<p>Hi, I'm a freshman in college and I've been taking chemistry course this term. The thing is, I ended up bombing the first exam and prospects look grim for me in the course. I have two options: devote most of my energy in the chem course to try to scrape a C while maybe sacrificing A's in my other courses, or withdrawing from the chem course and retaking it a year from now.</p>
<p>I'm planning on majoring in bio, and while the chemistry course is required for my major, other higher level bio classes that I might be taking next year do not have this chem course as a prerequisite, meaning that I wouldn't be cutting myself off from bio courses in the future. I have a GPA around 3.6/3.7 and I'm afraid a C (along with maybe lower grades overall this term) might hurt my GPA. But I'm also worried about what a W will look like on my transcript as I hope to go to grad school.</p>
<p>I've been really depressed this entire weekend as both options seem pretty bad to me... am I looking at this from the wrong perspective? Either way I go I definitely hope to learn from this little disaster and not make such mistakes in the future. So will a W during my freshman year be worth it?</p>
<p>Thanks for hearing me out :(</p>
<p>Can you still withdraw? Many schools have deadlines, and if you're in the second semester of a 2-semester academic year a lot of those deadlines have passed.</p>
<p>Are you planning on taking more chemistry courses? A C in your freshman year in a subject you've done well in later on can be explained. I would probably take the W if I still could, if I wanted to go to grad school in a science, and if it was the only chemistry course I expected to take.</p>
<p>Given that neither of the two options is all that good, you might want to go to the professor, explain that you're struggling, and ask whether you can take an incomplete and sit in on the same class in the fall and get the grade you earn there. I've known a few people who did that. The main downside is that if -- between boredom with material you already know, a heavy class load caused by an extra class you're not registered in, and the sense that the class you're not taking isn't as important as the ones you are -- you don't do the work, the I will turn into an F at some point. If you've got the discipline and are capable of handling something like that, though, it can work. Keep in mind, though, that as far as the professor is concerned, you're in this situation either because you're not capable of doing better or because you didn't keep up with the class. The professor may not want to do you any favors. (Of course, if the professor is vindictive enough and believes you just didn't try, letting you take an I is kind of like handing you a shovel and letting you dig your own grave. As I said, Is turn into Fs.) I suspect that if this is a course with a lab section it will be harder to get an incomplete. All my experience with this sort of thing comes from classes where everybody sits in a classroom and talks.</p>
<p>Not going to lie, a C or W both won't be the end of the world when applying to grad school. That being said, a W is better than a C.</p>
<p>W's are non-issues as long as you don't have more than 2 or 3 on your transcript. There's many reasons that people would withdraw, such as personal issues, having to work, etc. that would require you to lighten the load, or maybe they just missed the add/drop deadline . Adcoms don't think "well he must've just been a slacker and was failing the class."</p>