I failed 2 classes... am I screwed?

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USCTrojanzzzz

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So, I'm currently a student at a community college, and I'm planning to transfer to a 4-year institution as a Junior this Fall (USC hopefully.)
I got D's in 2 online courses (GE's) last year because I forgot to take the finals (idiotic, I know.) I managed to repeat the courses during the Winter Intersession and got A's. Apart from this incident, I was (almost) a straight-A student (3.94 GPA). I've recently decided to pursue a career in Pharmacy, and I feel like these D's are constantly hanging over me; they destroyed my chances at some of my dream undergrad schools, and now I feel that they might prevent me from going to a good Pharmacy school. My question is: is there any way that I can explain the D's to the schools that I apply to that won't make me look idiotic? Do (top) Pharmacy schools honor grade replacement? I'm planning to call up the specific schools that I'm going to apply to on Monday, but I was wondering whether you guys could give me any advice beforehand. Thanks in advance!

If it helps, I was 16 when I got the D's (I'm 17 now.)

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You can get multiple D's and F's and still get into pharmacy school. It is very easy to get into pharmacy school nowadays. You just need to qualify for $200k+ in student loans now that there are so many schools that are vying for your loan money. The problem is that the job market is a bloodbath with all of the new grads trying to compete for even part time and per diem positions.

I would look at other professions, i.e. computer programming, finance, accounting, engineering, etc. that pay well, offer far better job prospects and quality of life, and most importantly do not require you to take out $200k+ in loans and spend an additional 4 years of your life in school.
 
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You can get multiple D's and F's and still get into pharmacy school. It is very easy to get into pharmacy school nowadays. You just need to qualify for $200k+ in student loans now that there are so many schools that are vying for your loan money. The problem is that the job market is a bloodbath with all of the new grads trying to compete for even part time and per diem positions.

I would look at other professions, i.e. computer programming, finance, accounting, engineering, etc. that pay well, offer far better job prospects and quality of life, and most importantly do not require you to take out $200k+ in loans and spend an additional 4 years of your life in school.

Well, that isn't ideal. I don't particularly enjoy Physics, programming or math, so I might look into Medicine instead. Thank you for your post.
 
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Well, that isn't ideal. I don't particularly enjoy Physics, programming or math, so I might look into Medicine instead. Thank you for your post.

Other medical fields have much higher standards for grades. If you’re worried about how Pharmacy schools will look at things, other health profession schools will probably be more turned off by those D’s. But, as long as your grades show an upward trend (and you have a strong PCAT) you’ll be fine.

Pharmacy schools will look at the highest grade you have in repeated classes but PharmCAS will average all attempts when calculating your GPA. I was just accepted into the 3rd best school in the country (UofM) despite 3 F’s.

Pharmacy might also be a bad choice for you if you don’t like math. You need to be able to calculate a lot of things quickly and inability to do that will make your life as a pharmacist very miserable.

In general you may want to reconsider the field if you have not worked in a pharmacy to see what you want to pay $160-200k for. I would also reconsider going to a school as expensive as USC for 1-2 years if you intend to spend another 4 years as a post-graduate in any field. Tuition at USC costs as much as 1-2 years in pharmacy school and you’re ready to end up with almost half a million in debt in a field where you’re seen as disposable due to the influx of people available to replace you.
 
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Other medical fields have much higher standards for grades. If you’re worried about how Pharmacy schools will look at things, other health profession schools will probably be more turned off by those D’s. But, as long as your grades show an upward trend (and you have a strong PCAT) you’ll be fine.

Pharmacy schools will look at the highest grade you have in repeated classes but PharmCAS will average all attempts when calculating your GPA. I was just accepted into the 3rd best school in the country (UofM) despite 3 F’s.

Pharmacy might also be a bad choice for you if you don’t like math. You need to be able to calculate a lot of things quickly and inability to do that will make your life as a pharmacist very miserable.

In general you may want to reconsider the field if you have not worked in a pharmacy to see what you want to pay $160-200k for. I would also reconsider going to a school as expensive as USC for 1-2 years if you intend to spend another 4 years as a post-graduate in any field. Tuition at USC costs as much as 1-2 years in pharmacy school and you’re ready to end up with almost half a million in debt in a field where you’re seen as disposable due to the influx of people available to replace you.
Congrats on getting into UMich; I’m glad that your hard work has payed off.

Regarding what you said about not enjoying work: what level of math will use as a Pharmacist? Will it be Calculus, or just simple calculations? While I got A’s in Calculus, I hated every second of it. I loved Gen Chem II, though, even though it was also full of Math (albeit less advanced.)
Finally, I think that I’m going to get a pretty generous FA package from USC. Using the net price calculator, and talking to some of my friends at USC that have a comparable income, I’ve discovered that I’d have to pay around $15-20k per year (which my parents will cover.) I hated all of the UC’s that I visited (Davis, UCLA, UCSD and UCB) because of how cutthroat they were, and how big some of the classes were. I absolutely adored USC, by contrast. But there is a limit as to how much I’m planning to spend; if USC asks for above $25k a year, then I’ll take my chances at UC Davis.
 
Congrats on getting into UMich; I’m glad that your hard work has payed off.

Regarding what you said about not enjoying work: what level of math will use as a Pharmacist? Will it be Calculus, or just simple calculations? While I got A’s in Calculus, I hated every second of it. I loved Gen Chem II, though, even though it was also full of Math (albeit less advanced.)
Finally, I think that I’m going to get a pretty generous FA package from USC. Using the net price calculator, and talking to some of my friends at USC that have a comparable income, I’ve discovered that I’d have to pay around $15-20k per year (which my parents will cover.) I hated all of the UC’s that I visited (Davis, UCLA, UCSD and UCB) because of how cutthroat they were, and how big some of the classes were. I absolutely adored USC, by contrast. But there is a limit as to how much I’m planning to spend; if USC asks for above $25k a year, then I’ll take my chances at UC Davis.

Hardest level of math for your future career in retail is the following:

Fluticasone (Flonase) 120 metered sprays
2 sprays in each nostril daily.
2 bottles : figure out the day supply.

Allegations and basic stoichiometry are fun on the inpatient side of the house but I’d strongly consider why pharmacy when you seem easily persuaded to go for med school. Should you take upper science courses and thrive with impressive EC’s and shadowing (physicians) with high output progression on MCAT your “mistake” will not effect you.

If parents are covering your cost (don’t know the feeling) then what is it that intrigues you in pharmacy? What experience you have? Can you budget? Do you understand saturation? If you know what your getting yourself into then as far as pharmacy goes your fine.
 
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