<p>In other words, how bad does it look to have a withdrawal from a course on a transcript? It seems convenient to attribute the cause as resulting from scheduling conflicts, but obviously grad schools or employers are not that stupid. I'm trying to see whether I want to withdraw from a class, as I think I might just fail at the end of the semester.</p>
<p>A 'W' is most certainly better than an F.</p>
<p>I think I'm more along the path of getting a C/D.... which is really, really worrying.</p>
<p>tenniscraze</p>
<p>If you get, like, one or two "W's" no one is going to kill you or something. Especially, if you try to take the course(s) over later on down the line. </p>
<p>Just do not let this with the "W" become a pattern, except if you have no choice (like, if you got a serious illness).</p>
<p>I know someone who withdrew from ALL of her classes one quarter and she STILL got a Rhodes Scholarship.</p>
<p>It's all CONTEXTUAL</p>
<p>If you have many withdrawn courses but an otherwise exemplary academic record, it shows that you're a risk-taker. And who cares about your withdrawn courses when you've achieved exemplary performance in your other classes? (enough to PROVE that you have INTELLIGENCE, KNOWLEDGE, and WORK ETHIC). </p>
<p>Hell, if you took a graduate level course freshman year and withdrew from it, it might be a very beneficial experience (you'd be exposed to how things "feel like" later on so that you'd be more emotionally prepared for it). </p>
<p>If you have many withdrawn courses and your academic record is extremely spotty, well, your chances weren't all that high in the first place.</p>
<p>That's not to say that withdrawals are harmless - they can be harmful in the case that they bring up questions that otherwise wouldn't be asked.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you have many withdrawn courses but an otherwise exemplary academic record, it shows that you're a risk-taker. And who cares about your withdrawn courses when you've achieved exemplary performance in your other classes? (enough to PROVE that you have INTELLIGENCE, KNOWLEDGE, and WORK ETHIC).</p>
<p>Hell, if you took a graduate level course freshman year and withdrew from it, it might be a very beneficial experience (you'd be exposed to how things "feel like" later on so that you'd be more emotionally prepared for it).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I strongly disagree; Ws, especially in these cases, show that you are not able to gauge your own abilities and that you have a habit of taking on more work than you can handle. I would say that is a disadvantage taken in context.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I strongly disagree; Ws, especially in these cases, show that you are not able to gauge your own abilities and that you have a habit of taking on more work than you can handle. I would say that is a disadvantage taken in context.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not in all cases. Some very intelligent people always try for slightly more than they can handle. Sometimes unexpected things happen, which force those students to withdraw from a course. No harm done in that (provided that the course wasn't instrumental).</p>
<p>What matters is that one knows how to deal with the times when one realizes that one has inaccurately gauged one's own abilities (it is oftentimes impossible to accurately gauge one's own abilities for all instances, especially when it comes to novel instances). It's a very common thing. And withdrawing from a course is a way to adapt to that - since there really are no penalties in withdrawal - other than the psychological ones.</p>
<p>The question is - will adcoms take this as such? I'm not sure - this IS highly context dependent (on who else the adcoms have dealt with)</p>
<p>I know a very intelligent Davidson's Scholar who did pass/no pass on a graduate level philosophy logic class. His GPA for it turned out to be the lowest he'd ever get in undergrad, so he switched to P/NP for it (P/NP isn't the same as withdrawing, but P/NP usually doesn't look that good either). It's very unlikely that it will hurt him, considering the scope of his other accomplishments.</p>
<p>It depends on the TYPE of course. If it's an extremely important one that's pre-requisite to others, it may look worse than a course that a person took for an additional challenge (and most people are most motivated when they take slightly more than they can handle). If you decided to oh, take an additional course in string theory just for the heck of it, and had to withdraw from it, oh, all things equal, I'd trust the person who took the additional course over the person who didn't, even if the person who took the additional course withdrew from it, PROVIDED that the person's grades in his other courses don't suffer from it (he could simply delegate his string theory course to last priority after he finishes with his other courses)</p>
<p>==
If you're unsure about your workload (and really, if you are taking a bunch of high level classes, you can't be that sure about it - workload can vary quite a lot as according to instructor), the safest thing for you to do is to just start out with your workload and then to see how it goes. If it goes well, then the decision was clearly worth it. If it starts getting bumpy, then you can drop out without consequence (other than the little "W" and its psychological impact). At least in that case, you didn't prevent yourself from fulfilling your full potential.</p>
<p>I took a quantum mechanics course this semester for the extra challenge (not required being a Mechanical Engineering major) and about half-way through, it was clear I couldn't handle the extra 25-30 hours a week the course demanded of me while taking four upper-division engineering and a Nuclear Physics course. Instead of withdrawing and getting the W, I was able to switch the course from credit to no-credit so I can audit the class and fill in "mathematical holes" not have taken Electro-magnetism and classical/theoretical mechanics. I'm not sure exactly what effect this has in graduate school evaluations because I do intend to take the course again for credit next year completing a physics minor. Does any one have any idea?</p>
<p>i don't think it can possibly hurt that much. many people end up graduating with 1 or 2 "W"s on their transcript. Just make sure not to do that too much. And if the class has nothing to do with your major, and you can't handle it, then you should probably just drop it, and I doubt it will matter much. Employers probably won't care, and if you don't go to grad school in that subject, they probably won't either. A "W" is better than lowering your gpa, and you'll have time to concentrate on your other classes.</p>
<p>I have one W on my transcript, from Organic Chemistry my sophomore year, when I was getting a D in the class and had no idea what I was doing. So I dropped it, and took the class again this summer, with more experience with chemistry classes and more confidence (and a different professor). I got an A. </p>
<p>Defintely a time when getting a W on my transcript was the best option.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure most medical schools automatically default a "W" to a "F" when evaluating transcripts -my pre-med advisor advocates taking a C over a W anytime.</p>