P5 Pharmacy student in jeporty of being dismissed !!! Need help...advice please!

[Misfortune91]

I have been a very good A+ student until the end of my 4th year in Pharmacy school. In Spring semester of my P5 school year I lost 2 very close family members of mine in a matter of 2 months. My grades before this were decent I always struggled in 1 or 2 classes per semester but I manged to get a C or sometimes D others were B-,B, B+, A-. Before this semester I have been on probation once and have failed one class at the end of my 4th year that was offered again in the summer( me plus 12 other students) I passed it on my second try. Now in my technically last year of classes P5 because P6 is only APPE's I failed a class again that people fail year after year ( again offered in the summer )because of one teacher that gets an average of 57% from a class of 200 students I am retaking it now but I don't think I will do good at all because I just got my first test back which was based on this horrible teachers material and I totally failed worse than I failed the first time ( because I can't focus anymore with everything that has happened and now my grades and my potential dismissal ), now I need like 100's on the next two exams to get a C+, which is not possible. ( Long story short ... I had very bad grades this whole entire semester because I lost my Grandpa that lived with us to Cancer in the middle of my semester and during my finals my Dad passed away suddenly...right now with this and school I am living a nightmare). Sorry, so the point is that I need a 2.2 GPA this semester to not be dismissed ( school police that in your P5 can't get less than 2.2 in any semester to not get dismissed), I won't have above 2.2. My adviser that I spoke to is saying that they will dismiss me despite all that happened in this semester because I lost my father at the end of semester ( which does not affect my grades and I did not show them early in semester my grandpa's documents , I didn't know I had to,I did not miss any classes). I told her that I am going trough a very rough time now and she just didn't care ,she wanted me to take a leave of absence and wait another year to take that class I understand that I may be more in my right mind in a year or so but I need to go to work and finish fast not late because I need to provide for my family that is left without a dad, me as the oldest sibling. I don't know what to do? Did anyone have a similar situation they were in or knows that was almost done with school and than they were kicked out or close to being kicked out? Please help with whatever you can.

PS. my school allows 2 F's in professional years P3-P6 and 2 probation which are GPA in 2 semesters less than 2.33. Automatic dismissal if got a 2.2 or less in P5-P6.

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[Jibby321]

Does jeporty=jeopardy?

 

[Misfortune91]

Yes I am sorry I can't spell and I don't know how to edit the title

 

[oldstock]

I have been a very good A+ student until the end of my 4th year in Pharmacy school. In Spring semester of my P5 school year I lost 2 very close family members of mine in a matter of 2 months. My grades before this were decent I always struggled in 1 or 2 classes per semester but I manged to get a C or sometimes D others were B-,B, B+, A-. Before this semester I have been on probation once and have failed one class at the end of my 4th year that was offered again in the summer( me plus 12 other students) I passed it on my second try. Now in my technically last year of classes P5 because P6 is only APPE's I failed a class again that people fail year after year ( again offered in the summer )because of one teacher that gets an average of 57% from a class of 200 students I am retaking it now but I don't think I will do good at all because I just got my first test back which was based on this horrible teachers material and I totally failed worse than I failed the first time ( because I can't focus anymore with everything that has happened and now my grades and my potential dismissal ), now I need like 100's on the next two exams to get a C+, which is not possible. ( Long story short ... I had very bad grades this whole entire semester because I lost my Grandpa that lived with us to Cancer in the middle of my semester and during my finals my Dad passed away suddenly...right now with this and school I am living a nightmare). Sorry, so the point is that I need a 2.2 GPA this semester to not be dismissed ( school police that in your P5 can't get less than 2.2 in any semester to not get dismissed), I won't have above 2.2. My adviser that I spoke to is saying that they will dismiss me despite all that happened in this semester because I lost my father at the end of semester ( which does not affect my grades and I did not show them early in semester my grandpa's documents , I didn't know I had to,I did not miss any classes). I told her that I am going trough a very rough time now and she just didn't care ,she wanted me to take a leave of absence and wait another year to take that class I understand that I may be more in my right mind in a year or so but I need to go to work and finish fast not late because I need to provide for my family that is left without a dad, me as the oldest sibling. I don't know what to do? Did anyone have a similar situation they were in or knows that was almost done with school and than they were kicked out or close to being kicked out? Please help with whatever you can.

PS. my school allows 2 F's in professional years P3-P6 and 2 probation which are GPA in 2 semesters less than 2.33. Automatic dismissal if got a 2.2 or less in P5-P6.

So I understand that you are saying here if you take a leave of absence now, you will have an option to retake that class, right ?? That means you have a chance to come back when things are better and you are more ready for school. If so, I agree with your adviser that you should take that leave of absence. That is the best option you are having here. Take it. You will have time to get things together and also work to earn some money and experience during that leave of absence.

Why risking everything and taking on that very sure chance to be kicked out now while you know that you will NOT meet that 2.2 requirement ?? If you do, you know you will be kicked out and not have that chance to come back. So you will have NOTHING to provide your family. Do not do this !!

 

[anewmanx]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale

If you're a real person in a real situation, you may consider filling out one of these scales to determine how high your stress level is. I let mine get to over 1000 when I was caring for my disabled son and I ended up hospitalized three times for physical illness... I believe there is some merit to it.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Ok, I'm not following here...

I have been a very good A+ student until the end of my 4th year in Pharmacy school. In Spring semester of my P5 school year I lost 2 very close family members of mine in a matter of 2 months. My grades before this were decent I always struggled in 1 or 2 classes per semester but I manged to get a C or sometimes D others were B-,B, B+, A-. Before this semester I have been on probation once and have failed one class at the end of my 4th year that was offered again in the summer( me plus 12 other students) I passed it on my second try.

You state you were a "very good A+ student" until 4th year pharmacy school.....then you go on to state that PRIOR to P5 year, you had been on probation & failed a class at the end of the 4th year. FAILING a class & being on academic probation is NOT being a "very good A+ student". Since you didn't lose your 2 family members until the spring semester of your P5 year, this could have no effect on your poor grades in your P4 year.

Granted, no one expects you to turn off your emotions completely, BUT a professional dealing with the lives of others, must be able to put aside there personal circumstances in order to complete their job. Your bad grades before you had family problems, coupled with your bad grades dealing with relatively minor family problems (and I say this as someone who also had a grandparent suffering from a chronic/fatal disease die during pharmacy school, while not pleasant, this isn't nothing like the situation of having to deal with a spouse or child's death.) makes me question your qualifications to be a pharmacist. At least currently. I don't know you well enough to know if you can pull yourself together, but I think a leave of absence to try is your best bet at this time. I understand you have a lot invested at this point....but you could take on even more debt and still never graduate. A leave of absence to pull yourself together, evaluate your abilities and study, will probably give you a better idea on where you should go from here. Especially since it seems the school is planning to expel you if you don't follow this advice.

 

[Dred Pirate]

A friend of mine was in a similar situation (minus the previous bad grades) and took a leave of absence to take care of her dying mom - got everything together and graduated on time. If you are given that as an option you better be thanking them for the opportunity, because in the "Real world" you don't get to get to tkae a year off and get a redo. We all have stories of dealing with loss. Take bidingmytime's word -you need to learn to deal with these types of stresses, trust me, I lost three very close family members last year, but still was able to complete my job appropriately. Many people may chime in saying they were in similiar situations.

 

[Dalteparin]

I agree with what the other posters have said. Take that leave of absence and spend a year working. You'll still make money to help support your family, and you won't be racking up debt. Consider what it will be like if you flunk out of school, have six figures of debt that you now cannot pay off, and still have to support your family.

 

[molyhelp]

Please help with whatever you can.

Sorry about your losses and misfortune time, my heart goes out to you. I hope you find lights in this battle.

I had a classmate who lost the whole family and got so depressed that she failed many classes until she was forced to leave school. We felt very sad for her when we found out the bad news. We wished she shared the tough situations earlier and reached out for help earlier, some of us may have had creative ideas to help. We are thankful that another school accepted her and our Dean gave her a recommendation letter to new school.

I am glad you are reaching out and share with others. As your intelligence already suggested, you will hear ideas from all perspectives of life. I would like to share a few thoughts as if I am in your shoes:

Considering our mind being overwhelmed with emotions and the ability to focus is not at best condition, I would lean toward the idea of not depending on my mind right now to score super high grades on nearest exams. We know our emotional circuits can hijack our intelligence circuits and drive actions that we sometimes feel regrets later. You have heard of people saying things or doing things that they are not so proud of when they sit down and reflect upon the decisions. With that in mind, I would like to examine the possibility of taking 1 year of Leave of Absence.

Is Leave of Absence possible?

1. Student loan: As I recall, we are not forced to pay first payment until 6 months after graduation. Perhaps, Leave of Absence has the same way of helping?
Allow me to share with you some of the helps that are available to new pharmacist who can not pay student loan:

Please keep in mind: Interest will still add up and you will have to pay later, but you are not forced to pay now and without payment now, your credit is still okay and no collector will hunt us down:

Forbearance: 1 year without forced payment. To qualify, you simply ask.
Deferment: 6 months without forced payment. To qualify, you have to state that you have no job or you have less-than-full-time job. You will have about 4 times of deferments to help you during tough time.
Together, you may get about 3 years of helps if you are new pharmacist and you have special tough time that you can not pay student loan. Perhaps, your lender may have similar ways to help? If your situation comes to the point that you need helps of not paying student loan, please present your case to you lender and ask for ways to help you.

2. Earning money during the special year: You now have intern license, your pay may be about $20 dollars an hour, about 1/3 of common pharmacist, hope that would help you cover needed expenses.

3. Extra student loan? For people with hardship situations like extra child care so they can attend school, they can ask for more student loan to cover expenses. That may be a source to have some helps so you can go through the year. Not sure what reason you can state to get extra loan so you should ask Financial Aid office. But you should ask now before you leave school because I am not sure if they will let you borrow extra money when your status is Non-Active Student.

Finally, please rest assure that you are not the first student that had to take Leave of Absence. I am a good friend and I would never look down on any friend who failed for any reasons. I am very relieved that I did not see you expressing feeling of depression or humiliated as I have seen other students expressed. So, keep your head up and reach out to your friends and ask for help. You never know until you ask.

I wish you good luck with any decision you decide. (I also sent you a private message, please check it.)

 

[Misfortune91]

I would like to thank everyone that has shared their ideas and advice with me.
Thank You.