Here Pharmacy

Do pharmacy school admissions consider what university you went to as an undergrad?

For example, if two people have the same credentials but one went to Stanford and the other went to an average state school for undergrad, will the pharmacy school prefer to take the student who went to Stanford? Another example is if a student's GPA was slightly lower because the curve is tougher at a competitive undergraduate school? Will the pharmacy school take this into consideration? Or does it not make any difference to the people at pharmacy school admissions? Thanks a lot!

Public Comments

1. Yes, it does matter. Better undergrad schools have more demanding professors and more selective admissions rates which tends to (but not always) draw the "cream of the crop" academically. And so, expect a Stanford grad to have a more likely time getting in than an average state school grad. I think generally pharmacy schools will take into account the competitiveness of the undergrad school, but the school you went to isn't everything. There are a lot of other deciding factors.
2. It depends on the individual school. Some view all as equal, and others do not. It is known that more selective schools tend to have higher GPAs than at less selective schools.
3. Yes, Lea is right. It depends on the particular school. It helps if you're going to a prestigious, well-known school AND have a high GPA. But if you go to a less well-known university but have higher GPA, then it looks better on you. After all, GPA is one of the biggest factors determining whether you will get the interview or not aside from letters of recommendation, personal statement, pharmacy experience, extracurricular activities, etc. However, the bottom line is if you have a 2.9-3.0 GPA from Stanford and another student has a 3.6 from a calstate or whatever school, then the person with 3.6 will have a better GPA than you according to the pharmcas calculation. So, don't let your gpa down ever no matter which school you go to.