What are my options....?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi.
I enrolled in CC starting this September as a Biology major.
I plan to transfer to a 4 year school as soon as possible.</p>

<p>However, I am aiming to transfer to a pharmacy school (taking all prequisite coures atm.).
But people, even my academic advisor, are discouraging me that it is not possible to transfer to a pharmacy school from a 2 year community college (although this college has a huge post attached on the wall saying that recent graduates transferred to the colleges like Yale and Cornell -_-).</p>

<p>I am really worried, because I am already becoming 20 years old and have not completed a single year of college yet.. and my only goal was becoming a pharmacist yet people are saying it is impossible to get accepted to a pharmacy school.</p>

<p>I really need an advice and possible options diverging from it, but my primary goal is still becoming a pharmacist.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

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<p>I’m not sure I understand, have your been working for the past two years since HS or have you been attending college but not finishing your coursework?</p>

3

<p>I kind of took a gap year after graduating from high school.
I was accepted to some prestigious schools but could not attend due to financial reasons.</p>

4

<p>Ah, I see. First, I wouldn’t worry too much about being 20 and not having completed a year of college yet, you have lots of time.</p>

<p>I’m not that familiar with how it works to get into Pharm programs, you might want to ask your questions on the PreMed Topics forum since there isn’t one dedicated to Pharm, but many of the posters there have experience with both. I can see where it might be difficult to transfer from a CC to a Pharm program after 1 year, but you should surely be able to do so after 2 yrs if you have good grades and have taken the requirements.</p>

5

<p>Hi there. I am not too familiar with pharmacy school, although I am very familiar with medical school requirements. I believe that the requirements for getting into a professional school/program are pretty similar, of course with the main difference/s being the required prerequisite courses for each program. You will likely need a bachelor’s degree, with certain required courses for pharmacy school, before you can matriculate into a pharmacy program.</p>

<p>With that said:</p>

<p>University counselors in particular may counsel you against taking as few pre-professional courses at the CC as possible. This is a good rule of thumb, however before transferring (seeking your AA degree), as a science major this is not really avoidable. Just try to take as few at the CC as you can, and save as many prereqs for pharmacy school for the university as you can (e.g. organic chemistry, biochemistry, etc.)</p>

<p>It sounds as if you are being told that the process is so competitive, that if you start at a CC and transfer to a university before applying to pharm school you won’t be considered for this reason.</p>

<p>Let me tell you now this is garbage. As long as you do well (don’t fall below a 3.7 to be safe, although higher is ideal and very doable) at the CC, and then transfer after two years/AA degree to a university (the most competitive you can gain access to ideally) and do very well, then the fact that you had begun at a CC will have little to no consideration.
Now if you take many of your pharm school prereqs at the CC, then admissions will likely not judge you as competitive as other applicants.</p>

<p>People start out at community colleges for many reasons, one of which is that it is often very financially sensible, and admissions know this. Just develop and carry a strong gpa, and you will be well on your way to your goals.</p>

<p>Also do not worry about being 20 and not having started yet. No one is going to judge you for this. Not everyone knows what they want right out of high school; many don’t know during or after college. You may be graduating college at a time that feels delayed compared to some of your friends, but in the end we all have many years working with our careers and it doesn’t really matter to anyone (but perhaps yourself) how long you take to go to school.</p>

<p>Good luck pursuing your dreams. Do not be deterred! :slight_smile:
In the end, you are the only one who decides what you can and cannot do!</p>