<p>I am a pure mathematics major intending on going to graduate school. I want to study algebraic geometry. There are many applications computational algebraic biology, and one of them is biology. I have taken a few biology courses just to get some background, including some graduate computational biology courses.</p>
<p>I am currently enrolled in an undergraduate mathematical bio class where the only pre-req was 1 year of single variable calc and cell/molec. bio. The class is moving extremely slow, the professor stinks, the math is very uninteresting and non-challenging. Essentially, I feel like I am wasting my time-- time better spent researching. It is too late to drop the course. How bad is a withdraw on a transcript?</p>
<p>First, I would highly discourage asking questions that should be asked of academic advisors on campus. That is what they get paid to do.</p>
<p>That being said, NO, stick it out. If the class is slow that means you’re doing well, right? Not everything in life is exciting. Just get the requirement done and over with and move on. </p>
<p>While a W is better than an F and does not affect your GPA, it still looks iffy, especially if you have a bunch.</p>
<p>I had a W on my transcript and I got into plenty of grad schools. As long as it’s not part of a pattern, I think you should be fine. I say go ahead and spend your time on something you enjoy. Don’t let fear of rejection change how you live your life.</p>
<p>And while that may be fine and dandy,and yes, 1 W will not kill you, I think there is a lesson here. When you are 45, you hate your life and your job, there won’t be a “get out of jail free” card. You will probably have a family to feed. So learn now that sometimes things suck, but that’s the way it is. Yes, life is short and should be fun, but life is also slow and boring. </p>
<p>What, if graduate school sucks, you gonna drop out of that too? Besides, I don’t know what year you are, but you might need it in the future.</p>
<p>Personally, if I were doing well, I’d just stick it out, boring or not. With the sheer number of classes you have to take in undergrad, it’s pretty much inevitable that you’ll have to suffer through boring classes at some time or other. So I wouldn’t withdraw from a class simply because I felt it was boring.</p>
<p>That’s just me though. If you’re working on some really exciting research, and this class is taking a significant amount of time away from your research, then in terms of cost/benefit it might be warranted to withdraw from the class. A single ‘W’ won’t hurt you, but then again you don’t want to have many 'W’s on your transcript, so if you don’t strictly need to drop this course, it might not be worth it to incur a ‘W’ here.</p>
<p>Anyway, hope that ramble was at least somewhat helpful. :)</p>