Should I withdraw from a pre-pharmacy course?

[BH07]

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Hey everybody,

I am not doing so well in my physics class and there is a chance that I might have to withdraw and retake it in the spring. My questions are:

1.) This is my 3rd withdrawal but my 2 other withdrawals were in non Pre-pharmacy classes (graphic design and a psych class), which were both in the summer

2.) if I don't get withdraw, ill definitely get a C+ and maybe a B- but that is a borderline guess

3.) if i withdraw my only remaining pharmacy courses in the spring would be Organic Chemistry II, Physics I and Physics II, and Calculus II

4.) My gpa is about a 3.68 right cumulative, ranges from 3.65-3.8 for pre-pharmacy courses depending on what pharmacy school is looking for. I mentioned my GPA cuz i heard withdrawal is not a big deal if you have good grades, and i have about 80% As and a few Bs, 2 Ws (currently), and nothing less than a B

I know the academic record is not the end of the world, but it can make or break an interview invitation depending where I am applying. So any advice would be nice. Thanks in advance

 

[owlegrad]

Hey everybody,

I am not doing so well in my physics class and there is a chance that I might have to withdraw and retake it in the spring. My questions are:

1.) This is my 3rd withdrawal but my 2 other withdrawals were in non Pre-pharmacy classes (graphic design and a psych class), which were both in the summer

2.) if I don't get withdraw, ill definitely get a C+ and maybe a B- but that is a borderline guess

3.) if i withdraw my only remaining pharmacy courses in the spring would be Organic Chemistry II, Physics I and Physics II, and Calculus II

4.) My gpa is about a 3.68 right cumulative, ranges from 3.65-3.8 for pre-pharmacy courses depending on what pharmacy school is looking for. I mentioned my GPA cuz i heard withdrawal is not a big deal if you have good grades, and i have about 80% As and a few Bs, 2 Ws (currently), and nothing less than a B

I know the academic record is not the end of the world, but it can make or break an interview invitation depending where I am applying. So any advice would be nice. Thanks in advance

I would not withdraw. You are just putting off the work to a future date; just buckle down and get it over with, no need to increase your workload down the line.

It is my understanding that withdraws are for circumstances outside the control of the student; they shouldn't be used just because you are not getting an A. Just my 2 cents.

 

[BH07]

owlegrad,


I wouldnt mind putting work for an extra semester but I just dont want a C+ on my record to pop up. It would be the only C i have on my record and since this is my first time taking 16 semester units in a while, i feel it would look bad if I had a C. I would not mind getting the B, i just want to know if this third wthdrawal looks bad even tho two of them are almost like elective/GE classes.

 

[owlegrad]

owlegrad,


I wouldnt mind putting work for an extra semester but I just dont want a C+ on my record to pop up. It would be the only C i have on my record and since this is my first time taking 16 semester units in a while, i feel it would look bad if I had a C. I would not mind getting the B, i just want to know if this third wthdrawal looks bad even tho two of them are almost like elective/GE classes.

I can't speak for adcoms, but I wouldn't be impressed by someone who withdrew for the reason you listed. Adcoms want to know you can handle the workload of pharmacy school. My advice is do not withdraw. But really do whatever is right for you.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

My advice is not to withdraw. Focus a little bit better on this class and improve your grade. It's possible.

 

[BH07]

My advice is not to withdraw. Focus a little bit better on this class and improve your grade. It's possible.

Even if I put 100% there is a likely chance that I could fall short of the B-. Would 3 A's and a C+ look better than 3 A's and a W.

 

[Project2015]

Even if I put 100% there is a likely chance that I could fall short of the B-. Would 3 A's and a C+ look better than 3 A's and a W.

What's gonna make it different next time? W (without substantive reason) = quitter. So in other words, does it look better to be incompetent in physics or a quitter?

 

[rxlea]

Take the 3 A's and the C, d00d.

W means the following:
1. Too lazy to finish
2. Not doing the best you can so you bail
3. Took on too much to handle
4. Extenuating circumstance, which you don't have.

4 is the only legit "excuse"

C = You pulled through and managed all your classes. If it was 3 B's and a C, I would be worried. But, 3 A's and C ain't bad. 😎

BTW, everyone knows that physics is tough. It is more of a "weed out" class. You aren't really going to apply much physics in pharmacy school and adcoms know this. I suppose the critical thinking is important, but you get that from other classes too.

 

[charfdorn]

Hey everybody,

I am not doing so well in my physics class and there is a chance that I might have to withdraw and retake it in the spring. My questions are:

1.) This is my 3rd withdrawal but my 2 other withdrawals were in non Pre-pharmacy classes (graphic design and a psych class), which were both in the summer

2.) if I don't get withdraw, ill definitely get a C+ and maybe a B- but that is a borderline guess

3.) if i withdraw my only remaining pharmacy courses in the spring would be Organic Chemistry II, Physics I and Physics II, and Calculus II

4.) My gpa is about a 3.68 right cumulative, ranges from 3.65-3.8 for pre-pharmacy courses depending on what pharmacy school is looking for. I mentioned my GPA cuz i heard withdrawal is not a big deal if you have good grades, and i have about 80% As and a few Bs, 2 Ws (currently), and nothing less than a B

I know the academic record is not the end of the world, but it can make or break an interview invitation depending where I am applying. So any advice would be nice. Thanks in advance

Why do you have to withdraw so much? I only ask because (a) adcoms will and (b) you have to take more than 16 credit hours EVERY semester in pharmacy school, so if you can't handle full-time course load, you're not in very good shape. Oh, and it's all harder than Physics.

 

[pharm B]

Yeah, they'd definitely rather see how you handle a good course load. You shatter that applicant image when you tell them you withdrew any time things got too hot and heavy for you.

Remember, the ideal goal for a school is near-zero attrition, and they're looking for students who will fit that.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

If I were in your shoes, I'd take the C+. A withdraw doesn't really look good since you have 2 W's already.

 

[headortail]

Like many posters have said previously, no.
I can only speak for myself, and I've had more than one C on my transcript. Actually I think I might have had like 3 C and 2 C+. What's worse, my GPA had a downward trend too. I did great in my pharm. prereq. classes but horribly in the upper div. classes for my major (which I do have reasons to explain). So far I've gotten 4 interview offers, one coming from a highly-ranked out-of-state university. I haven't been accepted to any because I haven't had any of my interviews yet, but as you can see, the decision to interview me despite my low GPA shows that these schools care more than just your stat. So just do the best you can in this class right now. A B-, C+ or even C does not kill your application, at all. Having a 3.9999999 GPA and 98th PCAT is not the only way to get into pharmacy school. If you seriously have difficulty with Physics, you can even talk about it in your application; it's just one of the many difficulties you'll face later in life. Also, put a lot of effort into writing your personal statement, I think it helped me out a lot.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want someone with a 3.9 GPA and 98th PCAT but can't communicate effectively or doesn't care about me to be my pharmacist. Would you?

 

[pharm B]

On the other hand, I wouldn't want someone with a 3.9 GPA and 98th PCAT but can't communicate effectively or doesn't care about me to be my pharmacist. Would you?

I don't know that that argument applies in this situation. What I wouldn't want in a pharmacist is someone that folds like a house of cards any time a little stress gets applied.

 

[delano2000]

Take the 3 A's and the C, d00d.

W means the following:
1. Too lazy to finish
2. Not doing the best you can so you bail
3. Took on too much to handle
4. Extenuating circumstance, which you don't have.

4 is the only legit "excuse"

C = You pulled through and managed all your classes. If it was 3 B's and a C, I would be worried. But, 3 A's and C ain't bad. 😎

BTW, everyone knows that physics is tough. It is more of a "weed out" class. You aren't really going to apply much physics in pharmacy school and adcoms know this. I suppose the critical thinking is important, but you get that from other classes too.

I definitely agree with Lea. More than likely you will have to explain each withdrawal and unless it was something beyond your control then you don't/won't have a valid argument.

There are options (at least there should be) available to you to help improve your grade(s). I was pulling a B in Physics initially and would go to tutoring almost every day to help bring up my grade. Guess what? I ended up with an A in the class. You gotta be willing to go the extra mile if at all possible.