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Will Pharm Tech certification help my application?
- Thread starter KristenN
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KristenN said:
It depends on the school and what they look at. At UF when I applied I believe they specifically mentioned that they don't initially consider anything other than their minimum requirements because it puts everyone on a level playing field, otherwise people who didn't have pharmacy experience would have almost no chance of getting in. I think where it would have some weight would be if they were trying to decide if pharmacy was the right career choice for you.
I can't say for other schools.
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imperial frog said:
Technician certification is a nice extra bonus, but I doubt it really helps your candidacy tremendously. So I wouldn't bother w/ the test unless you plan to take it for job placement potential if you have to work as a tech while in pharmacy school. The test itself is somewhat helpful w/ some of the pharm calculations you may see in 1st semester and just familiarizing yourself w/ other operational procedures and some brand/generic names. However, they will just be looking for previous pharmacy experience so certification is nice, but won't hurt you if you don't have it. I was certified as a tech 2 yrs prior to applying to pharmacy school as it was the best way to support myself and assist in paying for school. The focus will still be on your grades in
pre-pharm so certification and/or any other outside of school activities will be considered extracurricular and will be better used to express how well rounded you are as an individual, but if yourr grades aren't competitive then all of the extracurriculars are null and void.
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KristenN said:
It's a nice thing to have. It should raise your hourly rate at retail pharmacies. I have mine and got into one school so far. I don't know if it helped, but I think it looks good.
I'd say go for it.
Chris
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KristenN said:
I'm guessing you are planning on applying for 2007?! If that's the case, then I would go ahead and do it. If you have applied to schools for 2006, there would be no point this late in the admissions cycle.
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KristenN said:
If I were in your case, I would definitely go for it. I took a 6 month vocation class to receive my pharmacy technician certificate. It allowed me to have more exposure to the pharmacy field, since I was not able to find volunteer work. Your pre-requisite grades are of course important, but your taking the time and effort to do something extra in getting the certificate would show the school that you have initiative and you have found a means to find out more about this profession on your own. I cannot say that getting a certificate will definitely get you into a school, but it may be more appealing to them. Good luck!
Wow, thank you all so much for the input, it definitely helps me decide what to do. My GPA isn't the highest, so I guess it couldn't hurt me to get certified.
