Heidi Fuchs, the Assistant Dean for Admissions and Enrollment Management at Touro College of Pharmacy , is a pharmacy school admissions expert!
She was kind enough to share a behind-the-scenes look into her role as a pharmacy school admissions representative and provide a few tips to help you ace the pharmacy school admissions process. Here’s what she had to say.
My day as an admissions representative is very diverse. Some days, I’m reviewing new applications, conducting interviews, or following up with candidates who’ve expressed an interest in our college. On other days, my focus is more on events and programming—from presenting at admissions committee meetings to holding large pharmacy school information sessions.
Some of the other things you might catch me doing on a typical day include the following:
The part of my job that I enjoy most is getting to interact with prospective pharmacy students on a daily basis.
Pharmacy school candidates start the admissions process by creating a PharmCAS application and uploading their required documents, including a personal statement, transcripts, contact information for their recommendations, etc.).
Once all of the documents have been submitted, the next steps are an in-depth application review, pharmacy school interviews, committee deliberations, and—finally—decisions.
At Touro College of Pharmacy, we offer a four-year program. However, other pharmacy schools have programs in varying lengths .
Students interested in becoming pharmacists are required to obtain certain pre-pharmacy credits. In addition to the required pre-pharmacy coursework, some pharmacy schools also require that their student applicants take the PCAT entrance exam .
When it comes to applying for pharmacy school, it’s important that prospective students take courses in basic sciences and math in high school and college.
At Touro College of Pharmacy, we look at candidate applications holistically. This means we consider what prospective students are involved in in their community and at their college, how they’ve demonstrated a commitment to healthcare and pharmacy, their academic trends, their personal statement, their letters of recommendation, and more. There isn’t one piece of the application that is a main focus.
The most important qualities that I look for when interviewing prospective pharmacy school students are grit and perseverance.
The portions of a pharmacy school application that tend to stand out most during the review process are strong grades in science coursework, empathy and grit, and effective communications skills.
The following are a few questions I recommend a candidate ask when talking with a pharmacy school admissions officer. These questions will help them get a better idea of whether or not the pharmacy school is the right for them:
In my opinion, the simplest way to determine if a pharmacy school is right for a prospective student is to speak with admissions representatives, connect with current students, and visit campus to get a feel of the environment.
Every pharmacy school is different. The school where I work, Touro College of Pharmacy, is a private school. Our annual tuition is just shy of $42,000 a year.
There are endless tips I could provide when it comes to beginning the pharmacy school application. The following are a few of my favorites:
Thank you to Heidi Fuchs for sharing this valuable information with us! If you’re interested in more pharmacy school admissions tips, check out some of our other blogs on the topic:
