0.0 GPA, yes you read it right.

[nepts2]

Everyone has his or her own story and a reason behind the academic failure.
I accept whatever the reason is, the responsibility is solely on me.

I went to a top 50 univ and got dismissed for having a 0.0 gpa in the freshman year, with about 30 attempted credits.

I knew I was not ready and needed some time off but since my parents were jointly responsible for the tuition, they insisted me to go.
After I got dismissed, I was hospitalized for attempted suicide (this is not just because of college, it was carrying on from my senior year in high school), my health deteriorated severely due to high stress, but then I got my self together, registered at the local community college, quit all EC and jobs I had just to focus on the school work.

I was able to make myself to be listed on the dean's list; able to receive stellar recommendation from professors with MD and Ph.D. I have 3.6 cum. gpa and 3.9 sci/math gpa, (deflated gpa at this CC, 3.5 grants for top 15%).
I was going to apply for a transfer but recently both my parents got laid off from work, I have to work full time until next year which is not really a problem.

Let alone trying to transfer to a high ranked undergrad,
my concern is that, I want to go to a graduate school to become a health professional such as pharmacist or an oral surgeon. However, graduate schools calculate the GPA from every single course taken. I have about 8 F's in my transcript from the first college. I tried to appeal but the school told me I have to wait another 5 years and I am not even guaranteed to given an academic forgiveness.

So even if I manage to attain 4.0 gpa next year in a new college, my cumulative GPA will still be barely 2.5 or lower, and math/science GPA will be barely 3.0 or lower (I believe I have 2F in math/sci and rest are business/writing courses).


Many graduate schools outright reject an applicant with GPA under 3.0 even if he or she has upward trending GPA, excellent EC, high exam scores.

I've thought about going back to my first college to retake some courses (at least 1.0 gpa is whole lot better than ZERO), but I simply cannot allocate any additional fund anywhere besides buying food and saving for transfer.

I appreciate you to be sympathizing but I've been through all the misery you can think of. I need a realistic advice that strictly evaluates my situation, or plan per se.
I feel so devastated, trying might not matter because of the mistake I made in my freshman year.

Will any top undergraduate take a chance on me?
Is there any pharmacy/dental/DO schools that will take a chance on me?

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[confettiflyer]

I can't speak for individual adcoms, but this is one of those cases where if you can bypass the "automatic GPA rejection" reviews and get a person/human being to look at your GPA/file, the 0.0 would be such an extreme that it would have to be disregarded.

It's already a well known idea that adcoms look for upward trending GPA's and give more weight to higher level course work (formally or informally).

Best of luck.

 

[coolbeans123]

Have you thought about doing DO and retaking your F classes at a cheaper school? DO schools do grade replacement so it shouldn't look as bad. Just an idea, best of luck!

 

[SnowyRox]

I appreciate you to be sympathizing but I've been through all the misery you can think of.

"Most misery" might be a bit of an overstatement.
http://www.darfurscores.org/darfur

But I would contact admissions departments directly. You want to find understanding schools who will pull your application from the "auto-reject" pile and give it a chance.

Are you using FAFSA to pay for your undergrad? They should be able to grant you loans to retake your original courses.

 

[nepts2]

I have most of my F's in business and literature courses which I would not be retaking (they are specific courses offered only at that university anyways) so retake is out of the question.

I received some grants/loans from FAFSA but I had to pay back immediately when the year was over.

Do the adcoms really consider applicants with lower GPA than required?

 

[beargirl200308]

Why do you want to go to a top undergraduate program? Will any program do at this point?

I know how you feel right now. I had a horrible undergrad GPA and trying to get pharmacy schools to see past that has been very difficult. At this point you need to sit down with an admissions counselor at the schools that you want to get into and ask what you need to do to get in. They are going to be very skeptical of you but don't let that get you down. Keep your head up and keep trying.

 

[syl0sim]

Regarding last question:

Based on my friends' stats who got into pharm school last year and for this upcoming fall, I think the general answer is Yes, the adcoms may consider applicants with lower GPA than what they want/require IF applicants have lots of pharmacy experiences and/or upward grade trend.

Unfortunately, I was placed on waitlist this year (only applied to 2 schools) but I was still invited for an interview from the school that I am on waitlist even though my overall GPA is over than the average applicants. I was not able to get any pharmacy experience before applying, but I think my grade trend and (maybe) balancing between 2 years of undergrad research and work study helped a little in terms of getting interview invitation - but not having pharmacy experience and/or my performance during interview probably lacked compared to other applicants.
Keep your heads up!

I have most of my F's in business and literature courses which I would not be retaking (they are specific courses offered only at that university anyways) so retake is out of the question.

I received some grants/loans from FAFSA but I had to pay back immediately when the year was over.

Do the adcoms really consider applicants with lower GPA than required?