<p>Here's the scenario:</p>
<ul>
<li>freshman at UW Madison</li>
<li>taking Calc II, which is a required pre-req for my intended major (mech engr)</li>
<li>tested out of Calc I (also a prereq) so i dont have to take that.</li>
<li>at 17 credits right now, taking 5 classes</li>
<li>calc II is 5 credits, so if i drop it i would be taking 12 credits, which is the minimum at my school; however, i have 24 credits coming in from APs. </li>
</ul>
<p>I'm considering dropping it because I currently have a C and i want a good GPA because I am considering transferring to a UC maybe, and i dont want this calc grade to bring me down. If i drop it i would probably take it next semester, but i would have a W on my transcript. I know this type of question gets brought up a lot, but in my case, what would suggest i do?? Would this hurt my chances at transferring and beyond?</p>
<p>heres my advice</p>
<p>if you want a good GPA then your only option is to drop Calc II. One W wont hurt you.</p>
<p>and that was my advice</p>
<p>It’s the age old argument of “One W won’t hurt you.”</p>
<p>As said many times before, when admission officers are reviewing applicants, they take every factor into account.</p>
<p>Applicant A has a 4.0 with no W’s. Applicant B has a 4.0 with one W. </p>
<p>Now if you were part of admissions and you were reviewing these two individuals, which would you pick? This is assuming of course both A and B are well matched apart from the W factor. </p>
<p>If you really can’t bust your ass and pull a B in calc then don’t risk it. But keep in mind that an applicant with W < An applicant without W.</p>
<p>The real comparison is</p>
<p>Applicant 1 - 4.0 and no Ws
Applicant 2 - 4.0 and 1 W
Applicant 3 - 3.8 or 3.9 (because of the B or C in Calc II)</p>
<p>I think Applicant 2 is in a slightly better position than Applicant 3 – assuming that it is a single W in the record.</p>
<p>Also, is it realistic that you will have a 4.0 throughout your college career up to the point of transfer? Just making sure that you aren’t using a “W” when you maybe should just plow ahead and get the class done. A perfect 4.0 is a worthy goal but there are many schools/majors where this is near impossible even for the best of students because of the sheer rigor and competitiveness of the particular college setting. Not to mention the occasional professor who is loathe to hand out an A to students.</p>
<p>Also consider it is going to be very tough to transfer to the UCs for the next few years. The UCs are cutting back the number of freshman admits and only raising the transfer admits by 250. This is puny, because the kids who are being squeezed out of the UCs are heading to CCs with the expressed plan of then trying to transfer “back” into their Plan A of the UCs. </p>
<p>Put another way, as those UCs are cutting something like 2500 frosh admits, they are raising the transfer admits only by 250. And the UCs are still favoring California Community College transfers over OOS transfers. So I recommend that you definitely have several “Plan Bs” in place (no pun intended! ha!).</p>
<p>thanks for ur input</p>
<p>but yea the comparison is not really
4.0 with W vs 4.0 w/o W
it would be more like what annikasorrensen is saying, but i still get what u mean brieanlee</p>
<p>and yeah, i am also looking for a plan B as i realize UCs and OOS are not always a perfect match</p>
<p>Are you sure you can still drop and get a DR? The UW only allows you to drop up until week 9 I THINK. If you’re past mid-terms you probably can’t drop. (My brother went there for two years and ended up transferring as well, its a well respected school so that helps)</p>
<p>EDIT: Never mind, read the topic and saw you said you have until Friday.</p>
<p>First semester freshman year I dropped a class. I’m glad I did, and I am happily attending my first choice transfer school.</p>
<p>I’ve generally heard that a few Ws aren’t a big deal. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the off chance that some transfer school is going to be weighing two similar candidates and the decision comes down to counting the number of Ws. Sure, it could happen, but unlikely to get that nitpicky.</p>
<p>college_ruled, the possibility of that happening sounds very promising</p>
<p>ok so, looking into to the future, would ONE W hurt my chances if i wish to apply to grad school later on???</p>
<p>My adviser at my old school said that one or two dropped classes over four years wouldn’t raise any red flags.</p>