Any chance for me?

Clint44 · Jan 14, 2008

Hi everyone. My names Clint and I'm new to this forum. I've found it very helpful in answering many of my questions and concerns. However, I have a pretty specific concern and I haven't really found something similar to it as far as what my specific options are. I'll have to give you a bit of background information first.

I took about 40 credit hours at a community college here in Mesa, AZ. I was never really sure of what I wanted to do and thus my schooling is stretched out over a 4 year period and my transcript has about 6 withdrawals and also a couple D's and F's. My GPA was in the low 2's. I am a relatively smart person, I just simply had no motivation.

At the college I am going to I have the ability to retake classes to replace grades thus improving my gpa. The original grade still shows up on the transcript, but it isn't calculated into my GPA. After realizing that I want to be pharmacist I have since started school again. Last semester I retook 5 classes. I worked very hard and got a 4.0.

Here is my question. If I retook all the classes from my prior schooling in which I didn't get an "A", took all the Pharmacy pre-reqs, and received a 4.0 every semester from here on out, what are the odds that I would be accepted to a Pharmacy School. Obviously getting a BS would be helpful in my situation to prove the change is long term, but would it be possible apply after taking only the pre-reqs?

As far as EC stuff, I have some under my belt and obviously plan on doing a lot more in oreder to compensate for my earlier mistakes in school. So, I'm really only asking about the academic part.

Thanks in advance everyone for your input.

aboveliquidice · Jan 14, 2008

Well clint - I have good news and bad news. Ok - bad news first.

As I suspect you already know - those baddies will not be going away. They are on the transcript to stay, and PHARMCAS / adcom will certainly see them. Every class you retake, will show up as a retake. While your GPA will certainly improve - you must know that grade forgiveness, while present at many institutions, does not carry over to your C-GPA for admission's purposes. Take home message = while it is good that you retake these classes, it wont overwrite the other stuff.

Now - the good news.

I cannot say for sure, because you have not provided specific numbers, but it is most certainly possible to get into pharmacy school with a sub 3.0 GPA. Its not easy, and few do it - but I have seen it happen on several occassions. It may take awhile - and you may have less options than someone with a 4.0 gpa - but it can be done.

Work hard, get those excellent grades, work on your ECs, and start working on the LORs -and you will have a chance.

~above~

Clint44 · Jan 14, 2008

aboveliquidice said:
As I suspect you already know - those baddies will not be going away. They are on the transcript to stay, and PHARMCAS / adcom will certainly see them. Every class you retake, will show up as a retake. While your GPA will certainly improve - you must know that grade forgiveness, while present at many institutions, does not carry over to your C-GPA for admission's purposes. Take home message = while it is good that you retake these classes, it wont overwrite the other stuff.

Actually, I was not aware of the fact that retaking those classes does not affect my GPA for admissions purposes. This being the case, would it be worth my time to retake those classes, or should I just focus on the pre-req coursework? My current GPA is around a 2.5 not calculating in any of the classes which are retakes and I still have 3 semesters of pre-req coursework that needs to be done.

tootoo30 · Jan 14, 2008

Okay if your retaking courses that are not prerequisites then yeah your wasting valuable time. I would focus on the prerequisites for now and try to keep that 4.0 while doing it. After you finish with those if you want to retake classes to boost your GPA then you could.

That's just my opinion, matter of fact that's what I'm doing right now 👍 I have a degree in computer science so lets just say I'm never repeating those classes again!

Clint44 · Jan 14, 2008

So, would it not really be beneficial to my application to go back and retake the courses that I got bad grades in if they are not pre-reqs? What about ones that are pre-reqs, but not science classes?

eelo · Jan 14, 2008

Clint44 said:
So, would it not really be beneficial to my application to go back and retake the courses that I got bad grades in if they are not pre-reqs? What about ones that are pre-reqs, but not science classes?

I wouldn't retake anything with a C or above. You should retake the Ds and Fs; you may have to in order to get any credit for them at all (most schools won't accept Ds for transfer). Assuming you're doing well in your more recent coursework, you should be able to show a significant upward trend.

ibtech · Jan 15, 2008

even if you retake the class, you still have to put your D on application.
becuase you must put all your grades in application including all the repeated classes and the grades are going to average out.

This means that...
the Pharm CAS will still use your D for caculating the GPA and Pharmacy school will still see the D even after you retake the class.
I don't see the point of retake instead of taking other pre-pharm class to improve your GPA.GPA.

tootoo30 · Jan 15, 2008

Clint44 said:
So, would it not really be beneficial to my application to go back and retake the courses that I got bad grades in if they are not pre-reqs? What about ones that are pre-reqs, but not science classes?

You never stated what your major is, so I'm not sure if the classes relate to pharmacy, but I have horrible grades for my first year of undergrad, but I finished with a 3.28 GPA. Now I'm just doing classes that relate to my prerequisites, so I can get them out the way and also have the classes to apply to pharmacy school. As you do good in your prerequisites your GPA will reflect the change. It makes no since to go back and do a humanity class that you got a C in, worry about the science and math classes first!

That's just my 2 cents!

fiorio · Jan 15, 2008

you should explain your situation in your personal statement while applying. 😀

FutureofRx · Jan 16, 2008

Clint44 said:
Hi everyone. My names Clint and I'm new to this forum. I've found it very helpful in answering many of my questions and concerns. However, I have a pretty specific concern and I haven't really found something similar to it as far as what my specific options are. I'll have to give you a bit of background information first.

I took about 40 credit hours at a community college here in Mesa, AZ. I was never really sure of what I wanted to do and thus my schooling is stretched out over a 4 year period and my transcript has about 6 withdrawals and also a couple D's and F's. My GPA was in the low 2's. I am a relatively smart person, I just simply had no motivation.

At the college I am going to I have the ability to retake classes to replace grades thus improving my gpa. The original grade still shows up on the transcript, but it isn't calculated into my GPA. After realizing that I want to be pharmacist I have since started school again. Last semester I retook 5 classes. I worked very hard and got a 4.0.

Here is my question. If I retook all the classes from my prior schooling in which I didn't get an "A", took all the Pharmacy pre-reqs, and received a 4.0 every semester from here on out, what are the odds that I would be accepted to a Pharmacy School. Obviously getting a BS would be helpful in my situation to prove the change is long term, but would it be possible apply after taking only the pre-reqs?

As far as EC stuff, I have some under my belt and obviously plan on doing a lot more in oreder to compensate for my earlier mistakes in school. So, I'm really only asking about the academic part.

Thanks in advance everyone for your input.

Have you started your application process yet? I was curious what colleges actually think about the retaking, or not retaking of a course you did badly in.

collegegrad · Jan 16, 2008

eelo said:
I wouldn't retake anything with a C or above. You should retake the Ds and Fs; you may have to in order to get any credit for them at all (most schools won't accept Ds for transfer). Assuming you're doing well in your more recent coursework, you should be able to show a significant upward trend.

You're saying not to retake anything with a C or above? What if it was a prereq course? (say a C in orgo 1)

FixLittlePeople · Jan 16, 2008

if you get a C in organic I, I would recommend retaking it if your school is like one I applied to (not sure of others), that they assign points based on how you did in that one class and the points are of course part of how you get ranked before you interview. bottom line, some classes are worth retaking more than others.

eelo · Jan 16, 2008

collegegrad said:
You're saying not to retake anything with a C or above? What if it was a prereq course? (say a C in orgo 1)

The impact on one's overall GPA by retaking a class is usually not significant. PharmCas uses both grades when calculating GPA, so both grades will still count. You'd do better to concentrate your efforts into getting As and Bs in follow-on courses after Orgo, rather than wasting time re-taking Orgo. Of course, if you feel that you didn't learn everything you were supposed to learn, then you should re-take it.

FutureofRx · Jan 16, 2008

Saying you didn't need the class in order to get into pharmacy school. What should I do if I got a D in a biology course that isn't need at grad school? Repeat it, or move on and take a different biology since they average the GPA anyways.

ibtech · Jan 17, 2008

FutureofRx said:
Saying you didn't need the class in order to get into pharmacy school. What should I do if I got a D in a biology course that isn't need at grad school? Repeat it, or move on and take a different biology since they average the GPA anyways.

If the class is not core requirements, I would recommend that you to focus on core ones.

Any chance for me?

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