Hi, I am currently studying for transferring into UC’s (UCLA or Haas) from a community college in CA. I am a Business major, and have 3.96 GPA. I already have 1 W from my accounting class from last semester, which I am planning to retake and get an A. But my english 102 class that I am taking right now doesn’t seem like I can get an A from the course 
People might say just one B/C will not hurt my GPA that much, but I really don’t want to risk anything since I have worked so hard to transfer to Haas…(plus I got a B from my Business class, which is pretty disappointing…)
So, my question is… will it worth to get 2 W’s and retake the class in order to maintain my GPA? or just get a B and move on…
Also, if I have 2 w’s, will private universities think of it worse than they do at UC’s?
Thank you for reading 
To my knowledge, UC’s do not care at all about W’s. I don’t think this is any different with Haas. I’d take the W.
Nothing wrong with a few Ws (I had 7). I would take a W over a B any day. With Haas you might not want too many (or it might not matter at all, which I suspect is the case) but I think it’s certainly better than a hit to your GPA.
I don’t know, to tell you the truth. Haas is super picky. Haas does not care about classes that are not part of their major pre-reqs, although English is a biggie because they like to see people who can write and communicate. I would go with the B (Ideally a B+). It will not affect your GPA that much and dropping English is simply not going to look good to Haas, no getting around it.
And then you have a W in accounting, which IS a major course.
@lindyk8 The only thing is, you don’t really hear about people with 3.8s getting into Haas very often–I’m not very good at math though so I don’t know how much a B would drop his/her GPA–whereas the UCs claim that Ws don’t matter at all, although it’s possible Haas could be different. I just think that GPA is easily the most important factor, so I would do anything to preserve that.
Your post confuses me; are you transferring this fall or applying next year? If you’re already accepted, don’t drop the classes. If you are applying next year, definitely drop the classes.
@music1990 where are you coming up with 3.8s? OP currently has a 3.96 and I believe he still has a year to go. With all upcoming As (30 units), and the previous B, and a B+, the GPA is 3.92. The avg admitted transfer GPA for Haas was 3.84 in 2014. I hear what you’re saying, just not sure dropping English and accounting both will look good, unless there’s a good explanation.
Another thing. Not sure if OP is international, but one of the huge concerns at all top tier (incl Ivies) is an international being really fluent in English. Not sure they would interpret a W as a B+. Again, I just don’t know.
From workshops that Ive been to, Haas people have told me that they do not care about W’s. What they do care about are trends. So if you have a trend of getting 1 or 2 W’s a semester in order to maintain a high GPA then they will be able to tell. The whole point of a high GPA is to prove that you can handle certain classes and course loads, but if you are struggling at community college then that will definitely be a red flag.
Still I would take a W over a B, especially since you already have a B in business which is totally not kosher.
Thank you SO much for all of your comments & opinions! After reading through every one of them, I am thinking more about dropping the class… @music1990 , @lindyk8 , @MikeSauce , @lbwaterpoloman , @goldencub
To give you more background of myself, I am an Asian guy and my status is AB-540 student (used to be an international but DACA allowed me to have SSN, work, fee waiver and scholarship, etc). And I will apply for Fall 2016. I have never struggled this bad (was a full time student for past years) but since my father got laid off from his job last year around November, I had to drop my accounting class, and worked so much to financially support my family since my mom was in a medical condition, and my sister couldn’t work because of her status. so there is a CLEAR pattern on my transcript that shows where I began to struggle (Fall 2014 & Spring 2015). If I write about these personal issues on the complementary essay, will that mitigate the damage a little bit? again, many thanks everyone!
As a guy who had over 15 W’s and still got into UCLA, I wouldn’t stress the W. Your retake and getting an A will outweigh the remote possibility they cared about the W in the first place. Retake, and get the A.
Well, my last comment on it. According to Ms Sun dropping a Haas pre-req is bad, but I wish you the best of luck. Having a strong explanation will certainly help. You don’t have a great choice either way.
Scroll a bit down:
http://askmssun.livejournal.com/212015.html
Lindy is probably right on this one, I’m just suggesting you should weigh what they will consider more concerning, a W that was retaken as an A, or receiving a B/C in a class they expect you to get an A in. I would take the A all day, as W’s happen to the best of us, and they know that.
If you had a pattern of W’s I might go with the B/C, but you don’t.
Lindy, I checked out the link and only see where it says retaking after a D/F would be a problem, but not after a W. Did I miss something there?
@fullload, you have to scroll down. It’s in the comments. Generally, I totally agree with fulload on the W situation. I’m just not sure about Haas.
Maybe OP should call Haas for advice??? They’re very accommodating…
Got it. Interesting. I guess the OP can go either way on this one, I’m still in the take the W camp I think, but that’s my take. Lindy has a better track record for being right than I do, so.
I just called the Haas admissions, and the lady told me to take the B since they will look at my application holistically. She also advised me to give explanation when I am applying, so that they will see why I got a B in that class. I guess I have to man up and get a B in the class lol… but do you guys agree? like what if she is just trying to prevent me from abusing the system (taking unnecessary W’s to achieve higher GPA)? 
I think you got a lot of good advice in here already, I doubt it will change much by asking the same question again.
I would go with what haas admissions told you. Why second guess them?
You got different points of views from internet strangers, and guidance from the admissions at Haas. Only you can make the final decision, so you gotta put on your big boy/girl pants, and make a decision, and live with the consequences.
@lindyk8 ive actually seen ms.suns website before, who is she tho?? lol