Withdrawing

<p>How would med schools look at a W for a withdraw?</p>

<p>What class did you withdraw from?</p>

<p>philosophy</p>

<p>well i didnt withdraw yet...im thinking about it</p>

<p>a W looks bad, very bad. Are you sure you're be withdrawing this early in the semester; at my school we can drop classes until the third week of october without them appearing on our transcript. If you can do that, then no one ever knows you were in the class, so it obviously won't hurt you. Getting a withdrawl put down though generally implies that you were doing very poorly in the class, and so will hurt you, not as much as a D or F would, but would still hurt.</p>

<p>whos to say that though, im withdrawing because i dont find it particularly interesting...i cant see med schools making any assumptions if it isnt a requirement</p>

<p>While W's aren't fantastic they aren't the kiss of death either. You'll just want to explain the reasoning for the W in the interview or somewhere within the application process.</p>

<p>Well, from what my advisors have told me, they do make such assumptions, and a W on your transcript says you either are having trouble handling the workload you signed up for, or you're dooing poorly in the class.</p>

<p>If you're doing well in the class and just don't find it that interesting, I think you're much better off sucking it up, getting a good grade that'll boost your GPA, and not having to explain away the negatives of having a W on your transcript.</p>

<p>Also, depending on your school, they may not let you withdraw just because you don't like the class. At my school a student needs to either be in danger of failing or have some serious extenuating personal circumstance before the academic office will ok the withdrawl.</p>

<p>If you can't withdraw without a W, can you just change to pass-fail grading? That'll take the pressure off, at least.</p>

<p>It's not always about pressure. I know kids who withdrew because they wanted to take pre-reqs at a University and not at their CC. They found this out late and withdrew. That's why you'll be given the opportunity to explain it because there are different circumstances for everything. Maybe there was a family issue or financial reasons and the person needed more time to work. You never know and admissions usually give you the chance to explain yourself they get it.</p>

<p>So is a W that bad? I'm taking 15 hours right now this year for first semester. I'm got A's in all 11 hours (Gen Chem, Psych, Human Geography, fresh seminar) but my 4 hour intro French class is killing me. I hate the language, and I'm required to take 3 semesters of foreign language required by the school. I've got an 80 in the class which factors into a 2.7 on our plus-minus system. If I withdraw from this class, will it look really bad for med school.</p>

<p>a W would most certainly look worse than a B-</p>

<p>out of curiosity, what experience do you have with med school applications/premed that allows you to make such a statement (that was said without any sarcasm...honestly just curious)</p>

<p>because my premed advisors at my university, along with admissions reps ive spoken to at med schools arent agreeing with you.</p>

<p>I've talked with 2 people (who I know personally) who are/were on adm coms at 2 different medical schools. Both told me that W's were red flags and they needed to be kept to a minimum. Both said that withdrawals due to medical reasons were acceptable, but others were looked at suspiciously. One man mentioned that more than 3 Ws in 4 years pretty much knocked you out at his school.</p>

<p>what school was this</p>

<p>Vanderbilt</p>

<p>ive been speaking to mt sinai and university of virginia (where i attend)</p>

<p>no one has said that in terms of W's being red flags, ill try vanderbilt tomorrow</p>

<p>although i do agree 3 W's in 4 years is a bit excessive and I can definatly see why that is bad.</p>

<p>Yes, he worded it as "more than 3". Also qualified with "of course sometimes there are extenuating circumstances..."</p>

<p>There are definitely situations for W's (the most common reason is that you were simply doing poorly in a class). I don't think, "The class was boring," is the best excuse for a W though.</p>

<p>well its boring, plus its work that i dont necessarily need right now which takes time away from chem and calc which i should be concentrating on</p>