when deciding schools, do you guys look at GPA?

[kies89]

i am getting my list of pharmacy schools to apply for upcoming cycle

i use pharmcas list of pharmacy schools to do this

but when i decide which schools to apply, Should i first look at avg GPA to get rid of schools i wont be applying?

my gpa is around 3.2 both overall and science

for example, UCSD has 3.7 avg GPA according to pharmcas.

.5 GPA gap seems to be a lot, should i not apply to UCSD in this case?

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[HuaFace]

I think you should mainly focus on the minimum prerequisites for schools (GPA/PCAT score cutoffs) since some schools wont even look at your application if you fall below the minimum. Averages are good indicators of the ballpark GPA range, but keep in mind they are still averages, with values ranging from both extremes. Don't let it discourage you from trying to apply for reach schools! (at the same time it's good to be realistic and apply to safe schools too) Adcoms look at you entirely in EC and LoR so even if your GPA isnt strong as the average, you can still be a competitive candidate.

For myself, I was lucky to have a lot of EC padding to get into my reach school. My GPA falls ~0.5ish short of the average accepted applicant, and I'm pretty sure I'm a gosh darn lucky outlier in their data.

 

[kies89]

I think you should mainly focus on the minimum prerequisites for schools (GPA/PCAT score cutoffs) since some schools wont even look at your application if you fall below the minimum. Averages are good indicators of the ballpark GPA range, but keep in mind they are still averages, with values ranging from both extremes. Don't let it discourage you from trying to apply for reach schools! (at the same time it's good to be realistic and apply to safe schools too) Adcoms look at you entirely in EC and LoR so even if your GPA isnt strong as the average, you can still be a competitive candidate.

For myself, I was lucky to have a lot of EC padding to get into my reach school. My GPA falls ~0.5ish short of the average accepted applicant, and I'm pretty sure I'm a gosh darn lucky outlier in their data.

thanks!
just wondering, what kind of EC you had?
and how important is LoR? when i get LoR i cant even look at them to see if they wrote me well or not, right?

 

[HuaFace]

thanks!
just wondering, what kind of EC you had?
and how important is LoR? when i get LoR i cant even look at them to see if they wrote me well or not, right?

Jr year undergrad: 100 hours in emergency dept volunteering
Sr year undergrad: ~350hours in hospital pharm volunteering and ~1k hours as research volunteer
Gap year: Volunteering/tech at small independent pharm

My only leadership experience was as a club officer for the Vietnamese club at my college, and even though it wasnt excessive or that extravagant, it allowed for me to answer interview questions adequately
LoR it is hard to say since yeah, you're never sure what kind of content is in them. One of my interviewers however, told me that my writers have said good things about me, I responded with awkward wonder lol. I got 3 letters from pharmacists I had worked with, and 1 letter from my research professor.