Hi!
I just finished 2nd year and I’m planning on applying to the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy when I finish my undergrad. I was just wondering how much the admissions committee looks at the required courses specifically compared to the cumulative GPA. A lot of the required courses are 1st year courses and I struggled a bit in 1st year and got mostly B-‘s and B’s in a lot of the required courses (with one C+). In 2nd year I pulled off 7 A’s out of my 10 courses but still got two C’s in organic chemistry I and II which are both required courses.
My study habits improved tremendously in 2nd year compared to 1st year and I’m confident I can pull up my CGPA to somewhere in the 3.3-3.5 range by the end of 4th year, but I’m worried the A’s in the non-required (albeit still science) courses won’t matter much when compared to my average\/mediocre grades in the required courses.
Sorry for the long question and thanks in advance for any input\/help! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
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hey there,<\/p>\n
to be honest, the Leslie Dan Faculty gives a lot more information than most graduate\/professional schools about the kinds of marks they’re looking for.* they explain that the minimum they’re looking for is a 70% average, that at least a 77% is competitive, and that the median of accepted students in recent years has been 80%<\/a>. i think if you take your CGPA – lumping together all your required and non-required courses equally – and compare it to those numbers, you can get a pretty accurate idea about how good your chances are. i mean, i don’t know exactly how the admissions committee considers each individual mark because i am not the admissions committee<\/i><\/a>, but i think that that should be a useful tool for determining generally where your chances may stand.<\/p>\n like you said, a lot of the courses they look at are first-year (and even high school) courses<\/a>, but there are also some second-year ones in there. so while i don’t know exactly how important those earlier courses are, they’re not the be-all and end-all of what the school is looking for. PCAT marks<\/a>, admission interviews <\/a>and your transcript as a whole <\/a>also play a part.<\/p>\n so, all in all, i think that the A’s in your other courses will definitely help. since CGPA is a factor, they can only assist, not harm, your application. unfortunately i don’t know exactly how important the non-required courses will be compared to the required ones, but i think the school has given you a lot of markers (cut-off average, competitive average, etc.) to gauge your chances as you go forward.<\/p>\n i hope the application process isn’t too<\/em> stressful. try and give yourself a second or two to breathe<\/a> between all those exams and interviews and stuff; and good luck!<\/p>\n cheers,<\/p>\n aska<\/p>\n