Hi, my name is Sam, my future aspirations is to apply to pharmacy school hopefully, and I am going to be brutally honest, I messed up on my third year of college. I served my first two years at a community college where I got around a 3.0 GPA while completing some of my pre-reqs for my associates degree at my college. When I transferred to my first year of university (third year of studies altogether), I just got depressed and lost motivation to complete schoolwork for my university. All in all I failed two of my courses (a elective and calc & analytical geometry) , and received a D in one (an elective, Introduction to philosophy). The following spring semester I didnt fail any classes but I received two D’s (one in principles of biology II and one in a degree-req development of films two) and a C( calc and analytical geometry II). All in all, my current GPA is a 0.9 after two semesters, and I am depressed. I dont know what to do, and I know I want to stay in the pharmacy career path. I know I can retake these classes to replace these grades, but it still will show up on my college resume for when I apply for pharmacy school, that I did retake them. I would just like to know what I can do to make my resume look presentable to pharmacy schools, I am on my fourth year of college now with the upcoming fall semester.
Also is there any way I can still pursue after pharmacy even if I get rejected from pharmacy schools in the US?
Please help me, and please be honest, I need honesty for once.
You should maybe take a year or so off from college, then try again. You can explain what happened, and they might be a bit forgiving if you make it evident that you really got your life together.
When you apply, all attempts at a class will be factored into the GPA seen by pharmacy schools, thus it may be different from the one on record with your institution. Your failed attempts will be factored in by PharmCAS, even if not by your institution.
Are you sure you want to do pharmacy?
Have you done any internships in this area?
The pharmacy schools are competitive and very expensive and will look at your PCAT scores and your grades. When do you plan to take your PCAT? A lot of your PCAT scores “skills” will come from information you have acquired in your college courses. Getting weak grades does not bode well for that PCAT.
I agree with um; take some time off. It’s been a tough experience for you, so it’s time to recharge and have time to think. Sometimes it’s a good idea to get away from the academic world to sort things out. Best wishes as you work through this.
Honestly, pharmacy school is quite easy to get into. The reason is the number of pharmacy students has doubled in the last 15 years and the job market is getting worse each year, so people are jumping ship to go into medicine, physician assistant, finance, engineering, computer programming, etc. which have better job prospects and do not require you to take out $200k+ in loans and spend another 4 years in school. Pharmacy schools are in fact desperate to fill their seats due to the falling number of applicants and rising number of slots, so they will accept just about anyone who is willing to pay an arm and leg in tuition.
It appears that the magic “average” GPA of accepted students is 3.1 and above(see table 5):
http://www.aacp.org/about/pages/vitalstats.aspx
And pharamacy schools have a surprisingly high attrition rate
http://www.aacp.org/about/pages/vitalstats.aspx
So at this point, OP would be better off taking um’s advice, as his/her GPA is well below average.
OP-I’d recommend that you visit the aacp.org website; it’s got a lot of information you would find helpful.
Op: ask for a medical leave of absence (it’s very important to complete the paperwork). Work and read the book ‘do what you are’ (it’s about finding the ideal career for our personality.) Think of alternatives to pharmacy schools. What interests you? Why pharmacy school?
Beside the grades, an issue is that OP is taking first year courses right now.