University of Toronto Pharmacy c/o 2020

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pharmania

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Hi guys!

Thought I'd start a thread for the September 2016 application cycle, aka class of 2020!

This forum is an open space for UofT Pharmacy applicants to share stats and general knowledge about the application process (PCAT, interviews etc.) + current UofT Pharmacy students who are willing to offer some wisdom to the rest of us!

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Hey guys,
So, this is my first time applying and I'm planning on writing the PCAT this November..Any advice on when the best time to start studying would be? Thanks :)
 
Hey guys,
So, this is my first time applying and I'm planning on writing the PCAT this November..Any advice on when the best time to start studying would be? Thanks :)
I'm writing mine in September and I started studying at the beginning of July. I would say two months is sufficient, allowing for about 2 weeks per subsection. Best of luck to you!
 
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Anyone applying to other schools? Personally I was planning on applying to 7-8 Canadian schools, but im hearing from people that it's better to apply to 1-2. Does it look bad if I apply to so many? U of T is my top choice but i don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, I don't want to take any chances with being rejected, and wasting another year.
 
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@PhutureRx I'm planning on applying to both waterloo and uoft this year, with uoft being my first choice as well. I think it's smart of you to apply to the max # of schools to increase chances. I'm pretty sure the other unis have no way of knowing if you are applying to others lol
 
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Hey guys!

I'm writing my PCAT in September. Super nervous!
Applying to waterloo also. I'll take whichever school accepts me lol, but U of T is my first choice :)
 
I'm writing mine in September and I started studying at the beginning of July. I would say two months is sufficient, allowing for about 2 weeks per subsection. Best of luck to you!
Thanks! You too :) :)
 
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Hey guys!

I'm writing my PCAT in September. Super nervous!
Applying to waterloo also. I'll take whichever school accepts me lol, but U of T is my first choice :)
Yay! A PCAT buddy :D Im taking mine in September as well! How are you studying for VA? I hear a lot of people speaking favorably about Dr. Collins, but I'm just finding it difficult and dry to memorize the def's of hundreds of words. If you have a shortcut for VA please let me know haha
 
I'm writing mine in September as well! A bit worried about the time limits because I've always been the slow and steady wins the race kinda guy. :(
It would be awesome to be admitted for this year's cycle. 2020 is such a cool number.
 
I'm writing it in September as well! What year are you guys all in? I'm starting third year.

Also, for VA, you could try to learn the roots of words and infer meaning of others based on that. I know Kaplan has a list of roots. I'm using Dr Collins and its basically all practice. They don't really explain anything, just want you to memorize.
 
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And yeah 2020 sounds awesome! We'd be considered the 2T0's lol finally the T is being used for its purpose!
 
How long did ya'll study before taking the PCAT-- for people who already took it
 
2 weeks left till Test Day :nailbiting: To everyone who's taking it during this testing window (which seems like a lot of you), we got this!
 
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Hey guys, 1T9 here :) All the best to you guys this year! Dr. Collins was extremely helpful to me especially on the vocab section, so I'd say it was worth the investment when I took my PCAT , haha...
 
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Hey guys, so I don't know if anyone is having this issue but I created a login for the online application a day ago and I still haven't gotten an email yet. I don't know what's happening lool
 
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Yeah I emailed them asking what's going on, and the admissions coordinator just said that they're having technical difficulties and don't know how soon it will be resolved, so all we can do is wait I guess.
 
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Hi Guys!

I got accepted this year; any questions feel free to let me know.
Here are my PCAT scores:
Verbal: 49
Reading: 78
Chem: 99
Bio:99
Quant: 99
Comp: 99
Essay 3.5

I used Dr. Collins, Kaplan, and Pearson Practice tests to study. I spent 4 weeks to study.
MMI interview was mostly okay. One station was stellar. Rest of the stations were okay. Two stations were bad.

I got in after 2nd year undergrad. Total average was around 88. In my first year undergrad, I did full course load. In my second year undergrad, I also did a full course load but I CR/NCR 2 courses. I believe now they tell you that if you CR/NCR a course, they will take that as 50%. So don't CR/NCR a course unless you absolutely have to.

To the people from U of T who are taking CHM220, I know someone who got around high 60s in CHM220. They got into pharmacy. So don't worry too much if you get a low mark in CHM220. Just make sure you have a killer PCAT and MMI!

All the best! :)
 
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Hi guys I took my PCAT today and scored 18%tile for reading whereas UofT cut off is 20. I scored 98 composite overall with 99 in bio and chem, 96 in QA, and 35 in verbal. Should I retake it because of RC? Please help!
 
Hi guys I took my PCAT today and scored 18%tile for reading whereas UofT cut off is 20. I scored 98 composite overall with 99 in bio and chem, 96 in QA, and 35 in verbal. Should I retake it because of RC? Please help!
I would do so if you are also applying to UoT because the cutoff for interviews could be 20. If your other areas drop it shouldn't be too big of a deal as the PCAT in some peoples opinion doesn't play a large role in applicant selection but you do need to get an interview first.
 
Hello everyone!
I am a 1t9 so please feel free to ask me questions and I will try to reply to the best of my abilities.
My Stats:
GPA: 3.2
VA: 87
Bio: 74
RC: 45
QA: 97
Chem: 99
Comp: 95
Writing 3.0

Interview: hard to say (and I don't really know how much I can divulge)

Used Kaplan, really helpful as it came with 2 practice tests that allowed me to see what i needed to work on (be warned though, RC passages are longer on the actually thing)
 
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Hello everyone,

I applied last year with an 84 composite and a 3.30 gpa and got flat out rejected... perhaps my interview and GPA weren't competitive enough so I am applying again this year. Here are my new stats:

VA - 412 (68)
BIO - 430 (89)
RC - 387 (27) - lol..
QA - 427 (89)
CHEM - 505 (99)
Composite - 432 (95)
cGPA - 3.41 GPA

The good lord seems to enjoy toying with my emotions as I am very happy with my composite score but quite sad with my reading comprehension.

I guess my question would be... do you guys think the reading comprehension cut off will be raised this year? It seems to be the ONLY cutoff that hasn't been raised yet so I figure its either the next to be changed or uoft is comfortable leaving it there.

... or perhaps they decide to raise every category this year.
 
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@Pharamcyftw you're scores are amazing! But I agree with @daigotsu, the RC score may be the one thing that prevents an interview. Maybe you can try to retake the pcat as soon as possible so that the info is still retained. Good job on all the other subsections though, other than RC, you aced it!
 
Hey guys! I have a problem almost similar to what Pharmacyftw posted a few days ago. I just took the PCAT today and these were my scores:

VA - 78
Bio - 99
RC - 29
QA - 99
Chem - 99
Composite - 99

I'm really happy with all of my scores except for RC. I totally underestimated RC as it was the section I practiced the least, but I was not expecting a 29. While writing the RC portion, I could feel the exhaustion kick in and what I was reading was not being absorbed into my head. As a result, I began to panic and I ended up half-assing a lot of questions... Would my RC score affect my chances of getting into UofT and should I bother retaking the PCAT?
 
@Pharamcyftw you're scores are amazing! But I agree with @daigotsu, the RC score may be the one thing that prevents an interview. Maybe you can try to retake the pcat as soon as possible so that the info is still retained. Good job on all the other subsections though, other than RC, you aced it!

Thank you! Do you know if the official scores are same as preliminary score?
 
Did my PCAT on Friday :)
VA 86
Bio 91
RC 97
QA 85
Chem 98
Comp 96

I feel like everyone gets 99's on Bio/QA and Chem but surprisingly my RC carried me haha. This is a competitive score right? I wouldn't need to retake it?
 
@stupharma absolutely do not retake it! Those scores are amazing! If I were you I would take those preliminary scores and run far far away before they tell me there's been a mistake haha
 
I took my pcat on Saturday and finally mustered the courage to look at the prelim scores.

VA 412 68
Bio 466 99
RC 409 68
QA 413 72
Chem 472 99
Comp 434 96

I'm pleasantly surprised with the RC since I was repeatedly getting 20-40%ile on the pearson practise tests (PPT). But a little disappointed with QA since I was getting 80-99% on the PPT. Oh well. The bio and chem scores are great as well as the unexpectedly good RC. SDN has played a big role on how I've prepared so thanks guys :)
 
Hi everyone, glad to see so many excited people already. I just filled out my application and have a question:

Does UofT consider prerequisite GPA separately/on top of CGPA? I ask because my prereq GPA is around a 3.8, but my total CGPA is around a 3.3 (due to a difficult upper level Chemistry course load and a semester where I failed my courses due to medical issues. I retook those courses the next semester with a 3.9 average but there is no place to explain these circumstances on the application...)
Do you think admissions will weigh those unrequired, upper level courses as heavily as the prereqs that all applicants take?
I anticipate doing really well on the PCAT (have to wait until January though, yikes) but the cGPA thing scares me when so many people have 3.5+s.
 
Anyone receive their pin for the online applications yet? I requested mine a week ago but still nothing.
 
Hey guys I plan to do the pcat this January but I haven't registered yet. Do u think they will run out of space if I do it later? ?this will be my first time n I'm soo nervous!
I have a 3.78 cgpa so far...is that good? How good do I have to score on the pcat to get accepted??
Lol so many question I know but I'm just really overwhelmed n to be honest kind of terrified too
 
Anyone receive their pin for the online applications yet? I requested mine a week ago but still nothing.
I did mine today n I got my pin emailed to me literally within 5 mins...but they said for hotmail emails it might take around a week so just chill...The application is really simple.. you'll finish it in under an hour for sure :)
 
To anyone who is worried about their RC comp score being around 20-30,

I emailed the admissions office and, although they can not make any guarantees, they said it is highly doubtful the cutoff score will go from 20 -> 30.

Hopefully this gives your minds some peace for now...
 
Hey guys,
this is my first application.
My PCAT comp is 99
cGPA 84%
writing: yet to be determined
Do you think I have a shot and if you think they might increase the writing from 3.0-3.5?
Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Is anyone else applying from an American uni? My classes are by credits and I'm not sure how to convert that to weights on the online transcript. Are all classes that are just one semester weighted as 0.5?

@Ravin95 I'd say do well on the MMI and you're good to go. I doubt they will raise the writing to 3.5
 
Coming for a second time, I completely bombed last year.

VA:87
BIO:95
CHEM:93
RC:57
QA:93
Comp:93

cGPA =3.65 ~82-83

comp is up 40% from last years app lol!
 
@Pierrot I emailed them about that. All courses that are 1 semester (4 months) are 0.5 credits. All courses that run the whole year are 1 credit. The exception is labs that are associated with courses. They don't count towards the course load. For example, my orgo 2 lecture and lab were 2 separate courses on my transcript but the lab doesn't count for credits, although the grade contributes towards cgpa. Summer courses also don't count towards "course load" calculations but they contribute towards the cgpa.
 
Thank you! I'm pretty sure I submitted my transcript correctly then.
 
Hi guys,
Just want some input from any previous students who applied to Pharmacy school! My situation (in brief) is that I'm a second year Master's student at UofT (my study entails clinical pharmacology). I'm applying to Pharmacy school - Uoft (already completed my application), Waterloo and UBC. I received an Honors. Spec. in Biology BSc. degree from UWO, and will have my MSc. by next August. I just wrote the pcat and got the following scores:
VA:49
BIO:79
CHEM:99
RC:45
QA:53
Comp:84

GPA wise from my undergrad it was 3.32 and from my 1st year of my Master's was 3.9 (still have this years grades to be included).

So my question is whether it is a good idea to rewrite the pcat in january or am I in a good spot as is?

Thank you for any advice!
 
Hi guys,
Just want some input from any previous students who applied to Pharmacy school! My situation (in brief) is that I'm a second year Master's student at UofT (my study entails clinical pharmacology). I'm applying to Pharmacy school - Uoft (already completed my application), Waterloo and UBC. I received an Honors. Spec. in Biology BSc. degree from UWO, and will have my MSc. by next August. I just wrote the pcat and got the following scores:
VA:49
BIO:79
CHEM:99
RC:45
QA:53
Comp:84

GPA wise from my undergrad it was 3.32 and from my 1st year of my Master's was 3.9 (still have this years grades to be included).

So my question is whether it is a good idea to rewrite the pcat in january or am I in a good spot as is?

Thank you for any advice!

If pharmacy is really important and you definitely want to get in, then I'd say redoing for a 99% would be worth it.

You may get in with your current PCAT scores right now but if your future depends on you getting into the program than you should do anything to increase your chances. And 84% to 99% is pretty small gap but a lot of my peers scored within this gap. So it may make the difference.

Go all out! Do it again get 99% + practice for interviews and you'll gauranteed be in!
 
Correct me if the following logic is wrong...if there are 700-750 applicants each year, and 240 get accepted, that means the top ~30% get accepted. So in terms of PCAT scores, a 70%ile or more is sufficient. This means that the accepted class ranges from 70-99%ile. Now in terms of @revolution0001 's score, it falls in the middle of this range, which is great. Being in the middle of the accepted range is promising, but I would lean towards to higher end of the range to increase the chance of acceptance. That being said, I would only retake if I think I can do better, otherwise, an 84%ile is more than sufficient to get acceptance.

Of course, I write this post solely considering PCAT scores. I definitely acknowledge that people can get accepted with lower pcat scores, granted that other parts of the app are strong.
 
Hey guys,

It is my second time applying. I initially applied in my second year and had a 3.7 cGPA in the first semester, but during second semester one of my full year courses took a bad turn and my cGPA dropped to 3.45 lol.

Went through the interview process and got lower half waitlisted in June. In September I received an email from them saying that the waitlist is now closed, but 22 out of a little over 40 people got off the waitlist and were offered entrance into the program!

I don't know if this is reassuring to anyone, or if this will be the case for this cycle as well, but if you get wait listed don't completely lose hope!

Btw, my PCAT composite was 82, with QA 85, BIO 95, CHM 85, VA 70, RC 29 (lolllll) and writing score of 3.0. Should I write the PCAT again in Jan?
 
TIP - Don't take your interview lightly! I feel like if my interview had gone better, I may have ended up on the upper half of the wait list! Only felt good about 5/10 stations lol. So practice a looooooooootttttttt!!!
 
Also, another tip - don't spend $400 bucks buying the new dr. collins!! I bought the 2014 one over the summer for $80 off kijiji lol last year only used Kaplan to study and it was good, but i heard a lot about dr collins so decided to give it a go as well, its good, heavily practice based (but i didn't end up writing the pcat again in sept) .
 
Hi guys,
Just want some input from any previous students who applied to Pharmacy school! My situation (in brief) is that I'm a second year Master's student at UofT (my study entails clinical pharmacology). I'm applying to Pharmacy school - Uoft (already completed my application), Waterloo and UBC. I received an Honors. Spec. in Biology BSc. degree from UWO, and will have my MSc. by next August. I just wrote the pcat and got the following scores:
VA:49
BIO:79
CHEM:99
RC:45
QA:53
Comp:84

GPA wise from my undergrad it was 3.32 and from my 1st year of my Master's was 3.9 (still have this years grades to be included).

So my question is whether it is a good idea to rewrite the pcat in january or am I in a good spot as is?

Thank you for any advice!

Hmmm your GPA and PCAT are pretty competitive. Really all about how confident about the interview you are.
 
Pcat advise!???? And the minimum they will accept u for interview?
PCAT Advice:

I used Dr. Collins, Kaplan, and practice Pearson PCAT Exams to study.

Chem - Use Dr. Collins
Bio - Use Dr. collins and Kaplan, but mainly Collins
Verbal - Dr. Collins, read lots of books and maybe spend a few fraction of your time looking over Kaplan
Reading: Expect hard **** here. Expect MCAT style reading passages. I used both Kaplan and Dr. Collins.
Quantitative: No advice here as I didn't study for this part
Essay: Practice writing under 30 minutes.

I also bought all 3 Pearson PCAT Exams to practice. They were helpful
Hope this helps!
 
1T9 here, feel free to ask anything pertaining to entrance interviews/PCAT or whatever!
 
Hi guys I took my PCAT today and scored 18%tile for reading whereas UofT cut off is 20. I scored 98 composite overall with 99 in bio and chem, 96 in QA, and 35 in verbal. Should I retake it because of RC? Please help!

Yes retake it! You need to have above 20 for reading!
 
1T9 here, feel free to ask anything pertaining to entrance interviews/PCAT or whatever!

Yes, please and thank you! What tips would you give to prepare for the interview? Are there any resources that are particularly relevant or helpful and what should one generally expect?
 
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