<p>Where were you considering applying before? Although your grades seem lower than most pre-pharms, you should check into the gpa thing before you change your plans, imo! Especially if your SAT/ACT scores are decent! </p>
<p>For most pharmacy schools, you can do your pre-pharm courses anywhere and it doesn't really make a difference. This doesn't apply to 0+6 programs or some 2+4 schools that give strong guarantees to their own pre-pharms as they generally have, if any, few spots for transfers.They will be looking hard at your GPA, PCAT scores, LOR's, etc. But the required prereq's vary by school, though they will all require chem, o-chem, bio, etc. Try to look at PharmD programs you'd be interested in and make sure you fulfill those requirements. Some programs seem to be moving toward taking more transfers with a B.S. degree, although I don't think that's a requirement. Also, you should think about getting pharmacy experience, even in a volunteer or job shadowing setting.</p>
<p>I apologize in advance for miss spellings and run-on sentences; it is 5am.</p>
<p>I didn't finish school beyond 8th grade (due to serious medical issues), and ended up with my GED. I have been in Community College since Fall of '06 and will be graduating with my Associates in Liberal Arts in December. I applied (twice) to the University of Georgia - once as a transfer with <60 (stricter requirements) credits in chemistry and pre-pharmacy and was accepted for this semester (fall '08) but I decided to stay on at my CC to complete my associates first. I am now transferring to UGA this spring majoring in Psychology and completing pre-pharm requirements. My main reasons for choosing UGA were that they have a pharmacy school (they have advisors that know specifics about requirements and getting into pharm school) and, at the time I applied, I had a bf that lied down there (no longer true, it ended badly - but when I went down there I seriously did like the area). Other schools I looked into were Massachusetts college of pharmacy and health sciences (only accept students as freshmen or as pharmacy transfers after all pre-pharm requirements are finished and pcats are taken). Also University of the sciences in Philadelphia, Temple in Philadelphia, Albany college of Pharmacy in NY and Emory University; among others. My GPA isn't the best ever (8.64) but I was accepted quickly, and all of my class credits from my CC transferred.</p>
<p>Your biggest worry would be if your community college's credits transfer to any other schools, which ones, and how well. I was lucky, a few years ago my CC teamed up with UVM to make all of their classes able to transfer credit for credit there (too many complaints when they didn't before) and by association that made them acceptable at pretty much every other college in the country. And yes, you could complete all pre-pharm courses in a CC if they offered them all, and if you made sure they were up to par with other colleges. I went to the MCPHS, USP, and UGA pharmacy school sites and found lists of required classes to take before getting in. They are all pretty much the same, and after calling many a school, they all say you don't need a degree to get in (only the pre-reqs done), but most students who get in have a degree from a previous university. Also, I was told they take students of any and all majors (no need to focus on pre-pharm if the school you enter offers it as a major) and actually don't care if you focus on chem or medicine in college, and some actually said they rather diversity in majors.</p>
<p>It's all in the pre-reqs!</p>
<p><em>edit</em> Oh, just read the other reply. I second getting pharmacy experience. You should be sure it's what you really want to do before you invest years of your life into it. I was a pharmacy tech, and only ever entertained the idea of pharmacy school after suggestions from supervisors and a couple of trainers who came down from corporate egged me into checking it out in schools. I will thank them forever because I really think it is a great fit based on that I was aiming for the medical field but something that was outside of hospitals (and paid well). But without experience, sometimes one will later be surprised at how boring and monotonous a day in the life of a pharmacist can be (if in retail). Also, the amount of hours they are overworked due to the shortage is crazy (up in VT it is a huge issue.) Sometimes the companies try pretty hard to jerk them around too, but all in all I enjoyed working in the pharmacy and could bother to do it the rest of my life; just not on a techs salary.</p>