What do i need to do to get into Pharmacy?

Question

I would like to know what exactly do i need to do to get into pharmacy. What do i need to take after 12th? In short i want to know what the route to pharmacy is.

Answer 1

Hi there. I'm assuming you mean 12th grade, hopefully. I'm a soon-to-be sophomore in college set on becoming a pharmacist. Pharm schools are extremely competitive nowadays; the demand for pharmacists is rising in the next few years and students know that-- that's why there are so many new pharmacy students, and that's why in the next few years, admissions will only continue to get even tighter.

I've read a huge amount about what I need to do to be accepted into a pharmacy school, so although I don't have any sources that I can give you, I can tell you that the following advice is pretty good just because of the amount of information I've taken in recently.

First off, although pharm schools don't require degrees, something like 80% of all those admitted do have them. Make sure you check out the pre-requisites for all schools, they're all different. In general though, you'll need to take chemistry, organic chemistry, calculus, and a few electives, like economics, physiology, psychology, that kind of stuff. I'd recommend biochemistry because it's a nice balance of biological and chemical sciences, which of course you need to go into pharmaceuticals. Some schools do like it though if you have a minor, or if you even have a completely different major apart from science. They accept all sorts of different majors-- zoology, psychology, etc., etc. If you choose to do that, just make sure the prerequisites are done. Again, check out the websites to make sure that you have them all covered. Try and plan your schedule NOW for the next four years so you're not missing any units or classes when the time comes to apply for pharm school.

Next, you're gonna wanna show that you're extremely interested in becoming a pharmacist, or at the very least, interested in the medical field. You can volunteer at hospitals, intern at pharmacies, and even get a job working as a pharmacy technician. In most cases though, you'll have to be certified to get a job as a pharmtech, so you may want to just look into the first two (check www.ptcb.org if you DO want to look into getting a job as a pharmtech, they make good money; it's good as an on the side job, and it looks good on applications).

You'll also want to demonstrate leadership, so make sure you have some sort of tutoring/mentoring thing on your resume. If you can, join the Pre-Pharmacy association/club at your school, and then try to go for a high ranking position. It'll help a lot.

Get to know a lot of professors personally. It'll help. You'll need letters of recommendation, so it'd be good to have people that know you and can speak about your abilities as a student... You won't be able to ask your parents to write you a letter speaking about what you're capable of, no matter how well they know you. If at all possible, try and get to know pharmacists, too. It looks great on the application.

Finally, do this all throughout your four years. Just as colleges kind of look down upon you doing nothing for the first two years of high school and then taking all the clubs and honors classes you can during the last two, it looks a little bad if you do all your volunteer hours and club meetings in the final two years.

Feel free to contact me for any more information.

Answer 2

Getting Into Pharmacy School

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

Yes, it would but it's also overkill in terms of money and time invested. Pre-Pharmacy isn't a degree, it's just a set of courses designed to cover all the pre-requisite courses needed to get into a Pharmacy school. You can major in whatever in high school and satisfy the requirements but it is most common to major in some sort of science. Yes, you can which is why you always need a fallback plan. Some people don't get into Pharmacy school until their 2nd or even 3rd try. If you can't make it within your 3rd try I would advise going into a different career path.

Answer 5

You can go into a 6 year program.
If not, you will have to take 2-4 years of prepharmacy and than 4 years of pharmacy. Overall, about 50% of pharmacy students have bachelors. Most schools require you to take the PCAT. Average GPA is in the mid 3s and PCAT over 75.
Pharm Tech is a popular part time, but don't expect to make much money. Average salary is about $12-$13 per hour.

Answer 6

That depends on what alot of things - here is a link to what one college things on this subject to get admitted to their college of pharmacy: http://www.uri.edu/pharmacy/about/index.shtml#Quick%20Facts

Answer 7

use your legs and eyes to walk in?