<p>I'm taking 5 courses this Spring semester and I don't really want to continue with one class. I wanted to drop it since we started the semester last month. It's an elective and not a class I need to graduate. To be honest, the only reason I enrolled in it was because I wanted to take 5 classes. It's the spring term and there aren't too many variety of courses to take. I just needed an extra course to fill up my schedule and decided to take this one. At the same time I was willing to give it a chance and bought the required books for the class and have read one of the books. But I'm having trouble following what's going on in the class. Unlike my other classes, we have lecture notes giving to us by the Profs, but with this one there're no lecture notes. We basically have to write down what the Prof says and not that I've a problem with that, but the Prof is very jumpy when he speaks and all over the place. We've had our first assignment in the class and I received a 70%. This first assignment is worth 20% of our final grade. Today, I missed our first test in the class because I was not prepared, at all. It's worth 15% of our final grade, so I will obviously receive a zero. It's a writing test but I felt I didn't know enough of the material do it and I didn't want to go and write down nonsense. I'm considering the following:</p>
<p>Continue with the class. With this option, I would have to do well on everything else hereon. Our next assignment (a research paper) in the class is worth 30% of our final grade and this one I can do. The final exam is worth 35% and I will try hard to prepare for it. If I choose this option of continuing, I'm sure the Prof would wonder why I didn't do the test. It's not a very big class, so having to face him in every class would be awkward. But my main concern with continuing is ending up with a poor grade and that's why I'm thinking maybe I should just...</p>
<p>Drop the class. Since we're halfway through the semester now, if I drop it I will receive a "W" (withdrawal) on my transcript. I'm worried about this and how it would look. I've never received a "W" before and I hope to go to grad school someday, so I'm wondering if this would make my transcript look bad. I was also worried if this would have any effect in me being able to get student loans for next school term. I've spoken to the financial aid office at my school and was told it wouldn't. But if I drop a class again in the future ...in the middle the semester, then it would. You're only allowed to do it once. So I know I've to be careful to make sure it doesn't happen again.</p>
<p>If you were in my position, which would you go with? I regret taking the class now and should've listened to my intuition and dropped it before the drop deadline last month, but now I'm stuck. Basically, I'm worried about continuing with the class and doing poorly or dropping it and receiving a "w" on my transcript.</p>
<p>Better to get a W than to tank your GPA by getting a D, especially for a class you don’t care about.</p>
<p>^Agreed. A W is better than a D in this case. Though if you get a WF (withdraw failing)…I don’t know how that looks compared to a D, or if you can even get that on your transcript.</p>
<p>Also, don’t skip a test even if you know you’re going to fail. A 30 percent is a lot better than a zero.</p>
<p>Why is everyone a quitter now? I went to college in the late 80’s. Courses in my major felt easy because I loved the subject. Courses to meet the liberal arts requirements felt more difficult. I didn’t always do great. Even got a couple C’s, but I have to admit I did learn something in those classes too. We had the first week of classes to add/drop, and after that you put on your big kid panties and worked hard and got whatever grade you got. Now, everyone is so afraid of anything less than an A that everyone just quits/withdraws. Stick with it. You might learn something you didn’t know about yourself, like that you do know how to take notes and really have to study to learn something. I think W’s look worse than C’s or D’s because W’s just scream “I can’t stick with anything that is hard or worries me!” and “I am a quitter when the going gets tough and I don’t get my way!” A low grade just says, “Well, it wasn’t pretty, and I guess it’s not my strong point, but I got through it!”
Good luck.</p>
<p>I would take the W. One or two Ws in a college career will not matter. Many folks have entered T14 law schools and top grad schools with a W on their transcript. The LSAC does not include non-punitive Ws in their GPA calculations. Most colleges allow you to make the Dean’s List with a W during the semester so long as you complete a specific number of credit hours. Multiple Ws, however, can become an issue and would likely need an explanation for graduate school.
So long as you complete and earn 12 credit hours for the semester, you remain a full time student and your financial aid should be fine.
I would suggest double checking with your advisor.
Good Luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, everyone. Most of you are saying the “W”'s better. I still don’t know what to do. My grade weren’t too good in 2nd year, but were much better last semester and I’m trying to make sure that continues and I don’t do anything that will jeopardize my gpa or ruin my transcript now. I’m in my 3rd year now (3b) and I know grad schools mainly focus on the last two years, so my grades do matter hereon. Also, I changed schools and majors twice before settling on my current one and I know this’ll also show on my transcripts. So, getting a W probably wouldn’t look too good and would make it seem like I don’t know what I’m doing or like I quit too easily, similar to what Teachandmom is saying. Me appearing like a quitter’s another reasons I’m having a hard time deciding. I’ve missed the test on Friday, so I’ve lost 15%. It’s not that the class is hard; it’s a course I typically do well in. I just felt like I wasn’t equipped with enough material to do it and I know if I had gone I wouldn’t have been able to and would’ve ended up writing junk just to fill up the space (which I didn’t want to end up doing). We weren’t given any guidelines at all for test review or a review of any sort. Idk how I will face the Prof now, knowing I missed his test. I’ve the class tomorrow morning, so idk if I should continue with it and go or not.</p>
<p>Next semester, there would be a class very similar to this one but it would be taught by another Prof (with a different teaching style), so the option’s still there for me to take that one if I drop this one and take the W. Given my academic history, I’m just trying to make the best possible choice.</p>
<p>Take the W CashewNuts!!! It is far far better than receiving a D on your transcript and that grade will take a significant hit on your GPA even if you have A’s in the rest of your classes. Having one W won’t kill you especially if it is in a non major associated class. Just make sure you do not withdraw from any other classes during undergraduate.</p>
<p>A D will have a greater detrimental effect on grad school admissions then a single W. Before you do decide to withdraw, make sure that you are still able to because there is a point in the semester where you cannot withdraw from a class anymore. Make sure you are not failing because as another user stated before they have WF(Withdrawn while Failing) that will look much worse than a W since they knew we were failing. As make sure after dropping the class you still have enough credits to be a full time student and to receive financial aid/scholarship.</p>
<p>On a side note, you should have gone to the Test and at least wrote something down to get credit. Any amount of points is better than a 0.</p>
<p>Did you study before the test? You didn’t even know what would be asked of you, yet you decided not to even show up. It sounds like from the start you haven’t been interested, haven’t given the course your attention, and just want out. Don’t forget that every course you withdraw from and have to retake costs money and time. Will repeating the class delay your graduation? There’s a lot to think about beyond grades, actually…good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>^You’re making assumptions. If I wasn’t interested I wouldn’t have bothered doing the first assignment. And if I just want out, I wouldn’t be worrying myself about what the right thing to do is and wouldn’t have bothered making a thread about it here and would’ve simply dropped it. This’s not a course I need to graduate. I’ve actually completed the classes I need for my major lasts semester, this’s just an elective. I didn’t say I wanted to “repeat” the exact same class, I said a similar class will be offered next semester, with a different Prof (and a different topic line) and I can take that if I want. Whether I do repeat the same class or take the similar one, it won’t delay my graduation.</p>
<p>One W won’t kill you, just don’t do it again. I was in kinda the same situation this past semester. And I’m definitely not one to quit. As you said, if we wanted to quit, we would’ve dropped it when the drop deadline hadn’t passed. Only I took a class that was relevant to my major but I took a higher level than necessary, wanting to challenge myself and all that jazz.(big mistake, really should’ve taken 101) Studied every day for that course and did everything I possibly could(got those free tutors, went to the campus learning center, found a study buddy…etc.) but still was failing. Tutor and friends and advisors advised me to drop before the deadline but I was too proud of not giving up so I stayed vowing to improve. Well, still was bottom 5%. ended up having to withdraw and prolly the best decision I ever made. It freed up so much extra time to concentrate on my other classes!</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you didn’t study then that’s your own fault and you might be able to pull your grades up if you hanker down and study.</p>
<p>@Teachandmom: I, too, am sure that the withdrawal rate has increased more than a thousandfold since the beginning of the 90s. Everyone then was entirely concerned with effort, just as everyone now is only concerned with an A average. It seems we knocked down our standards along with the Iron Curtain.</p>
<p>Neorobie, this was also a higher level class. I ended up sticking with the class :), had my final exam 3 days ago; it went okay. I ended up with a B+ on my big research paper. I don’t think I’ll get a D in the class like I’ve thought all along, lol, but I’m eager to see my grade. I’m glad I stuck with the class now.</p>
<p>i think they have raised the standards of withdrawing, from my transfer instituition, you can withdraw with a w at will, until the withdraw deadline, you dont need permission from anyone. some instituition made it harder to withdraw from classes, because of financial aid, “serious and compelling” reason to withdraw.</p>
<p>God, I can’t imagine missing a test. I’ve always willingly shown up for tests I knew I was going to fail just because the 50% or so would be much kinder to my overall grade than a 0% would…</p>