<p>I'll be total honest here
except the fact that I was sick my freshman year
so far I have 3.65 GPA and I'll be a senior.
I have ACT score of 25.
I want to get into 0+6 Pharmacy program so much.
USP
MCPHS
Northeastern
St.Johns
Rutgers
URI
If 0+6 is hard, then 2+4 can work too.
Buffalo
Purdue
UGA
etc..
WEll, I had this terrible teacher my junior year so I got C in my honors math class.
Do I have any chance???
I get very nervous bc its about the time.
Im an Asian who lives in NJ.
Thankx</p>
<p>anyone....
this is very important to me..
I wish everyone who went to pharmD program will answer this question..
THANX</p>
<p>I think your best chance right now is at MCPHS Boston, followed by USP. But I haven't looked at URI, Rutgers, or Northeastern in detail. Your stats are below St John's (94 gpa/1330 sat) from last year and they have an unbelievable number of applicants for their program, hence a very low admit rate (8-9%). You do have the in-state advantage at Rutgers, which has a reputation of being very tough to get into, but I don't know their average acceptances. As I'm sure you've found, the overall stats for a given college don't reflect their pharmacy program at all!</p>
<p>You're smart to put the 0-6's at the top and to have a plan B in place. Watch the min. grade requirements, pcat's, etc. at the 2+4 - UB is extremely high and doesn't give preference to their own students who don't make the early assurance cutoff. A 3.5 in pre-pharm can be difficult to maintain.</p>
<p>Suggestions:
Retake the ACT and try for a higher score - 28 would make you much more attractive. You can touch on the freshman illnes in your essay but don't dwell on the low gpa thing! A C in one math class is not unheard of - some teachers grade tough and some go out and leave an inept sub to teach. </p>
<p>Add a few other schools to your list, like Duquesne maybe.</p>
<p>If you can't visit in person, email the admissions offices and inquire what the average GPA and SAT/ACT score was for their incoming pre-pharmacy class. Expect GPA and test scores to count very heavily (75-90%) in their decision, along with class rank and curriculum. Do keep in mind the earlier you apply the better chance you'll have (many schools are rolling and almost all take lower spectrum applicants at the beginning of the admissions cycle) and that quite a few people were below the "average" or it wouldn't be an average or mean rate!</p>
<p>Try to get some pharmacy experience! Even shadowing a pharmacist counts and is a good way to come up with the dreaded essay material as well as a LOR, hopefully! Check with your GC for help setting this up - my D's small public school has a program to do this and yours may too. Pharmacy schools generally don't want alot of supplementary material but an extra LOR or two about relevant experience is usually considered.</p>
<p>Read/post on this forum - many pharmacy students here:
Student</a> Doctor Network Forums</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks sk8rmom you are very help and knowledgeable in prepharm stuff.</p>
<p>racer - You're very welcome. Are you still thinking St John's? Did you look at LIU or USP in Philly? LIU has a guaranteed seat and preference for their own students but I haven't looked at it in detail lately. Would that be convenient to commute to Brooklyn?</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, you like research and USP seems to be known for that - lots of phamaceutical co there connections I think. Your scores might get you a $7-9K scholarship there and, if I'm reading their site correctly, USP doesn't consider pharmD's to be grad students until their 6th year - not sure about the others but that could be significant in terms of fin aid. There's a USP student on the SDN forums ('bacchus") who is very knowledgeable and willing to share info on USP if you have any interest.</p>
<p>Sk8rmom, St. John's is deff my first choice hands down. By looking at the stats of the upcoming class I believe it will be very difficult for me to get it. The thing that makes me stand out the most is two years of research at yale but I don't know if it will have a dramatic effect on my application.</p>
<p>Besides St. John's I like ACP. I didnt really look into USP but is there any pcat required? I don't really like LIU because of that.</p>
<p>Yeah, St John's looks like a good program - it's my D's top pick at the moment too, so hope you BOTH get in! She's just waiting to take the ACT in Sept and hoping to get a 28-30. BTW, it looks like they have a nice merit scholarship ($20K) for 3.5 gpa and 1250 SAT (around 28 ACT), roughly the same requirements as for Honors College. Make sure you write an application essay, it's strongly recommended for pharm anyway and that would be a great place for the research work to shine! Send in applicable LOR's too if you've got them - I believe they'll consider extras as long as it's not an overwhelming amount!</p>
<p>We visited ACP and have talked with dozens of kids who went there. They all speak very highly of the program. Don't know if you've visited there yet so I'll give you my little review:</p>
<p>The school itself is very small - maybe 6 buildings, has very nice facilities, and there are other colleges on both sides (Albany Law and Sage). I think all of the buildings, including the dining hall, have quiet study rooms. Dorms (3 buildings) are available all 6 years and are separated into freshmen, soph, then upperclass. Soph dorm looks newest and is multi-storied and the other two are 1-2 floors and seem to be converted from other buildings (hotels or apts maybe?) but are renovated inside. Upper have apartment style suites. The freshman dorm is a bit of a walk but the rooms are very big with hotel style closets and private bathrooms. Most are doubles - there are quads which are two room, same size as doubles, but share a bathroom.</p>
<p>ACP is not 0-6 school anymore - in 2009 they'll switch to 2+4. Then students have to maintain a 3.0, take the PCAT (but score requirement is low, like 30%), and interview (not a big deal - just to make sure nobody's there just for the salary or because their parents want them to be a pharm). </p>
<p>In addition to having an outstanding NAPLEX pass rate, the good thing about Albany is that they seem really committed to keeping their students in the program - ie. don't admit more than they can handle in the professional years and offer loads of tutoring/mentoring. I believe they were placed on probation this year for their high attrition rate so they're really working on keeping students in the program. They also include a Gateway tablet notebook in freshmen tuition, which is a great tool/teaching aid. Everybody has the same thing and there's a Gateway repair facility on campus where they can loan/fix your computer very quickly at no charge. The downside to ACP is the financial aid, I hear there's little merit money and tough to get (top 10% of applicant pool) - last year merit was around a 95 average w/1850 SAT. ACP's admissions criteria is weighted something like: 10% class rank, 40% SAT/ACT, 40% unweighted GPA (they recalculate gpa and use Eng, Sci, Math, SS, and Language courses only), and 10% Regents test scores. They accept roughly 750 and enroll 325 freshman - 280 for PharmD (about 100 through ED). Apparently this is a firm 325 - if too many enroll, it's based on the date you send in your decision/deposit. Last year's ave SAT was 1750, with 92 hs average (or maybe "ACP" recalc average?), obviously strong in math. Their admissions folks are very approachable and will respond thoughfully to emails!</p>
<p>We haven't been to Philly yet but have looked at USP in detail. USP is a 0-6 school with a PCAT requirement and a minimum cum of 2.7 (2.3 for math/science) to stay in. Probably one of the most expensive 0-6's, but merit money is available to some extent (up to around $9K/year). They do, however, consider you an undergrad for financial aid until your last year which, if you qualify for federal aid, could be a big plus. USP seems to be well connected to the pharm companies and are known for research so, again, your research experience could be beneficial if you send in some supplementary material. I believe their average acceptances recently were around 3.5 gpa, 1230 SAT (27 ACT), so you should definitely be in good shape there. There is a 2 year housing contract, the dorms are decent, and the food is fresh, not prepackaged food service stuff (this from a current student). They have a very simple 2 page app, no essay, but are a rolling school and many pharm spots may be gone by November. They waive the $45 fee for online apps by 12/1.</p>
<p>I know it's a pain to look at PCAT requirements - my D was initially opposed to this too - but if they're only requiring you to score in the 25-40% range it probably isn't that difficult! (Or shouldn't be if doing the work and not lapping the minimum?!) Anyway, there are review classes and books (yes, I hear the groans already....) </p>
<p>You might also look at MCPHS in Boston, no PCAT there, and fairly high acceptance rate!</p>
<p>Sorry this is so long, but hope it's info you all can use! Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the update!
It was very helpful. O darn it. I hate how they are switching to 2+4 year program. That really sucks because now I really hope I get into St. John's. I didn't visit acp and don't really plan on doing so either after hearing about the new format. MCPHS looks like my next big bet.</p>
<p>Did you apply to SJU yet? I'm sure MCPHS would love to have you too - and you probably won't have any trouble getting an offer. Did you see that they have Early Action by 11/15? BTW, they do have a rep of weeding people out (accepting more than they can really graduate) but I don't know if it applies only to the transfer students in Worcester or to the 0-6 kids in Boston. And, God knows, rumors can be totally wrong but might be something to check on....</p>
<p>What is it that you don't like about the PCAT requirement? I worry that you're limiting yourself to just a few schools and that might bite you! And there are so few that don't require it, even of their guaranteed seat students, that I wouldn't be surprised if the few that don't change their requirement in the next few years. So, maybe think about it as possibly a necessary evil and apply to schools you think you'll really like spending 6 years of your life at! If there's something scary about the PCATs, maybe the prepharms at SDN could answer a few questions for you.</p>
<p>St John's is one of the schools D's not visiting unless they accept (USP is the other) so please share your impressions of their campus if you've been there!</p>
<p>One additional thing D is wondering about and might be a concern to you too if you're planning to stay here - is it tough to pass the NY Compounding Exam if you haven't been trained at a NY school? Since NY is one of the few states with this requirement I haven't found anyone to answer that. Seven years out and she's already worried about licensing exams! What's the term for test phobia again?!</p>