Is transferring from community college to a pharmD program worth it?

[bonkerss]

Hello,
I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, I just made this account. I am currently a senior in high school looking to become a psychiatric pharmacist. My high school grades weren't great and my current GPA is a 3.0. This was with AP and honors classes. I did not take the SAT either. My concern is that I would not be accepted into a doctor of pharmacy program such as Albany with these grades. The plan was to take the required pre-pharmacy requirements at a community college and then apply to a doctor of pharmacy program in hopes that the community college grades would off-set my 3.0 high school GPA. Do you think this is a logical plan? To be clear, my studying methods and grades have gone up, and I feel like I am prepared to take on pharmacy school. Also, I am not just applying to community college as a way to compensate for my high school grades, I have looked at the other benefits of attending a community college first.
Thank you so much!

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[PharmtoCS]

I would get a PsyD and become a psychologist, or go to med school to become a psychiatrist.

I would avoid going to pharmacy school since the vast majority of pharmacists end up working in a retail pharmacy.

 

[BC_89]

Hello,
I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, I just made this account. I am currently a senior in high school looking to become a psychiatric pharmacist. My high school grades weren't great and my current GPA is a 3.0. This was with AP and honors classes. I did not take the SAT either. My concern is that I would not be accepted into a doctor of pharmacy program such as Albany with these grades. The plan was to take the required pre-pharmacy requirements at a community college and then apply to a doctor of pharmacy program in hopes that the community college grades would off-set my 3.0 high school GPA. Do you think this is a logical plan? To be clear, my studying methods and grades have gone up, and I feel like I am prepared to take on pharmacy school. Also, I am not just applying to community college as a way to compensate for my high school grades, I have looked at the other benefits of attending a community college first.
Thank you so much!

So couple of thoughts:

CC avenue may not provide (in full) specific courses required for pharmacy programs (at least not considered equivalent). Some examples include your general, molecular, and organic chem courses that are associated with labs. Your general chem is a two part semester series along with organic chem and some CC's do not provide both at one location. Another thought to consider is if for any reason you end up needing to transfer to a 4-year program for one course, the program may not accept your prerequisite courses from a CC to sit in on their class (ex. did the course and lab, but the CC syllabus and transcript does not provide enough detail to consider you "equivalent" in sitting in on a class at a 4-year university). Consider if the class is also acceptable to the pharmacy program (ex. anatomy vs. anatomy - exercise sports science).

Other than that, it is doable and many do it for the majority of their courses (some for all) but it does require research and preparation ahead of time. Also, if you wish to consider pharmacy, you need to look at the big picture and availability of jobs associated with the degree (not many people end up working as a Mental Health Pharmacist as compared to general inpatient or retail settings). Be sure you can see yourself tolerating other tasks as a pharmacist that have nothing to do with Mental Health. Also, if you are considering this goal as a 17-18 year old, you will need to do some research on cost vs fulltime employment: As a start, I would venture to the following links and ask follow up questions there if you have more concern on the market:

Job Saturation: Is Pharmacy Worth it? Here's What You Need to Know

Job Market

Pharmacists: Occupational Outlook Handbook - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

 

[RN2RPh]

As long as those community college courses are accepted at your desired pharmacy schools, take as many as you can. I completed all of my pre-pharmacy courses at CC.