Pre-Pharmacy / Pre-Medical Lecture

Matthew Bateman

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) http://www.lecom.edu/

3-18-08

I.         Program Description

            A.        Encompasses two campuses with the parent school located in Erie, PA and a new branch located in Bradenton, FL.

            B.        The pharmacy school in Pennsylvania is a 3 year school, while the school in Florida is 4 years.

            C.        It is a private school and tuition is approximately $20,000 / year.

            D.        With both campuses in consideration, it is the largest pharmacy school in the nation. They accept 130 students at the Erie campus and 90 students at the Bradenton campus.

            E.        Each semester includes 10 weeks of intense instruction, and features summer externships. Multiple classes are taken at the same time. (Not a block format).

            F.        The strength of the school is on student centered instruction and availability of instructors for assistance.

II.        Admission in to the program

            A.        See the following site: http://www.lecom.edu/pros_degreereq.php

            B.        Students can be admitted as soon as they complete the core requirements and 60 credit hours of undergraduate education. (A bachelor’s degree is not required).

            C.        Students should have a GPA of 3.4 or above.

            D.        The PCAT is required along with 3 letters of recommendation.

            E.        Job shadowing or a pharmacy technician certificate is highly encouraged.

            F.        Students should submit their applications using PharmCAS.

            G.        Each year they receive around 3,000 applications for the two schools. Of these applicants, 500 students receive interviews. Students receiving interviews have proven their ability to become pharmacists. In the interview they are looking for communication skills, personality, and life balance. In spite of the large number of applications to acceptance ratio, they are particularly looking for students from Utah.

            H.        They have a rolling application process, meaning the sooner students apply, the sooner they will be interviewed and accepted. If they like you, they will accept you at that time. There is no ranking process that takes place.

III.       About Erie, PA

            A.        Erie proper contains about 100,000 people and is located on the northwestern corner of PA, right on the coast of Lake Erie.

            B.        It is in close proximity to several larger cities including Cleveland, OH, Buffalo, NY and Pittsburg, PA.

            C.        The weather is moderate and many outdoor recreation activities are available.