I Want To Become A Pharmacist, Now What?

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I chose pharmacy as the career I want to pursue, but what do I do next? Once I decided I wanted to become a pharmacist I didn’t know where to begin. I knew I had to go to undergrad then get into pharmacy school, but how was I supposed to do this exactly? Thankfully, I have tons of supportive people around me to help me reach my goals. I know not everyone is as lucky so I wanted to share how I made it through the pharmacy school application process. Also, look out for tips I wish I had known during the process!

If you want to hear how I chose pharmacy as my career, go read this post! Don’t worry, it will open in a new tab so you can come back and read this post as well!

What Classes Do I Need Again?

When I first decided to pursue pharmacy, I thought I had to get my bachelor’s degree. So, I looked at the curriculum my university had listed for pre-pharmacy students. I changed my schedule for the following semester and began completing these courses to receive my bachelor’s degree.

In the middle of the semester, I decided to start looking into pharmacy programs near where I live. The first program I found was NEOMED. My university is one of the affiliated schools, so my coursework was based on their admission requirements. I looked into visit days and found one the following month. I signed up immediately.

Visit Day

My dad and stepmom went with me to the visit day. My stepmom knew all the right questions to ask for the education side and my dad has a way of making everything feel comfortable. I learned more about the program and the requirements I needed to be considered for admission. One of the things I learned was that I didn’t need a bachelor’s degree and I didn’t need to take the PCAT.

Besides learning about their requirements, I was able to tour the school. It was during the tour that I was able to picture myself sitting in the classrooms and the labs. I felt comfortable there. I knew at that moment that I wanted to be a Walking Whale.

The First Pharmacy School Application Cycle

As soon as I got home I began the pharmacy school application cycle. There was a central application that NEOMED and, as far as I could tell, many other schools use. I started filling out all my information. Over the course of a week, I had filled out about half of the application. The biggest and most tedious part was filling in all my coursework. I had attended 2 schools and had received around 100 credit hours worth of coursework. You have to manually put in all the information, including the course code, title, category, and grade. Once you put all that in, you have to go through and match up lectures and labs for the science courses. As I said, it was tedious.

Once I had all of my grades and everything put into my application, it was time to input my experiences and any requirements of the school. I wanted to put my experiences shadowing at my local hospital but didn’t have all the information I needed. I was waiting for the information from my mom, who works at the hospital, so I could mark one thing off my list. The school also required two letters of recommendation. For most people, this isn’t a problem, but since I was never too involved at school and rarely went to office hours, I was at a loss for choosing people to write on my behalf. I was able to ask my boss at the daycare to write one and she was more than happy to help me reach my dreams. I just needed that second letter.

Well, I waited. And waited. And waited. I graduated with my Associates’s degree. Then I got an email from the application company. The deadline for NEOMED was a week away. I knew I was never going to make it. I didn’t have the experiences I wanted and didn’t have the second letter of recommendation that was required. So I let the deadline pass and decided to apply next year, after taking a gap year.

The Second Pharmacy School Application Cycle

Joke was on me though. My parents wouldn’t let me take a gap year, and now looking back on it, I’m grateful for that decision. The biggest reason was so I wouldn’t have to pay my student loans yet. I decided to go back to school part-time so I could keep my loans in deferment since I didn’t have a job that let me afford to pay my monthly payment.

I got an email from the application in the middle of the summer. The information I put in last year was still available for me to put in this year. There were only a few things I needed to redo, like my personal statement and those requirements I never finished. Thank goodness all my classwork was still there!

I finished out that summer at the daycare and left when the school year began. I was applying to pharmacies like crazy to get some technician experience to go on my application. Right before school started I got a call for an interview at a pharmacy about a half-hour from my house. The interview went well and I got a job offer within the week. Of course, there were pharmacies closer to me, but I was desperate. School started and I hadn’t heard anything. Luckily, I didn’t have any huge bills to pay so not having a job was manageable. I went to pick up my last paycheck from the daycare and was visiting everyone when I got a call. It was a call for my work schedule for the new job! I was so excited and couldn’t wait to go home and tell everyone.

After a month at my new job as a pharmacy technician, I added it to my application. All that was left was that stinking letter of recommendation. I asked 3 people before finally getting a yes. I was so happy. By the end of January, I had everything turned into the application service and I had an interview by the end of February! I can’t wait to tell you all about my interview experience, from picking out an outfit to interview day.

Wrapping Things Up

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my pharmacy school application process. I made plenty of mistakes that I hope you can learn from. Be on the lookout for my interview experience, the next post in my pharmacy school series!

As always, if you like this post and want to stay up to date, follow me on Instagram (@averylivinglife) and Pinterest (username: averylivinglife) for news and updates on my adventures!