Okay so heres my predicament. I’m 17, haven’t taken SAT or ACT (scheduled to take act feb 10th but couldn’t take the October sat due to an anxiety attack during the test 8-| ) anyways, my GPA is a 3.25 I’m interested in biology and like pharmacy and optometry but am not 100% ready to commit to either. My parents are completely against me just doing biology in general because they fear I wont be able to transfer into optometry or pharmacy school. I should also add, I don’t want to do retail pharmacy. The only reason I would do pharmacy is to be a pharmacy rep (which by the way if anyone has any info on pharmacy rep or transferring that’d be great). I really need advice. Its January and I’ve applied to one college, which hasn’t even looked at my application because they need test scores, which I don’t currently have. Please help!
Optometry and Pharmacy normally are graduate programs. You won’t transfer. You will need to apply for admission after you finish college. You can study whatever you like, and still apply to Optometry or Pharmacy school. You just need to be certain to get the right pre-Opt/pre-Pharm coursework. So check the websites of the Optometry and Pharmacy schools in your state to get an idea of what you will need to cover in college. You don’t neeid to specifically commit to either of those for quite some time because many of the required courses are the same.
Not all pharmaceutical reps have degrees in pharmacy. A solid degree in biology and an interest in business would probably be enough.
First of all however, you need to deal with the anxiety issue. There are plenty of places out there that don’t require ACT or SAT scores for admission ( http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional ), but you will have lots of tough exams once you get into college, and depending on how your after-college plans turn out, you may have to face more standardized exams such as the GRE, GMAT, etc. Do you have a formal IEP or 504 plan for your anxiety? If so, go through the steps to get accommodations on the ACT/SAT before you take it. If you can’t get things sorted out in time to apply to college this year, don’t worry about it. Take a gap year, and apply for fall 2019.
In the past, pharma rep was a very desirable field. You might want to ask around to see if that is still true; as many expensive drugs have gone off-patent, big pharma has cut its marketing budget. You certainly don’t need a pharmacy degree to be a pharma rep; you just need to be smart enough to memorize the company’s marketing materials. It is a sales job which companies often look to athletes and cheerleaders to fill.