Will having one D on my transcript hurt me?

[StormyGirl]

It looks like I will have my first D this semester from my Precalculus class because of an unexpected turn of events (had baby early and he was in the NICU for a few weeks before finals) so I wasn't able to focus at all in that class and I might get a D. Is there any hope of getting into a pharmacy school with just one D. I'm not sure if this question has been asked before or not. I also have one W from the previous semester.
Thanks,
Stormy

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[IrishRxMan]

One D shouldn't hurt you too much, especially for the reason you stated. That's a pretty rough thing to go through and schools will understand, but you need to apprise them of the situation when applying. Just take the class over and work your butt off to make an A the next time and in all your other classes. If it's a fluke and you've done well in all other classes before that and after it should be fine. Was the W in the same class?

 

[bwsalvas]

I got a D in Cellular Biology. It crushed me. I thought pharmacy school was out of the question.

I was able to bounce back. I retook the class and got an A-.

An interviewer asked me if I had overcome any obstacles to get to where I was: The pharmacy school interview.

I told her of my struggles with the D, that it was not representative of my abilities and it made it difficult to push onward with my prerequisites etc etc.

Nothing I had to do could ever compare to what you have to do- and an interviewer will agree with me. Having a child while in school is hard enough, having one during finals is even harder, and having a premature baby is even harder still.

It would take a very heartless interviewer to not understand- and if they don't, you should ask yourself if you even want to go to that establishment.

If the rest of your transcript and application shows that you are a capable science student then the D will not be as detrimental as it feels right now.

 

[AbsoluteEthanol]

what a weird question.

do you think there's a way that getting a "D" may actually benefit you? Of course a disatisfactory grade is going to hurt your chances.

 

[PrepharmKID]

Getting a D is not "good", but if you retake that course and get lets say an A, it will help your GPA. I wouldn't say interviewers are going to go up and down your transcript and point out W's or D's. They'll leave that to you. If you GPA is good though, not sure why you would worry about it.

 

[cinnamoroll12]

I think it's fine if you did well in your classes in the past quarters/semesters.
You might want to retake the class and earn a better a grade or definitely do well in subsequent math classes like calculus. You can mention about this on your supplemental applications and in your interviews. I am currently volunteering in the NICU, and I know it's tough as a parent to see your child in there.

 

[omnione]

Those grades are blemishes and will get noticed. You can improve the situation by doing well in the other classes as well as getting high marks in the retakes. That would illustrate that the grade was a fluke.

As for addressing it in the interview, it's a little tougher call especially for closed-file interviews. Mentioning it can highlight the failure or rectify it. A middle ground solution would be to emphasize your child-bearing experiences during the interview that explains your situation without getting too specific.

 

[RxWildcat]

retake it. Ds are NOT good.

 

[Sparda29]

You gotta retake it, and it's gonna hurt you if you apply through PharmCAS. Personally, I think that if you retake a class, the complete history of what you did in that class should be erased. Not just having the grade not counted, but it shouldn't appear on the transcript, period.

 

[medicalCPA]

Personally, I think that if you retake a class, the complete history of what you did in that class should be erased. Not just having the grade not counted, but it shouldn't appear on the transcript, period.

This is your opinion, but it's flawed. The purpose of a transcript is to provide a record of your academic performance all through college. This rightly includes all classes you ever took and your grades in those classes. When your college wants to compute your GPA for classes you retook, it only uses your new grade. But if your college is reporting your academic information to another entity, it should (and it does) report your record. What this external entity does with that information is entirely up to it.

It's just like a business. When the business is reporting information to stakeholders in the form of financial statements, it should include all the information that can help users make decisions. Not reporting relevant information is ethically (and legally) wrong. Same with your college.

 

[UES Girl]

You gotta retake it, and it's gonna hurt you if you apply through PharmCAS. Personally, I think that if you retake a class, the complete history of what you did in that class should be erased. Not just having the grade not counted, but it shouldn't appear on the transcript, period.

Not only this is the most *****ic idea I've ever heard but it's extremely annoying to see you post it in every thread. I've already explained to you in a few threads why this idea has many flaws: part of being smart and acing your classes is being able to get your **** together and know how to study for a particular class. If you can't pass a class right away because you need 2 semesters to figure out how to study for it instead of one - then you are not on the same level with people who aced the class the first time they took it.

For example, I aced both semesters of ochem despite having a hardest instructor in the department. One of my closest friends failed his class and had to retake it 4 times ( I kid you not) before he passed a class with a A ( the other 3 times he just failed it.) Who do you think is a better student ? Me who got my **** together right away and was able to pull 99 on the exams when the class average was in the mid forties or my friend who took 4 semesters to get the same grades ?


Without trying to sound obnoxious: why in the world should my friend have the same grade record as I if it is obviously clear than they are not as good student as I am ?

For the last time I ask you to stop whining about your record (I swear this is at least thread # 10 where you talk about this) - I know you are only whining because it took you multiple times to ace your classes. Have you passed your classes right away like the rest of us, we would not be having this argument with you.

 

[IrishRxMan]

Another thing that I don't think I've seen addressed here is, if you take a class 4 or 5 times to finally pass it, even taking it at a different school, adcoms look unfavorably on that. I've heard the people at my school that go over applications say that.

 

[PrepharmKID]

All i have to say it's this way for a reason. Nuff said

 

[omnione]

Another thing that I don't think I've seen addressed here is, if you take a class 4 or 5 times to finally pass it, even taking it at a different school, adcoms look unfavorably on that. I've heard the people at my school that go over applications say that.

Unless we're talking about advanced theoretical quantum mechanics, it's rather sad for someone to need 4-5 times to pass a prereq or any course for that matter.

 

[UES Girl]

Unless we're talking about advanced theoretical quantum mechanics, it's rather sad for someone to need 4-5 times to pass a prereq or any course for that matter.

I don't think advanced theoretical quantum mechanics should be an excuse either.

There is a girl at our school that took 8 semesters to pass general biochemistry - which is a light one semester course designed specifically for general biology majors. Of course,she blamed it on the horrific teacher and wrote her terrible reviews on ratemyprofessors.com. I didn't know what to say, until I took that prof for biochem 1 and she turned out to be one of my favorite professors of all time.

 

[YapYap6]

The ridiculous part is, I have a "friend" (not anymore) that did the exact same thing for ochem. Both semesters repeated twice. The rest of her science grades were generally C's. Somehow, she got into Midwestern CCP with a 2.8ish science GPA.

Not only this is the most *****ic idea I've ever heard but it's extremely annoying to see you post it in every thread. I've already explained to you in a few threads why this idea has many flaws: part of being smart and acing your classes is being able to get your **** together and know how to study for a particular class. If you can't pass a class right away because you need 2 semesters to figure out how to study for it instead of one - then you are not on the same level with people who aced the class the first time they took it.

For example, I aced both semesters of ochem despite having a hardest instructor in the department. One of my closest friends failed his class and had to retake it 4 times ( I kid you not) before he passed a class with a A ( the other 3 times he just failed it.) Who do you think is a better student ? Me who got my **** together right away and was able to pull 99 on the exams when the class average was in the mid forties or my friend who took 4 semesters to get the same grades ?


Without trying to sound obnoxious: why in the world should my friend have the same grade record as I if it is obviously clear than they are not as good student as I am ?

For the last time I ask you to stop whining about your record (I swear this is at least thread # 10 where you talk about this) - I know you are only whining because it took you multiple times to ace your classes. Have you passed your classes right away like the rest of us, we would not be having this argument with you.

 

[bklyngirl]

Not only this is the most *****ic idea I've ever heard but it's extremely annoying to see you post it in every thread. I've already explained to you in a few threads why this idea has many flaws: part of being smart and acing your classes is being able to get your **** together and know how to study for a particular class. If you can't pass a class right away because you need 2 semesters to figure out how to study for it instead of one - then you are not on the same level with people who aced the class the first time they took it.

For example, I aced both semesters of ochem despite having a hardest instructor in the department. One of my closest friends failed his class and had to retake it 4 times ( I kid you not) before he passed a class with a A ( the other 3 times he just failed it.) Who do you think is a better student ? Me who got my **** together right away and was able to pull 99 on the exams when the class average was in the mid forties or my friend who took 4 semesters to get the same grades ?


Without trying to sound obnoxious: why in the world should my friend have the same grade record as I if it is obviously clear than they are not as good student as I am ?

For the last time I ask you to stop whining about your record (I swear this is at least thread # 10 where you talk about this) - I know you are only whining because it took you multiple times to ace your classes. Have you passed your classes right away like the rest of us, we would not be having this argument with you.

I agree - and I am not a 4.0 GPA student. As a freshman I received 2 C-'s and 3 C's (2.5 GPA for the year.) I transferred to a local college for sophomore year, which I have just completed with a 3.7 GPA. I would love to have my freshman record just totally elimininated from my upcoming applications, but I accept the fact that it needs to be included and that I must continue to work hard to prove myself worthy of acceptance. No one to blame but myself for a weak start, and any applicant with superb grades with no retakes definitely deserves priority consideration from the adcoms - PERIOD! You don't need to be an admissions expert in determining this - you just need common sense!
Hopefully, anyone seeking advice on this site will view all the previous posts from the replier. This can give you an idea on where this advice is coming from, and whether or not to take it into consideration.
I strongly feel that SPARDA has a right to his opinions, but should be careful about PROVIDING advice, as he should be spending more time SEEKING it!

 

[Sparda29]

Well, in the case of your friend there that had to take it 4 times to get an A, now your friend would have to take a bunch of unrelated classes to bring their GPA back up, get into extracurricular activities, dominate on the PCAT, write a great personal statement, etc.

Yeah, so any plan of them getting into pharmacy school after 2 years of pre-requisites kind of gets screwed by one F.

 

[RxWildcat]

There's no way someone should have the outcome of a class completely erased from their transcript, that's what the purpose of the transcript is, to show an academic record. Retaking a class and getting a new grade to not count against you is pretty generous anyways IMO.

 

[thanawalt]

I just got a D and a W this semester.

I don't know if I should freak out or not. W's are not issued at my school unless it's a serious and compelling reason, which it was. A poor grade is not a sufficient reason to withdraw.

The W was obtained because medical appointments interfered with the class time. The D on the other hand was due to my inability to concentrate on the first midterm because of my therapy. I would rather not get into too much detail here...that goes for my application too. How much info should I provide if it's a confidential issue?

 

[IrishRxMan]

I just got a D and a W this semester.

I don't know if I should freak out or not. W's are not issued at my school unless it's a serious and compelling reason, which it was. A poor grade is not a sufficient reason to withdraw.

The W was obtained because medical appointments interfered with the class time. The D on the other hand was due to my inability to concentrate on the first midterm because of my therapy. I would rather not get into too much detail here...that goes for my application too. How much info should I provide if it's a confidential issue?

It depends on what the issue was. If it's dealing with therapy for some kind of medical/psych problem, they are pharmacists and have to deal with HIPAA laws regardless and this will explain the poor grade. If your therapy has some bearing on the cause of poor grades, you should mention that. The biggest thing you can do is finish your therapy and start back to school, if you have any courses left, only after you are done. This way you can show that you bounced back from whatever problem you were dealing with.

 

[tootoo30]

Have you tried talking to your professor? The same thing happened to me, but my son died and the professor was very understanding with some make up work and a later time to take my final. Just explain your situation to either him or the dean of your college, I can't see them not wanting to help you out! Hope your baby is doing fine

 

[ExpressMaiL]

To OP: Yes.

 

[collegegirl247]

retake the class and be able to explain why you got a D in the first place...and you should be ok!

 

[bholmes]

I had 1 "F" and 1 "D" and I still got accepted at two schools....but then again I interviewed very well.

 

[mustang sally]

You could still get in with a D, but I would retake the class (if it is necessary for your pre-pharm curriculum) and be sure to get an A. Also the more blemishes you have on your record, the more competitive you will have to make yourself in other ways. I had three F's in college and got into one pharm school (albeit from the wait list), so it is possible.

 

[alpha12]

You gotta retake it, and it's gonna hurt you if you apply through PharmCAS. Personally, I think that if you retake a class, the complete history of what you did in that class should be erased. Not just having the grade not counted, but it shouldn't appear on the transcript, period.

That is kind of too much, but I think schools should give at least one freebie. I got a C in calc 1 and 2 and it really hurt my chances of getting in to a pharm school partly because my family was having tough times and i had to work long hours to make ends meet. I think there are a bunch of reasons people do bad in a class that are not due to just not giving a damn. Like the creator of this thread people have unfortunate things happen to them in their life.