When a good student goes sour...

[Cephal0pod]

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Hello 🙂 I am a junior in HS taking classes at my local community college in addition to classes at my school. I have finals this week in my CC classes and after taking the Math 150 (pre-calc) final this morning I just found out I ended up with a C (79% 😡). Have I damaged my chances for being accepted into vet school? I know that a C in a course at a CC doesn't look the greatest... It's not that I'm an average student, I have above a 4.0 gpa right now (before the C hits it >.> ) and do very well in school. I think I just didn't fully grasp how much studying college really entails. Lesson learned. 🙁 Have I made a mistake that will put me at a significant risk of not getting into vet school? I am so, so sorry if I'm being a bother, but I am genuinely worried about this.

Thank you for your time. Also, best wishes to those who applied this cycle and those who will be applying next cycle. I have been reading this forum quite a bit and am rooting for you all. 🙂

 

[jsp132]

Hello 🙂 I am a junior in HS taking classes at my local community college in addition to classes at my school. I have finals this week in my CC classes and after taking the Math 150 (pre-calc) final this morning I just found out I ended up with a C (79% 😡). Have I damaged my chances for being accepted into vet school? I know that a C in a course at a CC doesn't look the greatest... It's not that I'm an average student, I have above a 4.0 gpa right now (before the C hits it >.> ) and do very well in school. I think I just didn't fully grasp how much studying college really entails. Lesson learned. 🙁 Have I made a mistake that will put me at a significant risk of not getting into vet school? I am so, so sorry if I'm being a bother, but I am genuinely worried about this.

Thank you for your time. Also, best wishes to those who applied this cycle and those who will be applying next cycle. I have been reading this forum quite a bit and am rooting for you all. 🙂

no..........you definately have time........haha as long as you don't have F's and a .5 gpa..........just realize imo you have to study alot more in college then in hs =)

maintain a good gpa with good shadowing.........i think you'll do fine 😀

 

[LetItSnow]

Hello 🙂 I am a junior in HS taking classes at my local community college in addition to classes at my school. I have finals this week in my CC classes and after taking the Math 150 (pre-calc) final this morning I just found out I ended up with a C (79% 😡). Have I damaged my chances for being accepted into vet school? [...] Have I made a mistake that will put me at a significant risk of not getting into vet school?

Damaged? Sure, a tiny bit. Significant risk? No, not at all.

One C is such a minor thing that if you learned a lesson about studying and staying on top of classes it will be well worth it in the long run.

Provided you stay on track and don't start making C's a norm you haven't hurt yourself in any significant way. Really, don't lose any sleep over pre-calc.

Good luck!!!

 

[pennyonthefloor]

Hello 🙂 I am a junior in HS taking classes at my local community college in addition to classes at my school. I have finals this week in my CC classes and after taking the Math 150 (pre-calc) final this morning I just found out I ended up with a C (79% 😡). Have I damaged my chances for being accepted into vet school? I know that a C in a course at a CC doesn't look the greatest... It's not that I'm an average student, I have above a 4.0 gpa right now (before the C hits it >.> ) and do very well in school. I think I just didn't fully grasp how much studying college really entails. Lesson learned. 🙁 Have I made a mistake that will put me at a significant risk of not getting into vet school? I am so, so sorry if I'm being a bother, but I am genuinely worried about this.

Thank you for your time. Also, best wishes to those who applied this cycle and those who will be applying next cycle. I have been reading this forum quite a bit and am rooting for you all. 🙂

It's fairly early on in the game for you.... I wouldn't worry *too* much about it, but learn the lesson and don't let this become habit.

I was kind-of in your shoes quite a few years back... took a course each semester at college my sophomore year in HS, two in my junior year and my entire senior year at the nearby college-- I thought I was ready for college until I had my first few science classes (mind you- chemistry was a complete joke at my HS) and got C's in them.

This isn't a 'game over, you've gotten one C- you're done' kind of game... keep truckin along and keep your grades up-- it's not everything but it surely helps you get noticed easier by different schools..... It was a huge fight for me to get in.... had I had a better GPA, it would have been easier.

Good luck! Enjoy the ride as much as you can. College can be fun--get involved!

 

[flyinggoat]

Agree with previous posters. You definitely have time before you need to worry about getting in. Unless you start settling for C's. 😉

My personal concern, (just me!), would be that I didn't fully understand the material, putting me at a disadvantage when starting calc. I'm in Calc B right now, and I can tell you that having a sub-par foundation in precalc (from 12 years ago!) definitely has not helped with Calc... Though I'm still managing to pull an A- right now, so it *can* be done. 😉

 

[Cephal0pod]

Thank you everyone, I feel a little bit better about it now. I definitely plan on working harder from here on out. I'm picking up my textbooks for next quarter later on this week, I think I'll start going through the new calc textbook to get a head start on things over break. 🙂

Thanks again. 🙂

 

[vetme]

Well, I think you will be fine especially if you show you are capable of pulling higher grades. That will show you understand now the amount of studing involved. It will also demonstrate your ability to adapt. But I have heard of a few ppl getting in to vet school that have had C's. So just work harder from now on and you should be fine.😎

 

[AHorseOffCourse]

I took CC classes while in high school and ended up with a C in Spanish. Later, as a full time CC student I got a C in first semester gen chem, and a C in first semester O-chem. Those are the only C's on my transcripts. My overall GPA is in the 3.6-3.7 range both at the CC and at the UC where I eventually transfered.

I'm not accepted at a school yet, but interviewed at Davis (notficiations come next week), so I would say no, as long as the rest of your application is reasonable good, this shouldn't come back and haunt you.

I too learned some lessons from my C's. The spanish one was from not studying. The chemistry ones were from a hard-ass professor and were prehaps not fair grades. However, I quickly learned that sometimes you get C's where you should have gotten A's, and sometimes you get an A when you deserve a C. It works out in the end. Perspective is key.

 

[BeagleVet]

Like everyone has said, one C shouldn't break you as long as by the time you've completed a college degree the rest of your grades will bring up the average.

Vet Schools look at a lot of different "gpas." Typically some amalgamation of your total college gpa, your gpa in the required science pre-reqs, your overall science gpa, and the gpa from the last 1-2 years of college. The good news is pre-calc isn't even considered part of the required pre-reqs so it will just get averaged into the overall and I'm sure you can bring that all up once you get into the swing of college level courses. I actually got a C in one quarter of O-Chem (which was included in almost all those gpas I just mentioned) and have been offered a spot in Vet school for next year so there is still hope!

Numbers (gpa and gre) are only part of the application, but from my experience especially at the interview stage for Vet school apps- your experience shadowing vets, research, large/small/exotics, speaks a lot more to whether you are prepared for Vet school and the profession. Good Luck!

 

[Minnerbelle]

Honestly, I don't think a C in pre-calc taken as a high schooler really matters at all. Vet schools don't ask for high school gpa to begin with. I mean, I guess it gets iffy because you took a course most people take in high school in a community college, and you're supposedly supposed to report it. But I really don't think that should be a prob at all. Do well in your math courses once you're in college, and you're golden!

The worst grade I had was also a college math course I took as a high schooler. I had a really hard time tracking down my transcript for that one, and when my pre-med/vet advisor asked some vet schools about it, I was told I didn't even need to put that in my application. Now, def don't omit this unless you make sure you can do so first! But just saying, it's probably not nearly as big a deal as you think it might be right now.

 

[AngSchmange]

Honestly, I don't think a C in pre-calc taken as a high schooler really matters at all. Vet schools don't ask for high school gpa to begin with. I mean, I guess it gets iffy because you took a course most people take in high school in a community college, and you're supposedly supposed to report it. But I really don't think that should be a prob at all. Do well in your math courses once you're in college, and you're golden!

The worst grade I had was also a college math course I took as a high schooler. I had a really hard time tracking down my transcript for that one, and when my pre-med/vet advisor asked some vet schools about it, I was told I didn't even need to put that in my application. Now, def don't omit this unless you make sure you can do so first! But just saying, it's probably not nearly as big a deal as you think it might be right now.

I went to the AVM at Tufts 2 summers ago and I didn't think I needed to send my transcripts from when I took 2 courses in High school that were taught by teachers certified from a CC (The course was part of a 'gemini' program where we paid like, 180 bucks for a 4 credit physics class or 120 for a 3 credit English course). I didn't think it would really matter since I was doing my undergrad at Wells, and they actually needed me to send the transcript to finalize my app. I think vet school is the same, that they would need all transcripts from undergraduate institutions attended, which would include those taken in high school. IE, classes taken at a local college while still in high school. Different schools might require different things though, and I bet a few don't really care as much about UG courses taken while still in high school. The courses I took were Physics 1 and English comp, so are requirements for most vet schools, while I think pre-calc isn't, so there also may be a difference in that.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I went to the AVM at Tufts 2 summers ago and I didn't think I needed to send my transcripts from when I took 2 courses in High school that were taught by teachers certified from a CC (The course was part of a 'gemini' program where we paid like, 180 bucks for a 4 credit physics class or 120 for a 3 credit English course). I didn't think it would really matter since I was doing my undergrad at Wells, and they actually needed me to send the transcript to finalize my app. I think vet school is the same, that they would need all transcripts from undergraduate institutions attended, which would include those taken in high school. IE, classes taken at a local college while still in high school. Different schools might require different things though, and I bet a few don't really care as much about UG courses taken while still in high school. The courses I took were Physics 1 and English comp, so are requirements for most vet schools, while I think pre-calc isn't, so there also may be a difference in that.

yeah, definitely call and find out first. if they're pre-reqs I'm almost 100% sure you'll need to send a transcript in. my point was more that high school courses taken as a high schooler probably won't matter much at all, even if the OP needed to send in a transcript for it. (i added in my anecdote just to show that sometimes it's not even necessary).

i mean, if a middle schooler took a CC course and got a D, i highly doubt vet schools would care. there are also a bunch of people who take calculus in high school and bomb their AP test, but they do fine in college. Those kids aren't penalized for bombing calculus, since they're not obligated to send in AP scores unless they want it to count. so if that's the case, I don't see why the OP would be penalized for not doing stellar in pre-calc while in high school.

 

[squirrelsrule]

I am pretty sure Cephal0pod is going to college as a post-secondary student so the courses count toward high school but are also college credits that count and can transfer just like any other class taken at the community college by regular students. At least that's how the program I was in worked.

One C isn't the end of the world, but be sure to apply yourself and really work hard to make sure it doesn't happen again. Was this your first college course? Pre-calc was also my first college course and I nearly ran for my life! I had a professor from India that I could hardly understand. I took that along with Chemistry, composition, and psychology. My other professors were great so it made up for the one bad class, but that class was definitely not what I had envisioned.

So, get back out there and try again, be sure to study more this time, maybe make a study group or get a tutor if you need one. Good luck to you, I don't think the one course will make a big difference.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Hello 🙂 I am a junior in HS taking classes at my local community college in addition to classes at my school.

Is HS short for something other than high school that I'm not aware of? If so, totally ignore what I've said.

 

[squirrelsrule]

I am pretty sure HS is short for high school.

Have you ever heard of the post secondary option? How it works is that you are a high school student, but you take one or more courses at a local college. I think the state pays for the courses you take in college, but it could be the high school that pays😕, but either way, your college is paid for since you are in high school and are officially taking the classes to meet high school graduation requirements. So, you are enrolled in college as a post secondary student and are treated like all the other college students and the course is the same one that everyone going as a regular college student is taking (you are in class with all the college kids, it's not something where you are with a bunch of other high schoolers).

How it works is that the course counts towards high school since you're in high school still, but it also counts as college credits because that is what it really is, you were going to college. It is an awesome way for people to save money on college and to get started on college early. The program allowed me to graduate with a bachelors of science degree at the age of 18 🙂. I only had to pay $15,000 (had to pay for the one year I went after graduating high school) in tuition too because as a post secondary student your tuition is paid for as were my books.

 

[libster06]

First I will start by saying that no, a C shouldn't matter. Regarding transcripts though, I took classes in high school (Comp 1 and Comp 2) and I also took Trig as a Physics pre-req, about 3 years later in in my sophomore year of undergrad, at the same CC as I took the Comp 1 and Comp 2 courses. If the courses are related to vet school, you have to send in the transcripts. Also, if you took a class in HS that wasn't vet-school related, but go back to that school (as I did with the Trigonometry class) and take classes later on for whatever reason that are vet school related, the grades will be on there- truly a C is not a big deal, but it's something to remember.

I *think* (not 100% sure) that you have to send in transcripts from all post-high school institutions that you have taken classes from, regardless of whether they were towards vet school or not. I could be mistaken, so I would definitely check with the schools you apply to on that.

Again, I want to reiterate (as I had a C on my transcripts) that it's totally not a big deal as long as you don't make a habit of it or have any F's. D's also require some extra explaining, so I would try your hardest to really keep from getting those... but stuff happens 🙂

 

[twelvetigers]

I made... let's see. All told? I made eight Cs (largely chemistries) and two Ds that I replaced with Bs. It also took me four years, two degrees, and three tries to get in... so I don't recommend my path. Haha.

They do want ALL transcripts. Now, will they necessarily know if you omit one with one class on it? Probably not. But you want to be careful about that, since they do WANT all of them.

 

[LetItSnow]

They do want ALL transcripts. Now, will they necessarily know if you omit one with one class on it? Probably not. But you want to be careful about that, since they do WANT all of them.

Heh. One of the more .. ahem .. embarrassing parts of my application was that way back when I failed out of school I actually had one semester of two classes that I took at UMN... took the classes after getting booted from another school figuring "maybe I'd do ok at a totally different kind of school."

So of my five transcripts, one of them actually came from UMN (the only vet school I applied to), and it contained nothing more than two big old F's.

😳

 

[Minnerbelle]

Have you ever heard of the post secondary option? [...] It is an awesome way for people to save money on college and to get started on college early. The program allowed me to graduate with a bachelors of science degree at the age of 18 🙂. I only had to pay $15,000 (had to pay for the one year I went after graduating high school) in tuition too because as a post secondary student your tuition is paid for as were my books.

no i hadn't heard of it, but geez that sounds so nifty!

to the OP: totally diff from what i was talking about, so please ignore what i said entirely. i just took 3 UG courses through 2 different programs during HS (and none of those courses had anything to do with my HS degree, UG degree, prereqs, or anything that mattered). one of the programs was a pain in the ***** to track down for a transcript, since apparently people don't tend to ask for transcripts from that program 7 years after taking it or something 😕. since that was the only thing that would keep me from completing my apps, i was told i could do without.

Edit: holy crappers! a-$-$. was bleeped out! I had no idea SDN was so clever

 

[lareinesoleil]

I got 2 C's - one in Biochem and one in Pre-Calc. They didn't affect my GPA *too* much I had a 3.78 over all and a 3.62 Science.

They didn't even ask about my C's in my interview. They know we're not robots.

One thing I think does help: get a really good grade in a similar "difficult" class - for example, I think my A's in O-Chem and Genetics made them look more kindly on my C in Biochem. So do really well in Calculus! Sounds like you're taking steps to do that anyway 🙂

 

[libster06]

They didn't even ask about my C's in my interview. They know we're not robots.

Me either! It's true!

One thing I think does help: get a really good grade in a similar "difficult" class - for example, I think my A's in O-Chem and Genetics made them look more kindly on my C in Biochem. So do really well in Calculus! Sounds like you're taking steps to do that anyway 🙂

Exactly! I had a B in OChem I (not uncommon) and a C in OCem II but I had an A in Genetics.

 

[Cephal0pod]

Wow, thanks for all the responses everyone! And yes Squirrelsrule, that is exactly the program I am doing 🙂 Yeah post-secondary! I'll have 1+ years of college done by the time I graduate from high school, all paid for by my school district. Or my state. Or my high school. I don't know either. Someone other than me. 😀 At any rate, I am very relieved to hear this C is not as big of a deal as I thought it was. Still not good of course, but not veterinary-dream-crushing. 😳 I wondered if it was something that would be brought up in my interviews eventually as well, glad to see that chances are it probably won't.

And yes, I did mean high school when I said "HS", sorry Minnerbelle 😳

Thanks again all! 🙂

 

[projekt]

I think, looking forward, it would be better to take classes you are ready for, rather than classes that are advanced from where you are now. While it's cool to be a precocious student, taking college courses in high school, there's no shame in doing it the traditional way. It's better for admissions to ace your classes in college than to take them in high school and get lower grades.

The path to becoming a veterinarian doesn't require acceleration of your curriculum. A four year BS in biology plus any weirdo courses (animal nutrition, public speaking) that may be required for your particular school will do you just fine. If you don't waste your time partying and you actually do study, you'll probably have a good GPA. That also leaves time for doing all sorts of cool things. You could do summers foreign countries, undergraduate research, community outreach. Whatever floats your boat and makes you feel like you're becoming a better person and contributing to society. Then, you'll have no problem writing a personal statement or getting through an interview, and you'll be the envy of your vet school class for having done such cool stuff. About partying: I'm not saying don't socialize. It's very important. I'm saying don't waste your time.

Or, you could do like me and f*ck around for four years of college, get a 2.0 gpa, not graduate, and have to painfully put it all back together later and still be flat-out rejected from certain schools because they have cumulative gpa cut-offs. I did make it into vet school, and I'm now a top student. But there is an easier way than the path I took.

 

[HelloNello]

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[AHorseOffCourse]

I used the CC classes I took in high school mostly to get a headstart on my GE, NOT to take prerequisite classes. There's plenty of time for that. I transferred to a UC after 2 years at a CC, mostly because I DID take classes during high school, and was able to finish up the UC in 2 years (and only took 1 year of summer school) so there are some benefits to it.

Unlike some of the lucky people here, although the high school allowed cc classes for credit, the $$ came out of mine/my family's pocket. 🙁

 

[libster06]

I know that as a junior and senior in high school my brain wasn't ready for the amount of active reading it took to do well in college science courses. I took a lot of GE courses and I did very well in them, but I couldn't have handled a college science course at that point.

I think it looks impressive to take college courses in high school, but if you don't do well in your pre reqs it isn't going to matter that you were taking them in high school. A "C" is a "C" regardless of how old you were when you took that class.


Not saying everybody is like me, but IMO I think it takes time for your brain to develop into being able to handle college courses.

👍👍👍
AMAZING advice. I have always felt this way about the level of classes matching with a person's academic abilities at any given time and I have never found anyone who really thought this made a difference, in regards to how one's brain changes to be able to accommodate different amounts of information as they get older and at higher levels of education. It may not seem like being 17/18 and in high school taking Chem 1 or 2 would make a big difference versus being a freshman in college, but I really think it does. That's why I just took my Comp 1 and 2 courses in high school... no real threat to my GPA or brain cells 🙂

 

[Cephal0pod]

Thank you very much for the input and advice 🙂 I do plan on just knocking out some of my general ed classes as a high schooler; I'm glad to see from what several of you have said that waiting until I get to college to take my vet school pre-req courses was/is a good decision. I think the primary cause of my less than satisfactory grade in precalc was that I didn't quite grasp the amount of studying required... I hate that I had to learn that lesson the hard way, but I plan on taking what I learned from that C, applying it to my future coursework, and ultimately being a more successful student next quarter and beyond. 🙂

Also, another quick question; will my GPA from my CC coursework transfer to the college I attend after I graduate from high school? It's not that I have a terrible GPA or anything, I have a 3.3 right now. I know it isn't super great, but it will improve by the time I graduate from HS. Thanks. 🙂

Lastly, I just want to say thank you all again for taking the time to advise me about this whole situation. I greatly appreciate it. 🙂

 

[Ricegrad]

Also, another quick question; will my GPA from my CC coursework transfer to the college I attend after I graduate from high school? It's not that I have a terrible GPA or anything, I have a 3.3 right now. I know it isn't super great, but it will improve by the time I graduate from HS. Thanks. 🙂

The school you go to after you grade probably won't take your CC courses into account when they calculate your GPA. When I transferred, my courses transferred in and show up on my transcript as P/F. The GPA I have from my university only includes the grades from the courses that I've taken at the university.

Edit: As AHorseOffCourse points out below, your CC GPA will still probably count when you apply to vet school (Texas A&M used it in the cumulative GPA, as well as the science GPA for me). I was only specifically talking about the undergraduate institution. For example, I got an AA from a CC with a 4.0 GPA. However, at the university I transferred into, my GPA is closer to a 3.6 because they don't use the As I got prior to matriculation in their calculations. My overall GPA, counting all the classes I've ever taken, is around a 3.85 right now.

 

[AHorseOffCourse]

All of my college courses counted towards my GPA - including the CC courses I took in high school.

I think to be safe you need to assume that ALL college work you do - regardless of what, where, when, will end up counting.

Edited to say: clarification: UC Davis didn't factor in my CC courses into the GPA. Thus, when applying to vet school, I had my CC GPA, my UCD GPA (which was based almost ENTIRELY on upper division science!), and my overall.

My CC and my UCD GPA ended up almost identical, so not a huge deal.

So at some point, the GPA from ALL your classes WILL count - but not all the time in every situation. Make sense? In some ways it sucks - I was one tenth of a grade point away from graduating with honors from UCD. If I had taken some GE classes at the UC, it might have happened. Same with the CC - if I hadn't gotten a C in highschool in that spanish class...*shrugs*.

 

[Cephal0pod]

Thank you Ricegrad and AHorseOffCourse, that makes sense. 🙂

 

[168135]

Kind of off topic, but the invert nerd in me LOVES your username.

 

[Cephal0pod]

Haha, thank you! 😀

Just wanted to give you all an update since you guys were so helpful. I worked my tail off the following quarter, and finished with an A in Spanish 3 and an A in Calc 1! 🙂 Thanks again, everyone!

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

You're FINE. A C will not kill you. I got a couple C/C+s and even a horrible, awful D 😱 in my four years of college, ended with a GPA of 3.6 in a tough program. I got in my first try. If you get a C or two here and there it won't ruin your chances by any stretch of the imagination if the rest of your application is stellar, good GREs, great LORs, good and varied/unique experience....

Don't read calculus over break! Take a BREAK over break! 😀 Give the mind a rest. Everyone needs it. I *wish* I had breaks now 😉

Haha, thank you! 😀

Just wanted to give you all an update since you guys were so helpful. I worked my tail off the following quarter, and finished with an A in Spanish 3 and an A in Calc 1! 🙂 Thanks again, everyone!