Don’t Panic

I can still remember walking home that April afternoon and knowing that any day now I should have a letter in my mailbox.

When that day finally arrived I stood, leaning against my truck trying to get the courage up to open the letter.

I did and the first few words put a smile on my face.  But, if those first few words are along the lines of, “We regret to inform you…” then, don’t panic.

First of all, it will do you no good.  This is one of the reasons I advise you to apply to more than one pharmacy school.
You spread your risk around a little bit and improve your chances of being accepted.

I made the stupid mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket.  If it hadn’t worked out I would have been screwed for another year.

Secondly, all pharmacy schools that I know of have an alternate list.  That is, a list of applicants who were rejected for various reasons but whose names are on the list and can be called when an accepted applicant turns down his position. Generally for another school.

And yes, it does happen.  I knew students who were on the alternate list and did get a call.  But they were relatively rare.  Don’t get dependent on that.

Call and ask

If you do happen to get rejected by all three of your pharmacy schools that you applied to then obviously they all saw something that needs to be corrected.

The best course of action is to cool your heels for a couple of weeks and then call the school.  Try to set an appointment to talk to the admissions director or another such person and discuss the issue.

Do not, I repeat, do NOT get defensive.  Be professional and understand that these guys see hundreds of applications.  So something was awry.

I can remember writing marketing materials for well-known companies and every once in a while you would see critiques of your work that you would want to take personally.

They weren’t attacking me personally, but they didn’t feel the work was accomplishing what they wanted.

The same is true for you.  The school is not saying you are a bad applicant or person.  Don’t take it as a personal attack.
And when I realized that it made talking about it easier.

Address the issue head on, don’t waste their time and find out what you could do to make yourself a more appealing applicant.

A lot of students I tell this to look at me like they’ve been weaned from a lemon, but it absolutely works.

If it were me I would try something along these lines: “Hi Sue.  First of all, I want to thank you for giving my application consideration.  But obviously, you (or the admissions committee) feel there were some things that I need to improve upon.  I was hoping that you would be willing to sit down for no more than 5 minutes and show me where I could improve and make myself a more appealing applicant.”

Of course, you can improvise a bit.  But, in my experience, the direct course is usually the best.  And remember, they aren’t your pen pals or phone buddies.  Politely ask for their help and advice and promise to keep it short.

Make the Changes

In most cases I’ve seen, rejections arose because of poor grades.

I did have some B’s on my transcripts.  As I mentioned above, I had about a 3.6 GPA.  So, it wasn’t perfect.

But I set a high standard for myself.  In going for a 4.0 GPA the worst grade I got in any class was a B.

This is theory on my part, but if you submit a transcript with a C on it, particularly in any chemistry or science class it throws up a red-flag.

The last student I consulted with after a rejection had applied with a C in Organic Chemistry (among other classes).

Overall, her GPA was just over a 3.0.

The school told her to fix the Organic Chemistry grade.  She did not.  She applied again and was denied.

She came to me for advice.  I told her the same thing I’m telling you right now: do not waste another year of your life and more money applying unless you are 100% devoted to changing your grade in Organic Chemistry.  Get a tutor.  Take supplemental classes to help.  DVD and books are available on line.  Whatever it takes.  But you need to make the changes.

Unfortunately, like many students she liked the idea of being accepted into a prestigious school but wasn’t willing to do what it took to improve her grades.

Despite my (and the schools) advice, she took another year of Organic Chemistry and failed to improve her grade.  She applied again and was denied, again.

After that she smartly stopped applying to pharmacy school.

The point of this chapter is simple: your chances of not being accepted are greater than being accepted.  Pharmacy schools want the best applicants.  If you are rejected the schools will be very forthright about telling you where you need to improve to become the best.  Take their advice and make the changes.  If that is something you aren’t willing to do (and there is no shame in that, this may be the key that you aren’t cut out for pharmacy school) – then don’t apply again.

Related posts:

1. Pharmacy School Rankings Are A Waste of Time
2. Surviving Pharmacy School
3. Should You Work During Pharmacy School?