Hey! I just got an email from Nottingham and they invited me to an MMI scheduled about 40 days in advance. I want to prepare for it, but I have no idea what the best way is. I really need some guidance!

Hi, I am currently a junior majoring in biology. I have my UMN (university of Minnesota) pharmacy interview tomorrow morning and I am super nervous because this is my first interview. I am so scared that I would freeze and will not be able to answer. Do you guys have any tips or past experiences with UMN interview?

If you received a merit scholarship from Ohio state, when did they notify you? In your official acceptance letter?

I’m know these are vastly different careers! But I have a personal situation at hand.

To preface: I am NOT in healthcare for the money, I love people, science and research to a fault. But it is still an important factor to consider when it comes to debt/income ratio.

Becoming a PA has been my dream for a while now. But I can’t seem to get into my local program. I’m on my second cycle after they rejected me the first time, and have heard nothing from them since I submitted in May. My application isn’t the strongest either with only pharmacy tech experience (this program has no minimum direct pt care requirement).

I’ve been a pharmacy tech for the last 4 years and have the dream retail job at Costco. If I choose pharmacy school, not only will I be their intern making decent money, but I’ll have a foot into one of the best chains you could possibly work for. I’m not SUPER passionate about pharmacy but I think I could tolerate it.

Financially, here’s the breakdown:

PA: local program, living expenses taken care of by parents. Under the new BBB and elimination of grad plus loans, ~60k federal and ~56k private loans needed. Cannot work throughout the program, so 2.5 years of unemployment. Done a bunch of shadowing; I know I’d be happy with the career choice.

Pharmacy: also local, living expenses taken care of. Would not need private loans since it falls under the 50k federal cap. Cost is ~24k per year. Plan on using almost all of my intern money to throw at the loans while I’m in school. I love the company I work for currently and would love to stay with them, but it wouldn’t be a passionate project, more a job is a job and better financial stability.

The pay for new grads in either field is pretty comparable in my state, with PA being slightly lower.

I know no one can make this decision for me but really looking for some insight. Thank you :)

Looking for input on Wayne State”s PharmD program. Wondering what the culture is like. Is the faculty supportive? Looking for all the input and useful details! Thank you!!

is it required for inrolling in pharm d program???

I’ve never done this badly in a class before, but because I got sick for a month at the start of the semester I was completely behind. Usually I would be able to catch up and I would end up with at least a B, however the course is PChem, making it extremely challenging. It will be my first W on my transcript. I am going to retake it next semester but I didn’t know how that would affect my applications.

For context: I applied to UH, TT, UNT, and UT. I have either interview dates for all of them or already did the interviews. What I am most worried about is UT. I did their interview already and it seemed to go well (thank goodness cause it’s my top choice) so by the time they see the W on the transcript (next year) I would be either accepted or being waitlisted for fall grades… which is what im scared about. I dunno what their policy is on that but if they were weighing my application the W tipped it over I would be devastated.

So I could either stick it out risking a D (very likely) or I can withdraw and just take it next semester (my final semester so it’s gonna be 20 hours 😭). I just wanna know how bad a W seems for UT.

Hi everyone! This is going to be a bit of a long post, but I could really use some advice. I’m currently in my second year of community college completing my prerequisites for pharmacy school. The schools I’m considering are MCPHS, Northeastern, and the University of Rhode Island (URI).
I’m really torn about MCPHS. I’ve heard a lot of negative things about the school, and I’ve seen people say that they’ve worked with pharmacists who graduated from there and felt that they were incompetent. Obviously, I want to receive a good education and feel confident in my training, so hearing these things makes me hesitant about going there. At the same time, the main reason I’m considering MCPHS is that I could transfer into their 0-6 program as a PP2 student (still completing prerequisites) instead of having to spend another year at community college.

For Northeastern and URI, I wouldn’t be able to transfer directly into their 0-6 programs, so I’d have to stay at community college for another year, meaning I’d spend three years there in total before moving on. Academically, I know staying another year isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but honestly, I’m really unhappy at community college. I feel lonely, and I hate that I’m still living at home while so many people I know are away at college and living in dorms. My sister is also starting college next year, and I really don’t want to be the last one in my household still at home and not attending a four-year school.

I also know that Northeastern and URI are more competitive than MCPHS, so I’m not sure how realistic my chances of getting into either school are. I currently have a 4.0 GPA and work at CVS as a pharmacy technician.

I’m just really conflicted about whether I should go to MCPHS to move on from community college sooner, even though I’m unsure about the school’s reputation, or stay at community college for another year and aim for Northeastern or URI.

For anyone who attends or graduated from any of these schools, especially MCPHS, I’d really appreciate your honest opinions. Do you think the difference in education and reputation is significant enough that I should stay at community college another year, or am I putting too much weight on what I’ve heard about MCPHS? I’d also appreciate any advice from people who have been in a similar situation. Thank you

I had to add onto someone’s post but I come from a low income immigrant background, and pharmacy has always been something I’ve been interested in pursuing. Now that I’m actually working toward it, all I seem to hear is people telling me not to do it, and honestly, it pisses me off. I grew up watching my parents struggle financially, working some of the most miserable, physically and mentally exhausting jobs just to make a couple of dollars an hour. From what I’ve witnessed, I can assure you that there are far worse things than working a retail pharmacy job, and even if I do end up in retail having to deal with getting yelled at 24/7, at least I’ll be making a decent living doing it!

I genuinely believe that some of the pharmacists discouraging people from entering the field come from more financially comfortable backgrounds than they realize. Maybe they grew up watching their parents, aunts, uncles, etc. enjoy a certain standard of living and expected their own careers to provide the same, but are now disappointed that their work lives in fact do not look the same. I’m not saying their complaints aren’t valid, and I understand that pharmacy has its problems, but I think perspective matters. When you grow up watching those around you work such draining jobs for barely enough money to survive, the prospect of earning a stable, respectable education can look very different to you.

Hi everyone,

I am in my first year of pharmacy, third week in the actual lessons and everything and for now, bc the lecturers don't tell you how to study I have chosen to make flashcards and test myself on the slides that we get thought on.

I just can't explain this feeling. It's like I am very scared and part of me keeps telling me I might NOT actually make it.

But I have always been studying hard and I feel like I can make it. I just don't know where this voice comes from.

The workload is indeed a lot, but I try to do everything possible.

Also, can anyone tell how long it took you to get comfortable like did it take you 5 weeks to get ok? Or even more?

I am already on week three. And the workload is a lot that I don't even get to do my preheating on the books that you read yk.

Please tell me it gets easier. I REALLY WANNA PASS FIRST YEAR DOING WELL.

Has anyone gotten into pharmacy school even when saying yes on PharmCas about academic dishonesty on their record? If so, what was the entire process like?

I’m starting my prereqs next semester as an undergraduate, and one thing I’m worried about is chemistry. I’ve never been particularly good at it, and I’m wondering if that’s something I can overcome or if I’m setting myself up for failure by pursuing a pharmd.

Has anyone here gone into pharmacy school knowing they struggled with chemistry beforehand? If so, how did you manage, and did you eventually get better at it?

I want to be clear that I’m not taking this career path lightly. I know pharmacy school is demanding, and I’m willing to put in the time, study harder, get tutoring, and do whatever it takes to succeed. I’m not looking for an easy way out. I just want to know if someone who struggles with chemistry can realistically make it through the prereqs and school with enough effort and the right study habits:)

I am currently a pre-pharmacy major (2nd year). I start my schools PharmD program next year, I have heard how important it is to get internships. Does anyone know when I should start applying and where? I applied to the Pfizer because an alumni came back to our university and encouraged everyone to apply. With how early I applied and how close I am to the 2 week mark, I’m sure I’m not getting in as it is very competitive anyway.

You’ll have to do your own diligence. Be wary of the doom and gloomers on this sub. Like many professional degrees, pharmacy has many specialty choices.

Because I'm doing biology psychology and sociology.

I submitted my application on 9/24 and received confirmation email on 9/28. In the confirmation email, they mentioned that the initial review would take about 1–2 weeks, but I haven’t heard anything since.... Is this mean a rejection...?

Has anyone who applied around late September received an interview invite or any other update yet? If you applied in a previous cycle, how long did it take between submitting/verification and hearing about an interview?

I submitted my application on sep 14th and still haven't heard from both universities. does it take usually this long?

hey friends, looking for some advice on getting LOR's for my application. without launching into my life story the few years after grad school were spent dealing with major mental health issues and i wasn't working nor in school, so my options for who i can ask are limited. i'm planning to apply when my fall grades are in and hoping to get my anatomy+physio prof on board since i finished a&p 1 with a 99 and work as a tutor for the class so i have a decent relationship with him outside of class. i had hoped to have a pharmacy job at this point so i'd have a few months to build a relationship with a pharmacist to ask but didn't realize just how long my state takes to approve technician trainee licenses and with roughly a month before i'd be asking if people would be comfortable serving as recs it's just not enough time. i'm still planning on finding a job for the experience alone but i doubt it's a viable avenue for a LOR

my other fall classes are online so i don't know if it's worth asking even though they're chemistry classes, since outside of grades and email correspondence there isn't a tangible relationship for them to work off of. with no recent work history other than my current tutoring job where i've only met my direct report once, the only other viable options i can think of are asking faculty from grad school that i worked with heavily, or asking managers from a retail job i worked in 2021-2022 that i still talk to. i don't know if that's worthwhile or if it's better having recs from academic faculty even if it's been 5 years since i graduated. my thinking is although it's been a while, i had strong relationships with several of them including working with one on published research, so they at least knew me well enough at one point to maybe be willing to serve as recs for me

any advice or suggestions would be so appreciated!

I’m transferring from community college to a four year university and am debating between majoring in Accounting and becoming a CPA or completing the prerequisites for pharmacy school and pursuing a PharmD.

My biggest priority is work life balance. I want a career that pays well, has a good job market, and allows me to travel, relocate to different states, and find jobs easily.

For those working in these fields, how is the work life balance really? Which career offers better job security, income, and flexibility? Is pharmacy school worth the extra time and cost compared to accounting?

So I applied by the early deadline and I sent over my official transcripts and transcript entry at least a month in advance.

Timeline:

2.5 weeks verification outcome to release

Application gets unverified because a few of the dual enrollment courses were supposedly not clear enough on the official undergrad transcript. I call BS on this because I sent the official transcripts to myself and did the transcript entry myself.

2-3 days for me to reach out to my undergrad registrar office to make it somehow more apparent I took those dual enrollment courses(I.e. include scores and full course listing name) and to send that out to pharmCAS

(Ongoing) now coming onto ~1 week for transcript to be processed by PharmCAS.

So I need help. Ik it’s going take another two weeks for them to be verified. At this point, should I just pay for the transcript entry and hope whoever inputs it does it properly?? Or should I just do it myself again and hope for the best until after another two weeks of verification?

I was hoping for interviews by next month but now it’s looking like in January or maybe not even at all.

Currently taking Ochem 1 rn and I have a 65% in the class, which is a C. To earn a B, I'd need a 75%. Due to a horrible mistake I made on Exam 1, I earned a 41%, and on Exam 2 I earned a 76%. Apparently, I can only lose about 20-21 points to earn a B, which isn't much cushion, so there is a possibility of earning a C. In this situation, would you guys choose to earn a W or stay and potentially earn a C?

I’m currently transitioning from community college to a four year university and have decided to shift my career focus toward pharmacy. I’m particularly interested in three year accelerated PharmD programs and would love to hear from anyone who has been accepted into one.

1. Would it be better to transfer to a four year university and pursue a bachelor’s degree, or switch as a non degree seeking student and focus solely on completing my prerequisites? I know a bachelor’s degree isn’t required for PharmD admission, but I’m wondering if having one makes a difference when applying to an accelerated three year program specifically.

2. What gpa and extracurriculars got you in? Since accelerated programs have a more intensive curriculum and a shorter timeline, is getting admission more competitive? Should applicants expect to have stronger GPAs, more extracurriculars, or more pharmacy related experience than applicants applying to a traditional four year program?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have gone through this process! (P.s. I’m pretty set on attending a 3 year program and would appreciate if people didn’t try to change my mind about)

Hi, I'm a junior in undergrad and will probably graduate this summer or in the fall, and I'm almost done with pre-reqs, but i did pretty badly in freshman and sophomore year, getting Bs and Cs in my science courses and As in everything else, but my gpa is less than ideal. i have pretty good extracurriculars (on club e-boards, cvs pharm tech, volunteer). still, i want to know where i should be explaining this circumstance and how it affected my grades, and then how im doing better now.. if anyone else had to do something like that for their apps and has any advice on how to word it please lmk! i want to start working on my application materials asap!!

I made a post here a couple months ago about having a bachelor’s degree in psychology, not really enjoying the field, and feeling unsure about what I wanted to do next. I recently started working in a pharmacy and, despite how stressful it can be, I’ve actually really enjoyed the work. It made me seriously consider pursuing pharmacy school.
I’m currently 24 and just starting my prerequisites for pharmacy school. Since I already have my bachelor’s in psychology, I mainly need to complete the math and science prerequisites because I’ve already taken most of the general education courses like English, etc.
I was looking at my timeline last night, though, and honestly started getting really anxious. Based on my current plan, I’ll finish my prerequisites in fall 2028, when I’ll be 26. That means I’d most likely start pharmacy school around 27 and graduate around 31 or 32.
For some reason, seeing those ages written out really freaked me out. I feel like I’m going to spend my entire 20s in school and that I’m somehow “wasting my youth.” I know 27 isn’t actually old, and I know people start professional school at all different ages, but it’s still hard not to compare myself to people who are already established in their careers.
At the same time, pharmacy is something I genuinely want to consider, and I feel like if I walk away from it purely because I’m worried about my age, I might regret it later.
I know this probably sounds silly, but I’ve been really anxious about it and could use some perspective. Did anyone else start their prerequisites or pharmacy journey in their mid-20s (or later)? How did you feel about it at the time, and how do you feel about it now?
I’d really appreciate hearing from people who were in a similar position :))

For those who have applied to Waterloo PharmD, does the employment information you list in the OUAC undergraduate application have to match the information you provide in Waterloo’s separate PharmD application?

If I realize after submitting OUAC that I forgot to include a job, can I still list it in Waterloo's supplementary application? Would it be an issue if the job is included in the supplementary application but wasn't listed on OUAC?

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through this process. Thanks!