<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I am thinking of dropping a really hard class, but I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. I am a freshman, so if I drop this class, I will only have 3 credit units for the first semester.</p>
<p>I eventually want to go to a graduate school, so will they look at this in a negative way? I'm also considering Pass/Fail, but this class is required for some graduate programs. Will they not accept pass/fail at all?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Welcome to college!</p>
<p>First - don't worry about a drop your first semester in terms of grad school. It just won't matter.</p>
<p>Second - if this is a class in your major or part of a sequence check in with an advisor before you do anything. P/F has some restrictions as to what such classes can be used for.</p>
<p>Third - get through freshman year before you even BEGIN to think about grad school. </p>
<p>Finally, what grad programs are you considering? It seems a little odd to be locked in as a freshman.</p>
<p>thanks William</p>
<p>I'm more concerned about the fact that I'll only have 3 credit units. This is very low, and I'm not sure how it'll be viewed.</p>
<p>Does having such an easy and light courseload in the first semester matter much? Will it weaken the strength of my transcript overall?</p>
<p>It won't be "viewed" at all. No one will care that you had a slip up your first semester. Really. </p>
<p>When Fall 2010 rolls around and you're getting your grad school apps lined up, you'll find that schools are interested in:</p>
<p>Overall GPA,
Last 2 year's GPA
GPA in major</p>
<p>They'll care about upper level courses, and research you've done, your professor's LoRs and your statement of purpose. </p>
<p>Will they see on your transcript that you must have dropped a class? Sure. If they bother to look beyond the official GPA and your upper level courses.</p>
<p>Grad admissions are not at all like undergrad with all that "most rigorous curriculum" and "top 10% of class" garbage. Check out the first couple pages of this thread:</p>
<p>and then forget about grad school for a couple years and have some fun.</p>
<p>lol William, is that the same for medical schools? I might end up applying to some med schools as well. I'm still considering whether I want to be pre-med or not. and as long as I drop the course by the deadline (which is like tomorrow, i believe), it won't even show up on the transcript.</p>
<p>I just want to know if having only 3 credit units for the first semester will hurt me at all (for medical school applications), especially because other premed students probably have more courses</p>
<p>just take 5 classes next semester</p>
<p>Med school, like law school, is mainly a numbers game - GPA + MCAT, then personal statement. The volume is so high I would be surprised if med. school adcoms even look at transcripts (unless there is something suspicious). </p>
<p>Check out thee guys for the process:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.aamc.org/start.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.aamc.org/start.htm</a></p>
<p>As crashinhwaves says, just take 5 clases sometime.</p>
<p>Drop it or go Pass/fail. I'm still overachieving to make up for a bad fall freshmen year.</p>