Withdraw or Hope for a better grade?

<p>So I’m taking an upper div sociology course, human sexuality. The class is 45% midterm 55% final. I got a 65% curved to a 69% on the midterm. I need a 90% on the final to get a B- and a 71% to get a C.</p>

<p>I got ****ing screwed, not because I didnt study but because I didnt understand what she wanted. (I’m doing fine in other classes) And maybe taking an upper div class as a freshman isnt the smartest idea in the world. The details she was looking for I didnt write on the essay. I feel like if it had been multiple choice the result would have been different. I asked her for a re-grade and it didnt help.</p>

<p>This being said I have the following choices. I’m not sure what is best.</p>

<li><p>Study my ass off and pray to get a 71% or higher on the final now that I understand what she wants, to get a C- or better. Keep in mind getting a *<strong><em>ty grade will *</em></strong> up my GPA, If I get a C or C- I will probably drop <3.0 for the quarter, 2.7ish.</p></li>
<li><p>Withdraw, take the W, which does not affect my GPA but I get a W on my record. W’s are infinitely better than D’s but too many W’s looks bad on a transcript. I would put a limit at 3 W’s. This would be my first one but I still have 3 years left in college, so who knows what can happen.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I dont plan to retake the class, so retaking if a get a D is no good. I want to avoid the professor if at all possible</p>

<p>If i W I lose a class, and roughly 700$ goes to waste. I dont want a ****ty GPA but as a freshman I feel like I still have plenty of time to get it up over 3years.</p>

<p>If I were in your situation - and I'm only a freshman so I don't have years of experience - I would withdraw. For me... it's worth $700 to not have that C and not have a tough time bringing up my GPA in future years. But again, that is only my opinion!</p>

<p>Well, since you know what she wants now you should drop it, accept the 'W', and retake it.</p>

<p>The $700 shouldn't even be an issue. There is no real quarter unit cap, so make it up by taking 5+ classes in one quarter.</p>

<p>And this is up to you. Grad schools will normally be very understanding of a few mild mistakes in your first year. The C won't look so great, but most grad programs really care about is either seeing a strong, consistent trend, or successive improvement across years.</p>

<p>bummmmmp...</p>

<p>does it cost 700 to drop a course or is it because its upper div?</p>

<p>it doenst cost anything, its just a wasted class if u drop</p>

<p>I think you should stay in the class. You got a 69% on the midterm, and you said that was because you didn't know what exactly she wanted on it. So now that you do know what she wants, I really don't think it would be hard at all to get 2% higher, a 71% and thus a C-. But I think you'll probably do much better than a 71% since you know what is expected now. Also, she curved the midterm, so she'll probably also curve the final, and she might even curve all of the final cumulative grades. That's happened to me before, I didn't have the point totals to reach a certain grade but the professor was generous at the end. I doubt you'll get less than a C+ in this class, you should still be able to get a B-, which is better than Withdraw I think. Is this class considered to be hard? If it's not, then I think you have an even better shot. Just try really hard to write what you think the Prof. wants to hear and would agree with. </p>

<p>Also, you said you need a 90% to get a B-. Since your grade did get bumped up 4% on the curve, then maybe you should look at it as needing more like a 86% on the final. (yeah i know that is still high but it's a little less scary than a 90%)</p>

<p>Maybe you could also try extra hard in your other classes to make up for what this will do to your GPA? </p>

<p>sorry to jump in on your thread, but I have a question sort of related to this. If you withdraw from a class (and get a W on your transcript) then retake the class, does the W disappear? Also, what will colleges think about Withdrawing with a W and then taking the class again? (Assume that the 2nd time, when the student actually stays enrolled in the class they get a grade from somewhere from the B to A- range)</p>

<p>a 71% shouldn't be that hard to shoot for, especially now that you have a better idea of what she wants on the test. </p>

<p>but a "W" also isn't that bad. freshman year is the most understandable time to screw things up, after that you're held to a little more responsibility. (well, i guess senioritis could kick in later on, but hopefully by then you'll already be going on to bigger and better things -- my grad school never saw my final transcripts, heh)</p>

<p>talk to your prof and explain ur situation. that happened to me once and i went to my prof early and they redid the percentages for the exams, so the first one that i did real ****ty on did not count as much.</p>

<p>I already talked to my prof, and she regraded it and kept my grade the same.</p>

<p>Ive decided to just stick it out</p>