F in Calculus.

[CrazyFox]

Ok I am feeling reaaly stupid, scared and freaked out. On my first semester of a freshman year I got an F in calculus.(Not the best grade I would say ) Even if I would retake it and do good will I have chances in Pharmacy school?Because I am really scared that this might affect me very badly when I am going to apply.

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[CrazyFox]

I am reeaally worried!!! I wish I've dropperd this class but back then I didn't know that It is gonna affect me so much

 

[Zeke1955]

Woahhhh, calm down!

The short answer is: Yes, you bet it's going to affect your application. How much is a different question...

@ Texas Tech (where I got accepted), for example, your interview "score" is comprised of 50% interview + 12.5% on-site logic test + 12.5% on-site writing test + 25% on-site group project = 100%. Then for every F you have ever gotten in your academic career (up to 7 years from the date of application), 10% is subtracted from your score. For D's, 5% is subtracted.

Their reason is that generally speaking, there is a high correlation between people whom complete pharmacy school and those whom never earn a D or F in any course. I'd have to agree with this logic...

Some schools may "forgive" the grade. In the state of Texas, there is "grade forgiveness" state-wide. I'm not sure of the specifics exactly since it has never applied to me.

All in all, don't give up. Ask the schools to which you are applying, how this is going to affect your application. If they make a big deal out of it, don't bother applying there. I did this for pharmacy tech experience. UT spoke of it as an unstated requirement, so I did not waste my time applying there since I had no "official" PHR experience.

 

[luckyPharmD.stu]

ouch, an F...on calculus. I highly recommend that you take it again; actually, take the course again. You have to get rid of that grade...I know there might be someone in the world who got in with an F, but most likely he/she had a VERY good reason. I don't want to sound mean, but be realistic. Pharmacy school is very intense and getting an F on a prerequisite will not help at all. On the bright side, at least you'll know the idea and what you will learn when you take calculus again.

 

[Farmercyst]

I am reeaally worried!!! I wish I've dropperd this class but back then I didn't know that It is gonna affect me so much

I don't see this being a problem as long as it's not a habit. Grade replacement will allow you to complete the prereq with a passing grade which will then be averaged into your pharmcas GPA. 1 class out of 10-15 prereqs is not a problem. Besides in PharmCAS they do your cumulative, science and math grades separately. I'd say they'll more likely put more weight on science and cumulative then on math. With a good grade on the retake and a good grade on Calc II, you should be fine. If you're really concerned you could add other math classes to boost the Math GPA component. You could do Intermediate Algebra, or Linear Algebra. If they scrutinize the transcript I'd say Linear looks better.

 

[twester]

I second Farmercyst's suggestion of taking another math class before you retake Calc - which you obviously must do. It's important that you address the reason for the 'F'. Is it that you just didn't do any of the work or did you not understand the material? If it's the latter, brushing up on your algebra or trig skills might do you some good. If it's the former, the solution is obvious.

Good luck.

 

[Lateralus1441]

If you understood the material and were just overwhelmed with college when you began then I think it's no big deal, just re-take the class I'm sure you'll be fine if you actually put the time in that's required. I got an F in BioII, retook it and got an A and I've gotten an interview offer to all 4 schools I applied to. Just make you when you re-take it, the replacement grade is high. I personally feel that calculus is something that can be handled without retaking a pre-req as my pre-cal class was a very inadequate preparatory class for Cal.

 

[Da Alchemist]

study algebra2/pre calc first bfor u take it (Calc) again lol. sometimes you cant skip a level and expect to get a good grade...

 

[senzabee]

Ok I am feeling reaaly stupid, scared and freaked out. On my first semester of a freshman year I got an F in calculus.(Not the best grade I would say ) Even if I would retake it and do good will I have chances in Pharmacy school?Because I am really scared that this might affect me very badly when I am going to apply.

Aww, didn't your school have freshman forgiveness? With freshman forgiveness, you can retake any freshman year class that's lower than a D (or around there) and receive the second grade. It will still appear on your transcript, but it wouldn't be factored into your GPA. Great thing to keep in mind for all of you freshman out there...

But definitely retake it. If anything, the F will more so affect your GPA than anything. I'm not saying they will ignore it, but if you can do decent (A/B) on it again and do well on your other classes, then I don't think a freshman F is as bad as a trend of D's and F's.

 

[brasilia01]

Yeah but freshman forgiveness isn't really going to help that much because you still have to report all grades to PharmCAS or the schools you are applying to. Just retake the course and pull a higher grade. Then apply to schools that are more forgiving. Don't try to apply to UCSF or other top schools like them.

 

[Farmercyst]

Yeah but freshman forgiveness isn't really going to help that much because you still have to report all grades to PharmCAS or the schools you are applying to. Just retake the course and pull a higher grade. Then apply to schools that are more forgiving. Don't try to apply to UCSF or other top schools like them.

With UCSF taking primarily BS/BA candidates, by the time you get to graduation that F in Freshman won't mean anything anyway. So go ahead and apply.

 

[senzabee]

Yeah but freshman forgiveness isn't really going to help that much because you still have to report all grades to PharmCAS or the schools you are applying to. Just retake the course and pull a higher grade. Then apply to schools that are more forgiving. Don't try to apply to UCSF or other top schools like them.

Well, if you didn't do freshman forgiveness, your F would still show up anyways but it would count towards your school GPA. PharmCAS will probably count it also, but at least it shows that you took the initiative to get a higher grade as soon as it happened.

And I agree with Farmercyst, I think a freshman F is something adcoms will be okay with. People with a bunch of C's have gotten into schools, so your one F shouldn't hold you back. Retake the class though

 

[aboveliquidice]

Whoa Killer - The road to professional school is long - and in the first few steps you had a stumble. Calm down, take a deep breath, and think about what happened. Several things to consider while your breathing...

1. What transpired this semester to land you with an "F"
- did you study often enough
- did you go to office hours / tutoring
- did you do all you could? Meaning did you give your best effort?

2. an "F" is a freshmen mistake - its ok to do once, but not twice
- Can you withdraw from the course still? Take a "W" instead?
- A "W" just means that something happened during the semester, and is a LOT better than an "F"

3. Utilize the internet to smooth out the bumps in the road
- utilize ratemyprofessor.com to get the best professor for each class
- utilize the lessons learned on this forum, like not taking more than 2 difficult courses at the same time.

*** most important thing right now - assess what to do about your F - if you can replace it with a W - I would. Then we can talk about how you earned your F - Good luck, and let us know what develops.

~above~

 

[sputnik25]

Dude an F is Calc 1 that sucks you must fell like *&#@. Guess what in one quarter I receieved an F in Physic 1, an F in Calc 2, and a C in Bio 1. I had a good reason and practiced my response for the interveiw. They never even asked me about that quarter.(Newly married, wife pregnant moved, started a new job, ect.) I did expalian what happened in my personal statment and retook all the classed=s and passed with a A's but it was no factor. My advise is to re take the class an ace it. Calc one is easy and itshould notbe a problem. Make sure to do every problem andyour golden. Getting an F is only a nig deal if you do nothong about it, so do something about it!

 

[CrazyFox]

Whoa Killer - The road to professional school is long - and in the first few steps you had a stumble. Calm down, take a deep breath, and think about what happened. Several things to consider while your breathing...

1. What transpired this semester to land you with an "F"
- did you study often enough
- did you go to office hours / tutoring
- did you do all you could? Meaning did you give your best effort?

2. an "F" is a freshmen mistake - its ok to do once, but not twice
- Can you withdraw from the course still? Take a "W" instead?
- A "W" just means that something happened during the semester, and is a LOT better than an "F"

3. Utilize the internet to smooth out the bumps in the road
- utilize ratemyprofessor.com to get the best professor for each class
- utilize the lessons learned on this forum, like not taking more than 2 difficult courses at the same time.

*** most important thing right now - assess what to do about your F - if you can replace it with a W - I would. Then we can talk about how you earned your F - Good luck, and let us know what develops.

~above~

Unfourtunatelly I can't withdraw from the class cause I took it a year ago.What really had happened that time is that i was stupid by being fulltime at work and fulltime at school (nearly overload) at first non ESL semester.As a resut I didn't have enough time to do everything.Second thing I was never good at math .Oh well now I just have to retake it and do my best because F in Math is a fact right now.Thanks!!

 

[CrazyFox]

Thanks for advice guys I do feel better now. I guess i just freaked out a little bit too much last night.(The usual crazy me )

 

[jah2004]

Wow Calculus. I took this my first semester and dropped the course halfway through. I took it the next semester and failed it. I took it a couple of semesters later and dropped it again. Finally on the fourth time I took it I easily made an A. Calculus will always be the great mystery of my undergrad studies. So yes, there is hope for you!

 

[Rumplestiltazepam]

I know what you guys mean, there is aways that one subject that baffles a person. For me that subject was Computer Science C++. I got a D first term and then retook it and got a C. I despise computer programming, I am content with just dealing with software, I do not care what is going on underneath nor do I understand. I am still bitter about that class, I dreaded every assignment....haha sorry just venting about my hatred for the course. O ya my roomate and many of my friends are CS majors haha

 

[brasilia01]

Just to sum up what people have said, retake the class and ace it. Don't worry you'll still get into pharmacy school. It's not like everyone else has a perfect transcript, trust me evryone has something on their transcript they're embarassed about. So, DON'T WORRY!!