I want to petition to delete a W from my transcript for the current term (summer 2017)
My reason is that it was due to a “university error”.
I dropped and re-enrolled into my history class around May 22. But i had no access to the school site or the course material (despite emailing the professor, she wouldn’t give me any of the coursework) for a week (until May 31). This made me fall way too behind so i decided to Withdrawal completely. I have email exchanges to prove my point (between IT, professor, and registrar office)
Is this a valid reason?
also when writing my personal statement, should i keep it short and sweet. I’ve been looking online at how Penn examples, but idk. I’ve written one up so far, but it sounds like i’m trying to play the victim. Should i just keep it short and to the point? would they appreciate that more?
@CheddarcheeseMN I did withdraw, but I re-enrolled. It was an accident when i was messing around with my school schedule. I was suppose to stick around, but this caused me to be out of the system for a whole week… despite getting “officially” REenrolled by the registrar office.
@CheddarcheeseMN No, i think i should be wiped out. Honestly, i don’t see how I should take the fall if I didn’t have access to my school work, or the fact that even though i reached out my professor she didn’t give it to me. How else was I suppose to do the school work.
@CheddarcheeseMN Also, i think a coma would be a valid reason to get a W deleted. You didn’t withdraw because you didn’t have the capability. You’re W because you had something come along that made you “incapable” of doing your best in your coursework
I see your point @skitskialta . I operate from this philosophy: If you don’t try, the answer is already No and in your situation the W will stay. If you raise the issue, you give yourself a shot at removing the W. You may want to have an answer already prepared when they ask you, “Why didn’t you drop the class sooner if you were having so much trouble getting in touch with the professor?”
About reaching out to the professor? If you only emailed, I can see why there was no response. Makng an appointment during her office hours would have a chance to explain what happened and why you needed the information. Did you contact classmates who may have given you the information you needed.
Now you were out only a week which doesn’t seem like a big problem. You already had the syllabus and you probably could have gotten access to class materials with the help of the librarian if necessary.
At the end of the term, a W seems generous because most of the tests and assignment would already been completed. In my experience, faculty are usually helpful even at the end when they are very busy. If faculty doesn’t respond at the end of the term, your performance and attendance before the injury may already been trending in a particular direction.
Carefully follow the school’s procedure regarding petitioning to delete the W. Don’t write a novel, keep it short and to the point. If they delete, great. If they don’t, move on, because, except you, no one will probably ever care if there is one W on your transcript. Good luck.
@zannah she did respond, but she didn’t give me any of the coursework (i only asked for a homework template) which wasn’t even much. She just said i was withdrawn, and that was that. I even talked to her in class on multiple occasions and nothing.
furthermore, all of the coursework was on this school portal. There were no textbook, just excerpts from articles that she was making us read, and homework templates that we had to download from the school portal to hand into her the next day.
The withdrawal was done mid semester so it’s been about 4-6 weeks now. My biggest issue was that i could’ve done super well in the class, but this lack of access to the school portal, her class structure, and not getting any information from the school until week out is bs . Note: this was a summer class, it’s excellerated. Not having any coursework/reading for a week is a lot/too much to make up
My thinking is: You withdrew from the class When you re-registered IMO you did not do enough to insure that you received the class materials. If an email to the prof. didn’t work you could have done things like go to his/her office hours, contact the secretary of the department, work with the Registrar to regain access to the materials faster. Since you dropped and then re-added the course I think you should have been more proactive in terms of getting the materials you need.
But you certainly have every right to submit a petition and make a case to get the W taken off your transcript. I guess there is nothing to lose. Assuming you go forward, I’d advise that you keep it short to the point.
Again, I don’t think one W is a big problem on a transcript. My S withdrew from one class (he got mono and couldn’t keep up with all his courses) and got into a top grad school – he did not bother to explain the W on his grad school applications.
@happy1 i guess i should be a little more transparent. My transcript does not look good (at all), and i’m trying my best to change that (although i guess a counterargument could arise, why bother with a dying transcript? idk)
But thanks for input though.
i’ll try noting that in my personal statement. I did contact all three (IT, professor, and registrar office) hopefully they will understand
“she did respond, but she didn’t give me any of the coursework (i only asked for a homework template) which wasn’t even much. She just said i was withdrawn, and that was that. I even talked to her in class on multiple occasions and nothing.”
So you still went to class and saw the teacher in person and explained to him/her that your withdrawal was an accident? YET the teacher refused to acknowledge it was an accident and would not send you materials? Wow.
I mean a W on your transcript for a summer class probably doesn’t look too glaring to constituents in the future (it looks more likely you dropped because of other plans/internships rather than ‘struggling with the coursework’ - which is the case during the actual school year)
Did you attend class, speak to the professor after class, show him/her your re-enrollment slip, and he/she still refused to give you access to the class materials? That sounds odd. Is something else you are being less than transparent about?