UBC Pharmacy 2007

[tungster]

i volunteer at an old folks home for about 7 years, children's hospital for about 4 years, and several local events (bike rides, gift wrapping during x-mas time).... i never had any volunteer experiences at a pharmacy... i hope that helps.... good luck!!!!

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[clozapineRx]

In general, it would probably be better to be committed to a few volunteer positions that you have done for a long time as opposed to doing many volunteer positions where you have only spent a little time. You will get better references from supervisors who know you for a longer period of time (hopefully).

I've volunteered 3 years at UBC hospital and 3 years at my former high school's special needs program. I also have some research experience. NO PHARMACY experience whatsoever.

That being said, something like 80% + of the entering class has worked or volunteered in a pharmacy before.

 

[Lilly]

Hi, I'm going to first year @ UBC this September, and I'm planning to apply to pharmacy next year. I just have a few quick questions that have been bothering me for a while.

1. Where exactly does one find volunteering opportunities in pharmacies? I've tried asking a few pharmacies already, but none of them want an inexperienced student volunteering there.

2. This one is more pressing. I realized that first year English (6 credits) is one of the requirements for pharmacy. I took the IB program in highschool and got a 7 in English Higher Level. Therefore, I received 6 credits for first year English at UBC. However, these credits don't really translated into a mark that can count towards my GPA. They simply show that I have 6 credits of first year English. Would that affect my application in any negative way? Would UBC prefer somebody who's actually taken the English courses in university and received a mark for it over somebody like me? Do you think it's a good idea for me to retake English 112 and another english course after all?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[clozapineRx]

Lilly:

I have a hunch that a great many students had personal connections that got them a job as a pharmacy technician. Once you get into pharmacy, it is much easier to find a job as a pharmacy technician-even without personal connections because you are more experienced. From what I've seen, being a pharmacy technician is not that technically demanding a job and someone without pharmacy experience could perform it with the proper training.

My suggestion is that you find a backup volunteer opportunity, perhaps not related to pharmacy (maybe research?) and keep looking for pharmacy experience. I understand that you have asked a few pharmacies but I believe that if you ask enough, you may be able to find one that needs help. I can't see many businesses turning away free help.

Your second question, I am not the authority on admissions and I do not know how it will affect your admissions. My guess (it's a guess) is that since your GPA is based on the average of your prerequisites taken, they will simply calculate your GPA without the English credits because there are no marks for the GPA calculation from English.

You could contact the undergrad pharmacy admissions about it as well.

 

[strawberry123]

Hello everyone!
I am starting my 1st year in UBC and I plan to go into pharmacy in my second year. I'm so overwhelmed by all the info online and I need some clarification.

I'm planning to take my PCAT soon and I'm just wondering if it's kinda late to do so in 1st yr univeristy I have absolutely no idea how to prepare for PCAT! Is the exam very difficult? Also, the registration seems to be confusing too, do I need to order one of their online practice tests?

 

[tungster]

it may be difficult especially for the chemistry section. it usually contains a lot of o-chem questions. you do learn some o-chem in chem 123, but you learn the rest in chem 233. taking chem 233 would definitely help you on that section.

 

[clozapineRx]

Hello everyone!
I am starting my 1st year in UBC and I plan to go into pharmacy in my second year. I'm so overwhelmed by all the info online and I need some clarification.

I'm planning to take my PCAT soon and I'm just wondering if it's kinda late to do so in 1st yr univeristy I have absolutely no idea how to prepare for PCAT! Is the exam very difficult? Also, the registration seems to be confusing too, do I need to order one of their online practice tests?

It isn't too late to take the PCAT in first year. I think there is a PCAT test date in January if I am correct. It will not be easy to study for the PCAT while maintaining your GPA but many students manage and with a little planning, you should be able to.

My experience with the PCAT is that it isn't that much a test of your intelligence as it is a test of how you can manage your time and pay attention to detail. One book that I found to be exceedingly helpful was the PCAT book by Kaplan. I studied from this book and I did very well on the PCAT. I didn't order any practice online tests but what I did do was go to my library and borrow books on the SAT. You'll find that many SAT questions are very similar to those that appear on the PCAT.

Tungster is right about organic chemistry. You won't learn it from your courses in first year but it appears in the Chemistry section of the PCAT.

Best of luck writing the PCAT!

 

[strawberry123]

tungster:
So if I take the PCAT in Jan, I would still be halfway through my first year...basically I would just have finished chem 121. Does PCAT count a lot in the whole application thing? I heard there's also an online application we need to complete to be considered an applicant...

clozapineRx:
Thanks for those tips! Also I want to ask is that are the subjects tested in PCAT mostly from Gr.12 curriculum? Do I have to phone them to get a copy of the paper registration or can I just go to get one from ubc?


Sorry for so many questions but I heard pharmacy is very competitive so I want to be well-prepared.
Can anyone please recommand me some tutorial books for PCAT? THANKS A TON!!!

 

[clozapineRx]

Hi Strawberry123,

The PCAT does consisit of a lot of grade 12 stuff, especially the chemistry and biology sections. However, there will probably be stuff that you are not so familiar with such as the verbal reasoning and also vocabulary section.

I would definitely recommend the PCAT prep book by Kaplan (if you aren't familiar, it's a test prep company and UBC bookstore sells the book)

It prepared me well and also offered examples of difficult questions on the PCAT.

I would like to warn you that the PCAT is not worth very much for admissions. If you look on page 9 of this forum, an approximate breakdown of the weighting of different criteria for admissions is posted.

I registered online to write the PCAT. I am not familiar with this whole paper registration process, sorry.

Best of luck.

 

[strawberry123]

clozapineRx:
Thanks for the solutions! It says on the website we need a credit card from a U.S. bank in order to register online...so I guess I'll be going for the paper registration. Also, what sections of the PCAT would be considered more? I am also not familiar with the GPA calculation system in UBC (Is A a 5? etc..), could you explain that a little? Are the chances of getting in very slim for first-years? Sorry too many questions~ but just very confused ><

 

[clozapineRx]

Here is how UBC uses a 4 point scale

4.00 85% and higher
3.70 80%
3.30 76%

For a complete scale, http://www.athabascau.ca/html/syllabi/new/eval_change.htm

All of your questions about the PCAT will be answered with a PCAT test prep book. I think the PCAT is weighted by each question being worth one mark (it is entirely multiple choice). I don't know how many marks are assigned to the individual sections, however. There is an essay section but UBC doesn't include it in their PCAT mark. If I recall correctly, your mark depends on how well you do relative to other test-writers.

I think that there are about 15 or so 1st years admitted into the class of 150 approximately. You may need to be a strong candidate academically because as a first year, you often don't have as much extracurricular experience as older students. How good your chances are really depend on how good you are, I guess. It's definitely doable

 

[tungster]

tungster:
So if I take the PCAT in Jan, I would still be halfway through my first year...basically I would just have finished chem 121. Does PCAT count a lot in the whole application thing? I heard there's also an online application we need to complete to be considered an applicant...

clozapineRx:
Thanks for those tips! Also I want to ask is that are the subjects tested in PCAT mostly from Gr.12 curriculum? Do I have to phone them to get a copy of the paper registration or can I just go to get one from ubc?


Sorry for so many questions but I heard pharmacy is very competitive so I want to be well-prepared.
Can anyone please recommand me some tutorial books for PCAT? THANKS A TON!!!

nah, don't worry about it. i know how you fee. basically you can take your pcat in oct (07) or jan (08), if you're planning to apply for pharmacy 08. the best time to take it is probably jan (o8) because application ends on feb 28.

the online application is not too bad. basically you write down your resume online and have references. i believe the online application comes out on november..so you have a couple of months to do it.

the pcat does worth quite a bit (from what i heard) before the interview. because they will use that to determine who is worthy of getting an interview. after the interview, the pcat (i believe) is just worth 10%.

hope that helps

 

[PoeticallyPathe]

Hey guys, I thought I would post the average scores of the 2007 admitted class here; it might serve as a good reference point. Note: this was included in the ranking information sent by Margaret.

Academic Average: 79.8%

PCAT-Composite Percentile: 89%

Pharmacy Application: (References, Resume, Personal Statements) 58

Interview Score: 83%

PS: hope people on the waitlist get good news soon!

Hi guys, just wondering what is meant by the "average" scores. Do you mean 79.8 was the lowest "average" that was admitted? Or do you mean 79.8 was the average of the averages of the prereqs of the admitted class? I have a feeling it's the latter but I just wanted to make sure. Thanks.

 

[clozapineRx]

You're right. The 79.8% is the average prerequisite mark of the entering class-not the lowest gpa accepted.

 

[UBCmicrobi]

From what I've read here, UBC doesn't look at the PCAT essay score (confirm?), so do you even have to complete this section? (assuming that UBC is the only school you are sending your PCAT score to, as is probably the case for most Canadian students since UBC is the only Canadian school that requires it!).

Just curious, but either way it's nice to have one less thing to worry about

 

[michelle_is_me]

From what I've read here, UBC doesn't look at the PCAT essay score (confirm?), so do you even have to complete this section? (assuming that UBC is the only school you are sending your PCAT score to, as is probably the case for most Canadian students since UBC is the only Canadian school that requires it!).

Just curious, but either way it's nice to have one less thing to worry about

u HAVE to have the PCAT in order to apply to ubc. You also must get at least 65% in the pcat composite in order to apply, or they throw ur application out the window.

alot of the information about ubc pharmacy can be found on their website..

 

[WriterEditor]

Hi

 

[strawberry123]

Say I don't get into pharmacy after finishing my first year in science,, when I reapply in my 2nd year, do they still look at my GPA from first year pre-requise? or do they look at the GPA of the courses I take in my 2nd year??

 

[clozapineRx]

ubcmicrobi: From what I know, UBC doesn't care about the essay portion.

strawberry123: Yes, they will look at your GPA from your first year prerequisites as well as any courses that you have taken that are part of the pharmacy curriculum ie. stat 203, chem 233, chem 235 etc...

 

[reason]

Hi everyone, this is a great thread.

PCAT: 92%
GPA: 82.3% (UBC)
EC: limited; i worked in a pharmacy for a summer as a tech

I am a 4th year UBC student and applied to 07/08 at UBC but was rejected before interview invitations were sent out. I transferred to UBC last year from UofA for personal reasons, but a deciding factor was whether or not acceptance into UBC pharmacy was realistic. I called the undergraduate admissions at the faculty of pharmacy to confirm if upgraded courses were taken into account in the calculation of pre requisite grades, and was told that every effort would be made to calculate a students gpa in his or her favor, and "there shouldn't be any problem".

I know for a fact that UofA takes the better grade when calculating this average after spekaing to gladys mcintyre (sp) in person and seeing it on their website, however UBC's website didn't state clearly if this was the case or not. The phone call reassured me, afterall, it was the faculty of pharmacy undergraduate admissions. right?

anyways,
i applied and was shocked to receive a letter of rejection so early into summer. I thought that a reference letter wasn't received but found out all paperwork and payments were received as scheduled. It was a busy summer for me but i finally got the chance to contact margaret Nicholson at UBC and i asked her what my ranking was.

Academic Average:
69.3% (79.8%)

PCAT-Composite Percentile:
92% (89%)

i was shocked (again) to see my average being so low, when in fact the average i calculated was higher. A sinking suspicion that my previous phone call with undergraduate admissions was misleading began to grow in my heart.

I have yet to hear back from margaret.....

Why does UBC only look at first year pre requisites? it seems very odd to me that they dont look at a cumulative gpa either? (correct me if im wrong, but if they did then i guess margaret would have included that with my ranking?)

What options does a student with poor pre requisite grades have if he/she can't retake a course unless he/she fails it? Many of my pre requisite grades are poor since my first year was my worst year, like so many other university students. I mean, if a student receives a mediocre grade for a pre requisite course, then i guess it permanently sticks to their application (if they have hopes to applying to ubc) right? sooooo.... where does that leave the student?


thanks in advance
(apology in advance; its been a long year/summer/wait process, and this is a vent to some respect haha)

 

[UBCmicrobi]

u HAVE to have the PCAT in order to apply to ubc. You also must get at least 65% in the pcat composite in order to apply, or they throw ur application out the window.

alot of the information about ubc pharmacy can be found on their website..

Yes I realize you need to write the PCAT for UBC, I was wondering about the essay section, specifically (ie can you leave that section blank). I'm not totally familiar with the scoring (composite scores etc).

 

[RX2011]

Hi Reason

Answer to your question:

if you have re-taken a course, UBC will use BOTH final grades in calculating your final GPA/score. They will not use only the better grade.

UBC also looks at mainly your fist year marks and then also at other upper level courses that you have taken that are a part of their pharmacy program ( such as organic chem , stats, micro etc) in calculating your final admissions score or GPA.

they will look at your overall GPA from all years but only if you state in your personal statement that you have improved overall ( must be a good improvement not from c's to b's , but from c's to a's )AND give a good reason for doing poorly in first year. also make sure in your personal statement you display some kind of passion for pursuing a career in pharmacy. display some knowledge or insight you have about the profession,. YOU MUST HAVE AN AWSOME PS. my advice is to start thinking about it now!

Also IF you did badly your first year , you must also then get an Awesome PCAT score( 85-99 %) and make sure that you have awesome references and quite a bit volunteer work relating to patient care (so do some hospital volunteering ) . you must also have some pharmacy related work experience.

This will surly get you an interview .
Do well on your interview and your just may have a shot

I know this because I have a few friends that were in the same boat as yourself. they also did poorly in first year and re-applied two years later and got in ! so there is hope. I also did poorly my first year and am now working on making my application stronger. I don’t know why UBC only looks a first year because i know other schools will look at overall GPA and in particular will pay attention to your last few years.

GOOD LUCK
I hope this helped!

 

[tungster]

this is a side note.i i also heard that "where" you live in british columbia plays a factor in getting accepted into ubc pharmacy. you don't have to believe this, but it does make logical sense.

on their website: In the selection of applicants, preference is given to well qualified residents of British Columbia who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.

since ubc is the only pharmacy school in british columbia, they may be more in favour in accepting students who don't live in vancouver (i.e okanagan, prince george, kelowna, cranbrook etc). obviously, they don't want all the pharmacists to stay in vancouver. they are hoping that the selected students from "unrepresented" regions will go back and practice there.
___________________________________________________________


Reason

for calculating gpa: they take all attempts for a course(s) to calculate gpa. for example: if you failed one course and retook it and passed, they do not take the better mark.. they will consider both marks for the gpa calculation.

it's really hard to improve your gpa especially if you have taken all the first year courses... the only way to improve your gpa is probably taking all the upper level prerequisite courses required for the program (if you have not done so).. i.e: biochem 300, stat 203, etc.

i hope that helps

 

[strawberry123]

Can anyone please explain to me what's the personal statement thing you guys talked about?
Also, what's pharmcas? do we need it?

 

[clozapineRx]

Hi Strawberry123,

The personal statement is two 500 word essays explaining 1. Why do you want to become a pharmacist? 2. What skills and personal qualities do you have that will help you succeed as a pharmacist?

It's part of the online application. Pharmcas is part of the US pharmacy school application process. You don't need to bother with it. UBC just relies on an online application form.

UBCmicrobi:

When I wrote the PCAT (Summer 2006), the essay portion was the last part of the exam. The test is administered in a way that you only have a set amount of time for each section. This means that you can't skip a section and use the extra time to work on a different section. You could leave the essay portion blank but you wouldn't gain any more time to tackle other problems. It never hurts to write something because you will be sitting there till the test ends. I can definitely understand that you might not prepare as well for the essay section and spend more time studying for the other sections. That's definitely reasonable.

 

[itzmeeh]

hey guys,

i applied for this year, and didn't get in. i got to the interview stage, but i think based on the interviewers i got, my interview didn't go as well as i had hoped.

to any of those who reapplied a second time and got in, do you have any advice? how did you guys improve your applications when you reapplied? i'm in my 4th year right now, do you know if that will even count for anything if i reapply? did you rewrite your personal statements or did you just resubmit the same ones, and brush up in different areas?

 

[tungster]

hey,

i applied last year, got an interview, but didn't get accepted. i applied again this year and got accepted.

what i did differently:
1) redid my pcat
2) for my application part, the essays were pretty much the same. however i did change some parts but not substantially. the reason why i did not write new essays was because i was playing it safe. the essays that i used the first time got me an interview. so, i was thinking...maybe they liked it and would perhaps get me an interview again.
3) on my interview, i emphasized that i was really determined in getting into pharmacy... explained that this year was my second year applying, what i did differently and what i learned from the past year. i think this shows "dedication"

advices: a great idea is to write down all the interview questions you had... most likely (70%) of those questions are re-used for next year.
ask margaret (admission lady) how you have placed among other students.. get a sense of where you rank and what kind of things you can work on.

i really hope that helps. good luck!

 

[itzmeeh]

hey tungster,

thanks for the advice, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you improve your pcat by?

also how much were you able to pull your ranking up by? i ranked a bit on the low side, and i'm wondering if it's worth my time to even reapply - that being said i did get an interview, which is the only thing thats kind of pushing me to reapply.

 

[tungster]

hey,
i improved a lot. i ended up with a 87 on my pcat. (i got 95 on every section except for the verbal section- i did horrible on that section, i think i got 20 or something). don't worry too much about the pcat. i think it's only worth 10%. i know people with mid 70's who still got in.
my average went up 2 percent. and my ranking went up by about 110 spots.
basically, everything improved.

to tell you the truth, i think the MAIN reason why i didn't get in last year was because of my interview. i really screwed up my interview. my thoughts and examples were all over the place. even i wouldn't accept myself.

once you get an intervew, the interview worths about 40%. so it plays a huge chunk of determining who will get accepted.

good luck

 

[tungster]

hey tungster,

thanks for the advice, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you improve your pcat by?

also how much were you able to pull your ranking up by? i ranked a bit on the low side, and i'm wondering if it's worth my time to even reapply - that being said i did get an interview, which is the only thing thats kind of pushing me to reapply.

you should definitely apply again if pharmacy is what you truly want to do. but if you're planning to use pharmacy as a stepping stone to medical school, the program really frowns upon that.

 

[itzmeeh]

you should definitely apply again if pharmacy is what you truly want to do. but if you're planning to use pharmacy as a stepping stone to medical school, the program really frowns upon that.

hey tungster, do you know what % you got for your interview in the ranking section to get in?

no i def do not want to go to med school. i'm just iffy about reapplying, because i'm really not sure about my chances. my grades aren't super great, good enough to get an interview, but not good enough to save me if i tank the interview again. i'm also in my 4th year right now, so i'm not sure if i should just cut my losses and apply to some other grad program...

 

[tungster]

hey,
i believe the average interview mark getting in this year was 83%. my interview score was 85%. i hope that helps.

what i did was i had mock interviews. i had a couple of friends who interviewed me and gave me feedback on what i needed to work on.

i answered most of the questions with these 4 key things: 1) what happened 2) what i did 3) how i fixed it 4) what i learned.

 

[babyycakes]

i was wondering do they look at your highschool marks at all ? because mine werent that great..

 

[tungster]

yes they look at your high school marks..... just joking... no they don't look at them.... loosen up.....

 

[Loaque]

Hi everyone.

I am not too sure as to how to pay the PCAT registeration fee. I was hoping to apply online, but it requires a US credit card, which I do not have. Does that mean I cannot use RBC or TD Visa? Is paper registeration the only way for most people in Canada?

 

[UBCvan]

WOW, i never knew this thread would go on to page 10.... when i first started writing comments on this i think it was 5 month ago... and i thought that after ppl get in to their program they would stop commenting

 

[tungster]

i know what you mean ubcvan. i dont know... i think this post has a lot of useful information for future candidates that's why it's probably still going... i dont know... haha..

 

[adam8888]

i know what you mean ubcvan. i dont know... i think this post has a lot of useful information for future candidates that's why it's probably still going... i dont know... haha..

alot of usefull information. Since you got into UBC pharmacy, Im wondering do you know if there alot of out of province students in your class/program. The website says that only a handfull of out of province students get in and out of 150 spots a handfull can be 5-10 students. btw im from Ontario
thanks

 

[tungster]

hi,
so far... from the people who i've met in class... i've only met 3 people who are not from bc. there could be more though..

 

[UBCvan]

hey tungster...don't you wanna change your name to PHARMACY instead of PRE_PHARM

 

[Neil45]

.

 

[tungster]

hmm for some reason, i dont see your post neil45. i think you mentioned about the work load in first year.

it really depends. it's a really good idea to take the electives (required for first year) and get them out of the way. (i.e. biochemistry, organic chemistry, statistics, microbiology etc).

i know that students who enter the pharmacy program after 1 year of undergraduate in sciences have to take a lot of courses..whereas students who have taken more courses (required for their program and also for pharmacy) tend to have an easier work load of courses.

for myself, i did 3 years of cell biology and genetics. i was able to take a lot of courses that were required for my program and use them as electives for pharmacy. so, all i am taking are just the 3 pharmacy courses and anatomy for this term...

hope that helps.

 

[tungster]

nvm... i see your post now neil45.

 

[tungster]

Oh and for those of you who are applying for admission 2008, the application forms are out.

Application Procedures

The application deadline is FEBRUARY 28th, 2008, at 5:00 P.M. PST.

There are TWO required components to an application for the undergraduate program in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. To be considered for admission, applicants must submit BOTH of the following:

1. A UBC Undergraduate Admissions Application (for non-UBC students) OR an Application for Re-Admission/ Change of Program (for former or current UBC students), with the appropriate fee, by February 28, 2008. These UBC applications can be submitted online at students.ubc.ca.

2. The Online Pharmacy Undergraduate Application with $125 application fee

Please click here for the 2008 Online Pharmacy Application

Please click here for the 2008 Reference Letter Form (46 kb, pdf)

---> go to www.pharmacy.ubc.ca

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

 

[soccerdude604]

Wow this thread has grown since the last time I visited Student Doctor =)

I wish I had a forum like this when I was apply last year. Tungster's been very helpful and he's very right about preparing for the PCAT properly with good test prep books.

I've got the KAPLAN TEST PREP book from last year and I'm offering it for sale to potential pharmacy students for 30 dollars which is less than half of what I payed for it. The KAPLAN book was all I used and it is a thick book but if you study it over winter break (ya i know...bummer but that's what you gotta do to get in after 1st year science) My friend and I used it and he got over 92 and I got 98 and we aren't as bright as some of you sound seem to be =)

Private Message me if you're interested and I'll be happy to also offer you interview questions from last year, answer all your Pharmacy questions and give you "tips" about getting in when you pick up the book.

Good luck everyone!

James

 

[soccerdude604]

a few of you have sent me emails kindly explaining that the price of my book is a bit high...

30 dollars is a more reasonable price according to Amazon.ca

For all you pharmacy hopefuls out there, I recommend walking by the pharmacy building every now and then and peering inside...

Always motivated me and gave me the energy to keep me going.

James

 

[michelle_is_me]

hello!

i also have the kaplan PCAT review book (The thick book that has every thing you need for the test... no need to look up notes!) PLUS the Barron's practice PCAT book for sale!

feel free to pm me to get more info

 

[seaweed]

hello,

For the PCAT, does anybody know if UBC looks at the marks for the individual sections? Because I'm really debating whether I should re-take my PCAT again in January.

I took it in August, and got a composite of 79%. My Chemistry was 97%, and Math was 89%, Biology was 80%, Reading Comp was 55%, and Verbal was 18%.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[tungster]

hello,

For the PCAT, does anybody know if UBC looks at the marks for the individual sections? Because I'm really debating whether I should re-take my PCAT again in January.

I took it in August, and got a composite of 79%. My Chemistry was 97%, and Math was 89%, Biology was 80%, Reading Comp was 55%, and Verbal was 18%.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

hi,

ubc does not look at the individual components of the pcat score. they look at the composite score. so in your case, they will just look at the 79%. (they also don't look at your essay, so dont worry about that). 79% is a great mark. the average for the pcat for the admitted students for this year was 87% (i think). so, if you feel that 79% is good enough, then stick with it. it's up to you.

 

[seaweed]

hi,

ubc does not look at the individual components of the pcat score. they look at the composite score. so in your case, they will just look at the 79%. (they also don't look at your essay, so dont worry about that). 79% is a great mark. the average for the pcat for the admitted students for this year was 87% (i think). so, if you feel that 79% is good enough, then stick with it. it's up to you.

Thanks for the reply Tungster. I think I might just stick with the score I have now, and spend the time studying for my ubc courses instead...since gpa is worth so much more than the pcat.