Where should I applu

[wannabeapharm]

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I am wanting to become a PharmD and hopefully get into academia. However my gpa sucks and I don't know what to do?

Should I get a masters degree? My job would pay for it if I do...If I just go take courses which are the pre reqs I need...I will have to pay for those or get a student loan?

Which is best? Also, I need about 7 pre reqs and I am starting ( I want to) them this summer but I want to apply for Pharm school for fall 2006. Do I have a chance or what school would I have a good chance of getting into? I've a 2.71 gpa now

 

[Z e r o X]

I have around the same gpa but I heard you don't need a good gpa to get into pharm school. My friend told me sat scores are more important.

 

[Glycerin]

I am wanting to become a PharmD and hopefully get into academia. However my gpa sucks and I don't know what to do?

Should I get a masters degree? My job would pay for it if I do...If I just go take courses which are the pre reqs I need...I will have to pay for those or get a student loan?

Which is best? Also, I need about 7 pre reqs and I am starting ( I want to) them this summer but I want to apply for Pharm school for fall 2006. Do I have a chance or what school would I have a good chance of getting into? I've a 2.71 gpa now

wannabeapharm,

Welcome to the forum. 🙂 This forum is an excellent resource that can be beneficial while completing your prerequisites and during the application process. First of all, I encourage you to review our FAQs (the link to the FAQ can be found in my signature), particularly to this thread and the Preparing To Apply section.

Right now, your GPA is not considered competitive, but there have been people, myself included, with lower GPAs that have made a complete turn around in their academic demonstrations. You are on the right track by retaking courses in which you scored less than ideal and beginning your prerequisites this summer.

On that note, since you are beginning your prerequisites this summer, you may or may not want to apply for fall 2006. I say "may not" because, depending on to which school you apply and how early you submit your application, you will not be able to submit your summer and fall grades through PharmCAS until their Academic Update in January 2006. By that time, some schools have already given some consideration to applicants. However, if you do decide to apply for fall 2006, my suggestion to you is to not submit your application through PharmCAS (if you apply to any PharmCAS schools) until AFTER your summer grades are in. It is important to boost your GPA as much as you can prior to applying.

On applying - apply as early as you can (i.e. as soon as your summer grades are available). Early application can be to your advantage when you apply to pharmacy school. You want to apply to any public school in your state (as they accept more in-state students than out-of-state. You also want to apply to schools that use rolling admissions, since these schools begin to review and possibly invite for interviews students who's application are in first. Basically, it's first come, first serve. Also, private schools, while more expensive, do not usually have an in-state/out-of-state preference, so apply to those as well. You can visit AACP and PharmCAS (both links are in the FAQ) to learn which schools fall into these categories.

And finally, the best thing to remember is you CAN do it. It may take more time than you are initially planning, but the important things are to do your best and to not give up. It won't hurt to try to apply for fall 2006 entrance, but realize that it may take reapplying to finally begin pharmacy school.

Hope this helped. 🙂

 

[wannabeapharm]

THanks...So I am not supposed to apply directly thru the school of choice?
Alot of the pre pharm courses differ for each school so it is otugh to decide what classes I need...Also should I begin my pre pharm courses and onl repeat the pre pharm courses I have already taken with low grades? I got D's in Pre Cal and Calculus and C's in English I,II. So are you saying oyu have to have all your classes completed before applying? What schools you think I may be a good candidate for? There are only 3 Pharm schools here in GA: UGA,Mercer and South University.

So are you in Pharm School yet? This is something I want ot do but I am now 23 and I feel I will be old when and if I do get in...near or at 30yrs old when/if I get an opportunity to complete this program.

wannabeapharm,

Welcome to the forum. 🙂 This forum is an excellent resource that can be beneficial while completing your prerequisites and during the application process. First of all, I encourage you to review our FAQs (the link to the FAQ can be found in my signature), particularly to this thread and the Preparing To Apply section.

Right now, your GPA is not considered competitive, but there have been people, myself included, with lower GPAs that have made a complete turn around in their academic demonstrations. You are on the right track by retaking courses in which you scored less than ideal and beginning your prerequisites this summer.

On that note, since you are beginning your prerequisites this summer, you may or may not want to apply for fall 2006. I say "may not" because, depending on to which school you apply and how early you submit your application, you will not be able to submit your summer and fall grades through PharmCAS until their Academic Update in January 2006. By that time, some schools have already given some consideration to applicants. However, if you do decide to apply for fall 2006, my suggestion to you is to not submit your application through PharmCAS (if you apply to any PharmCAS schools) until AFTER your summer grades are in. It is important to boost your GPA as much as you can prior to applying.

On applying - apply as early as you can (i.e. as soon as your summer grades are available). Early application can be to your advantage when you apply to pharmacy school. You want to apply to any public school in your state (as they accept more in-state students than out-of-state. You also want to apply to schools that use rolling admissions, since these schools begin to review and possibly invite for interviews students who's application are in first. Basically, it's first come, first serve. Also, private schools, while more expensive, do not usually have an in-state/out-of-state preference, so apply to those as well. You can visit AACP and PharmCAS (both links are in the FAQ) to learn which schools fall into these categories.

And finally, the best thing to remember is you CAN do it. It may take more time than you are initially planning, but the important things are to do your best and to not give up. It won't hurt to try to apply for fall 2006 entrance, but realize that it may take reapplying to finally begin pharmacy school.

Hope this helped. 🙂

 

[Glycerin]

THanks...So I am not supposed to apply directly thru the school of choice?

This depends on each school. ~43 schools currently go through PharmCAS and the rest do not. Visit PharmCAS' website to see which ones participate and which do not. For the non-PharmCAS schools, you apply directly to them.

Alot of the pre pharm courses differ for each school so it is otugh to decide what classes I need...

That's the unfortunate thing about applying to school. School A may only require 60 hours of prereqs, but School B may require 90 hours. What most people who apply to multiple schools do is take the maximum amount of prerequisites so that all of the schools' prereqs are fulfilled. Later, if they are accepted to a school that didn't require all of those prereqs, then they just ended up taking classes they really didn't need to take, but that's the name of the game.

Also should I begin my pre pharm courses and onl repeat the pre pharm courses I have already taken with low grades? I got D's in Pre Cal and Calculus and C's in English I,II. So are you saying oyu have to have all your classes completed before applying?

Yes, retake those classes in which you made C's and D's. You don't have to have your prerequisites completed prior to applying, but you need to make sure that you will have them finished prior to the fall of 2006. Some schools even require that prerequisites are to be completed by the end of the spring semester prior to matriculation.

What schools you think I may be a good candidate for? There are only 3 Pharm schools here in GA: UGA,Mercer and South University.

I honestly can't tell you that, since I am not on their admissions committees. My advice is to call each one and ask to speak with an admissions counselor.

So are you in Pharm School yet? This is something I want ot do but I am now 23 and I feel I will be old when and if I do get in...near or at 30yrs old when/if I get an opportunity to complete this program.

I'm 26 and will begin pharmacy school this coming August. I will be 30 when I graduate, and I plan to at least do one residency, which means I'll finally be able to "work" when I'm 31. I hardly consider that old. 😉 There are many pharmacy students, some of which frequent this forum, who are in their mid-30s to late 40s. 👍

Again, read the FAQs. Many of these questions and concerns are addressed there. 🙂

 

[imperial frog]

So are you in Pharm School yet? This is something I want ot do but I am now 23 and I feel I will be old when and if I do get in...near or at 30yrs old when/if I get an opportunity to complete this program.

I'll be 42 when I graduate and I'm not the oldest in the class. Yeah there will be a lot of students younger than you, but 30 isn't that old.

 

[Glycerin]

One more thing - I meant to add that you may also want to apply to the schools that will be opening for the first time in 2006. The brand new schools tend to have less weight on GPAs, but just be aware that as the pool of applicants increases and becomes more competitive, so will admissions to these schools.