<p>Medical or Med. school related students preferably please,
here is my short story:
I am about to finish my first spring Sem. and i already have 5 w's.
Lots of things happened and in fall i had to drop virtually all my classes due to overworking myself/ commuting between 3 colleges. 3 of them were towards my major. Chem, Bio, and Physics. I retook physics this sem and got an A. I average a 4.0 as of right now (29 units)
The reason why I'm posting was that today, i had an appointment with a counselor for the first time. He told me what i already knew, and he said there is no way to dismiss my W's.
The reason why im worrying so much is because i have high ambitions and i feel things are starting to fall apart because of some choices i made.
After high school i chose not to attend ucr because of family reasons, so i went to a cc. I want to go to UC davis, berkley, irvine, or sand diego for my premed (chem).
Then hopefully try for an ivy league or UC la or sf.
I am told stories from my brother's friends that people that attend those school normally average 0-3max "withdrawals"
In high school i had a solid 3.5 and i ditched a lot of school. i was ignorant and didn't pay much attention in class. Now that I am pushing myself i feel i can average a 4.0 maybe 3.8 at the lowest(in a cc at least because there is no +/- system).
so what I'm saying is:
If i get accepted through a TAG program and average a (lets just say worst case scenario) 3.6+ and a 30~32 after premed with 8 W's (you never know what will happen so i added 3 W's just in case). Will i still have chances of attending UCLA, SF or any ivy league?
personally i doubt it, but i like to measure myself to worst case scenarios to relief anxiety and help me concentrate more. Since this is anonymous please be truthful and as detailed to your knowing extent.Thank you for reading and replying</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter how many “W” you have on your transcript. It won’t affect your admissions. You can have 3 or 100 Withdraws and that won’t affect your admissions. However, your graduate schools do care about them but it seems you have a legitimate story to back your reason.</p>
<p>Just do your best. Explain your situation and and try your best from here on out-- you can’t change what’s already been done. If you really want something, you have to bust your ass. Even if you don’t end up getting a good enough gpa after graduating there are still opportunities to raise your gpa through things like SMP’s. Get good grades, good mcat score and good ec’s. </p>
<p>W’s will cause some concern for sure but if you prove you handle the material by doing the things that i mentioned, they really won’t matter as much. </p>
<p>By the way if your aiming for ucla, ucsf, or an upper tier ivy med school you’re going to need to aim higher than a 30-32 mcat score. Good luck.</p>
<p>Plan on never getting another W ever again if possible. You should transfer without a problem to a UC, but having multiple W’s pretty much closes doors when it comes to top medical schools. Just keep pushing yourself for those 4.0’s…it gets harder at a UC. For a chance at UCLA, UCSF, or an Ivy, you must have a GPA and MCAT scores much higher than average. Yes, these are amazing schools but you have to be realistic and cast a wider net. You should probably apply to many other lower tier med schools.</p>
<p>lawlking
W’s don’t affect admissions? is that true-- where did you hear this? maybe the UC schools are not as strict as Harvard and Yale (those school are adamant about checking for W’s, etc…) but they certainly look at transcripts and assess them. not to be paranoid and of course a few might be acceptable–seems better to have them in one semester, not spread out over many semesters. but they must count for something and to say that 100 W’s will not affect admissions seems a bit unrealistic. haha. but hey, i am No expert. and i am not trying to argue, but i just don’t think that it is accurate to think that they don’t affect admissions. good luck everyone.</p>
<p>I am a graduate of a U.S. medical school and have to tell you that medical schools see Ws very differently than UCs evaluating UG transfer applicants. A W is something that will inevitably happen over a four year college career for one reason or another and be forgiven but multiple withdrawals will certainly hurt your chances for acceptance any any US allopathic medical school. You may or may not be past the point of no return with five already but as oceanpartier said, you can get even one more W as an undergraduate and have a realistic chance of acceptance at any U.S. medical School.</p>
<p>Also, medical schools do not like to see courses that are medical school prerequisites taken at community colleges. They believe, mistakenly or not, that community college classes are just not as rigorous as ones taken at four year universities.</p>
<p>I am also planning on applying to med school,
and regardless of what happens I say keep your head up and apply to as many schools as possible and also do well on the MCAT
good lck!</p>
<p>@NorthBeach Private Universities are way different! Especially the Ivy leagues.
I called a UC counselor and they told me a “W” means nothing to them other then you withdraw from a class.</p>
<p>I have 5 withdraws by the way.</p>
<p>However, the one’s that do care about your Withdraws are graduate school, however since OP has a legit story of why he has withdraws then its fine. Usually they don’t care if its under 4, if its above then they will question you for it. And as long as your good grades and an outstanding MCAT scores can prove your story that you turned around, then you have nothing to worry about.</p>