Had personal hardship: which is better, 2 W's or 3 repeats of the same course (ochem)?

[ch91]

---

Members do not see this ad.

So, I'm repeating ochem for the third time. Not happy about it so please hold the negative comments. Without saying too much...last year I was assaulted, reported the crime and have been going through the legal process for a year (still isn't over) and it's been a rough, emotional time for me. I did okay in my other classes (B's), though I could have done better if I wasn't going through everything I am.
In ochem, I got a D my first attempt, C- my second, and now I am enrolled again and am feeling much better about it this time. I started going to therapy (my school provides for free) a couple months ago when I realized it was affecting me more than I wanted to admit. My therapist has advocated for me to request to retroactively turn my 2 previous fails into W's if it will help me in future interviews if it comes up. Since AACOMAS does grade replacements, would it look better if I took 2 W's...or if I left it as is and it show the three repeats? I am honestly trying to avoid having to talk about what happened in my interview because of the nature of the incident. I'm just wondering if taking 2 Ws would be a bigger flaw then 2 failing grades?

 

[member000000000]

First I want to say that I'm sorry about whatever happened to you. No one should have to go through anything like that. But about your question, I would take the Ws because they won't hurt your GPA.

 

[cabinbuilder]

If you can take the W's, I would then those courses are not in your GPA. FWIW - I took Ochem 4 times - always seemed to have some sort of drama or trauma everytime I took that darn class. Finally got through it with solid B's both semesters. It will be ok.

 

[QueenJames]

Yupp same here! Retook O-chem 3 times. Grades went from a D --> C+ --> A (after maturing and taking school super seriously). Sorry you had to go through that unfortunate circumstance. Honestly, if you retake them and get As AND follow that up with a solid performance on your MCAT, you should be fine. Keep ur head up champ! PM me if you have any questions!

 

[ch91]

Thank you all for being so pleasant and supportive! I will definitely be taking the W's, the counseling office has already written a letter supporting my request to be sent to the Dean's office so that I don't have to give specific details to them about my circumstances. I'm really amazed at how great my university's health & counseling center has been in helping me through everything and helping me to succeed.

Any suggestions on how to go about speaking about the grades in interviews? Did they ask you about why you repeated or took W's for specific classes? I imagine myself just being vague and ending on a positive note, however I wonder how deep they will dig. It sucks because this is something that has affected my life so much...and has actually inspired interest into a certain speciality of medicine...but it doesn't seem like the type of event I could talk about in interviews or in my personal statement due to social stigmas that unfortunately still exist.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I wasn't asked about my prior poor grades during my interview. They talked about my current work and did I believe I was capable of being successful. I wouldn't stress too much about it. We all have had stuff happen to us.