Time Gaps in my studies: Am I in trouble?

[terry2356]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello,

I am currently first year student at Faculty of Science at University of Alberta , Canada. My situation is that I attended my first semester (5 course load) in fall 2009. Took 2 courses in spring/summer 2010 and I am planning to take 3 courses in spring/summer 2011. By the start of fall 2011,I will complete 30 credits of coursework( first year) out of 120 that is required for my undergraduate degree. Now there are gaps in between my studies where I did not take any courses ( winter 2010 , fall 2010 , Winter 2011). These gaps were due to personal reasons. Now my question is , being a prospective pharmacy student , am I at a disadvantage for admission because of these gaps? These 7 courses plus the 3 courses I am planning to take will probly make my first year gpa at about ~2.5. I am willing to go US. Do american pharmacy schools count spring/summer courses in their cumulative GPA or it depends on each specific school?

Fall term 2009 (5 course load)
Calculus I D
General Biology I B-
Gen Chemistry C
Introductory Stat C
Humanities elective Language Punjabi A

Summer/Spring 2010
English 121 C+
English 124 B

Reason for the Gaps in my studies:

Having done no career research and enrolling in university for the heck of it. Being imature student having come straight out of high school. When i got low grades thats when it hit me. It was a wake up call. I took some time off and thats where the gaps come from. In this time I became more serious and got to know what was at stake: my career. I researched and found out what my passions were. Helping people and computing science. I also worked for couple of months to help my family financially.

 

[BabyBelle]

You definitely need to explain to the adcoms your situation because they are going to wonder what happened during those gaps. You also really need to boost that GPA up. Many schools have minimum GPAs requirements but you have a long way to go before applying so just make sure to do well on your future courses. And yes, U.S. Pharmacy schools count spring/summer courses into your cumulative GPA. Every course you take is taken into account. And depending on what schools you want to apply to in the U.S., you need to take the PCATs.

Some schools have something called "academic forgiveness" and the GPA is calculated differently. I'm not sure how that works but you can contact the schools if you want more information.

 

[R2pharmD2]

I'd be waaaaay more concerned about that GPA than any gaps in your studies. I had a year and a half gap and neither of the schools I applied to seemed to care much.

 

[Passion4Sci]

The GPA is a bigger problem than the gap in time, especially since it's accounted for.

You gotta turn those grades around.

 

[Notecard]

Yes your GPA needs to come up. You can do it though... after my first year of college my GPA was a 2.6 but I managed to pull it up to a 3.45 over the next year and a half which isn't bad. Just buckle down.

 

[tojh1]

Get those grades up! remember you don't need the best grades, but you need to show that you have an upward trend and that you know how to adjust yourself to achieve better academic success. on that note... there a million things to do to better your resume if your grades are low.