<p>First, sorry for the confusing discussion title - I really didn't know what else to call it. Here's my situation: I am currently a double major (in 2 fields that are extremely disparate) and have long known but only now have to reconcile that only one of them is my passion. The field that I am passionate about is in the arts - I have achieved quite a bit in that field so far - while the field that I am considering dropping is in the maths/sciences, and again these two disciplines are pretty unrelated. I won't go into detail about why I even started it in the first place. However, I am at a point now where one of my top priorities is to apply to graduate school this semester. Here is my question:</p>
<p>The original plan was to focus on classes for my other (less passionate) major and do these applications. However, I've gotten some extremely great opportunities with practice and teaching that I could not pass up. Dropping the second major would technically mean that I wouldn't graduate on paper until Spring 2015, but that all of my classes are finished. This also means that I would be taking THREE W's for this semester's 3 classes. I have one more from sophomore year - the semester was busy, so I took it again a bit and got an A. The thing is, I will still graduate with highest honors and around 3.95 Major GPA, with now a Minor in the field I would like to drop. My question is ultimately to see what how you guys' think graduate schools would gauge this. If it doesn't affect admissions too much, will it play a role in financial aid? How much do you recommend that I discuss/explain this in my statement? Anything that might shed some sort of light on this is greatly appreciated. I know that's a pretty subjective and open question from such a long discussion but I can't find too many analogous situations like this that I can go off of.</p>
<p>You would have to explain the Ws. How a school would treat those Ws for this reason would vary based on department.</p>
<p>If the explanation was something like “I was a physics and creative writing double major, but in the middle of my junior year, I decided that creative writing was my true passion and I wanted to get an MFA and focus on my career on that. At the same time, opportunities arose for me to TA for the course W1001 Intro to Creative Writing and to take a writing workshop at Prestige Writing Workshop here. Thus, I withdrew from the three physics classes I was taking that semester in order to take advantage of those opportunities. At the time that I withdrew from the classes, I had an A in each one” - I could see some programs being sympathetic to that, especially if you are otherwise an outstanding applicant. I could see other programs still thinking 3 Ws is a bit much.</p>
<p>Are those 3 Ws the entire semester? So would you basically be taking the semester off to teach and practice your art? You could also spin your supplemental statement that way, that you decided to take the semester off to teach and practice just after the drop deadline, also so that you could switch track and focus solely on your art.</p>
<p>If it doesn’t play a role in admissions, I doubt it will play one in financial aid. I’m not sure what artistic field you are in, but there is little non-repayable aid in graduate school anyway so unless you really do want to get an MFA and are attempting to compete for a national or university-level fellowship, your aid will likely be loans.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments. I agree with many of your points including your point about the statement as definitely a chance to explain these things. I’ve talked to a couple of my mentors (and references) and they say that it would initially raise red flags, but once the admissions department looks deeper, including my other accomplishments, portfolio, letters, and clarification in the statement, it will be ok. Basically, I thought it would be best to keep 3 credit hours this semester. It still is a time suck I don’t want to deal with but that would be 3 (individual) W’s total on my undergrad transcript. While this is a lot less than desirable, I think it’s much better than a “withdraw from school.” </p>
<p>I’m going into architecture which first is different from fine arts in that it’s a professional degree. Financial aid is more generous than in fields such as literature or creative writing. This is still all merit based though, but not along the lines of national fellowships or things like that. University fellowships depend on the school, and most likely depends on the portfolio of work. Anyways, I’m hoping that in the grand scheme of things it’ll be a minor detail that I can hopefully turn into something positive. Thanks again for your reply.</p>