What Are My Chances Of Getting Into Pharmacy School? Honestly?

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QUESTION:

So my first semesters of pre-pharm requisites were pretty rough, I was helping my mom through chemo and working full time and ended up with a 2.5 GPA (cumulative). I realized I wasn’t going to be the traditional 2 year pre-pharm student, so I opted to stay in college longer to get a 4 year degree. I will graduate in May 2010 with two degrees, BS- Biology and BSN (Nursing, which would make me eligible for RN licensure, for those of you not familiar). I busted the last couple years to raise my GPA to a 3.2 (cumulative) but with 200+ credits, it’s not going to budge much more.
As for the important pre-pharm coursework, I retook the first semester Ochem (I got a C originally) for a B+ and the Calculus (got a C there also) for an A. I am about to start second semester Ochem this summer. I have a C+ in physics I, I’m taking physics II in spring 2010. Did pretty well in everything else. The last 80-90 credits or so, my semester GPA was between 3.5-4.0. I made the Dean’s List four times.
In addition, I have lots of pharmacy experience, 5 years at Walgreens and 3 years in hospital setting as a tech. I think the two bachelors degrees, one of which is health-care related, is definitely a positive. Although, I’ve gotten mixed reviews about having the nursing degree and applying to pharmacy school, people say “how do they know you want to be a pharmacist?” But I do want to be a pharmacist, I really, really do. My letters of reference are outstanding. My PCAT was 94%. I’m applying to two state schools and alot of private schools. I’ve already started prepping for interview questions.
But honestly, I would appreciate any/all feedback to know what my chances are going into the whole thing. I want to have reasonable expectations in case I am disappointed later. Thanks!

3 Comments so far

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PE2008 on November 1, 2009 4:13 pm
You’ll be competitive, but as you know the competition is brutal. Perhaps you need to think about a fallback plan. The obvious one is Nurse Practitioner.
See also the following with similar pre-requisites to Pharmacy:
Osteopathy
Optometry
Audiology
Physician’s Assistant (?)

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magus666 on November 1, 2009 4:27 pm
You’ll get in. If that’s what you really want. I attend UFCOP a top ten national school and got in with similar stats. It does mean a lot more time in school and there are lucrative nursing jobs you could have in 2 years of part time school, but I digress.
You will definitely get interviews. Just have an answer ready for the following questions:
“What originally made you pursue a nursing degree”
“Why did you decide against practicing nursing”
If you can navigate your way around those questions you should be fine.

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Pharmer on November 1, 2009 5:15 pm
With your life experiences, work experience, a positive trend in your grades, excellent PCAT scores, and large work course load (two majors), I know you will get into many of the top programs. At the interview and in your essays, make sure you speak about your family problems (your mother’s condition may also tie into why you want to pursue pharmacy which would further strengthen your application) and also explain your decision to switch from nursing to pharmacy. Be familiar with the type of careers available and what you are interested in for your interviews. By performing well on your interviews, I honestly think that you are an ideal candidate at every single pharmacy school.
If you don’t know about the SDN interview feedback section already, it lists real questions asked at interviews at all the pharmacy schools ( http://more.studentdoctor.net/schoollist… ) which will help you prepare for your interviews.
PharmApplicants.com ( http://www.pharmapplicants.com ) is an applicant database for pharmacy school applicants , and you can create a profile or search the existing ones to see what it takes to get accepted to different pharmacy schools. Creating a profile and tracking your progress through 2010 can help future pre-pharm students
good luck!!

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What Are My Chances Of Getting Into Pharmacy School? Honestly?

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