<p>Hi, people
I'm really frustrated and hoping some of you can post the best solution. Here is my situation..</p>
<p>I'm an international undergraduate student attending UW-Madison and this is my fourth semester. I maintained 3.87gpa so far but I'm doing pretty bad this semester so maybe I won't get any better than having two BCs and two Cs(this is the best grade that I can expect for now) from four heavyload courses. </p>
<p>I know the reason is not important but the consequence is, I wasn't able to put my attention on each course equally and eventually did very poor on almost every exams. </p>
<p>So I'm trying to make a hard decision that I've never expected that I would ever have, which is withdrawal. As my university states, "Withdrawal means dropping all your classes and leaving school for the semester." We can do this no later than 12th week from the beginning of the class. Making yourself sure what the withdrawal means in my university is important because some schools take that as a different meaning.</p>
<p>Anyway, if I do this I will face multiple problems.
1) First thing is the record that will appear on my transcript. I'm not sure how bad "withdrawal" is and how it would affect admission decision if I apply to competitive graduate school(let's say it's MIT). Do you think it would be better to keep studying whatever the final gades are?</p>
<p>2)Second thing is about transfer. Actually I applied to several schools including Cornell as a transfer student and one of required courses is a computer science class which I'm taking this semester. And as some of you might know, schools care the grades of last semester. That's why cornell ask applicants to report the midterm grade. Do some of you know what is exactly going to happen if I withdraw before or after admission decision date?
Do I still have a chance to get an admission even if I withdraw the classes?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for reading my long writing and I'll appreciate if you can give me some comments or suggestion on this issue.</p>
<p>I am a UW alum and has been on the same shoe not once but twice in my undergrad. I met another CCer also in a similar situation. </p>
<p>First, you don't and shouldn't withdraw from all your classes. Visit the professors now (if you haven't done so) and ask for an estimate of how your final grade may be. You should consider withdrawing the course(s) where you are a step away from C to D. Then put all your focus and energy into the rest. Chances are if you work with professors now and do extremely well in the finals, they will bump you up the curve. Note: This coming Friday is the last date to withdraw a class.</p>
<p>In the long haul, a bad semester like this (a couple of C's and/or BC's) won't hurt your chance in both grad school application and job hunt as long as this is not the beginning of a downward trend. You will be asked to address this during application/interview. Most places don't write you off because of one semester. Trust me, my less-than-perfect UW transcript didn't stop me from admitted to top grad schools, including two Ivies. (Translation: the fact one survives UW (especially engineering) already speaks a lot). So relax.</p>
<p>As for your transfer application, I afraid that's up to individual university. My advise is stay put and hope they won't rescind your admission because of a few bad grades. </p>
<p>One more thing. Talk to Intl Office to make sure you can stay in compliance with your student visa if you need to withdraw one or more classes. My biggest concern is you may need to leave US shortly if you withdraw all classes.</p>
<p>Good luck with your Cornell transfer app. If you do end up going there, drop me a PM. Two other badgers and I are going to spend the next 12 months in Ithaca. :)</p>
<p>Geez is anyone doing well at UW this semester?</p>
<p>Between your thread, another thread on this subforum, and me and my friends falling grades, I'm starting to wonder :p.</p>
<p>Something in the water???</p>
<p>Seriously talk to your professors. Be frank. I have a fellow grad student friend who is taking two undergrad classes this semester to erase deficiencies. She has a lot on her plate, including a NSF proposal and lots of lab work on top of classes and teaching. She ended up getting sympathy from one professor but not the other. The worst that can happen is they say no, you have to work harder for the final.</p>
<p>LOL. Let you in a little secret... the "water problem" has been happening for at least half a century ... </p>
<p>The old tale is that during first day of class, the UW professor would tell every freshman to know the two classmates sitting next to them because only one of them would get out from there (a.k.a. graduate) five years later.</p>
<p>The marketing folks called this "Exceptional Academics".</p>
<p>back to the subject: does a W on your transcript for a semester hurt your chances of grad school?</p>
<p>also, since this is my only semester at wisconsin, if it is all W's do i even have to submit this in my transcript, since i didnt finish any class work (considering that i DO withdraw..not gauranteed)</p>
<p>
[quote]
does a W on your transcript for a semester hurt your chances of grad school?
[/quote]
In my experience, no. But it is usually a red flag that deserves some explanation (I been told not to let adcom assume the worst). </p>
<p>Every grad schools that I applied to require transcripts (self-reported or official) from ALL places where I've done college-level works, US and international (which could be a pain to get transcript).</p>
<p>Honestly, the most qualified person to ask this will be Professor X... are you out there?</p>
<p>I had a W on my transcript and I doubt anyone even knows about it in my current department. It looks good if you retake the class and get a good grade in it, but I never re-took the class (it ended up not being remotely related to my major). My thought is that a W or two on your transcript won't raise an eyebrow. Many on the other hand may want to be explained in your application (i.e. got mono half way through semester or whatever).</p>
<p>then i think in my situation, a W is the best case. it is easier to explain a withdraw then it is to explain horrible grades, ya know?</p>
<p>i am withdrawing for a number of reasons and not all of them are grades, this school just isnt a fit for me, and it is showing in my work. i would go over this in my personal statement, but i just need to decide if withdrawing is in better interest for me 2 year down the road when applying for grad school then taking a sub 2.2 GPA.</p>
<p>3 cumulative finals really changes your perspective on hard!</p>
<p>All you guys saying that a W isn't that bad and you have them on your transcripts too, did you read where the OP said "Withdrawal means dropping all your classes and leaving school for the semester." That sounds pretty damn serious to me.</p>
<p>I was under the impression when someone mentioned a withdrawal, they were referring to a single dropped course, not an antire semester. Dropping an entire semester might raise a few eyebrows come admissions time. Dropping a single class is as important as a drop of water in the ocean, especially if it isn't related to your major.</p>
<p>Also, if the OP is planning on applying to MIT, there are hundreds of factors that could keep her/him out beyond a "W." Getting into that place is freakin' toughhhh!</p>
<p>lara, the official withdrawal in UW means dropping all courses (where W will be assigned to each course on transcript). I believe that's what tsiguy96 and OP have in mind. </p>
<p>After the official course drop date, one can still "withdraw" a specific course pending the dean approval. That's the "unofficial" single course withdrawal which is more common in other colleges.</p>
<p>Looking at it from the perspective of a graduate admissions program, we would surely want to see a very detailed explanation of an entire semester's worth of Ws. And yes, this would appear on an applicant's transcript. Grad schools want to see transcripts from ALL universities attended.</p>
<p>i still think its in my best interest to drop this whole semester and just move on</p>
<p>i talked to the kinesiology advisor at UT-austin, he said that as long as i do good in everything i complete, a semester of W's wont be too bad for me. its either kill my established GPA or explain why i was unable to perform to the best of my abilities this semester, it was a very hard adjustment period for me and i dont think i could have done a whole lot better given the circumstances.</p>
<p>Not to hijack this thread, but I got to school in Quebec, where most university degrees are three years instead of 4, since we do something called CEGEP beforehand. Although CEGEP is post secondary, it isn't like a JC, because nothing you do in there is transferable when you get to University in Quebec. I know that Quebec and Canadian grad scools dont want to see your CEGEP transcripts when you apply, because they know it isn't a university level transcript anyways. Do you know how American schools deal with this?</p>
<p>P.S.: My CEGEP transcripts were not grat at all. When I got to university, I caught fire big time, but if I could avoid ever showing those transcripts to an admissions board, I would be happy with that. Hahaha!</p>