One bad semester

[Chill Pill]

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Hi,

I just transferred to a university from a community college, and my grades are the following thus far:

Organic Lab - B+
Organic Chemistry B-
Physics with lab B
Biology with lab C+

I'll admit I was having a tough time learning to manage my time, and there have been some other issues I wish not to bring up.

Is it unusual to have a bad semester during your undergrad years? If so, did the the interviewers ask you about it?

I am trying to a take a chill pill but I'm a little worried because I will be applying Fall 2008, when all I've taken are the year long sequences in those 3 classes, so those grades will have quite an impact.

 

[eelo]

Hi,

I just transferred to a university from a community college, and my grades are the following thus far:

Organic Lab - B+
Organic Chemistry B-
Physics with lab B
Biology with lab C+

I'll admit I was having a tough time learning to manage my time, and there have been some other issues I wish not to bring up.

Is it unusual to have a bad semester during your undergrad years? If so, did the the interviewers ask you about it?

I am trying to a take a chill pill but I'm a little worried because I will be applying Fall 2008, when all I've taken are the year long sequences in those 3 classes, so those grades will have quite an impact.

This is not as bad as you think it is. Even though a lot of people on here claim their GPA is 3.85+, or they have ten years of pharmacy experience, or they did some scientific research in Borneo and found a cure for the common cold...... doesn't mean that (a) these things really happened, or (b) that everyone you're competing against has the same *ahem* background.

You may get 20% of all pharm school applicants in here, and that's probably a very, very high estimate. That means there are a whole lot of people out there applying for school who don't have the stats that folks in here claim to have.

I nkow several people who have gotten into their choice of pharmacy school with a GPA ~3.0, including Cs in science classes, an F in A&P II (retook and got an A), and other not-so-stellar grades. Don't worry about it. Do the best you can to make up for a rough semester, and use your time to strengthen your application in other areas.

Good luck, and don't get down on yourself for a 3.2 semester.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Honestly, you need to work harder. At this point, if you were to make a 4.0 next semester, the highest your GPA could be is a 3.6(assuming you take the same amount of hours).

One semester won't kill your GPA, but it's hard to bring it up when you've taken a lot of classes.

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

a C in general Bio sounds really bad, isn't that supposed to be an easy class?

 

[PharmDstudent]

a C in general Bio sounds really bad, isn't that supposed to be an easy class?

Some universities use the early classes to weed out people. I made a "B" in Bio 1201 which was the first biology for science majors, but only because the professor "gave" it to me.
I only had one "C" for pre-pharm, and that was in Organic II. That class was bs.

 

[Chill Pill]

Is it hard to bring it down as well? I have a 3.9+ with 90 units.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Is it hard to bring it down as well? I have a 3.9+ with 90 units.

Just do some math...

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

Some universities use the early classes to weed out people. I made a "B" in Bio 1201 which was the first biology for science majors, but only because the professor "gave" it to me.
I only had one "C" for pre-pharm, and that was in Organic II. That class was bs.

oh yeah, chem1 was supposedly like that but i got a A

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

it was all downhill from there though *crys*

 

[PharmDstudent]

it was all downhill from there though *crys*

Yeah... it just depends on the program. I bet you would have loved my honors classes --> I'm just being sarcastic. They were hard!

 

[Chill Pill]

Well here are my final grades:

Biology C
Organic Chemistry I B
Organic Chemistry I lab B
Physics B-

This brings my cumulative GPA down to 3.77.

Since that is kinda decent, do I have a chance of getting in without retaking those classes? I'll admit there were a few things that I could have done better, and I'm more motivated now.

 

[nerv12345]

you don't need to retake classes...especially with that gpa

my crappy grades:

botany lecture: A-
botany lab: B
ecology lecture: B
ecology lab: B+
neuroscience: C
history: B
speech: probably a B 🙁

 

[shehsheh]

Well here are my final grades:

Biology C
Organic Chemistry I B
Organic Chemistry I lab B
Physics B-

This brings my cumulative GPA down to 3.77.

Since that is kinda decent, do I have a chance of getting in without retaking those classes? I'll admit there were a few things that I could have done better, and I'm more motivated now.

I've personally had a few bad semesters myself (but at my community college when I was taking the lower devision courses ... including some pre-pharm courses) but after I transfered I really made it a commitment to make school my priority. If you have one bad semester its ok.. but make sure you grades are not dropping every semester after community college because pharmacy schools might assume that you can't handle upper devision courses and thus can't handle pharmacy school.

Basically.. one bad semester shouldn't hurt you too much (especially considering you GPA) but make sure it doesn't continue.

Good luck.

 

[grimacingpeon]

Most of what you're hearing in here is true. One semester won't kill you. My first semester in college earned me a staggering 3.1, but cumulatively I have a 3.73, 5 semesters later. Don't get too down about it - just try to do a little better. Plus, many schools accept cumulative GPAs of around 3.0. Good luck.