- Joined
- Nov 21, 2018
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- 7
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Hi all. I really want to go to a good California pharmacy school like USC, UCSF, or UCSD. I am a well-rounded student but my GPA isn't super stellar. I have a 2.8 cumulative and 2.6 for math and science. In terms of my extracurriculars, I'm part of the Pre-pharm club at my school and served as an officer for a year. I served two different officer positions with a cultural club that promoted and developed the Native American community in the math and sciences at my school. I'm a freelance artist and sell paintings to my local community (because I'm a #brokestudent). I was an officer for a medical women's club. I've tutored for three years now with international students. Volunteered at multiple health clinics. Participated in my school's traveling women's choir and symphony orchestra on scholarship for a year. And I've been heavily involved with research this past year (2018-2019), having been a part of two research programs, participating in research at my school, and traveled to three out of state national conferences to present my projects at symposiums. I've shadowed a pharmacist since the beginning of this year and I'm currently obtaining my pharm tech certification by the end of this summer so that I can get some work experience as a pharm tech. I've also been to several pharmacy conferences this past year and learned a lot about the career which has just developed my interest in this field even more. Based off the conferences I've been to, I learned that some schools will look at the applicant holistically. But I don't want to completely lean on that. I've also heard some (not all) schools will actually consider your PCAT score if your GPA is lacking. So I'm also scheduling to take the PCAT as well this summer just in case. I can get great recommendation letters but I also know that it's not the biggest factor in decisions either, but that it can help as a deal-breaker or deal-maker for borderline applicants. Reason-being why I want to go to a good pharmacy school here in California is because I want to stay and work here in Cali. I want a school that will provide me opportunity to do research still as well as options for residencies especially shadowing under a pharmacist with a specialisation because that is what I want to achieve one day. During this period of time, I've had some outside struggle and hardship which I feel can provide some explanation to my low GPA. I'm going to apply this fall anyway despite my GPA, but I'm also open to applying (most likely) for next fall as well. However, anyway, what are the chances of me getting accepted this fall? What advice do you guys recommend? Any success stories out there too?