Law student wants to attend pharmacy school

Question: I'll be graduating law school this December and applying for August 2010 admission to pharmacy school. I have a BS in political science, a solid math/science GPA, pharmacy experience, and my wife and several of our friends went to the pharmacy school I'm applying to. My question is this: Will the admissions committee look disfavorably on my going straight from law school to pharmacy school? How do I overcome the impression that I'm a professional student looking to wallpaper my bedroom with degrees?


Answer: I know several JD/PharmsD's and a couple PharmsD/MD's, so I would like to think I have a little perspective on this. When we review applications, we acknowledge when an applicant has an advanced degree and usually give them credit for that which works in your favor.

That being said, certainly one or more members will wonder why you are not practicing law and that will be up to you to explain. I do not believe, and it has not been my experience, that you will be looked upon disfavorably by the committee for choosing a non-traditional path. Ultimately, your statement and interview should adequately minimize any thoughts about "wallpapering".

Use your statement to explain your desire to become a pharmacist. The experience that you have gained can be used to your advantage and should reinforce your professional pursuit of a pharmacy degree and career. Last year I interviewed an MD who decided he no longer wanted to be a physician, but instead wanted to practice pharmacy. He was articulate in expressing his wishes and he is now a first year pharmacy student. Given the background that you have shared with me, I suspect you will do a more than adequate job in explaining your career goals and the process by which you have arrived at this point.

Can a co-worker write an LOR for me?

Question: As far as I can telll, schools don't like a LOR from co-workers. But since I have real work experience, can I ask my ex-manager who knows me for 7 years to write a LOR for me ?


Ansswer: Absolutely, you can have your ex-manager write you an LOR. What you should not do is have a "peer" write you a letter of recommendation. If you work as a pharmacy tech, do not ask another pharmacy tech for a letter of recommendation. If this example, you would need to have an LOR from the pharmacist. Every year I see letters written by "co-workers" and the committee typically frowns on this. Letters should come from superiors or those you report directly to.

Depending on the relationship with your ex-manager, I would strongly suggest that he/she indicate the responsibilities you had as an employee and describe your character and work ethic. Certainly, the letter should focus on your work relationship and nothing since the time he/she stopped being your manager (ie, friendship, etc).

Community College question regarding course loads

Question: For the last two years, I've been working and going to school part-time. I've been taking 2 pre-pharmacy classes per semester at a community college. Does pharmacy school look down upon this? Should I quit work and attend school full-time?


Answer: We addressed a question similar to this on the blog a while back - see link: http://pharmacyschooladmissions.blogspot.com/2009/06/community-college-question.html

I know a number of committee members like to see what an applicant can do with a full, rigorous courseload, but that doesn't mean your approach won't be successful in gaining admittance to pharmacy school. Certainly, some believe that if an applicant is able to work full time and take courses toward applying to pharmacy school at the same time, that would be an adequate predictor of success in pharmacy school.

It would probably be helpful to mention how driven you have been to succeed while working and attending community college on a part time basis. It might also be comforting to a committee if you tell that that once in pharmacy school, you will devote all of your attention to your coursework and consider that your full time job.

Good luck.

This would have killed an elephant... or Michael Jackson

This is unrelated to pharmacy school admissions, but did you see the story on what killed Michael Jackson? Not to make light of a fantastic entertainer's death, but he must have had an amazing tolerance built up to medications.

On the morning Jackson died, Murray tried to induce sleep without using propofol, according to the affidavit. He said he gave Jackson valium at 1:30 a.m. When that didn't work, he said, he injected lorazepam intravenously at 2a.m. At 3 a.m., when Jackson was still awake, Murray administered midazolam.

Over the next few hours, Murray said he gave Jackson various drugs. Then at 10:40 a.m., Murray administered 25 milligrams of propofol after Jackson repeatedly demanded the drug, according to the court records.

WOW! Read the full story from the LA Times:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/lethal-levels-of-anesthetic-propofol-killed-michael-jackson.html

Question about electives and upper division courses

Question: Hi I am an undergraduate Biology student and want to attend Pharmacy School after I finish my BS. I was wondering if you recommend taking Biochemistry and Microbiology along with all of the pre-pharmacy requirements or are there other upper division electives that I should take instead? Thank you.



Answer: If your plan is to complete your BS Biology prior to applying to pharmacy school, I would imagine that you will be required to take Biochem and Micro as part of your required coursework to complete your degree. Is that correct? Certainly having completed rigorous courses such as those mentioned would be beneficial (if you do well in them) when an admissions committee is reviewing your file.

I suspect that during your first year of pharmacy school you would be required you to take Biochem and Micro, so you would be well ahead of the curve in those classes. I don't know anything about your current academic path, but it would be very acceptable for you to apply prior to earning your BS if you wanted to. Many students do exactly that. Applying after the second year of undergraduate studies is common. If you aren't accepted at that time, you can complete your BS and try again two year later.

If you elect to complete your BS first, any advanced math or science courses will be looked upon favoravbly by a committee. However, be intelligent in your choices and make sure that you can be successful in the classes chosen. Better to not register for a class than to drop it half way through because it is too time consuming, difficult, or unintertesting.

PCAT - Augst 22, 2009.... Thoughts and Reactions

For those who took the PCAT today, please share your thoughts on the exam. How did you prepare? What would you have done differently? All insight is appreciated.

I hope to finish up the remaining personal statements this weekend, so please don't think that I have forgotten to respond to your emails and questions. I will get back to everyone asap.

Thank you.

Personal Statement - reviews

As the school year begins anew, we now have less free time to review the number of personal statements that we were able to over the summer months. Thank you to everyone who has sent us statements. We hope to catch up and provide you with feedback in the next couple of days.

As mentioned earlier, we will begin to shift the direction of the blog to interview preparation. Hopefully, we can have our first online web discussion in September. There are so many things we hope to do, but we want to make this a useful site for those who visit. If there is a topic that you would like to have addressed, please email us - pharmacyschooladmissions@gmail.com

Again, thank you for visiting the blog. Please click on the link to the right to "follow" us. You won't receive any spam emails or be signed up for anything by doing so. It is our hope to have 100 followers and we would hope that those applicants who had their statements reviewed (300+ of them) would grant us that request.

Please send this link to everyone you know. Stay tuned!

Best-
Admissions

PCAT August 22, 2009 - Advice, Questions, Comments

Good luck to everyone taking the PCAT this weekend. If you have taken the exam previously, please use the comments section below to offer any advice. If this is the first time you are taking the PCAT and you have questions that keep you up at night, please post them below and the many readers of this blog can help ease your concerns.

Please provide as much information in your questions and answers as possible.

First week of Pharmacy School

Hello all,

Sorry this posting is kind of late. Got caught up in some last minute items to do this past weekend so I am posting this today Tuesday August 18^th 2009 for my experiences from last week (first week of pharmacy school).

Well initially it was overwhelming as I knew no one and the amount of workload we were notified that we would receive was scary. As we progressed as a class throughout the week, I realized what the administration was talking about during Orientation. We went over 1-2 chapters in the first week! Already there is an exam coming up soon and this is quite a daunting task of learning and keeping everything in mind. One must manage their time well otherwise they will not know where it went and the next lecture day comes and it would seem as if a storm of information has hailed upon you.

Nevertheless, I seemed to have handled it well the first week and made some new friends. Surprising to see how many people have come from different regions of the state and out of state. Professors are definitely top notch and deliver the information in a manner which we can process and understand it but now the practical part of Pharmacy is greatly in play. Of course initially they are teaching us the theory aspect of how to carry yourself in certain situations but in the weeks to come, we will be put to the test.

This first week was a complete review and also many new things as well but the number 1 thing I am taking away from this first week is the willingness and the unity between the students in aiding each other to succeed in the classroom. No one refuses to form a study group with other individuals and everyone is willing to help. This is directly the opposite of undergraduate school. It’s a new and completely refreshing atmosphere that anyone who has the prospect of becoming a Pharmacist would enjoy.

Cheers!

I need to write my own LOR

Question: I have a question about how to write a letter of recommendation, for myself unfortunately. I've known the pharmacist for a year and a half and have asked him questions and concerns that I've had with college many time. In a way I'm like his mentor, I asked him to write a letter of recommendation for me, but he doesn't have much time to so he said he'd sign off on it if I wrote it myself.

My major concern as I was writing it was that I didn't know what to really say about myself from his perspective. What are some good, not overly fictitious things I can talk about? Since I've only physically seen him a few times there isn't much their, he lives on the west coast and I live on the east. Suggestions on things I could talk about would be immensely appreciated.



Answer: Thanks for your email. I really cannot advise you on your question of how to best misrepresent yourself in this situation. In fact, it makes me a bit uncomfortable to be honest. What you are asking is for advice on how best to lie. While I have seen this done and have even confronted one applicant for what was obviously a "self LOR", I would recommend against submitting such an LOR to PharmCas for a variety of reasons.

I am not a philosophical person, but I'm sure the great minds would ask if you are willing to misrepresent yourself on this occasion to better your chances, what might you be willing to do as a professional for personal gain. It's a slippery slope and one that I'm sure many have traversed. I would advise you from doing so.

I know this is not the advice you hoped for, but I would be uncomfortable offering anything else.