To Withdraw or Not to Withdraw...

[Skitty]

Okay, hi everybody!

(Hi, Dr. Nick!)

Ahem. Anyway, I'm a sophomore Chem major. Since my school is ACS certified, I'm required to take two semesters of a language. Last quarter, I took Spanish 203 and barely scraped by with a B. This quarter, I'm taking 311 and my average right now is a B as well. However, this class has an extremely heavy workload, and I'm also taking a writing-intensive lab (Quant. Anal. - and it's analogous lecture) and Orgo, Calculus, voice lessons, choir, and martial arts 3-4 days per week. I also volunteer and work in a lab, so I'm not sure I have time to take the Spanish class without forgoing something trivial like, say sleep.

Should I just "premed" it, like one of my friends suggested, and tough it out? Would a withdrawal look completely horrible on my transcript? My GPA freshman year wasn't stellar, so I don't want anything horrible on it from now on.

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[Catalystik]

You'd probably be fine with a few withdrawals on your transcript, but using that out for a class you're doing relatively well in doesn't seem like a good decision, when you've already put half a semester into the required work. Why not temporarily stop the voice lessons, choir, and/or and martial arts, or decreasing the work hours in the lab? (I would not stop the volunteering.) And a B isn't horrible, though I can see where you're coming from if last year's grades were poor.

 

[Skitty]

Well, it's not the grade so much as the workload that's killing me. I have to write ~6 pages/week for a class that only meets twice a week, and this isn't including two four page essays, three one page event papers, and ten conversation hours. Or the revisions of the papers from last week. I've had to put aside a 20 page formal lab report for a class that's specifically required for my major in order to try and do the work for the Spanish class. I'm still backed up with work from week 2!

Anyway, I think I've more or less made my decision, it's just that I wanted to be sure I wasn't committing harakiri with the withdrawal.

Wait... it the withdrawal still okay if I don't plan on taking this particular class again?

 

[MilkmanAl]

6 pages a week is a lot for a foreign laguage class, but it isn't insurmountable. Won't you have to take another 300-level Spanish class if you drop it? I'd tough it out. I think you'll find that 6 pages a week isn't really that bad in comparison to some of the other things you'll probably have to do.

 

[Skitty]

No, I can take any level of any language. I can take Greek or Latin 101, they're both useful to me, I think. And it's not that I couldn't handle the one class, it's just that I have two other writing intensive courses at the same time, and they're both science. It's currently Week 6, and I still have revisions do from Week 2. I'm fairly sure I would have </= C if I stay in the class.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

So I think I'm in sort of a similar situation. I am thinking of withdrawing from my biochem class as I underestimated it. I am doing great in my other three classes this quarter(Micro, English, Physics) but am not doing so hot in biochem. I do plan on taking this course again, but I just underestimated the time commitment necessary to succeed in that course. I have one W already and a NC on my transcript. The W and NC were from my freshman year, yeah, I was young and stupid. How would a W affect me? My gpa is a little over a 3.3 cumulative, with science being closer to 3.4. I know W's are better than a bad grade, but what do you all think?

 

[HeatherMD]

I don't know.

I just very stupidly put myself in this situation too. I had a midterm in biochem yesterday, and I wrote it even though I was really sick.. I was admitted to the hospital after!! I didn't really realize I was in that bad of shape, but now I wish I hadn't tried to "suck it up" and do the stupid test. I think I did okay.. B or B-, but I only received an A- on the first exam so a shot at an A in this course is probably lost.

So pissed at myself.. but I think a W would look worse than a B, so I won't withdraw.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I don't know.

I just very stupidly put myself in this situation too. I had a midterm in biochem yesterday, and I wrote it even though I was really sick.. I was admitted to the hospital after!! I didn't really realize I was in that bad of shape, but now I wish I hadn't tried to "suck it up" and do the stupid test. I think I did okay.. B or B-, but I only received an A- on the first exam so a shot at an A in this course is probably lost.

So pissed at myself.. but I think a W would look worse than a B, so I won't withdraw.

You know, the very same thing happened to me last year. So I've been having stomach pains the for like 4 months, then one morning at 3 am, I'll save the details, but I threw up a lot. Still went to teh test, did pretty well, then later got admitted to the ER because my hematocrit(sp?) was low. Ended up having an ulcer from H.Pylori. But I digress. I probably wouldn't withdraw if I were you either. The thing that makes this difficult is that my grade is very uncertain, I could get a C or maybe even worse. Last day to withdraw from a class is this weekend, so I guess I'll have to make a decision by then.

 

[HeatherMD]

ugh that's awful..

Yeah it was our last day to withdraw on Friday, and to be honest, I wrestled with it. I wanted to. This was going to be my 4.0 year and now it's.. well, not.

Did you withdraw?

 

[JeetKuneDo]

ugh that's awful..

Yeah it was our last day to withdraw on Friday, and to be honest, I wrestled with it. I wanted to. This was going to be my 4.0 year and now it's.. well, not.

Did you withdraw?

Yeah, I just did. In the end, I don't think I could suffer another hit to my gpa.

 

[HeatherMD]

yeah it's probably for the best if you felt you could get a C or worse.

now it's just me stuck in biochem

 

[WaterBird]

I withdrew from a class freshman year for personal reasons. Not a single interviewer has asked about my W.

In hindsight, I wish I had taken an incomplete. If that is an option at your school incompletes are rad, and some schools that don't have them will let you do it if you're ill - it seems like that might be an option for Heather.

I don't know if it matters that much if you're going to retake it or not - on the amcas you have to put every grade, even if the new one replaces your old on your school transcript.

I don't think anyone will be able to give you an accurate answer as to just how much a W matters compared to a C - I'm sure it depends on a lot of other stuff too, like one or two Ws versus one W per semester.

 

[HeatherMD]

not to bring a dead thread back to life, but biochem grades came out and I came through with slightly above average (surprise!) so ~B, putting my average in the course at a B+.

I AM SO EFFING THRILLED (and I never thought I'd ever say that about a B)

I definitely don't recommend writing an exam in a state that requires you to visit the emergency room afterwards, but the fact that I didn't trash my GPA is probably the best news I've had for myself all week. With a final worth 60% of my grade I am SO redeeming myself in this class.

stupid biochem, I will conquer you yet!