UBC Pharmacy Applications 2017/2018 - Class of 2022

[CDuke93]

Hello Everyone!

Thought it would be ideal to start an official thread for prospective UBC PharmD students! 

Deadline for application: January 15th, 2018

Application Information: https://pharmsci.ubc.ca/programs/entry-practice-pharmd-degree

If you have any questions/comments/discussion, add it below. Plenty of mostly-friendly UBC PharmD students (myself) and prospective PharmD students on this forum

Cheers, 

CDuke93

[fungi.funguy]

Hi,

Thanks for giving tips and advice - much appreciated by the forum community!!

Anyways, I am someone who has been fortunate enough to have been interviewing for the past couple years for UBC MD. With that said, I am now also applying to UBC PharmD and have a good amount of EC and leadership (average score compared to interviewed applicants for MD) with about 87% cGPA, but no ECs that are pharmacy specific. Is it typical for an applicant to UBC to be admitted without any pharmacy experience? 

[CDuke93]

Hey fungi.funguy, 

Congrats on the interviews for UBC Med.

Pharmacy experience would be helpful for candidates by providing insight into the profession and the types of interactions shared between healthcare professionals and patients; especially for MMI's (as you could relate). This being said, it wasn't a requirement and there are classmates who haven't had any pharmacy experience. 

If you want some insight, I'd strongly recommend you check out "The Tablet". A magazine published by the BC Pharmacy Association (BCPhA). It discusses a wide variety of relevant and current topics within pharmacy. 

[Pharm42]

Hi I’m planning on sending my application in soon, and was confused about how they calculate the last 30 credits.

do the credits have to be within a fall or winter term to be included? Because I took 6 courses this past fall 2017 semester, and 5 courses in the winter 2017 semester. However I also took 3 in the spring 2017 semester - will those even be looked or included into my last 30 credit calculation. Sorry it’s kind of confusing. 

[CDuke93]

Hey Pharm42, 

No, you may take courses at any time except for the summer IMMEDIATELY prior to the program start date (e.g. Can't take courses in Summer 2018 for intake of September 2018). They look at your credits in semester bunches, starting from most recent and working backward. Let's say in Semester 1, 2, 3, you took 5, 14, and 15 credits. They will look at the averages for all those semesters, and make an adjustment since they only need 1 credit from semester 1 to calculate the last 30 credit average. 

It can be very confusing! Let me know if that makes sense, otherwise I can reword it. 

[Pharm42]

Thanks for your response!

Yes you are right, for semester 1 they will only need 3 credit for calculating . Therefore, for that semester they will just use any of the 5 courses taken and add it to the remainder 27 credits ?

[CDuke93]

Ok, so in that case they will need to "dip into" the next semester to get the remaining credits.

For this, they will determine the average across that semester and use it for 3 credits worth. (i.e. Take the average per credit of the whole semester and then use it for the value of 3 credits). They have to do this since they can't pick a specific course within that semester.  

Let me know if that helps! 

[Pharm42]

Okay that makes much more sense now ! Thank you for your help. 

[jess101]

Hey guys,

How would I go about a question on the personal profile page, "what is the most important to you? and why?" how can I relate this kind of question to pharmacy? I have been a bit stuck on this. 

Thank you, any insight is helpful

[tsal714]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to know how long it took you to prepare for the MMI's? Would you mind sharing questions they've asked? I really have to prepare for interviews since I get really nervous (to the point where I mumble and I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest) and I am not great at answering questions on the spot. I'm planning to start preparing for them after I hand in my application though I'm not even sure if I'll get in (Most of my marks are between B and A-, I've gotten 2 C/C-'s in the past 3.5 years. I've been doing a bit better in the past year; mostly B+'s and above). I'd also like to clarify that after submitting the application you wouldn't hear back from admissions until early April and the interviews will be a couple weeks after? I just thought they would start calling for interviews earlier. Thanks. 

[tsal714]

Also wanted to ask how pharmacy school is so far? What is it like? How many lectures/labs do you have per day and are you graded solely on tests? Thanks again for your help.

[CDuke93]

On ‎2018‎-‎01‎-‎03 at 4:09 PM, jess101 said:

Hey guys,

How would I go about a question on the personal profile page, "what is the most important to you? and why?" how can I relate this kind of question to pharmacy? I have been a bit stuck on this. 

Thank you, any insight is helpful

Hey jess101! Tough question. 

This type of questions relates to the core of your personality. As cliché as it reads, be honest. 

Best of luck on the application! 

[CDuke93]

On ‎2018‎-‎01‎-‎11 at 8:23 PM, tsal714 said:

Hi guys,

Just wanted to know how long it took you to prepare for the MMI's? Would you mind sharing questions they've asked? I really have to prepare for interviews since I get really nervous (to the point where I mumble and I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest) and I am not great at answering questions on the spot. I'm planning to start preparing for them after I hand in my application though I'm not even sure if I'll get in (Most of my marks are between B and A-, I've gotten 2 C/C-'s in the past 3.5 years. I've been doing a bit better in the past year; mostly B+'s and above). I'd also like to clarify that after submitting the application you wouldn't hear back from admissions until early April and the interviews will be a couple weeks after? I just thought they would start calling for interviews earlier. Thanks. 

Hey Tsal714, 

Due to confidentiality waiver, UBC MMI interviewees can't disclose the MMI questions or provide any "advantage" to prospective students. What we can tell you are some tips/tricks to prepare. Starters, get aware of healthcare topics and pharmacy within Canada/BC along with the basics of healthcare ethics. Then work together with other students/friends/peeps to practice answering questions on the spot within 7 minutes. 

You'll hear back within early April. Interviews will be a month or so later. You'll receive an email outlining if you were successful or not in your application. 

 

[CDuke93]

On ‎2018‎-‎01‎-‎11 at 9:00 PM, tsal714 said:

Also wanted to ask how pharmacy school is so far? What is it like? How many lectures/labs do you have per day and are you graded solely on tests? Thanks again for your help.

It's been an incredible experience, full of reward yet challenge. Expect to be overwhelmed with information and material, it's a lot. At the same time, opportunity for involvement is very present and in many venues (advocacy, government, community, education). We follow a "standardized schedule" different for each year. In class 4 days a week, lecture combined with practical lab/tutorial sessions. Assessments are based on lecture and practical lab. Courses are compartmentalized into modules in which you need to pass all (60%) and the final course exam. 

Hope that helps! It's an excellent program that's evolving and very responsive to student feedback.

 

[ihavenoname]

How would UBC calculate courses that are retaken? Say that there are same two courses with two different mark on the transcript. Do they take the average of those two?

 

Thanks in advance!

[CDuke93]

On ‎2018‎-‎01‎-‎14 at 11:09 PM, ihavenoname said:

How would UBC calculate courses that are retaken? Say that there are same two courses with two different mark on the transcript. Do they take the average of those two?

 

Thanks in advance!

Exactly that. They will take the average of the two courses and use it as one course

[Hellohi]

Do anyone know how they usually calculate the GPA? it is rounded to the one decimal, or two decimal? 

[cindy]

hello!

are we suppose to send our high school transcripts?

thanks

[CDuke93]

On ‎2018‎-‎01‎-‎17 at 10:42 AM, Hellohi said:

Do anyone know how they usually calculate the GPA? it is rounded to the one decimal, or two decimal? 

Not too sure. I would assume it is rounded to the 2nd decimal point. They describe how their calculation method works on their Admissions page. Let me know if you can't find it. 

[CDuke93]

On ‎2018‎-‎01‎-‎17 at 6:16 PM, cindy said:

hello!

are we suppose to send our high school transcripts?

thanks

Send in your University transcripts. Those should have all the pre-req courses. If there are any on your high-school transcripts (IB/IA), then those would need to be sent in. 

[cindy]

18 hours ago, CDuke93 said:

Send in your University transcripts. Those should have all the pre-req courses. If there are any on your high-school transcripts (IB/IA), then those would need to be sent in. 

thanks for the reply!

[Running in the 90's]

My advice for new comers is to have some sort of background in anatomy for first semester. APPP was overwhelming if you have no anatomy experience. 

I never had pharmacy experience. 

I didn’t even prepare for the MMI’s. Just know current issues in healthcare and you can pretty much wing it. Be natural and adapative. 

Also, my best form of advice is STUDY EVERYDAY. I’ve never studied this hard in my life. 

 

 

[CDuke93]

On ‎2018‎-‎02‎-‎01 at 0:12 AM, Running in the 90's said:

My advice for new comers is to have some sort of background in anatomy for first semester. APPP was overwhelming if you have no anatomy experience. 

I never had pharmacy experience. 

I didn’t even prepare for the MMI’s. Just know current issues in healthcare and you can pretty much wing it. Be natural and adapative. 

Also, my best form of advice is STUDY EVERYDAY. I’ve never studied this hard in my life. 

 

 

Do be prepared for a program in which you will be academically tested. Furthermore, be prepared for a profession where you will be academically, ethically, and leadership challenged. While studying is important to not only pass, you'll need to know material to incorporate the best patient-focused care. I'd argue be prepared to balance your life and commitments; if you can do this, balance studying, volunteering, social life, you'll find the Faculty/Program/Profession will provide a catalyst to your development as a professional. 

[UBC2016]

Hi! I was wondering if UBC still prioritizes B.C residents? Last year I saw on their FAQ page that priority goes to B.C residents and now that section is gone. Has anything changed? (I'm a ubc student originally from another province) 

[stealthy1]

Probably not.  If you don't see it on the page, then I don't think it will happen.  Based on the demographics, it seems like they might have changed some things around. 

 

Free pro tip: pharmacy isn't all about studying...there are people who study hours and hours and still cannot get the foundations of labs and how to properly act in scenarios.  If you cannot critically analyze the situation and quickly prioritize what the patient needs and wants together with what your job is and that of the physician order, every lecture memorization is kind of pointless.  Pharmacy IT is making a huge difference: we no longer need to do things such as memorize names of drugs and their specific strengths.  We have an ability to look up interactions in the computer. 

What we *should* be doing is putting our studying efforts into learning how to best put patients and their concerns first.  During patient interactions, droning on about a medication and its rarer than 1% side effect is a waste of time if the patient has no idea how to use it.  Talking about the specific medication and not addressing a patient in a global view is also a big error.  Answering patients directly and being short and succinct is way more important than getting everything right. There are much better uses of lab time than hours of lecture asking us to study studies and evidence when the evidence is provided and could have been simple. 

I'd say UBC's program is FAR from perfect.  In fact, it's no where near good enough at this moment.  Sure, some kinks have been ironed out, but if you look at the upper years there's still issues and they are concerns that their education is imperfect enough that that they worry about being practice-ready. 

And the best point of all: the people who get the best grades are in general not the best ready to practice.  Those who learn, but redesign, reform, and remake that knowledge to suit their own methods to apply and rethink how things are taught and how to best serve patients are the most practice-ready.  Pharmacy is NOT a memorize everything practice, it is a healthcare practice requiring analytical and critical thinking, and clinical experience.  Everybody can learn didactically, that's why Continuing Education Credits exist.  Pharmacy is still a practice because each professional has their own development of their procedures, analysis, priorities, and experience.  Developing these in school gives you a better advantage in classes than being just book smart.