Guest GusK Posted March 21, 2002 Report Share Posted March 21, 2002 Maybe a bit off topic... but does anybody have any info on the admissions criteria (academic and non-academic) used by U of T's faculty of Pharmacy . I've looked at the admission booklet but would appreciate any more info that others may have especially wirh respect to the Admission Profile Test. What type of questions do they ask? How important is this test? Are pre-requisites looked at more strongly than cumulative overall average? Thanks, Gus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marmotYVR Posted March 26, 2002 Report Share Posted March 26, 2002 Gus- I went to U of T pharmacy, and have marked 3 yrs worth of admissions profiles (altho not for the last 2 yrs...). Here are some topics you may want to consider: why do you want to do pharmacy as opposed to other health professions; pharmaceutical care model by Hepler & Strand (you won't be asked specifically about this, but knowing the model will help you to incorporate it into your answers); how your past experience lends you well to being a pharmacist; what do you see as the role of the pharmacist (this one ALWAYS elicited some interesting answers...) etc. Frankly, (at least when I was a marker) the questions were pretty standard. Works of wisdom (i.e. my personal bag of pet peeves as a marker): 1. answer the question DIRECTLY - don't just try to tell us how wonderful you are - it should come out as a result of your response to the question! 2.please plan your response before you write it, and re-read it afterwards - many times, I have re-read the same sentence to try to figure out what the person was saying - worse, eventually I STOPPED re-reading - if it didn't make sense, it didn't count (call me cruel!) 3. PLEASE distinguish WHY you want pharmacy, not dentistry, or medicine - often, reading between the lines, it becomes clear that pharmacy is a back-up plan, and that the person is really hoping for admission to another program...even if that is true (you ARE on a premeds site, after all!), you don't want to kill you back-up plan! 4. Spend time with a pharmacist - ideally, in both a community and hospital setting. It is often clear when an applicant doesn't really know what the pharmacist DOES back behind that big counter... How is the profile weighted? Honestly, I don't have exact details. But I'll tell you what they told us: an outstanding application in other respects (grades, research, extra-curriculars etc) will likely get tossed if we give graded you poorly on your profile. Similarly, an otherwise "weaker" application, we were told, would get a good boost from a highly ranked profile. We scored each profile out of 10, and each profile was read by 2 pharmacists. If the marks were quite different, then a third person read the profile. That is all I can think of to pass along re the profiles. I have NO info on stuff like GPAs, prereqs etc - phone the faculty. A word of advice as a career in pharmacy (being a pharmacist now looking to get out my opinion MAY be a BIT biased ) - if what you REALLY want is medicine, you are unlikely to enjoy pharmacy. Other areas (physio, OT, nursing, speech path, dieticians etc) have a much more independant role in patient care - they do independent assessments and treatments, which do not rely (necessarily) on the doctor. As a pharmacist, you neither diagnose, nor prescribe, so your impact often depends on having an MD agree with your opinion, and implement your plan (treatment of conditions where OTC products are an option nothwithstanding). Think carefully, VERY carefully.... That said, if you want to go for it, good luck! Feel free to ask me any other questions - I'll help in any way I can! Marmot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pharmer bob Posted March 26, 2002 Report Share Posted March 26, 2002 Hi marmotYVR I wonder if you are in these forums because you have at one point considered medicine? Anyway, I knew someone back in undergrad who got into pharm, but told me he would continue to pursue meds while taking pharm. Do you think this type of behaviour is common in your class? What is your opinion on this? Does a degree in pharmacy help or hinder chances at meds admission? (I mean, adcom could think, why did this guy bother to do pharm, when he could have done grads research?) Personally I think pharmacy is great, and good luck to whatever you decide to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kal Posted March 26, 2002 Report Share Posted March 26, 2002 Hi all...interesting discussion. Bob are you currently a pharmacist? Marmot, are you considering a 2nd career in med? I am currently a pharmacy student. To be honest, I had no idea what the role of a pharmacist consisted of when I started (I guess you can say I didn't know what I wanted to do and thought pharmacy was a good undergrad degree). I am exploring other career paths; however, pharmacy is great! Who here knows of pharmacy students or pharmacists not in med or persuing med? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marmotYVR Posted March 26, 2002 Report Share Posted March 26, 2002 Yep, I'm considering a second career - and I've got my interview at Mac on Sat! LOADS of people in my class took pharmacy as a "glorified" pre-med course. Out of a class of 160 people, probably around 10 made the cut, and are now in (or done) med school. This is a somewhat different situation than it is now, tho. I (and the rest of my class) went to pharmacy school straight out of high school (just put me in the "mature student" category!), so adcoms MAY ask why I didn't do grad school instead but... that would have been an unlikely leap from gr. 13 ! In my case, I see my pharmacy background as an HUGE asset for meds. That said, now that the admissions are different, I can see where it would be looked down upon to take up a seat in one health pro-fac, when your intentions are to switch to meds! In fact, even when I was in school, the pre-meds in my class frustrated me, cause I knew that their devotion to the books had nothing to do with wanting to be a good pharmacist! (I had NO intention of going to med school until the last yr or so - I guess I am no a HUGE hypocrite!) Good luck, you other pharmie-types - are we ALL on this board looking to head to meds?? Marmot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GusK Posted March 26, 2002 Report Share Posted March 26, 2002 Marmot: I appreciate all the info. That was very helpful. Pharmacy is not a back up for me. I did a couple of years in med school a few years ago (at U. of Sask) and while I enjoyed the non-clinical component, for whatever reason I felt uncomfortable once patient contact and the clinical component began. Perhaps I was immature and a bit apprehensive dealing with patients and constantly being evaluated by clinicians...I'm not sure but I do recall feeling quite a bit of anxiety. Perhaps, if I stuck it out, I may have gotten through this difficulty and enjoyed it but I decided to take a year off but never returned. I have two friends and a cousin who are pharmacists and I think I may be better suited for pharmacy from all the info I've gathered. It's kinda ironic that my two pharmacy friends tried to get into meds but couldn't and ended up finishing pharmacy at U. of Manitoba. They would have liked to be where I was and I would like to be where they are :-) Gus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest meds Posted June 25, 2002 Report Share Posted June 25, 2002 Everything said above is so true. Please, if you are someone seriously set on meds, do NOT use pharmacy as a backup plan. If you truly want meds, by all means go for it! In fact I encourage you to follow what you really want to do, instead of "playing it safe". I graduated from Phm at U of T and got in meds, but originally I did not consider phm as my "backup" plan. I think it would be a really bad idea if you are in a program and have no intention of completing it, which may make your studying time less fulfilling since you are persuing an alternate goal. Different strokes for different people, I wanted to do more with direct patient contact and independent decision making, but that does NOT mean pharmacy isn't a great profession. Pharmacists DEFINITELY have an important role in patient care on the health care team. Then again, it depends on where you work. Sure you will hear other people complain about their jobs as a pharmacists, but consider the fact that there are many more pharmacists with extremely fulfilling careers serving an important role in patient care (probably as a hospital pharmacist, but I can cite you many examples in the community as well). I still practise pharmacy part time and find it a rewarding career. As a community pharmacist, I enjoy the day to day interactions with my regular customers, and they appreciate the fact that I make a positive impact on their health (at times where I am in a position to help). Just a note of advise, phm in U of T tends to give you low marks that destroy your GPA for med school admission. OUt of the class of 120 I was the only one in meds, the previous year only 2 were successful. I was extremely extremely lucky to get in...... well, hope this is helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest saralee Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 hi, i'm interested in applying to pharmacy at UofT, and had some questions. i just wanted to ask any past or present pharmacy students out there what the courseload/workload is like in the pharmacy bsc program. i've heard some horror stories, and i'm sure the experience varies between people. but just generally, is there a lot more work than in the life sci undergrad programs? and generally, are the students older or are majority just starting their second year of university? i was also wondering about the atmosphere of the class. is it competitive? quite honestly, some of the undergrad life sci classes at UofT brewed a very competitive atmosphere. i already completed my 4 year degree and am not looking to return to that kind of environment. does anyone know if they they consider grad students differently during admission? i mean, they say no, but i'm asking those who may know otherwise. i'd appreciate any help on the matter. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest phat pharm Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 Hi, I was just wondering if any currently/previously enrolled pharm students could answer a few ques I have regarding the admission process. It would be very much appreicated. First of all, do any of you know what kind of grades would be necessary to gain entrance into the program? The UT site says 77% is usually the median, with only about 20% of admitted students in the low 70s. But I find this to be a bit ambiguous. What do you think would be an acceptable grade range for a student with a slightly above avg profile? Also, is it true that students in or around Toronto need very good or competitive marks to get in, while those further out do not? On the profile test, there is a section of it that is supposed to be devoted to multiple choice ques. I was quite suprised by this discovery since I thought it would be only an essay and short answers. I was just wondering what kind of ques would be asked for this part? would it be general knowledge type ques or ques about pharmacy as a profession? Lastly, how much weighting is given to prior pharm experience or pharm exposure? would it be sufficient to say that I've done extensive research on the topic and that I'm very interested in it? Alright, that's all i'm dying to know at the moment. Much thanks to anyone who replies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Koggetsu Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 to marmotVYR and others in pharmacy field: Do u think that Pharmacy is less stressful than meds? And if so, if u put that down as one of your reasons for choosing pharmacy, is that a good idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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