First Semester of College

[Stephen Nguyen]

Hi, I've always wanted to become a pharmacist as a child. I have just completed my first semester at San Diego State University and I did not do too well. I earned a D in Calculus 2 this semester. I was wondering how badly this could affect my chances of getting accepted to pharmacy school. While most pharmacy schools require calculus as a prereq, I was planning to use another course called Calculus for Life Sciences as the Prereq. So my question is, would you suggest me retaking Calculus 2 even though I can use another Calculus class to fulfill the prereq? Or would it be a waste of time and money? I know that the D really puts a dent in my GPA but I was planning to make that up with extracurriculars and whatnot. How bad will the D look on my transcript if I don't retake it?

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[Stephen Nguyen]

bump...

 

[hubba23]

Why are you taking calc 2 your first semester? Slow down!

 

[Stephen Nguyen]

Yeah, I regret it a lot.. I didn't expect it to be so hard.

 

[NVPham]

retaking a class or two to get a better grade shows your determination in making effort to get in pharmacy school. However, it won't bring your GPA up as much as you expected on the PharmCAS' overall GPA calculation because they count both your old and new grades of a course. So, go slow to secure your GPA. Lighten your course load if needed. Some but not all schools pay attention to how many classes you take a semester.

 

[PhunwithPharm]

Most pharmacy schools only require Calculus I. So if you are applying specifically to a college that requires calculus II, I don't think it really matters if you re-take it or not. I personally got a B in Calc I and an A in Calc II, and even though I got a good grade in Calc II, it was seriously a wasteful class that I did not need for my degree or pre-reqs for pharm school. I felt like I wasted valuable time studying for that class when I could have used that energy to get an A in organic chemistry II (I ended up with a B+ in Ochem II.......a good grade but still makes me sad cuz I know I could have gotten an A if I studied a little bit harder for the final).

 

[Amicable Angora]

Hi, I've always wanted to become a pharmacist as a child. I have just completed my first semester at San Diego State University and I did not do too well. I earned a D in Calculus 2 this semester. I was wondering how badly this could affect my chances of getting accepted to pharmacy school. While most pharmacy schools require calculus as a prereq, I was planning to use another course called Calculus for Life Sciences as the Prereq. So my question is, would you suggest me retaking Calculus 2 even though I can use another Calculus class to fulfill the prereq? Or would it be a waste of time and money? I know that the D really puts a dent in my GPA but I was planning to make that up with extracurriculars and whatnot. How bad will the D look on my transcript if I don't retake it?

A better question to ask yourself is why did you get a D and how will you avoid getting more D's (or F's or C's)