<p>I have a question about going into pharmacy. If you want a PharmD, can you only go to those universities that have pharmacy schools (i.e. Rutgers Pharmacy)? I've been looking at ivys (upenn, cornell, columbia) and none of them have pharmacy majors.</p>
<p>You can do your pre-reqs anywhere. Including a community college if you wanted to. I think soe schools prefer it if you did the pre reqs at their school but for most schools its not a requirement. you can also look into 0 to 6 programs.</p>
<p>I have a lot of questions about the PharmD process. My kid is in prepharm and will be applying next year. Is it recommended to take the PCAT more than once, or not? Which PCAT session is recommended?</p>
<p>What's a good score on the PCATs? </p>
<p>Can somebody walk me through the timeline for this process? I'm assuming DS will get a lot of info from the prepharm club and his advisors, but I'd like to understand the process too. </p>
<p>He has a pharm guarantee (assuming grades stay good) at his college, but is also considering thinking about trying to apply to a few other schools. When are pharmacy school applications due -- same as colleges, in the Fall?</p>
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I have a question about going into pharmacy. If you want a PharmD, can you only go to those universities that have pharmacy schools (i.e. Rutgers Pharmacy)? I've been looking at ivys (upenn, cornell, columbia) and none of them have pharmacy majors.
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<p>There is no such thing as a pharmacy major. Like medicine, it's composed of a set of courses that students take in order to apply for admission. Yes, you can go to the elite schools and then apply to the top pharmacy programs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have a lot of questions about the PharmD process. My kid is in prepharm and will be applying next year. Is it recommended to take the PCAT more than once, or not? Which PCAT session is recommended?</p>
<p>What's a good score on the PCATs? </p>
<p>Can somebody walk me through the timeline for this process? I'm assuming DS will get a lot of info from the prepharm club and his advisors, but I'd like to understand the process too. </p>
<p>He has a pharm guarantee (assuming grades stay good) at his college, but is also considering thinking about trying to apply to a few other schools. When are pharmacy school applications due -- same as colleges, in the Fall?
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A good PCAT score depends on which programs you are applying to. Different programs have different averages which can be found on their respective websites. For the best schools, obviously in the 90s would be preferable, but for most schools, 80s is the benchmark at which you are given consideration leaning towards the low 70s to be the absolute minimum. Note that not all schools require the PCAT - which is mostly California.
A list of the school rankings can be found here. Search</a> - Pharmacy - Best Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report
Do note that one should not hairsplit which schools are specifically listed where; rather it is used to gain an idea as to how recognized the school is relatively within pharmacy academia. As you can tell the schools are scattered everywhere. It's extremely difficult (if you are given an interview offer) to visit and interview with every school, as I had to fly out to North Carolina, San Francisco, Wisconsin, and LA before I tired of the process. I declined the rest of my interviews once I knew I had gotten into a place where I would be happy above all else.</p>
<p>Typically students CAN apply to pharmacy school after two years of prerequisite coursework completion, but very few students get in nowadays without a bachelors degree. That is increasingly seen as a positive attribute on an application, although it will take some time I believe (decades maybe) before pharmacy schools begin mandating a bachelors as a necessary component for admission. People should take the PCAT once they have taken most of the material in their classes (biology, chemistry, orgo, calculus, anatomy/physiology). I don't know when the best time is to take the test, but I took it in January 2 years ago because I had the winter break to study for it. Pharmacy applications are usually done through PharmCAS and have different dates for submission, many of them have their deadlines to be in november, but you should check on the dates. It takes a very long time to assemble the necessary components such as the letters of recommendation, so it's always wise to prepare a few months in advance.</p>