LOW GPA 10 years ago

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Pharmacist2be

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I am new in the forum so Hi to all,
I had a BSc. in Economics 10 years ago, My GPA is super low (around 2.4 or so). I had an AS now in Radiography and finished most of my Pre-reqs. Planning for the PCAT on October. My AS GPA is 3.7 and almost 3.5 for Science courses.
I wonder if any of you know that my 10 years BSc. will count against me or not.. Do you know of any schools that offer grade forgivness?
I am applying for 2010 to any school that will offer the Grade forgivness. Please HELP.
How long will it take to study the PCAT. 2 months is enough?
Thanks
 
As far as I know, there are many schools that offer academic forgiveness; and your GPA should be 'forgiven.'

Well, I am guessing you are not in Canada, because up here they don't offer academic forgiveness in any pharmacy schools..

And for PCAT study, it really varies by people. I don't know how much time you are willing to devote on studying for PCAT, nor how much knowledge you already have.

But based on the fact that you have finished most of pre-reqs, I'd assume you know most of PCAT material because PCAT is mostly, if not all, about materials covered in pre-reqs.

If all the info you learned is fresh, 2 months should be more than enough.
 
Thanks DN.. No I moved from Toronto 7 years ago.. I reside in the states now.. Which schools that you know of offer academic forgivness?
 
Passion4Sci said:
I'd say USN, but I am pretty sure their A. Forgiveness only goes 5 years into the past. Not sure how they'd handle 10 years...

But check them out anyway.
Click to expand...

USN gives forgiveness for grades 5 years or older -- so it would apply to you. However, you would have to have done ALL of your pre-reqs in the last 5 years. That means that you will have to retake classes, such as Eng. Comp., that you would have taken 10 years ago. You should contact the school to get clarification.
 
Depending on the school, "academic forgiveness" can be as distinct as USN's policy. Hawaii-Hilo also offers their own version even though it's not technically academic forgiveness, as they only count courses taken in the past 10 years or later unless you specifically ask them to. Some places like UCSD won't count courses that are 10+ years old at all. And there are places like UCSF that take into account all coursework, whether it was taken a year ago or 40 years ago.

I had the same issue myself, where I had a 2.6 science GPA as an undergrad, but because of Hawaii-Hilo's policy and retaking the bulk of my science prereqs, my science GPA for UHH was actually a 3.65. For UCSF, my GPA ended up being about 3.0, but I got into both.
 
stkyrice said:
Depending on the school, "academic forgiveness" can be as distinct as USN's policy. Hawaii-Hilo also offers their own version even though it's not technically academic forgiveness, as they only count courses taken in the past 10 years or later unless you specifically ask them to. Some places like UCSD won't count courses that are 10+ years old at all. And there are places like UCSF that take into account all coursework, whether it was taken a year ago or 40 years ago.

I had the same issue myself, where I had a 2.6 science GPA as an undergrad, but because of Hawaii-Hilo's policy and retaking the bulk of my science prereqs, my science GPA for UHH was actually a 3.65. For UCSF, my GPA ended up being about 3.0, but I got into both.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys for your response.. I will apply to both for sure.. will do more research about other schools for academic forgiveness and see if they also need the PCAT or not.
Thanks again..
Any feedback will be appreciated
 
Out of curiosity, how much are you going to make with your A.S. in Radiography? I'm assuming you're 32 (though you could be 28), but if I was applying at 32, I'd probably be breaking even, financially, by going to pharmacy school.

I know a lot of people are here who are older, and I'm no spring chicken myself (I'm 24), and if you enjoy pharmacy, by all means, pursue it... but I think a lot of people just see the 100K salary and don't take into account the costs associated with going to pharmacy school. Loans, taxes on your income, associated interest, time lost, investing potential lost, and god forbid you actually have to re-take a class. (I've heard of one guy who's evidently a great guy, but he's 30, has a kid, was class president or something, and my friend who was a year behind him, graduated a year ahead of him because the 30 year old was at UoP and if you fail a class, you're boned for the year.)
 
PonderingChoice said:
Out of curiosity, how much are you going to make with your A.S. in Radiography? I'm assuming you're 32 (though you could be 28), but if I was applying at 32, I'd probably be breaking even, financially, by going to pharmacy school.

I know a lot of people are here who are older, and I'm no spring chicken myself (I'm 24), and if you enjoy pharmacy, by all means, pursue it... but I think a lot of people just see the 100K salary and don't take into account the costs associated with going to pharmacy school. Loans, taxes on your income, associated interest, time lost, investing potential lost, and god forbid you actually have to re-take a class. (I've heard of one guy who's evidently a great guy, but he's 30, has a kid, was class president or something, and my friend who was a year behind him, graduated a year ahead of him because the 30 year old was at UoP and if you fail a class, you're boned for the year.)
Click to expand...

Absolutely this happens. I am sure it happens in every "big" professional field. Consider even an MBA, right? People go to MBA programs expecting huge money after they graduate and look what happens? Same with law... Hence all the people graduating from T2 or worse schools with $140k+ in debt and they'll end up unemployed or really underemployed with a useless J.D.

I think Pharmacy offers the best bang for the buck in terms of loan to potential income, at least currently, of all the professional degrees. That'll probably change soon enough.

The advice of doing something if you enjoy it is sound, however, not everyone will be able to do what they enjoy and make a living out of it.
 
I think Pharmacy offers the best bang for the buck in terms of loan to potential income, at least currently, of all the professional degrees. That'll probably change soon enough.
I totally agree.. We should be thinking positively and Hey I am actually 34 married but no kids.. How does that sound? Are you gonna tell me just forget about pharmacy. Loans will be around 130 or so .. + or -.. rite? let's say I will work my ass off for a year .. Guess what, that will be paid right away in a year or year and half.. My husband in this year and half can support the other aspects of life.. mortgage, food, etc... so Hopefully I will be paying for it in a max. of year and half..
Plus I am looking at 3 years program with academic forgiveness.. that would be USN only as I know..
Any POSITIVE thoughts please🙂:laugh:
 
Pharmacist2be said:
Loans will be around 130 or so .. + or -.. rite? let's say I will work my ass off for a year ..
Click to expand...

If you mean overtime? Sure, you could do it in a year and a half, though I know my friend who was doing 50 hrs/week was getting 43% of his paycheck docked.

If you don't do overtime, then it will take you two years, and that's assuming no interest and no outside costs (and a 100k/year salary.)

34 married but no kids
Click to expand...
Do you intend to have kids? You know that after 35, the incidence for birth defects begins to increase exponentially, right? And while you could start pharmacy school at 35, finish in 3 years, and have a kid at 38 fairly safely... but having a kid at 38 is kind of the antithesis of "working your butt off" once you finish pharmacy school, though maybe your husband could take of it instead.

Regardless, if you love pharmacy, go for it, and I mean that sincerely.
 
I was just curious....why potential pharmacy applicants are concerned with their low GPAs older than 5, 7, or 10 years old (extended period for statue of limitation on course work for certain schools). I think I'm wrong, so someone correct me, but it seems "majority" of the schools require one to retake the courses over if the courses are old. Moreover, do the admissions panel even acknowledge the old pre-req courses when determining an invitation for interview or do they review the retake courses? I know there are other factors determining invitations. Looks like, the applicants with low gpa older than 10years old, may have it easier to recent grads with low gpa, of course providing they do well on retaking the courses. 😕
 
kidkay said:
I was just curious....why potential pharmacy applicants are concerned with their low GPAs older than 5, 7, or 10 years old (extended period for statue of limitation on course work for certain schools). I think I'm wrong, so someone correct me, but it seems "majority" of the schools require one to retake the courses over if the courses are old. Moreover, do the admissions panel even acknowledge the old pre-req courses when determining an invitation for interview or do they review the retake courses? I know there are other factors determining invitations. Looks like, the applicants with low gpa older than 10years old, may have it easier to recent grads with low gpa, of course providing they do well on retaking the courses. 😕
Click to expand...

You know where the problem lies? The 10 years old gpa will lower down ur cGPA, which make more schools not even willing to look at your application..
But I forgot to mention that my BSc. is not from the United states or any affiliated school outside of US. so I think it won't count right?
 
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