school. You would have to compare student's scores to justify that dental school is more competitive. From the sounds of your response though, I'm going to have to say that you might want to seriously think whether this is for you.

 

[jyw003]

You can't simply use the number of applicants vs acceptance as a means of determining competitiveness. In fact, this says nothing about the quality of the students applying to dental school. You would have to compare student's scores to justify that dental school is more competitive. From the sounds of your response though, I'm going to have to say that you might want to seriously think whether this is for you.

ditto...

another thought to think about...sometimes people get into pharmacy school but they end up hating what they are doing...so i suggest you research pharmacy thoroughly and carefully to make sure this is what you really want to do.

 

[clockwork247]

From my limited knowledge (not even a pre med student), this is how it normally works.

The acceptance is pretty much base on

GPA (grades):
PCAT (scores):
Extra activities:

You pretty much have to some how accumulate these 3 things to be in the "acceptable" zone to get in.

GPA: I think the average is pretty high (some where up in the 3.3+ for most school), although they probably want to look at your grades of the "meaty" courses like organic chem, genetics ect... So having a 3.0 on science courses would be slightly under average.

So I guess to make up for it you'll have to get your PCAT to be above average (not the national average but the average of those that get in)

And probably some extra activities relating to the field?

The GPA raising thing is a no no, according to the UC system a grade better than a C- will not get replace no matter what. So if you taken all the "require" courses your grade pretty much sticks. It's pretty hard to raise GPA when the total is accumulative from 4 years of work.

Medical field is getting pretty hard to get into now because it's very competative, and they don't give chances, they want to pick the top of the line students simply because it's less risk, they're not getting anything extra benefit by adding more risk for the same amount of money.

I wish they would open more medical schools to let more people in, this situation is crap, short on medical field's worker and school isn't expanding fast enough.

 

[Farcus]

don't think pharmacy is a easy way into the health system. Its not easier than dental school and the admission is definitely not easier. I'm not gonna say if you can't get into dental school you can't get into pharmacy school but don't think for a second its easier.

 

[Farcus]

From my limited knowledge (not even a pre med student), this is how it normally works.

The acceptance is pretty much base on

GPA (grades):
PCAT (scores):
Extra activities:

You pretty much have to some how accumulate these 3 things to be in the "acceptable" zone to get in.

GPA: I think the average is pretty high (some where up in the 3.3+ for most school), although they probably want to look at your grades of the "meaty" courses like organic chem, genetics ect... So having a 3.0 on science courses would be slightly under average.

So I guess to make up for it you'll have to get your PCAT to be above average (not the national average but the average of those that get in)

And probably some extra activities relating to the field?

The GPA raising thing is a no no, according to the UC system a grade better than a C- will not get replace no matter what. So if you taken all the "require" courses your grade pretty much sticks. It's pretty hard to raise GPA when the total is accumulative from 4 years of work.

Medical field is getting pretty hard to get into now because it's very competative, and they don't give chances, they want to pick the top of the line students simply because it's less risk, they're not getting anything extra benefit by adding more risk for the same amount of money.

I wish they would open more medical schools to let more people in, this situation is crap, short on medical field's worker and school isn't expanding fast enough.

umm i don't want them opening more medical schools just so my doctor is a quack... Quality vs quantity, such there is a huge lack of doctors, especially southeast(i live here i know) but I wouldn't want them opening 3 new schools just so some dude with a 25mcat and a 3.0 can get in and cure my illness.

 

[clockwork247]

umm i don't want them opening more medical schools just so my doctor is a quack... Quality vs quantity, such there is a huge lack of doctors, especially southeast(i live here i know) but I wouldn't want them opening 3 new schools just so some dude with a 25mcat and a 3.0 can get in and cure my illness.

there are still quite alot of capable students who can't get in. The situation right now is that there isn't enough room for new students. Besides, if they can't take the work load they'll just drop out, no harm done.

 

[blue pill]

Schools told me I was not competitive enough because 3500 people apply to each dental school for about 100 seats...that's about 3% chance right?

I was checking the ratio for pharm schools...the max ratio of applicants to admit was about 18:1 (for UCSF, UCSD). That's 6% chance of getting in almost two times better that Dentschool. Even some schools have 7: 1 (14% chance ) Doesn't that make pharmacy school less competitve? or are there other factors that I am not aware of?

As already mentioned, the applicants:admissions ratio means nothing.

If I take all the prereqs for X school, making the bare minimum GPA for consideration (not even the cutoff), and have zero related volunteer or work experience... does that really make me competition? No, of course not. And you'd be surprised at how many people apply with this exact sort of portfolio.

Like the first reply said, I would re-apply to dental school. Just take some time off to mentally recuperate if necessary.

...and perhaps you should change your name to dentalgirl026. 😉

 

[mrblah]

I'd like to get some feedback please:

I've applied to dental school twice so far and I've been rejected each time. I've taken the the DAT three times 🙁, but I couldn't bring up my scores (I have slightly above average scores), my cumm. gpa is 3.3, sci: 2.97.

I am giving up on Dental school because I can't afford (emotionally and financially) being rejected again . I am wondering if I have a better chance at pharmacy schools? (I have two months working experience at a pharmacy). I'm from cali and my undergrad major is biochem from UC. I want to apply to cali schools because I don't want to take the PCAT. I'm tired of taking tests .

Should I just take scie classes at a 4-yr university to bring up my gpa or should I apply to a MS program? I'm so confused at this point. Please tell me what would you do if you were in my situation? tnx

I would retake classes to bring up your gpa, and do other things such as volunteering, etc.

As for whether or not you want to go into dental or pharmacy, you need to rethink your situation, and really focus on what you want to do.

 

[Garfield3d]

I would definitely retake some science classes. Let me be clear on this: Retake any prerequisite classes for pharmacy school that you did not get an A in. Start with your worst classes and work from there. Much like any professional school, while pharmacy schools will look at your overall GPA, they will also take note of your pre-pharmacy GPA and if that is particularly low (classes like microbio, organic, etc...) then your application will be very seriously impacted.

That should be your first order of business: Retake the pre-pharmacy classes of your lowest grade. If you've already graduated and you don't want to waste any money, retake your classes at a community college. Be certain to get an A when you retake the class.

As for experience, I would definitely continue to work at a pharmacy. By work, I hope you mean that you are a pharmacy technician. I volunteered at a hospital pharmacy for a semester, but much of my time there was spent filing papers and sorting medicine into bins. That experience paled in comparison to the experience that I had while working as a pharmacy technician at a retail pharmacy. Make sure that you're doing something meaningful in your pharmacy. Part-time is fine. The important part is getting some exposure in the field.

I would also highly recommend taking the PCAT. Pick up a study guide and start reading. Yes, it's a pain, but imagine the feeling of rejection simply because you restricted yourself to non-PCAT schools. And, many non-PCAT schools place heavy emphasis on a high GPA or impressive extracurricular activities.

Lastly, while getting an MS would look good, I wouldn't consider it unless you want to get a masters or if you feel that you genuinely have nothing else to do. You shouldn't get an MS just because you feel you need to occupy your time with an activity. It should be something that you sincerely want.

--Garfield

 

[Prepharm1214]

Well from the looks of your posts you seem interested in getting into a health field asap, and if that's the case you need to drop your limitation to only cali schools. You probably can get into pharmacy school with your current stats, and a decent pcat score, but not in California. So you can retake classes for a year or 2 trying to raise your gpa, to once again take a chance to get in at a california school. Or you can apply now elsewhere and have something in the near future that is concrete.

 

[dhong118]

I'd like to get some feedback please:

I've applied to dental school twice so far and I've been rejected each time. I've taken the the DAT three times 🙁, but I couldn't bring up my scores (I have slightly above average scores), my cumm. gpa is 3.3, sci: 2.97.

I am giving up on Dental school because I can't afford (emotionally and financially) being rejected again . I am wondering if I have a better chance at pharmacy schools? (I have two months working experience at a pharmacy). I'm from cali and my undergrad major is biochem from UC. I want to apply to cali schools because I don't want to take the PCAT. I'm tired of taking tests .

Should I just take scie classes at a 4-yr university to bring up my gpa or should I apply to a MS program? I'm so confused at this point. Please tell me what would you do if you were in my situation? tnx

I partially agree with some of the replies above. Your GPA is below the expected GPA for Cali schools, but I wouldn't say that you have no chance. Try retaking a couple classes and get some pharmacy experience. Also, make sure to apply early, for schools with rolling admissions.