<p>Hello I am a college freshman and I am in a huge predicament. Right now I am in business school but have decided to switch to film school. Because I am in the business school now, I am required to take a business calculus class which I am doing very, very poorly in. I found out that if I were to switch my major to film, the business calc class would end up counting as an open elective class. I am a good student, and even though I study very hard for that class and think I know the material, I have been getting D's and C's on all my tests. I'm worried I am going to fail the class or barely pass. Since I am switching majors and essentially the class would count as an extra class, I am thinking about withdrawing from it so that it does not hurt my GPA. However, I heard that having a withdrawal on my transcript does not look good for when you are applying to grad school. Also, I am thinking of transferring schools next year and I am worried a withdrawal will affect my chances of getting into another school.
PLEASE HELP! Should I withdraw from the class or take the C- (most likely that will be my grade)? I know both things will look bad no matter what. It sucks because this class won't matter to my major anymore, but I will have to deal with this terrible grade for the rest of my college career. WHAT SHOULD I DO?</p>
<p>Is P/NP an option? Many schools offer a binary pass/fail option, which isn’t letter graded and shouldn’t affect your GPA. Look at your school’s policy to see if there’s anything like that, and if you’re allowed to change your grading option for GE classes.</p>
<p>It might help to attend office hours or tutoring as well, see if the professor or a TA can help you get back on track with the material and give you some study tips. And showing them that you care and that you’re really trying can help your grade a bit sometimes.</p>
<p>Otherwise, a W looks better than an F on a transcript, I’m not sure about W vs C- though.</p>
<p>If it’s not relevant to your new major, I’d withdraw from it. Obviously a W isn’t going to look good, but it’s going to look better than an F. </p>
<p>Withdraw! One or two Ws won’t kill your transcript.</p>
<p>I recommend you talk to the professor first just to be sure you are headed for a C-. You can’t always go by the numbers, and the professor can let you know how you are really doing relative to the rest of the class.</p>
<p>I was in a very similar position as you! I started college as a business major and could not do well in business calc for the life of me. I was planning to switch my major to English and I didn’t need the class. I tried everything to keep my grade up. I went to my professors office hours for extra help and he urged me to stay in the class even if I was planning to change my major. He promised he wouldn’t fail me because I was making the effort. To me it wasn’t worth the extra stress and the D on my transcript to stay in the class. I dropped it! The W will be fine, as long as you don’t have 5 or ten of them in the future.</p>
<p>Talk to your adviser and professor as soon as possible.</p>