How To Get Into Pharmacy School

If you want to know how to get into pharmacy school there are two main points to keep in mind.

First of all, it's simple. Secondly, it's complicated.

Huh?

Let me explain.

Getting into pharmacy school is actually a fairly simple process. Generally, you take two years of what are called "pre-pharmacy" courses. Then, in the second semester of your second year of college you apply to the pharmacy school of your choice. Of course, one of the biggest determinants of your acceptance or rejection is your grades. But they also look at other things. That's where it starts getting a little complicated.

They also look at your personality, how you did on your interview, your letters of reference and who they were from and probably other things that I'm not privy to.

The point is: even good grades won't assure that you get into pharmacy school. However, having bad grades will almost guarantee you won't get in.

So, what can you do to improve your chances of getting into pharmacy school? Here's a few:

(1) Chunk - Don't Cram

You know how I just said grades were important? Well, one of the thing that allowed me to get good grades was I changed my stripes a bit as soon as I got into college. I stopped cramming the night before an exam and started using a method of studying called "chunking".

This is a psychological term and was originally developed on kids who had ADD and who couldn't focus. So, instead of giving them an hour long assignment they broke it down into four 15 minute 'chunks' so that they could keep focus and do well.

It helped me a lot. So, each night I'd just try to review what we went over everyday in class. Then, the next night I'd review that same part again (but now it would go faster) and add whatever material we had covered.

This not only had the added benefit of helping me retain the material better but it also caused a lot less test anxiety because I knew that I already knew the material.

(2) Take It Seriously

I can't tell you how many times I had my friends ask me to go out on the town and I had to turn them down. That's not easy to do. Especially when you knew it was going to be fun and that I'd be missing out. But, I had the end goal of getting into pharmacy school in my mind. And it was a singular goal that I wanted to achieve badly and I was willing to forgo a little partying to get it done.

How bad do you want this?

If you truly want it badly you'll find a way to make it happen and you'll take it as seriously as you have anything in life.

And, likely in the end, it will pay off.

(3) Be Realistic

From absolute start to getting your pharmacy degree in your hand will take - at minimum - six years. It's also going to cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Of course, the payoff can be pretty nice once you've accomplished that and your degree will always be an asset. But the point is that pharmacy school is a hard, demanding curriculum. You have to get good grades to have any hope of getting into and passing pharmacy school. And, as I said above, it takes time. Lots of it.

Looking back, it flew by. But I know that when I was doing it there were some times where I was questioning my decision because I saw my friends and peers out there making money. I couldn't go and buy much because I had to pay for school and a lot of other things like that. But those were generally the times that I wasn't being very realistic about what I was undertaking.

Also, pharmacy school is hard. And this isn't just coming from me. This is what doctors have told me. In fact, a number of doctors I know were astounded by getting through pharmacy school because they said their toughest class in medical school was pharmacology. They took one semester of general pharmacology. In pharmacy school you'll take four semesters of very detailed pharmacology.

Once I put my 'blinders' back on and realized that pharmacy school was a marathon - not a sprint - my attitude immediately improved.

And yes, it was worth it.

(4) Age Doesn't Matter

When people ask me about becoming a pharmacist they automatically assume that it's age-related. It's not. In fact, if you are a non-traditional student you may even have an advantage. Let me explain.

When I was going through pharmacy school I had a couple of classmates who had kids my age. They had been out in the world. They had previous jobs. One was an engineer. Another was a housewife among numerous other things over the years. The point is they had experiences in their lives that allowed them to find the motivation to move forward and keep plugging away. They knew how valuable this degree was going to be to them because they had been out in the world.

They also had families and responsibilities a lot bigger than studying for a test. So I think it was easier for them in a lot of cases to buckle down, commit themselves, study and focus. In short, they had been through the school of hard knocks before and pharmacy school probably wasn't all that intimidating.

So don't think that just because you are a certain age automatically excludes you from getting into pharmacy school and achieving your dreams. It doesn't. In fact, it may even be an asset you can tap into to help pull yourself through.

As you can see, a lot of my advice on how to get into pharmacy school centers around your ability to work hard, focus on the long term goal of graduation and, finally, just taking it step by step. Anybody can get into pharmacy school but not everybody will simply because they don't have the discipline to make it happen.