Pharmacist Career Choice
Why did I become a pharmacist? The idea of becoming pharmacist did not occur to me as an adolescent. I started undergraduate school with intention of becoming a dentist, although my interest and hobby was computers. After few years as college student, the idea of becoming a dentist did not appealed to me. I graduated from University of California, Irvine with B.S. in Biological Science with B+ average without much future prospects. While searching for future career option, I took a job in pharmaceutical manufacturing company that specialized in intravenous solutions. Within a year of the job, I realized that I needed to advance myself by education. I decided to attend business school and did not study more than 10 minutes for GMAT score a little above average, however I was accepted to 2 MBA schools. After finishing a year of business of school, however, my interest changed to pharmacy because of money and naturally concurred with my undergraduate degree and current position in pharmaceutical industry. The determining factor was in starting salary of pharmacist. After a little research (those days without internet), I found out that California had 3 pharmacy schools: UCSF, USC, UOP. USC was my school of choice but I lacked few course requirements. In order to meet usc pharmacy school prerequisites, I went to city college to take speech class and upper level English (at university I took upper division writing as pass/no pass). I have already completed other two schools' prerequisites. UCSF did not extend a invite for interview, UOP application was on hold due to letter of recommendation issue, but USC offered me an interview. I always felt confident about interview because I will sell me (but not too cheap). Additionally, I had a strong foundation of pharmacy by working at pharmaceutical manufacturing company in manufacturing quality process control. I was interviewed by a professor and a student. I also felt confident about the essay school wanted to me compose about some topic. I received a letter of acceptance in march. Hello USC Trojans!
Hi Keith,
I was in a somewhat similar situation as you were. However, I graduated UCSD with a degree in Economics, and my overall GPA was about 3.1. I worked as an accountant for about a year, and felt that it was not what i wanted to do. Then I became a p/t web designer since i liked computers and again, chose that this was not the route i wanted to take.
Currently, I am taking the main prereqs for pharmacy schools at a community college and constantly wondering if this "really" is what i want to do. I just finished taking a basic life science biology class, a general biology class, and general chemistry II (i took gen. chem I at the uc already). It wasn't too bad but my chem teacher was quite demanding... during the wild fires in CA, she assigned homework and quizzes to us through email. Overall, I didnt find the material to be too hard but the labs were quite annoying. I'm not sure why, but I am a "book" person more than a "hands on" lab person and quite often got lost during labs. I'm not sure if this is a clear indicator that i shouldnt be a pharmacist (in the
end, i managed to get an overall grade of A- on my labs). The bottom line is, I'm not sure how prepared I am for pharmacy school (if i even get in).I worked quite hard at a CC this past semester to manage a 4.0 with these 3 classes and it really doesnt seem like i should've right? How many classes did you take per quarter at UCI when you pursued your bio degree and what classes were they? I am planning to take Physics I, O. Chem, and Microbio next semester... is this sufficient or should i take one more class? Let's say that I get a B overall with these courses.. will this mean that I will get Cs or D's in pharmacy school.
I guess I should mention that I stutter sometimes and get tripped up on certain words and not sure if this is another sign that i shouldnt be a pharmacist. Since public speaking is another prereq, i have decided to take it at the end, when I am 100% sure that I want to be a pharmacist. I heard that there are many oral presentations in pharmacy schools... how is it? Is it in a small section or a large crowd? I know that eventually there will be patient interactions too and I feel that I can hold a conversation better on a 1 to 1 basis.
Sorry for the long message but I just wanted some advice, opinions, or recommendations.
thanks
Hi PharmNoob,
I apologize for not responding earlier. First thing I would suggest is not to give up. Pharmacy school admission committee view student's motivation as a major factor of admission. Of course, GPA is number one evidence. GPA weighs about 50 percent of admission criteria. You could manuver the other 50 percent by volunteering at free clinic helping the needy, work at pharmacy, continue on with your education, have flawless personal statement, and obtain outstanding source for letter of recommendation. Admission committee would view your returning school favorably for you. Since you have have degree, why don't you take those upper division or tougher courses at junior college to enhance your chance of receiving better grade. Also, keep your options open by considering schools out of state. Don't be discourage. Keith