Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Canadian Student Wanting To Go To The Us For Pharmacy - Tuition Concerns


McGilMed2018

Recommended Posts

Hi there,

I am a Medical Student writing on behalf of my sister who completed a B.Sc. in Biopharmaceutical Sciences at U of Ottawa and is applying to Pharmacy schools. It is very very competitive in Canada, and other than an interview at UofT, she is not having any luck getting in. 

She got accepted to MCPHS or Mass Pharm in Boston and it has a good reputation. The problem however is tuition. 

The cost of Tuition is 75-80 000 per year. 

 

The second problem is that they are asking her to do a 5 year program. They have a 6 year program for students straight from high school, and you can do a 4 year from after a BSc but since she's missing a microbiology class and some other (rather insignificant) classes, they are asking her to do a 5 year... which adds tremendously to the cost. 

We inquired about loans from Ontario (OSAP) but they only offer about 6000 per year for this.

Line of credits go up to only 80 000 at the banks we've enquired at. 

We are looking for any advice you could offer if anyone knows of anyone who applied or did a pharm degree in the US and how they fared.

Thanking you in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Canadian I know who went to the US for medicine, pharmacy, dentisty and law were from relatively wealthy families and paid for by their families. 80k/ year in tuition alone is way too much and pharmacy doesn't pay what it used to. You have to ask yourself whether this is worth it for your sister or if she'll be mired deep in debt. I don't think it's worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How many years has she tried in Canada?

 

Did she exhaust all options in Canada? UBC? UofA? Dalhousie? Memorial? Manitoba? Saskatchewan? Did she write all the exams and prerequisites? If she wants to do pharmacy she should know all the prereqs and demands for every school in Canada and try multiple times.

 

What's your financial situation like if she can't get sufficient funds?

 

In the meantime I also have a friend that went to the US to do pharmacy after struggling to get into Canada. I'll ask her and get back to you.

 

Best wishes,

 

- G

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi there,

 

I am a Medical Student writing on behalf of my sister who completed a B.Sc. in Biopharmaceutical Sciences at U of Ottawa and is applying to Pharmacy schools. It is very very competitive in Canada, and other than an interview at UofT, she is not having any luck getting in. 

 

She got accepted to MCPHS or Mass Pharm in Boston and it has a good reputation. The problem however is tuition. 

 

The cost of Tuition is 75-80 000 per year. 

 

The second problem is that they are asking her to do a 5 year program. They have a 6 year program for students straight from high school, and you can do a 4 year from after a BSc but since she's missing a microbiology class and some other (rather insignificant) classes, they are asking her to do a 5 year... which adds tremendously to the cost. 

 

We inquired about loans from Ontario (OSAP) but they only offer about 6000 per year for this.

 

Line of credits go up to only 80 000 at the banks we've enquired at. 

 

We are looking for any advice you could offer if anyone knows of anyone who applied or did a pharm degree in the US and how they fared.

 

Thanking you in advance.

 

They have accelerated 3 year pharmacy programs in the states. She could look into that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How many years has she tried in Canada?

 

Did she exhaust all options in Canada? UBC? UofA? Dalhousie? Memorial? Manitoba? Saskatchewan? Did she write all the exams and prerequisites? If she wants to do pharmacy she should know all the prereqs and demands for every school in Canada and try multiple times.

 

What's your financial situation like if she can't get sufficient funds?

 

In the meantime I also have a friend that went to the US to do pharmacy after struggling to get into Canada. I'll ask her and get back to you.

 

Best wishes,

 

- G

Which school did your friend end up going to in the US if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking to go to US for pharmacy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which school did your friend end up going to in the US if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking to go to US for pharmacy.

 

She ended up going into the University of Buffalo for Pharmacy after her BSc. She had to use personal savings, bank LOC (no government loans), parental support etc....

 

- G

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are many seats in pharmacy in Canada, check out UBC(230ish class size). I know many people who got in with 70s for UBC pharm. Though i don't know how the changes to the PharmD program will affect their admissions process.

For UBC:

"1) Yes, one of the other people I know emailed the Senior Program Assistant, Ian Ayeras, and he told her that in order to be considered for an interview they look at your prerequisite marks and your last 30 credit hours. After having an interview, only the interview and pharmacy application/personal profile are used to determine your acceptance. They look at your final transcript only to ensure you've maintained a 65% average. "

So you really just need to get the GPA high enough to get an interview, which shouldn't be that hard unless your sister has a really really low GPA(which i doubt, if she got an interview at UofT)?


Unless you are wealthy and want to save time,  you shouldn't have to go to the US for pharmacy and pay such high prices. Unless you just don't have the stats and can't salvage it with a bit of work, then you shouldn't go to the US.


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...