Hello, I am currently a first-year student at a California community college majoring in philosophy and political science, hoping to attend law school in the future. The predicament I have found myself in is that I have dropped the same college algebra class two semesters in a row. The first reason was because of a health issue my mother was struggling with that caused me to have to divert my mornings to nursing her back to health. The second reason is that during the summer I was retaking the course my grandfather died who was like a father to me and it caused me to fall way behind in my studies. These are the only 2 W’s on my transcript and as of right now I have a 4.0 GPA. I know having two withdrawals from the same class looks very unprofessional but would admissions counselors be lenient if they knew I had valid reasons for dropping? Thank you for taking the time to read this and any response would be greatly appreciated. I am applying to UCB, UCLA, USC, UCSB, NYU, UCI, and a few other out of state schools.
A W is better than failing. How did you do in all of your other classes, though? You’re applying to some very competitive colleges. It may be perceived as a disconnect that your misfortunes caused you to do poorly in just one class, but not all of them. I think the best strategy is to nail the algebra class once and for all (use tutors, TAs, and any resources available) and put any doubts to rest.
Your issue right now is not getting in to law school as this is minimally 4 /6 years into the future (especially if you take time to work 2 years before law school)
I am sorry for your misfortunes, however, your immediate issue is making sure that you are making satisfactory academic progress and are able to remain enrolled in school, to keep your financial aid and being able to transfer into a 4 year school.
When it comes to this dropping classes is not a good look because it demonstrates that you are not able to successfully complete courses. I agree with @Groundwork2022 , that you need to take advantage of tutoring, office hours to ace this course (the math helps in solving the logic games on the LSAT).
@sybbie719 If I make up the course with an A and complete my time at cc with no other W’s will I be alright?
@Groundwork2022 I have A’s in all my other classes so far. If I graduate with a 4.0 will this situation still come back to bite me in the ass?
Ace the algebra class. Getting an A in it will help to keep you in the game, but remember there are no guarantees. Your list of schools is still very reachy. Granted the UCs are a little more rack-and-stack, but they’re still highly selective. Make sure you have match schools on your list and that everything is affordable, especially if law school is in the cards.