Impact of a lot withdrawals on transcript?

[joedrt9]

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Hi. I have 10 W's on my transcript and I know it looks terrible🙂(), but I'm wondering if it's something that can totally crush one's chances of getting accepted into dental school? I'd like to know because if my odds of making it are near zero, I can funnel my energy into something more constructive. In my defense, I obtained 5 of these in one semester that I dropped out of school due to medical/family reasons. Two of them occurred during my freshman year when I had no idea that I'd ever desire to apply to any kind of professional school. Everyone (including counselors at school) told me that Ws didn't matter at all. But hey, I guess that's true for 98% of the students they see so I really can't blame them.

As far as grades, I've taken 102 credit hours at CC with a 3.87 GPA and I've taken about 75 hours at university with a 3.8 GPA. Now that I've graduated, I'm planning on finishing up my pre-reqs (orgo 1 and 2) and taking a few more science classes like micro and anatomy 1 & 2.

When all is said and done, I should have about 200 credit hours, 10 W's 🙂(), and a ~3.85 GPA.

BTW - I don't know if it matters, but I'm a NC resident and if it's worth a shot, I'd like to apply to East Carolina as I hear they are opening a new dental school. From what I've read online, they plan on having 40 spots open to NC residents. I've always wanted to volunteer in another country so I should be able to finish that before the school opens.

 

[vlct0ria]

Hi. I have 10 W's on my transcript and I know it looks terrible🙂(), but I'm wondering if it's something that can totally crush one's chances of getting accepted into dental school? I'd like to know because if my odds of making it are near zero, I can funnel my energy into something more constructive. In my defense, I obtained 5 of these in one semester that I dropped out of school due to medical/family reasons. Two of them occurred during my freshman year when I had no idea that I'd ever desire to apply to any kind of professional school. Everyone (including counselors at school) told me that Ws didn't matter at all. But hey, I guess that's true for 98% of the students they see so I really can't blame them.

As far as grades, I've taken 102 credit hours at CC with a 3.87 GPA and I've taken about 75 hours at university with a 3.8 GPA. Now that I've graduated, I'm planning on finishing up my pre-reqs (orgo 1 and 2) and taking a few more science classes like micro and anatomy 1 & 2.

When all is said and done, I should have about 200 credit hours, 10 W's 🙂(), and a ~3.85 GPA.

BTW - I don't know if it matters, but I'm a NC resident and if it's worth a shot, I'd like to apply to East Carolina as I hear they are opening a new dental school. From what I've read online, they plan on having 40 spots open to NC residents. I've always wanted to volunteer in another country so I should be able to finish that before the school opens.

Geez, even if half of them are for a valid reason, 5 W's is A LOT...every time I see people worrying about W's on here, its for like 2 or 3. And the fact that you've withdrawn from so many classes kind of takes away from the fact that you have a great GPA...if I were you, I would KILL the DAT, and figure out how to tell the adcoms why you have so many W's, because they will be expecting an amazing explanation.

 

[joedrt9]

I really don't have an explanation for the 5 withdrawals that weren't due to illness. During my freshman year I signed up for a few classes just for the hours, but I found out they wouldn't count toward my degree so I took W's. I didn't really think anything of it. No one in my family ever went to college and I didn't know about places like this forum (nor did I want to know) so I just went by what the advisors/counselors told me.

 

[vlct0ria]

I really don't have an explanation for the 5 withdrawals that weren't due to illness. During my freshman year I signed up for a few classes just for the hours, but I found out they wouldn't count toward my degree so I took W's. I didn't really think anything of it. No one in my family ever went to college and I didn't know about places like this forum (nor did I want to know) so I just went by what the advisors/counselors told me.

Well I'm sorry for the trouble you've had...but just tell adcoms the truth- you dropped the classes after learning they wouldn't could towards your degree. While W's will still be looked down on, it's a better explanation than saying you were doing poorly in the classes and dropped them to avoid a failing grade. Not much you can do about it now- just improve other aspects of your application and don't take any more W's!

 

[bucknut2009]

It doesn't look good no matter how you spin it. You should definitely not let that keep you from applying though. You have excellent grades and hopefully you will do well on the DAT. Just really think about what you want to say and how you want to say it before any potential interviews. Besides, I think you have a better chance of getting in than the felon who posted on this forum anyways...bad joke but nonetheless a joke.

 

[Vicviper]

I think you'll be fine - realistically you only have 5 real "I just wanted to drop the class for some reason or another" W's, the other 5 are completely explainable, and every Adcom will understand those. Also, since you got a number of them in your freshman year, you can easily explain that away as a learning experience like you said before, and I'm sure towards the end of your career you didn't drop out of many classes.

I had *I think* 6 W's on my transcripts (Third times a charm for Calc! 😀) and it never came up at any of my interviews.

With that GPA as long as you do decent on your other pre-reqs and on the DAT, I'm sure you'll be able to get in somewhere, and I don't think thoses W's will hurt you much at all, especially since you have reasons for them.

Good luck!