<p>My D is a freshman and is struggling with a WashU course that is not part of her intended major. She is currently running a C/C+. What looks better on a transcript, a C or a W (for withdrawal)? (She came into WashU with some AP credits, so losing the credit for the course is not the major concern.)</p>
<p>how hard is the course? is it something like chemistry? and how unrelated is her major--does it have something to do with science or is it completely different</p>
<p>yea def need more info...is it a distribution requirement...is she planning on transferring or applying to grad school...if so i would go for the W over a C...if not than its up to her...she doesnt think she can pull the grade up on the final?</p>
<p>It's the Human Evolution class and It doesn't relate in any way to her major, but does help fill her natural science requirement. She is not a science kid! She is happy at WashU and doing fine in the rest of her classes. She studies hard and feels that she understands the material but says that the tests are just so difficult. She said that the two exams she has already taken account for 60% of the grade, so she is not optimistic that she can get the grade all the way up to a B. </p>
<p>As for her future plans, she's not sure yet, but I would expect that she will land up applying to some type of graduate program.</p>
<p>She's a freshman. She can "explain away" a 'C' if she applies to grad school. There is leniency for kids adapting to a new way of life, studies, etc... Furthermore, this will not be a huge drag on her final GPA. It is probably an easy calculation (which I do not feel like doing) as to the effect of one lower grade...</p>
<p>The difference between a B- (2.7 pts) and a C+ (2.3 pts.) is 0.4. The impact of this on the gpa, over time, will be minimal.</p>
<p>GRADE POINTS</p>
<p>A+/A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
D+ 1.3
D 1.0
D- .7</p>
<p>My D is in a similar situation - she is a freshman and pulling a low "C" in General Chem. She hopes to apply to dental school after she graduates. Funny, though, she has a solid "A" in the Chem lab course - go figure. Anyway, we are also wondering if she should withdraw and try again later???? She doesn't think she can bring it up to a "B" but doesn't really want to pull out either. She is getting tutoring, PLTL, goes to the help seminars and has met with the prof. etc. She is still trying VERRRY hard - just having trouble on the tests. Oh, she is also getting help for test taking stratagies, anxiety, etc. through a short session at the school. She is a Psych major/Biology minor. Any suggestions????? Thanks!</p>
<p>-worried mom-</p>
<p>She should see her advisor. This person will know how critical the 'C' is in the scope of getting into grad school.</p>
<p>My daughter is in a similar situation to the OP except I thought of having her take it pass/fail. It's a computer science class. The department sent us a postcard suggesting that people take classes even if they're not going to major in comp sci and she signed up for the class that was recommended for beginners. So she's taking it p/f, she was encouraged to take it, but it seems like she's going to fail it. The professor started some new grading system this year. Even though she has 100 on all of her labs and has been killing herself getting extra help, etc. she has to get over 85 on 8 out of 10 exams to pass the class. This seems really unfair and it almost seems like she was "set up" by the department. Someone also said that the professor is not explaining things well for beginners and is gearing the class towards the top end so that they don't get bored.</p>
<p>She doesn't want to withdraw after all this hard work but I don't think she has a choice. She can't risk an F.</p>
<p>I think my son was in the same comp sci class and he already dropped it. Since a comp sci class is required in his major, he didn't have the choice of taking the class p/f. It was such a relief to drop the class as he was spending an inordinate amount of time preparing and still not pulling very good grades.</p>
<p>I agree with NUgraduate.</p>
<p>Your tuition payments include the services of an experienced counselor. I think your DD should make use of what she's paying for, and discuss the matter with her advisor/counselor.</p>
<p>M's Mom - What's your son going to do? He still needs a computer class. I'm new at this - my daughter was in high school a few months ago and I was allowed to complain about her teachers (which I probably did once in all her years of school) but I think this is an unfair situation. I think the head of the department is the professor's wife so that's not going to be helpful. I actually got to talk to the professor for a minute during parent weekend and he emailed my daughter and said something like, "You must be very stressed to have your parent get involved".</p>
<p>My son tells me that there are two different comp sci classes that he can take to fulfill his requirement. He is probably going to take the other one next semester. Hopefully it will be taught by a different professor although he liked the guy who taught the class he was in. It just seemed that no matter how hard he tried or what he did, he still struggled.</p>
<p>I'd be pretty optimistic about things going better with another professor. Living in a university community, I've had numerous conversations with faculty whom I know well regarding how they view struggling students. When they see kids who clearly are working hard and seeking their help but still not doing very well on exams and such, they are VERY disinclined to fail these students. Most faculty will do whatever they can to assist students; they want their students to "get" what they see as so exciting about the fields they teach, and appreciate the efforts of students who come to them for guidance.</p>
<p>I would have thought that the professor would be disinclined to fail a very hard working student but this has been a very bad experience all around. She went to him several times in the first couple of weeks and he said, "Everyone's confused, you'll get it". He should have suggested she switch to a more basic class. He thinks that if he passes people who don't have the material down it will reflect badly on him.</p>
<p>My daughter was getting help from various people and she just got tutored by someone who was paid by the school to tutor her. She spent 4 hours with him on her lab and that lab got a failing grade. So it seems like she's really going to have to drop the course and I feel bad because I don't know if she'll have time to take another computer class (she's double majoring) and I think she should know something about computers.</p>
<p>One more thing I have noticed. Last year when my daughter was a freshman, her midterm grades were nearly a grade lower than her final grades. I think (maybe it was just her, but she said this was not abnormal) that professors tend to grade harder at the midterm, perhaps to spur students to work harder, and the final grade is higher. Often the final grade or project is weighted higher than some of the introductory quizzes or projects. </p>
<p>In other words, I think all your kids have a very good chance of pulling their grades up in the second half of the semester - particularly if they visit their professor during office hours and ask their help in suggesting what they might do in order to better their grade.</p>
<p>amazon and andioleary - The best thing we did when our S was in your Ds' situation was let him know we were behind him. That he should aim <em>just to pass</em> the course. Just pass. We believe that his realization that he would not disappoint US took one part of the pressure off of him. Of course, he still felt some pressure - but I think it helped a lot for him to know that we were not disappointed that he struggled.</p>
<p>Also, andio, I strongly suggest that your D visit the prof's office hours if she hasn't already. See if he can give her any suggestions or guidance. It may help. It may not. But I am of the belief that profs are human and notice when a student is trying and taking steps to succeed in the course. I believe they will give that little bump when it comes down to grade reporting time. My S also felt that his prof in one of the courses just didn't communicate things well (at least to my S), but he still visited. And got the C+ when there was a time he truly feared he might fail the course.</p>
<p>This is hard on us parents. I hate to see him struggle and I do worry that he might encounter such courses in <em>each</em> of his remaining terms. Not fun to contemplate. But he will be the stronger for having faced down these demons.</p>
<p>Well she dropped the comp sci class but now is having trouble with the first Management class. It seems like the average class grades have been really low (on the two exams) but hers have been even lower. She is currently failing that one and can't withdraw because she's a business major. Is anyone else in the management class? I think she can take it again next semester and the bad grade will be on her transcript but only the (hopefully) higher grade will go into her GPA.</p>
<p>Does Wash U grade as noted in this thread A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3. etc or is an A- treated like an A for GPA determination? Or does it depend on the school you are in at Wash U?</p>
<p>It depends on the school that you are in. I know that the engineering school doesn't use -s and +s in calculating GPA while other schools do.</p>