<p>I live in New York and planning on going to St. Johns for the pharmacy program.</p>
<p>I'm a junior at Stuyvesant High School with a GPA of 76.
I have no extra curricular activities.
Never had part-time job.
Have probably around 60 hours of volunteer. </p>
<p>What are my chances of getting in here? And what other schools should i look at?</p>
<p>do they require test scores because if they don't I don't think you have a shot unless you have some fantastic excuse to explain your poor grades and lack of involvement</p>
<p>Last year acceptances at SJU pharmacy had an ave. gpa of 94 and ave. SAT (math & cr) of 1330. They had over 3,000 applicants to the pharm program, and only 300 admissions. This is not unusual for pharm programs - it's very competitive and fairly difficult to get into (and stay in) one.</p>
<p>Why the low grades? Hopefully they're more from your freshman year and are showing an upward trend. If you haven't already, you need to work on good time management and study skills now! You're only a junior so you still have a good chance to improve - make sure you're taking honors/ap level courses, especially in sciences and math, and get your GPA up as high as possible. Take the SAT early in case you need to retake it. See if you can do some healthcare/pharmacy volunteering, shadowing - ask your guidance counselor about programs your school can offer to help set this up. This will help you get a better idea of what pharmacy is like, give you something to write about in your essay, and also may get you a good letter of recommedation. Get involved in something you like and stay in it! EC's are not usually a big factor in pre-pharmacy admissions but healthcare/pharm experience usually counts!</p>
<p>Finally, plan to apply in early fall next year - SJU has rolling admissions. Also start researching other pharmacy programs. There are 0-6 programs like SJU which admit kids from high school and "reserve" a spot for them in the PharmD program, provided they meet ongoing gpa and other requirements. SJU is currently the only NYS school with 0-6, but LIU, Albany College of Pharmacy, and University of Buffalo (SUNY) have 2+4 programs. LIU in Brooklyn has a strong preference for their own prepharm's (again, gpa is important) but requires you take the PCAT and reapply to PharmD, usually in your second year. ACP does basically the same but has a larger program. UB has a "conditional" acceptance - if your gpa is in the 3.7-4.0 range for prepharm, they'll give you a seat. If it's 3.5-3.7 you need to take the PCAT but I believe get some preference. Under 3.5, you have no guarantee but can apply like any other student across the country.</p>
<p>So, if you don't have the grades to get into a 0-6 and you're sure pharmacy is what you want, you can take your prepharm courses at any school, then take the PCAT, and apply to PharmD programs later. If you're only looking for a 0-6 program there are about 15 programs nationwide which offer this in some form or another - I don't know much about some of them but in the northeast MCPHS in Boston could be your best chance if you end up with a slightly below average gpa. A list and much other info on pharmacy schools and the profession can be found on this forum:
Pre-Pharmacy</a> FAQ: schools, applications, the profession, useful links, etc - Student Doctor Network Forums</p>
<p>I know this is long - hope it helps a bit - good luck and stay focused!</p>