Do I have to retake classes at the same school? Please read on.

[WalSlave]

I was kicked out of my college two days ago. I attended a VERY christian school. Unfortunately, they found out I was living with my fiancee, which is frowned upon. Long story short, I was kicked out of college one week before finals and now have a whole semester of F's.

I am a pre-pharmacy student and although four F's has drastically hurt my GPA, I'm not giving up. Luckily I was not taking any pharmacy prereqs this semester; instead, I was taking random intro classes that were required of my college. I planned on taking the real pre-reqs next semester. So I am still in the running for an excellent science/math GPA.

Anyways, here is my question: if I retake these failed classes at another college, will that replace the F and improve my overall GPA? Or do I absolutely have to retake the class at the same school in order to replace the grade? I am aware that only select pharm. schools allow grade forgiveness.

Any advice would be appreciated!

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[jasonbourne]

I was kicked out of my college two days ago. I attended a VERY christian school. Unfortunately, they found out I was living with my fiancee, which is frowned upon. Long story short, I was kicked out of college one week before finals and now have a whole semester of F's.

I am a pre-pharmacy student and although four F's has drastically hurt my GPA, I'm not giving up. Luckily I was not taking any pharmacy prereqs this semester; instead, I was taking random intro classes that were required of my college. I planned on taking the real pre-reqs next semester. So I am still in the running for an excellent science/math GPA.

Anyways, here is my question: if I retake these failed classes at another college, will that replace the F and improve my overall GPA? Or do I absolutely have to retake the class at the same school in order to replace the grade? I am aware that only select pharm. schools allow grade forgiveness.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Some schools offer grade forgiveness so i would highly recommend that you should search for schools that do this. They would let you retake those classes and then drop your F grades. However, most schools dont offer it. If i was you, I would start taking prerequisite classes and make sure i get A grades in most, if not all of them. This is very important because you have no more room for error. It is a make it or break it time for you. Improve your GPA to at least 3.2, take the PCAT and get at least 85%, and do a lot of community service.

By the way, what school kicked you out?
and why did you go there in the first place?

That school sucks and if i was the one, I would file a lawsuit.

At least, they should show compassion if they are a christian school. Why didnt they kick you out at the end of the semester?

At least that would have helped you. Frankly, I feel for you and i must say that if i was in your shoes, the supreme court would have to decide this issue.

 

[WalSlave]

Some schools offer grade forgiveness so i would highly recommend that you should search for schools that do this. They would let you retake those classes and then drop your F grades. However, most schools dont offer it. If i was you, I would start taking prerequisite classes and make sure i get A grades in most, if not all of them. This is very important because you have no more room for error. It is a make it or break it time for you. Improve your GPA to at least 3.2, take the PCAT and get at least 85%, and do a lot of community service.

By the way, what school kicked you out?
and why did you go there in the first place?

College of the Ozarks. I went there because it was 100% free. It is a unique school in that ALL students work on campus to pay for their schooling. You graduate with 0 debt.

Unfortunately they are completely within their right to kick me out for living with my fiancee. You are not allowed to commute until you are 21 unless you live with parents. In the handbook, CofO is allowed to dismiss students for not displaying good character.

 

[jasonbourne]

College of the Ozarks. I went there because it was 100% free. It is a unique school in that ALL students work on campus to pay for their schooling. You graduate with 0 debt.

Unfortunately they are completely within their right to kick me out for living with my fiancee. You are not allowed to commute until you are 21 unless you live with parents. In the handbook, CofO is allowed to dismiss students for not displaying good character.

Damn. then you shouldnt have broken the rule at all. If i was told i could live with my girlfriend, then i would probably drop out lol

Anyways follow my advice strictly by researching a school that offers grade forgiveness, then you could start over again. This time, just make sure you dont mess it up cuz you have to get into pharmacy school

 

[WalSlave]

So I can retake classes at a different college than I originally took them at? And it will count as a retake? For example, one of my failed classes was composition II. If I take a composition II class at my community college, will pharmacy schools (the ones that allow grade forgiveness) look at this as a retake and forgive the fail?

 

[diastole]

If you apply to Pharmcas schools, they are going to average your retakes. Individual schools have their own GPA policies so you should contact the schools and ask them directly. This might not be as bad as you think it is. You absolutely need to explain this in your personal statement. You don't want the admissions people guessing why you suddenly have all Fs. If you apply to non-religious pharmacy schools, I can't imagine that they are going to hold it against you too much. The problem will be making it past GPA cut-offs. Hopefully, you still have time to take a bunch of classes to raise your GPA.

 

[WalSlave]

I wanted to apply to pharmacy school in two years, but I could always take another year to try and get my GPA past a 3.0

 

[Carboxide]

MAKE SURE you address those F's in your personal statement.

 

[jasonbourne]

MAKE SURE you address those F's in your personal statement.

So Damn right

 

[jasonbourne]

So I can retake classes at a different college than I originally took them at? And it will count as a retake? For example, one of my failed classes was composition II. If I take a composition II class at my community college, will pharmacy schools (the ones that allow grade forgiveness) look at this as a retake and forgive the fail?

I think UGA has grade forgiveness. But you must ace all the F's you got.
Very few schools offer Grade forgiveness. If you apply to a school that doesnt, they would count all the grades. They dont count it as a retake. They average all together

 

[charfdorn]

I wanted to apply to pharmacy school in two years, but I could always take another year to try and get my GPA past a 3.0

You don't really need to retake those classes if they aren't pre-pharmacy courses. You do need to get the GPA up, and kill the PCAT, and *absolutely* address that semester in your statement. It will probably look suspicious in the midst of a B average transcript, and most admissions departments will wonder how that happened, but give them the full story there. Make it look like a poor deicision that you learned a lot from, and talk about how your differing standards of morality led to this, not any kind of lack of effort or irresponsibility. That's going to be a hard essay to write, but you can do it.

Make sure your science GPA, in particular, is strong. A semester of non-pharm Fs will not kill your application.

 

[JJVmom]

I think that school is stuck in the 1950's. 21 yrs to commute? What you do outside of school (or the student work program) should be your business. I didn't realize that those policies still existed. I'm a military spouse and live among 18-20 yr old couples who live like adults. I couldn't imagine being treated like a child while in college. Prove them wrong!

 

[UAMShopeful]

I scanned over the previous posts and figured I would add some personal experience.....Since you went to College of the Ozarks the chances that you might apply to UAMS is decent. I applied to UAMS last year and did not get in because of several mistakes on my transcript and an "F" that I had gotten in a US History Class (long story). Anyway, after not being chosen off the alternate list last year, I discovered several mistakes on my transcript. I got the mistakes fixed and then took the History class again. Well, after I had retaken the class (at a different college) and got an "A" I was informed by the Registrar that although the class/grade had been forgiven by the original college that the Pharmacy School would not accept it since it was taken at a different college. The only way the Pharm School would accept it was if I actually went back and took the exact class at the exact College.
Also, someone said previously that you wouldn't have to retake the classes if they aren't prereqs and while that is true the chance that you could bring your GPA up to a respectable level from so many "F"s is pretty slim. You'll just have to do some "figurin" on your GPA.

Ok, that was a little longer than intended but the moral of the story is : Call each Pharm School in question and ask
1) Do classes that are retaken have to be taken at the same institution to receive academic forgiveness
2) What are your (exact) rules on academic forgiveness and calculating GPA's

Anyway, if you have any other questions fire away. Hope that helps.
BTW, I got the mistakes fixed and got in this year even w/o getting that "F" off my trascript, so you never know.

 

[thephoenician88]

i think that school is trying to forbid the inevitable. Change schools. Even if it means debt.

 

[WalSlave]

Thanks for the replies! After a lot of figuring, I can bring my GPA back up to a 3.0 with about 30 hours of A's (roughly two semesters) which should be fairly doable at a community college. We'll see.. I'm just happy to hear that everyone seems to think I still have a shot!

I have other things on my side; I work full time as a pharmacy tech, work with a pharmacist who is on the committee for UMKC admissions, volunteer at my local hospital, and oddly enough still have a perfect science/math GPA (no science classes this semester THANK GOD). Do you think that will say a lot? A perfect pre req gpa?