C or W?

[DrBodacious]

Ok, I don't have any acceptances yet but I'm on 3 waitlists, so my grades this semester will be important. I will probably get a C in my "health and wellness/racquetball" class the way things are looking right now. I've got five other classes. I'll get As and maybe one A- in my other classes (Biochem, Biochem Lab, HIV/AIDS class, American History II, and Developmental Bios). Plus I'm finishing up my honors thesis right now so I'm pretty damn busy: hence the C in racquetball because there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get a good grade in that class.

My question is, what would be better, withdrawing from the gym class and taking an independent course for a grade to meet my phys ed req. so I can graduate, or taking the C? I don't really know how bad a w looks on your transcript compared to a C, and the independent course would be some significant work to get completed before the end of the semester. Any thoughts?

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[SoonerMed]

Well, the W could be explained away if you couldn't complete the class due to injury. *Hint, hint*

Seriously though, that's a tough situation!

 

[twaspatz]

Take the C. Nobody cares about a stupid PE class, least of all an adcom.

 

[ify]

ask a premed advisor. They will know best.

 

[LP1CW]

Listen, you don't have any acceptances yet. You'll probably get in though considering that you have 3 waitlists. Howeve, if you don't get in, and you get a C, then that's going to impact your GPA. Why do it?

Take the W. It's a stupid class. I wouldn't let a class like that impact my overall GPA. Again, you can always explain it away. Also, see if you can change it to Pass/Fail. I know that some schools offer that as an option. If so, take it for the Pass.

 

[PhysicsDoc]

A little off the subject... has anyone been asked to explain P's on their transcripts? I'm taking linear algebra P/F because I need to understand some of the class material but don't want to spend hours doing proofs... might I be asked about this at an interview a couple years down the road? If it's any help, my majors are Biochem/Physics and I've taken three math classes for a grade beforehand.

 

[Bad Mojo]

I personally would just play more raquetball. It's really fun -- you can hit the ball as hard as you want and its okay.

 

[GlcNac]

Originally posted by frick
A little off the subject... has anyone been asked to explain P's on their transcripts? I'm taking linear algebra P/F because I need to understand some of the class material but don't want to spend hours doing proofs... might I be asked about this at an interview a couple years down the road? If it's any help, my majors are Biochem/Physics and I've taken three math classes for a grade beforehand.

I don't think they will care at all, particularly since you've already taken three other math classes and linear algebra is not one of the premed requirements. I had one P on my transcript when I applied (in a game theory class) and it wasn't brought up at any of my interviews.

 

[DrBodacious]

Sweet, thanks for the advice guys.

I asked my pre-med advisor and she approved the independent course and recommended I plead with the PE dept head to see if I might be able to get some of my missed points back. Basically, I was just really busy and stressed out from all this applying and missed a bunch of PE classes at the beginning of the semester. You get a 0 for all late assignments. Plus this class has a lecture portion that talks about "health and wellness" and attendance in the lecture (of 200 students) counts for like 40% of your total grade. Anyway this class blows, there are just a bunch of hoops you have to jump through to get an A and I don't have time for this high schoolish BS. Unfortunately, I don't think they are going to make an exception for me so I'm going to take a W as most of you advise and do this independent "drug abuse" course that fills my PE requirement.

Also unfortunately, I can't take the independent course P/F so I'll have to put in some effort to make an A in that class. But I'll have a shot at a 4.0 if I drop this stupid class, so it seems like the thing to do. Too bad, I like playing racquetball too.

 

[DrBodacious]

How many of you have a PE requirement at your schools. I go to a state school and I was wondering if it was just a state school thing or what. As I mentioned, it seems very high schoolish. We have a bull **** computer literacy class that is required at my school too.

 

[beatla19]

I go to a state school and we have neither a PE requirement nor computer literacy. However, my friend goes to a different CSU and has to take PE. So, I guess it just depends on the school.

 

[umass rower]

If you took a W in the class, since it's a requirement for graduation, does that mean that if you withdrew you wouldn't be allowed to graduate? I see that as a bigger deal than a C.

 

[DrBodacious]

Originally posted by umass rower
If you took a W in the class, since it's a requirement for graduation, does that mean that if you withdrew you wouldn't be allowed to graduate? I see that as a bigger deal than a C.

No, I can still graduate this spring. I can add that independent class now and finish it over the next two months. I'd actually have 30 days after graduation to complete the class and still technically graduate this spring if it comes down to that.

 

[Cerberus]

i am having to drop a class too. I apparently have ran into a bitter grad student who dislikes my writing style.... Here is the letter i sent him..


Mr. ####,

Since it is apparent that getting a decent grade on these medical ethics papers is completely independent of effort (each of my weekly papers averaged 800-900 words and made numerous references to the material) and since there is no way to argue my grade since the most I can get regarding why I got the grade to begin with is a generic FAQ (of which following resulted in a net drop in grade for me, leading me to believe that grading is done completely subjectively), I ask that you drop me from this course immediately.

Further, my honest assessment of the way this online version of the course has been carried out is that of college level busy work. In which little is done to promote any sort of higher order thinking instead favoring a ?look for the answers in the text, regurgitate, repeat? view of an interesting philosophical topic (which is quite unfortunate since this will be some peoples only interaction with philosophy). I hope that the structure of this course changes in the future to promote a more critical approach to ethics so that the analytic aspect of philosophy does not get completely lost upon more students.

Thank You,

####

 

[DrBodacious]

Originally posted by Cerberus
i am having to drop a class too. I apparently have ran into a bitter grad student who dislikes my writing style.... Here is the letter i sent him..


Mr. ####,

Since it is apparent that getting a decent grade on these medical ethics papers is completely independent of effort (each of my weekly papers averaged 800-900 words and made numerous references to the material) and since there is no way to argue my grade since the most I can get regarding why I got the grade to begin with is a generic FAQ (of which following resulted in a net drop in grade for me, leading me to believe that grading is done completely subjectively), I ask that you drop me from this course immediately.

Further, my honest assessment of the way this online version of the course has been carried out is that of college level busy work. In which little is done to promote any sort of higher order thinking instead favoring a ?look for the answers in the text, regurgitate, repeat? view of an interesting philosophical topic (which is quite unfortunate since this will be some peoples only interaction with philosophy). I hope that the structure of this course changes in the future to promote a more critical approach to ethics so that the analytic aspect of philosophy does not get completely lost upon more students.

Thank You,

####

Ha, yes, I spent 30 minutes the other day writing an elaborate and disgruntled complaint to the prof of this class. Bottom line is that the class is a waste of anyone's time, but especially for someone as busy as a pre med. But then I didn't send it, I'm going to write a complaint to someone higher up in a more diplomatic effort.