Getting into medical school with a Withdrawal on transcript

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DrInTheMaking

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Hello everybody. I was just wondering if anybody could give me some advice. I'm a pre-medicine freshman and I am considering dropping a course this semester.

I did poorly in chemistry last semester (a D, to be more specific) b/c I was overwhelmed by the many courses I was taking. As a result, I planned to really buckle down and not get any lower than a B- in any course for the rest of my four years in college. Now that I am considering withdrawing from calculus and taking it over the summer, I am wondering whether this will further decrease my chances of getting into a U.S. medical school.

The grade will be a Withdrawal Pass (in case anyone was wondering).

Also, do you think I have to retake the chemistry class that I got a D in if I pass the next chemistry course?

Thanks!

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Yes I would retake the D in chemistry. A D is pretty bad.

A withdraw passing won't hurt you as much as a crappy grade on your transcript, but don't make a habit of withdrawing from classes.
 
Having one W on your transcript is not that bad. There are people with 2 or 3 W's on their transcript and it hasn't affected their acceptances into medical school.

The D however will look really bad on your transcript. You're definitely going to have to retake it as medical schools have a requirement for obtaining a C minimum in all pre requisite works (i.e Chemistry, Biology, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Maths, and English).

I would definitely look into changing your study habits as to me it looks like there is a trend in bad grades. If you are doing bad in general chemistry and calculus, you are going to have very hard time in classes like organic chemistry.

But overall it isn't that bad. One W and one bad grade isn't going to break your application as long as you start performing well from now on.
 
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