Should I take the W?

[SouthernDuchess]

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Long story short, I'm taking online physiology through Arizona State to cover one of the prerequisites for (primarily) UC Davis. It's a 14 week class condensed to 6 weeks for the summer. I wasn't able to do my intended shadow clinic hours earlier in the year due to COVID. On day 2 of class I was given the opportunity to start at a small animal clinic and do roughly 500 hours in the next 3 months. I tried to drop my class but due to the shortened schedule I can't drop it now without a W going on my transcript. Obviously it wouldn't look good to stay in the class and get a C or worse, but I'm curious just how bad would it look to have a W? I also need to take the GRE and was planning on juggling studying/taking that in June. My best option for schools right now is NC State which doesn't need the GRE this year or require physiology, so I feel like for that school getting the clinic hours is most important.
I'd appreciate any thoughts/opinions, especially if you have heard anything from school advisors since mine haven't been the most helpful.

 

[that redhead]

Obviously it wouldn't look good to stay in the class and get a C or worse, but I'm curious just how bad would it look to have a W? I also need to take the GRE and was planning on juggling studying/taking that in June. My best option for schools right now is NC State which doesn't need the GRE this year or require physiology, so I feel like for that school getting the clinic hours is most important.

A few questions:
- How are you doing in the class so far? Are you likely to get a C or is it possible to do better while continuing your clinic hours?
- How many other vet hours do you already have?
- What is the rest of your application like? How many Ws, GPA, etc. You say that NC State is your best option because it doesn't require the GRE, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's your best option if you aren't a competitive applicant.

Assuming you have a solid application otherwise, a W isn't going to tank your chance for an acceptance. However, if you already have a bunch of Ws or your GPA is weak, it's going to be more of a problem.

 

[itsrocky]

I had 2 Ws on my app, but it was a lecture/lab combo in a non prerequisite course.
There’s actually a fair number of schools that don’t need the GRE now as well!

 

[SouthernDuchess]

NC State is my best option because I've been an NC resident for the last few years and fall well within the parameters of in-state applicants (and even out of state applicants). My GPA the past few semesters has been quite good. Mostly As with a couple Bs and worst grade is one B- from physics. What hinders my GPA a bit is years ago when I initially went to a CC out of high school I ended up living in a situation that wasn't conducive to being able to maintain good grades. Those 3 semesters definitely hurt my overall GPA. When I went on to get my Bachelor's I was a solid student, except for one semester when I broke my back two days before finals and advisor didn't tell me there was an option to take a medical waiver and hold my GPA. I have two repeated courses on my transcript from that fiasco. Aside from all that, looking at my last 45 science hours things look really good.

So far a week in and I feel like this class is kicking my butt. I'm just not connecting with the material at all and fear it's only going to get worse after I'm working 12hr shifts. On paper I have very few existing clinic hours because the clinic I was originally at only offered me 2 days in a month. So net-net I really need the hours being offered now. I have a TON of hands on experience hours from owning horses and farm animals for many years, but as we all know those supervised hours are important.

 

[GrassPuppyDoctor2024]

Obviously it wouldn't look good to stay in the class and get a C or worse, but I'm curious just how bad would it look to have a W?

Speaking from personal experience, I had two W's from organic chemistry 2 lecture and laboratory. I was accepted to 2 schools, UC Davis and LMU and I was waitlisted at Oregon State. Since I was accepted to vet schools, I wasn't able to get file reviews from other schools that I had applied to, and the others were simply not doing file reviews unless you were granted an interview. So, what I can deduce from my experience was that the W's didn't affect my application at all. I had a 3.72 cGPA when I applied, 3.70 science GPA, and a 3.79 last 45 GPA. My GRE was definitely subpar so that could've played a factor as well. I would say that taking a W is exponentially better than a failing grade and even a C because it doesn't affect your GPA. Use the explantation statement on the VMCAS app to explain how the experiencing choosing to take a W was a learning experience. Mine was due to work schedule changes that I could not negotiate, resulting in me withdrawing from Ochem lecture and, since their are co-reqs, I also had to drop the lab.

 

[EB73674]

Take the W unless you are CERTAIN you WILL get above a C. If you're like me, where your GPA really can't take another hit, explaining a W during a crazy time sounds far easier to move past than a lowered GPA. This would be a great place to use your explanation statement, in addition to discussing your previous shortcomings.