<p>Im a senior in high school, taking a CC course, which is transferable and counts toward the amcas GPA. </p>
<p>Problem is Im gonna get a B in this 6 unit physics course, which means it's gonna bring down my gpa a lot even before I go to Cal and take more science classes. </p>
<p>So should I withdraw, as I've already withdrew from a previous physics course at the Community college i go to? </p>
<p>I'll have two 'W's' before i even go to college...would it look bad or not?</p>
<p>Wait to see if anybody has other advice, because I'm not familiar with how big a deal a W is, but, in the interest of giving you something relatively quickly, I'd advocate sticking it out, because a B is not by any means a bad grade.</p>
<p>Now, a W would not show up in your GPA, and doing that at a CC might... well, I just don't know. But I'd tentatively say to stick it out because a B is fine, and I'm not sure how people view W's.</p>
<p>i dont know...the only reason im debating is that it's a freakin 6 unit course...as opposed ot 4 or 5...and my BCPM gpa is already like 3.8 or something...or is it? it's 6 x 3.0 right? I've calculated everything, and the max i can get is a 3.96 if I get Straight A's in berkleey, which is not at all practical. </p>
<p>Ok, I do know that anything above 3.8 in berkeley is as good as 4.0 elsewhere...but what about the Withdrawals.....that's what it all comes down to....2 W's...and I promise not to have any in the future :p. </p>
<p>So what do u think guys...considering Im still a high school senior, would they penalize me for having two W's in one year? </p>
<p>thx for ur post bdmike</p>
<p>W's are usually looked down upon. However - given your age and that it is at a CC, I don't feel that bad about it. If you do withdraw, I would put physics off until later in your college career. I'm not particularly concerned about your GPA, even with the B. </p>
<p>Generally a W is better than a C or below, but since it is a B, I think I'm with BDM here, and think you should stick it out.</p>
<p>i know GPA's not the only they look at, but how different or bad is a 3.8 from a 3.9 or even 4.0?</p>
<p>Do you have the option of re-taking physics in college? If you do, I'd stick with the B and re-do it in college if you can/are that worried about it. I can't imagine med school admissions being upset that you got a B in college level physics while you were in high school, that doesn't make any sense to me. But then again, admissions in general doesn't make much sense to me, so who knows</p>
<p>Apparently I cannot retake it at Cal for a grade, according to the advisors there. Well I know admissions will definitely see that, yea, this kid took the college level course while still in high school...but what if i do poorly in classes at berkeley...and end up hurting my GPA...so that I dont even meet cutoffs for secondary interviews..? Or how do they admissions decide to give secondary interviews....do they review the entire app and transcripts before giving it out?</p>
<p>1.)
(a) You send in a primary. There are no restrictions.</p>
<p>(b) They send you a secondary, which is paperwork. It's not an interview. This typically is screened by UC schools (UCSF, UCI, UCD, etc.) and NOT screened by private schools - meaning that all applicants to schools like that get a secondary, no matter what. Screening is officially done based off of the entire transcript, but the reality is that so many unqualified applicants apply that some will simply be rejected on numbers alone. My guess is that this cutoff is probably at a 3.3 GPA or lower for UC schools, but that's speculation on my part.</p>
<p>(c) Then they ask you for interviews. This step is screened, although I know of one program (Vanderbilt) that screens secondaries but then interviews all secondary candidates.</p>
<p>2.) While a tenth of a point on a GPA scale is quite large, one B is not going to bring you down by a tenth of a point. If you do poorly at Cal, then the B will bring you down even less.</p>
<p>Certain state universities will grant interviews to all applicants who are residents of that state or have significant ties to that state (ie attended a college or university in that state). Obviously the UC system is different given the population and competition.</p>
<p>As for a 3.8 vs a 3.9 - it's really not that big of deal. The average GPA for a matriculant nationwide is 3.63 (<a href="http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/mcatgpabymaj1.htm)%5B/url%5D">http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2005/mcatgpabymaj1.htm)</a>, so nearly half the people in medical school will have a GPA lower than that (like me).</p>
<p>Thanx for the input...at least I can be glad that i didn't get this B in Berkeley and will not affect my univ gpa...</p>