Chapter 46

In the realm of the 4 professional schools, admissions for Pharmacy was considered the easiest. I don’t mean to say it was easy but it did have this reputation. This was because of 2 reasons. 

The first was that you could technically get admitted into the Pharmacy Doctor (PharmD) program straight out of high school through something called the CAP program. What was it and how do you apply to it? Let me walk you through it as I understood it.

If in high school you had an outstanding resume and a crazy high GPA, you could apply to be part of the Conditional Acceptance Program. If accepted into CAP, you would enter university with an uncompromisable set of courses in year 1 and year 2. Then, as long as you remained above a preset minimum GPA, you would be automatically admitted into the PharmD program after year 2. This gave the program a sense of easiness, seemingly on the fact that you could get into the program before university even started, at least for the Waterloo program. The other Canadian PharmD program was in UofT (University of Toronto) and they did not offer this though everyone usually looked at CAP and thought about both schools.

Secondly, you could apply into it starting from year 2 even if you aren’t a part of the CAP program. The other professional schools usually had an admission requirement of at least 3 years in an undergraduate program of science. While this is definitely something to consider, if you recall, you could have taken your prerequisite courses in any order you liked for any of the professional schools. This means as long as you did all your requirements for the other professional schools, which usually only took 2 years even for the most demanding ones, you could have spent any years after the initial courses were done doing whatever courses you wanted. 

Confused? Let me give you an example. If you were trying for med school, which had a requirement of minimum 3 years of an undergraduate degree in science, and you completed all your prerequisites to apply for med school by year 2, you can spend your third year just taking as many easy courses as you wanted to boost your GPA. This essentially meant that “the years in school” requirement wasn’t much of a good yardstick for how hard a program was. If anything, the 3 years requirement means that you can split up your hard courses like I was doing and make it easier for you to prepare for exams for hard courses. 

In reality, was the pharmacy program actually difficult to get in? And was it hard as a program all together? It’s hard to say, I never went down that route. Acceptance numbers-wise, the class size for Waterloo was around 120 students and UofT’s around 240. At Waterloo, the CAP program had around 20 spots. So, if you were trying to get a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree in Ontario, you were competing for 100 + 240 = 340 seats. 

One thing to keep in mind. Out of those 340 seats, you had students who wanted to do Pharmacy and also every other professional school hopeful who wanted a backup plan. Take that into consideration and you may find that the Pharmacy program is tougher than it looks. 

Why do I know all this? That’s easy, in second year. I had applied for the Pharmacy Program. Like I said, it was my back up. However, what I didn’t realize when I applied was how much I wanted it right after I submitted my application, even after spending almost no energy on the application itself. Why was I so hopeful of an application to a school I didn’t even really want to attend? Easy, it would mean my future was at least somewhat secure. A professional school of some kind meant that I would at least be on route to a career of sorts. The anxiety demon would be put into its place. This would essentially mean I would no longer have to take undergraduate courses for the sake of applying for something beyond. 

I knew I didn’t deserve it but oh boy did the thought of maybe getting into a professional school feel good. It felt like a gambler’s high. You’re not sure what your chances are but you bought your scratch card and are now just waiting with anticipation. 

I knew I had very little chance. After all, I hadn’t really tried at all on my application. All the courses and prerequisites I was taking for Optometry were pretty much the same ones for Pharmacy school at Waterloo with the exception of one, organic chemistry. While I hated that course with a passion, it was still just one course and one that I could use as a science credit towards my degree. Other than that one course, there was literally nothing else I needed to do to apply for the program. 

Are you surprised how easy that was? Well I certainly was. I found this out at the beginning of second year, I kept it to myself cause I figured it may decrease the amount of people looking for backups. The application criteria was simply too easy. 

All the 4 professional schools had an admissions test that was mandatory. Med school had the MCAT, optometry had the OAT and dental had the DAT. Pharm had the PhAD but here’s the thing. It was only mandatory for the UofT Pharmacy program, not the Waterloo one. For Waterloo, you didn’t need to write the PhAD at all! After this, all you needed was an average of 75% or higher and a reference from any health care professional where you can use a physician, optometrist, psychiatrist or anyone else! 

While this seems easy on paper. The truth was that rarely will a 75% average net you a seat in the program. Also, sure, the reference could be from anyone, however, if you didn’t have a pharmacist write that letter, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get rejected instantly. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened to me. They didn’t even offer me an interview.

While I was thrilled like a gambling addict when I applied, it didn’t really hit me that hard when I got the rejection. This was my backup plan. In fact, I think that despite how good it may feel to get into a professional school right away in second year, my conscience may have come around to rejecting the acceptance letter and applying for Optometry if that scenario presented itself. 

I have nothing against the pharmacy program, it just wasn’t my first choice. Therefore, it seems a bit unfair if I got into the program I didn’t like just to use it as a backup and throw it away the minute something else better comes along. It feels almost like you’re cheating on a partner. Not only that, this also prevents someone else who wanted to get into the program from even getting a chance. Yet, this stuff happens all the time. 

It was a common thing to have back up plans. I had a backup plan in Pharmacy that I didn’t try for. But it was common to see people who do try for it. And it sucks. I’ve seen those who are super capable and are able to easily pull off medical school applications, which are arguably the hardest applications out of all the professional schools, jump programs. 

In the Optometry program, there is almost a 100% graduation rate, nobody fails. Yet, when graduation comes along, rarely will you see a full class of 90 graduate. Why? There’s always 3 or 4 students that would go into the Optometry program, and then apply out of the program for medical school during their 4 years. Based on what I’ve been told, that number of program jumpers is much higher in the pharmacy program. 

It sucks. Honestly, to see something you work so hard to get thrown away by someone who is more capable than you. But what can you do? Some are just blessed with academic excellence. Furthermore, the person who got denied a spot will always be faceless. 

When facing something like this, I am often reminded of my abilities. I knew from the beginning that I didn’t have what it takes to go into Med school nor did I have the patience to sit through so much schooling. I was type A but I wasn’t that Type A. It’s just not who I am. I wasn’t Med School material. 

Looking back, I think it was around the time I got rejected by the Pharmacy program when I really decided to take a minute and step back to see what I was doing with my time and my life. Though the second year was better than first in terms of stress, I wasn’t out of the woods. I was still cramming for courses I really didn’t find value nor interest in. Simply to just meet a requirement and apply to a school. I wasn’t happy with this setup. The pharmacy program application had been a way out but it was now a bust. 

So now what? Very fortunately for me, I did find a way out. Or at least a method for me to stay in the game without going crazy.

In hindsight, the answer seemed so simple and obvious too. I’m surprised it took me until my second year of undergrad to see it.