Have I killed my chances of Pharmacy school ?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>Hi, I'm a college freshmen at UC Davis in the Biochemical Engineering major. Because i was about 4 points short on the placement exam from getting into Calculus for engineers, I couldn't take Calculus. During orientation, my advisors told me to take precalculus and a Comath class to brush up on my math skills. I passed Precalculus with a B or C (finals are coming out soon), but I'm 100% sure I will not pass the Comath final tommorow. That class is really hard! I find Precalculus really easy; i just never had time to study for that class because the Comath class is really and hard and I spend most of my time studying for the comath class. The Comath class is graded only as N/NP, which means I will get a NP on my report card. Will this NP ruin my chances of Pharmacy school? I want to go to UCSF Pharmacy school because I live in San Francisco. I know this is a PreMed forum, but there isn't a Pre-Pharm forum, so I decided that almost all Premeds have PrePharm friends who tell them stories of their experiences, right? The Comath class is not a major requirement or a prerequsite. As long as I pass the Placement exam to get into Calculus for Engineers (the hardest Calculus my school offers. The Calculus for biology and health sciences majors is much easier, and I passed the placement exam for those classes), I can take Calculus next quarter. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>@LonelyOne, what is “Comath” and why are you not going to pass it? Reading your post makes me think that you have issues you need to fix so that you can be successful in your major.</p>

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<p>@plumazul, what do you mean? My math issues? Or personality issues? Or studying issues?</p>

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<p>“The Student Academic Success Center (SASC) offers pre- and co-classes in mathematics and physics for EOP students. Pre-classes help prepare EOP students for the regular university class they usually take the following quarter. Co-classes provide supplementary instruction for EOP students enrolled in the regular class. The SASC offers pre-classes for Mathematics 16A, 21A and Physics 9A. The SASC also offers co-classes for the Mathematics 16 and 21 series and the Physics 9 series. All pre-classes carry three workload units and co-classes carry one workload unit. These units count toward minimum progress and financial aid eligibility, but do not count toward graduation.” </p>

<p>[UC</a> Davis General Catalog | Tutoring and Learning Resources](<a href=“http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/ucdwebcatalog/advising/tutor.html]UC”>http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/ucdwebcatalog/advising/tutor.html)</p>

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<p>^ sorry if I wasn’t clear. Studying issues. You stated that pre-calc is easy (and it certainly is), so why the B-C? You are an engineering major so things are going to get difficult very soon. Are you ready for this? It’s going to take more effort than what you seem to have put toward the pre-calc. You have a goal and I don’t think you’ve done any permanent damage to it, yet. You may just need to kick it up a notch. :slight_smile:
Best of luck.</p>

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<p>Thanks. Yeah this is a big problem of mine. I tend to study a lot for one class, and neglect the rest. In high school I used to only have one or two difficult classes, but still I would neglect one for the other because I invest all my time into one of them. I have tired to spend less time on one class to study for the neglected one, but my grade just goes down for the I used to spend time on. I guess I need to work on time management, and I also need to stop “micro-focusing”. Procrastination is a big problem of mine too. Oh boy, I have such doubts about myself as a college student. :frowning: </p>

<p>Do you have any advice or suggestions for me to fix my studying issues as well?</p>

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<p>tried** (ten characters)</p>

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<p>1) make a list/calendar of due dates, test dates, etc. and display it prominently where you can see it so nothing will ‘sneak’ up on you</p>

<p>2) go to recitation. Every single one of them, even if you think you already know the material</p>

<p>3) don’t let routine homework slide–work on it as soon as possible after it’s assigned. Same day if possible. This includes assigned readings.</p>

<p>4) pick a place with minimal distractions to study (your dorm room is probably not the best place) and go there regularly–like every day, even weekends–to concentrate on getting your work done. Consider turning off your cell phone while studying. Or at least shut off the ringer.</p>

<p>5) read all assignments twice. First time to get a general feel for the material; second time to take notes.</p>

<p>6) prioritize–don’t spend all of your efforts on one class. Plan to have at least 1 day EACH week for getting the big stuff done for each course. Every week, spend extra time prepping for that class on its day. Spend a full 1-4 extra hours on it. Start reading for the research paper, start writing your paper’s first draft, redo some old problem sets (esp focus on the problems you got wrong), do a few extra problems from the text which weren’t assigned, organize and review lecture notes, re-read/review past chapters in the text.</p>

<p>7) when studying take a 10 minute break every 2 hours. Get up walk around, stretch, have a snack–but then get back to work when the time is up. Time yourself if necessary. (Cell phones have a timer feature.)</p>

<p>8) go to the academic support center at your school. They offer study skills seminars</p>

<p>9) consider going to the counseling center. Procrastination may be due just to poor study habits, but it can also be due to self-doubts, anxiety, perfectionism or a fear of success. You need to stop sabotaging yourself. If you can’t improve your study habits after making a sincere effort at it, maybe you need to explore the underlying reason why.</p>

<p>You developed a whole lot of poor habits in high school. You won’t survive college unless you ditch them. Start now. It’s not too late to start replacing your old bad habits with new good habits.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much WayWestMom, those are really valuable tips. And I think you are right - I might need counseling. I feel really depressed all the time. Sometimes i feel like i might be afraid of success, but then i tell myself that I’m just making excuses to be lazy. After all, how could I be afraid of success? It’s the thing I want most. And yet, sometimes I am afraid of success… interesting. Also, how could perfectionism cause bad grades? I think I do have perfectionism, but I don’t see why perfectionism will make do bad in school. This is very interesting to me. I think my problems in school are caused by my emotions.</p>

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<p>Perfection can lead to paralysis. Better to fail because you haven’t done the assignment perfectly (and therefore not do it at all) than to attempt it and do only fair. The fear of not being good enough is powerful–and terribly destructive.</p>

<p>You need to learn to be “OK” or to be “good.” You don’t always need to be “the best.”</p>

<p>In fact, my DH used to tell my kids there just are some classes that aren’t worth getting an A in. (These are classes that aren’t critical to your future, and which require excessive time & effort to achieve an A rather than a B+. IOW, it’s better to get a B- and 3 A’s than an A+ and 3 C’s.)</p>

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<p>As long as you show significant improvement grade-wise from here one out, you should be OK. Schools tend to be more forgiving of bad grades if you show them that you worked hard to improve. Get counseling if you need it, get a tutor (many schools provide free tutors if you request them), and find a study buddy that is focused.</p>

<p>WayOutWestMom has given you some very solid advice :slight_smile: Work on your study habits and don’t try to be a perfectionist. Some people can get away with that in high school, but it’s much more difficult to do in college… and there’s very little benefit relative to the amount of work you put into academic perfectionism anyways.</p>

<p>I would also recommend that once you are on more solid ground with your studies that you also work on the other criteria that PharmD admissions committees consider when reviewing applications. Get involved in an organization/club or two, volunteer, and get experience in the pharmacy field, whether that be by shadowing, working or volunteering.</p>

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<p>Wayoutwestmom, I finished my freshmen year and have done so poorly, I got kicked out of the university. Now I am sure there is a psychological reason underlying my procrastination. I remember when I was younger, I would have a “all or nothing” mentality in swimming. I didn’t try at all, because I didn’t want to tell myself that even though I tried my best, I still Couldnt win. Maybe this attitude carried onto academia. </p>

<p>At the beginning of my second quarter of freshmen year, I found out that I was one point away from passing my chem placement test. I was so disappointed, I went on the computer that whole weekend, an activity I told myself I wouldn’t let myself engage in to eliminate procrastination. After that weekend, I got sooooooo addicted to the Internet. I ended up failing two classes. For third quarter, I enrolled in 19 units to keep financial aid, and left my laptop at home, but I couldn’t handle the workload and failed two more classes.</p>

<p>The worst part is that I still can’t figure out why I couldn’t pass. At one point in my second quarter, I decided to fail the class when there was no chance of acing it, since I heard that the university replaces your failed grade with your new grade. I guess perfectionism is part of the problem. I’ve always had a very low self esteem. I guess there are many things I need to figure out about myself and my attitude.</p>

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<p>I am sorry that you had such a disappointing freshman year. </p>

<p>You need to get a handle on your personal issues BEFORE you attempt college again. It’s time to seek professional counseling so you can understand why you keep sabotaging yourself and stop doing it. You need more help than you will find on a message board. </p>

<p>Please get counseling. </p>

<p>Your college’s student health center will have list of local counselors, or if you’re back at home, you can check for names of licensed counselors at the [state name] Board of Psychology/Clinical Psychology. If you cannot afford a private counselor or your insurance does not cover mental health care, then the nearest teaching university which offers a PsyD program will have low cost clinics where you will interact with a counseling student-in-training.</p>

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<p>OP, what exactly you need to know? Which ones are real questions, the ones you cannot figure out? So far, you appered to know answers to all of your questions. What you actually do not know?</p>

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<p>Knowing your problem and being able to do something about it are two different things.</p>

<p>Please listen to WOWmom’s advice and seek professional help so that you can figure out how to deal with the difficulties you’re facing.</p>

<p>Take care of yourself before you worry about school, best of luck.</p>