Secondaries asking about a W

[anothermedstudent98]

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How should one address a W on a transcript if it is part of a secondary prompt? Does anyone know if there are any resources for this?

 

[KnightDoc]

How should one address a W on a transcript if it is part of a secondary prompt? Does anyone know if there are any resources for this?

What's wrong with the truth? After all, that's what you are certifying to when you hit the submit button.

Keep in mind, adcoms see thousands upon thousands of applications year in and year out. They will be highly likely to sniff out BS in the context of the rest of your application. So-called "resources" based on other people's circumstances are more likely to hurt you than help.

If you withdrew from a semester due to a medical situation or family emergency, just be straight with them. They'll understand. If it's an isolated case where you were struggling in a class and you withdrew rather than continuing to torture yourself, same thing. OTOH, if you have them scattered all over the place because you withdrew whenever you ran into difficulty in order to preserve your GPA, they are going to figure that out no matter what you say, so it hardly seems worth trying to BS your way past that.

 

[Goro]

How should one address a W on a transcript if it is part of a secondary prompt? Does anyone know if there are any resources for this?

Telling the truth would be a good idea

 

[anothermedstudent98]

What's wrong with the truth? After all, that's what you are certifying to when you hit the submit button.

Keep in mind, adcoms see thousands upon thousands of applications year in and year out. They will be highly likely to sniff out BS in the context of the rest of your application. So-called "resources" based on other people's circumstances are more likely to hurt you than help.

If you withdrew from a semester due to a medical situation or family emergency, just be straight with them. They'll understand. If it's an isolated case where you were struggling in a class and you withdrew rather than continuing to torture yourself, same thing. OTOH, if you have them scattered all over the place because you withdrew whenever you ran into difficulty in order to preserve your GPA, they are going to figure that out no matter what you say, so it hardly seems worth trying to BS your way past that.

Thank you for your advice! I have an autoimmune disease and was put on a medicine that gave me a lot of side effects, preventing me from studying effectively. It isn't necessary to explain the side effects, right?

 

[wysdoc]

Thank you for your advice! I have an autoimmune disease and was put on a medicine that gave me a lot of side effects, preventing me from studying effectively. It isn't necessary to explain the side effects, right?

Say you withdrew for medical reasons

 

[KnightDoc]

Thank you for your advice! I have an autoimmune disease and was put on a medicine that gave me a lot of side effects, preventing me from studying effectively. It isn't necessary to explain the side effects, right?

Not at all! If this was a one-time thing that impacted a ton of classes, it will be clear from the rest of your transcript that it was not part of a pattern. A general explanation that you had a medical situation will suffice, without getting into any details that make you uncomfortable, including side effects. This really won't hurt you at all, so there is no need to stress about it, again, assuming it is not something that adversely impacted your academic performance throughout UG.