How Will a W look on my transcript?

[Student2390]

I'm currently a freshman, and I'm thinking of dropping my World History course. It has just been taking too much time out of my science classes. How will a W affect my chances of getting into graduate or medical school? This would be my first drop, and since it's not a major class, would it be that bad?

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[HomeSkool]

Adcoms won't care about an isolated W. On the other hand, it would be harmful to get lower grades due to having bitten off more than you can chew. Go ahead and drop the class so you can focus on your other coursework.

 

[JanieFervv]

I had two Ws, one in a major class and one in a non major class before applying to med school and it certainly hasn't caused any issues. Just make sure that you'll be able to have a good explanation for why you dropped them and you should be fine. I wouldn't recommend dropping more than two classes though in college, so choose wisely!

 

[bahdahboom]

I'm currently a freshman, and I'm thinking of dropping my World History course. It has just been taking too much time out of my science classes. How will a W affect my chances of getting into graduate or medical school? This would be my first drop, and since it's not a major class, would it be that bad?

I had 2 W’s, still got into Med school. No W’s are ideal but one will NOT majorly hurt your app. Just keep pushing through. for every W I got, I busted my butt to get an A in another class.

 

[21Rush12]

I checked mine — it looks like 2 V’s stuck really close together.

 

[The Dragon Slayer]

It certainly wouldn't look good. Yet, I don't think one lone W would be too bad.

 

[HomeSkool]

I checked mine — it looks like 2 V’s stuck really close together.

The one on my wife's transcript looks more like an upside-down "M". Our universities have different administrative policies, I guess.

 

[boogiecousins94]

I think it all depends on what class it is, I have a W from an intro engineering course freshman year because I switched majors and didn't need it anymore, but I assume the world history is a gen ed or something? I doubt it's bad and better than it being some science class

 

[21Rush12]

The one on my wife's transcript looks more like an upside-down "M". Our universities have different administrative policies, I guess.

Mines from a community college so probably less rigorous.

 

[Mr_Churchill]

I dropped Anatomy my Freshman year. Here's the link to that thread from about a year ago.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

Hey there @Mr_Churchill I just red through the thread you linked and Im wondering what the situation was for everyone to say go ahead and drop it. Im not so far away right now from that but people seem to be saying take a C/C+ over the W.

 

[PhilzCoffeeAddict]

I have a W and not once was it ever brought up during interviews. GPA is 3.79

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

Sounds like were in a similar boat @PhilzCoffeeAddict (love the name btw). Just for comparison's sake, where did you apply with that GPA, wanna see if I've got any idea what I'm doing here.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

@efle I saw your post in a thread from a year ago (and didn't wanna bump a cold one) and you said W > C assuming you don't have any other W's, would you say the same here? Thanks

 

[efle]

In your situation I would take the C+/B- because you'd have to retake the class later anyways. And you really don't want to have a W followed by a later C+ in the same class. Then it looks like the W was because you were straight failing it the first time.