Road to becoming a pharmacist?

Question

I am senior in high school. Next year i am going to Sacramento State University. I want to to ultimately be a Pharmacist. Can someone guide me to what classes i should be taking my freshman year. What should be my major. What should be the title of my degree. How many years should i go to Sacramento State before transferring to UOP (University of the Pacific) or UC DAvis. I don't think Sacramento State has a pharmacy Program. Any help/reply/ is very appreciated. Thank You.

Answer 1

Being a pharmacist is a great career. But because the jobs are interesting and very highly paid, you will have to beat a LOT of competition to get a space. Our local paper had an article that said that starting pharmacists from our state u. were averaging $90K to start, but that there were 1000 applicants for 90 seats and the applicants had the best qualifications of any group applying to the u. even better than premeds.

YOu need to start right now working seriously on your preparation for pharm school. Take a look at the website of the Association of American Colleges of Pharmacy. They have links to every accredited school of pharmacy int he USA. You can pick out some schools near you and check their websites for exact details about their programs. You need to go through these websites line by line. When you get to college, immediately go see the Health Science advisor or Pre-pharmacy advisor to be sure that you are doing everything you need to do to get into pharm school.

Pharmacy requires excellent chemistry skills, so the more chemistry you take, and the more seriously you study it, the better off you will be. The real stumbling block for kids who are trying to get into pharm schools is organic chemistry. You need a B+ or preferably an A in organic. It is a very tough course, so the better you prepare for it, the better your chances of getting into pharm school.

I don't think it matters much which pharm school you go to. There are a few rankings but no one takes them too seriously. All the pharm schools are good. They all have to teach pretty much the same thing because after graduation all the grads have to take the national licensing exam, so they all have to know the same material. Once you are a pharmacist it really doesnt make much difference where you got your degree.

Check out that AACP website and go for it. Good luck.

Answer 2

Look for a undergrad degree program geared towards pre-pharmacy, but it's not required. Most Pharm D. degree programs require certain courses like biology and chemistry courses. It might vary according to school. I was going to apply for pharmacy school, but got another job instead in science. I double majored in Biology and Chemistry, got a BS in both. You don't necessarily have to do this, but there are required courses as said before. Also, it would greatly help if you had a job as a Pharm tech working in a pharmacy in college. It would look great on your application. If you can't get a job in a pharmacy, then try cultivating a relationship with a working pharmacist (almost a must on an application), so that person can write you a nice recommendation letter. Finally, don't forget that GPA, keep it high because there is a lot of competition to get in to Pharm school. If you do all that, you'll get in.