Saturday, January 26, 2013

Low GPA to start, but improving. How much will that help?

Question:  How do adcoms analyze GPA? Mine is low (3.03) because I 've so many credits that as many A's as i've been getting in my last 5 classes my GPA goes up by peanuts. It's so frustrating. I actually used a GPA calculator, and it came out that i'd have to take about 60 more credits (with 4.0) just to get from 3.03 to 3.5. So what do they care about most? 

Overall , or prereq/science , is having an upward trend good enough to compete with all the 3.6+ applicants, even though I have no chance to get there those numbers, for another 2-3 years? I'm also working very hard on finding a pharmacy where I could work/volunteer. Do pharmacies care about the tech certificate? All my friends that work in retail such as walgreens, CVS, etc none have it. I also know people that have gotten certified to increase their chances of getting hired, but have had no luck eigther. Should I put in even more time for the tech cert?


Answer:  GPA is very important, particularly science and math GPA. If you struggled early in your academic career, but did exceptionally well more recently, that should definitely work in your favor. I will say, however, that I think it helps for an applicant to "point out" the fact that their more recent grades are superior because in the crush to review files, sometimes we look at the GPA without as great attention to detail as we should.

The community pharmacists that I know do not usually hire based on certification. Most that I am aware of think it is more important to find someone that is willing to work hard and that has good people skills because they are going to be working closely with you. If you are having trouble finding a job, I suppose getting a tech certificate wouldn't hurt, but it would not be where I would allocate my time and resources.

Good luck.

No comments: