<p>i got into suny buffalo as a pre-pharmacy "major," planning to apply to the pharmacy school. can i switch my major to something else, and still be able to apply to the pharmacy school? and should i?
what difference would it make?</p>
<p>pharmacy is very competitive. i am not sure of the exact qualifications to be “officially” accepted into the program. a lot of people switch out- i know someone who switched to psychology within the first few weeks of school (couldn’t manage to get a great grade in chemistry 101)-- that is another thing, i think your gpa needs to be above a 3.5 and you cannot get a C in any course that you take. but yeah you can apply to the pharm school after two years (i think) and can switch majors anytime. i could be wrong about a bunch of stuff so if anyone else has any answers feel free to post them.</p>
<p>The benefit to being a prepharm major is that you don’t have to take the PCAT exam and you’re guaranteed an interview if your grades are above a 3.5 in your math and science classes. Since getting a pharmacy school interview is competitive, these are both nice advantages to being a declared prepharm major at UB. There is also a mail-list for prepharm majors, and you’ll get emails about prepharmacy activities and deadlines.</p>
<p>There are a lot of prepharm prerequisites. You can switch to another major and still apply to pharmacy school, but you might find it difficult to take classes in something else and still meet the pharmacy prerequisites. A lot of major-switching does occur from the students who come in as declared prepharm majors. As already pointed out, some of the science and math classes work as “weed-out” classes too. The chem and bio classes are large and are graded on a curve. Some kids fall off the curve the first semester. The second semester catches a lot of kids by surprise, since the curve gets a lot tougher in the Spring (by then, a lot of the non-science kids are no longer in the class!). Other pharmacy weed-out classes tend to be calculus, physics and organic chem. At S’s white coat ceremony, there was a discussion about the number of applicants for the spots that were not filled by UB’s own prepharm majors. I don’t remember the exact number, but there were something like 1000 applications for about 65-70 spots in the class.</p>
<p>The pharmacy school advisors are very nice. Whether you’re prepharm or if you change majors, you’ll still want to get to know them and ask for their guidance with the application process.</p>
<p>let’s say i take the prepharm track and don’t get into the pharmacy school. what would i do then?</p>
<p>One of my kids went off the pharm track quickly. His first semester classes met general ed requirements, so changing majors after his first semester had no impact. He ultimately decided on a major that was not offered by SUNY and transferred. </p>
<p>A prepharm friend of my SUNY pharmacy kid ended his first year with so-so grades. After soul searching, this kid has decided to try to get into a pharmacy school anyway. He took an extra year to bring up his science/math GPA. He studied for the PCAT exam and got a good score on it. He’s now applying to several pharmacy schools a year later. If he still doesn’t get in, he plans on getting a BS in biology. </p>
<p>I believe SUNY also has a BS in pharmaceutical sciences, which may be useful for drug research and drug sales. The science and math classes might be useful for engineering, education (SUNY doesn’t offer a BS in ed though), or other science majors. You can always design your own major too, using credits that you’ve earned.</p>
<p>UB has a good tool for students that will let you plug your credits in, to see what additional coursework you need for other possible majors. If you decide to major in biology or to apply to the nursing program, for example, you can plug in your prepharm pre-requisites and are likely to find that many of those pre-requisites are the same. If you have a backup major, you can also use some of your electives to meet prerequisites for that major as a safety track at the same time that you’re filling prepharm pre-reqs. </p>
<p>There aren’t very many sure things in college. I’ve been at open houses with my kids in which the speakers have reminded parents that the majority of students either are undecided, or decide to change their majors. That’s one of the benefits of having general ed requirements, since often you can use classes to meet those requirements even if you no longer need them for a major. You do, however, have to monitor your prereqs for each major that you might want to pursue. If you are committed to pharmacy and are concerned about meeting UB’s requirements, you may need to research backup school prereqs and use some of your electives or summer school to get those prereqs. If you have a backup major, same thing - it’s up to you to monitor each degree’s pre-reqs, and then use electives and class selections as carefully as possible until you’re committed to a particular major. Some of the programs have a lot of prereqs and few electives, which is the case at any school. You don’t have a lot of electives in prepharm, engineering, architecture, etc., so you want to use them as carefully as possible until you’re committed.</p>
<p>is prepharm in the college of arts and sciences, or the college of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences? i know this is kind of off-topic, but if i wanted to switch to something like chemical engineering, that would be difficult to do because engineering has its own school (college of engineering and applied sciences), right? [University</a> at Buffalo](<a href=“http://www.buffalo.edu/home/academicprograms/]University”>http://www.buffalo.edu/home/academicprograms/) –> schools and colleges are on the left.</p>
<p>Prepharm is not an actual major, it’s an advising track. The advising is done through the SOPPS. You would have to check with the engineering school on their requirements. The first year prepharm courses do apply to many BS majors at UB. If you want to start as prepharm and keep your options open (a very good idea), follow neonzeus’ advice and choose your electives carefully.</p>