Course Repetition

[FutureofRx]

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What up everyone on SDN,

I had a question for anyone that could answer some of these questions for me. Like everyone else on this forum I intend to apply to pharmacy school in the near future. I am currently attending CSUF, and I received a D in one of my GE biology courses which isn't a requirement at most pharmacy schools. So should I go through and repeat the course, or just move on and complete the courses I need for my requirement? Or should I go back and fix that little mistake? Would it make a influence on my application process?

 

[labrat024]

What up everyone on SDN,

I had a question for anyone that could answer some of these questions for me. Like everyone else on this forum I intend to apply to pharmacy school in the near future. I am currently attending CSUF, and I received a D in one of my GE biology courses which isn't a requirement at most pharmacy schools. So should I go through and repeat the course, or just move on and complete the courses I need for my requirement? Or should I go back and fix that little mistake? Would it make a influence on my application process?

Definitely repeat. I repeat, repeat the class.

 

[FutureofRx]

Definitely repeat. I repeat, repeat the class.

Well with that, aren't all the classes averaged during the application process, so the GPA will be remain the same.

 

[labrat024]

Well with that, aren't all the classes averaged during the application process, so the GPA will be remain the same.

I am not sure what you mean here. Is the GE bio you took general bio. If it is it will be included in your sci gpa, pre-pharm gpa, and cumulative gpa. From what I understand the adcoms mostly look at pre-pharm gpa. So it would be important to get a good grade in that course. Now if that GE bio class is just a gen ed bio class like the environmental bio class I took as a freshman as a blow off class it might not be as important because it will get averaged with the rest of your grades. I had a "D" in intro to management back when I was a freshman, and never repeated that course and was accepted to my school of choice. So I would say it depends on the course in which you received that "D".

 

[FutureofRx]

I am not sure what you mean here. Is the GE bio you took general bio. If it is it will be included in your sci gpa, pre-pharm gpa, and cumulative gpa. From what I understand the adcoms mostly look at pre-pharm gpa. So it would be important to get a good grade in that course. Now if that GE bio class is just a gen ed bio class like the environmental bio class I took as a freshman as a blow off class it might not be as important because it will get averaged with the rest of your grades. I had a "D" in intro to management back when I was a freshman, and never repeated that course and was accepted to my school of choice. So I would say it depends on the course in which you received that "D".

Well I'm getting my Bio-Sci degree, and I have to take a sequence of biology courses (4 of them to be exact) in order to take the upper-div courses such as biochem/anatomy/physiology. The course is Evolution & Biodiversity, and I already took Gen Biology before. So should I still take it, I can still take the upper-div with counselor's approval.

 

[ibtech]

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.

 

[FutureofRx]

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.

Yeah thats exactly my point. Is there any point to really retake the course if other courses will still help average out your GPA, it just seems like a waste of time. Can anyone see any fault in the logic? Only thing I can think of is that the schools may find you more preserving(for lack of a better word) to retake and go through with it.

 

[FutureofRx]

Well I found a similar post regarding if you should retake a course discussed.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=486684&highlight=retake+courses

Thanks for the help though.

 

[ibtech]

If you retake the class and get A in it, then yea it definately will help !! because they will see that you overcame from previous struggled class. Also, improvements like this will give them nothing but a good impression.

 

[Jammerdez1]

I actually spoke to a Dean of Admissions at the UCSD Pharm school about this and his suggestion to me was that the following:

If you retake the class, you better get an A. They would expect nothing less from anyone who's already taken the class once. So if you take the class a second time and get a B, you're only making yourself look worse. However, what they'd rather see is that you take the next level of that class (so for example, if you did bad in Organic Chem 1, you should take Organic Chem 2) and do well in it (A or B). That way, it'll prove that you (a) did in fact learn something in the first class and (b) can overcome challenges and move on even in the face of disaster.

While taking the next level up doesn't erase the previous grade (neither does retaking the class), it gives Adcom a good impression of you.

 

[mixdown]

Hey, I am a senior bio-sci major at CSUF and I think that for a class that counts towards your degree (BS in Biology) you have to get a C or higher to pass. I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure. You can try taking it at Fullerton College during the summer. It's pretty easy over there. But I don't know how the grade replacing will work...I've never had to do it. *knocks on wood* good luck!