What to do about a dumb W

[Food]

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So summer before senior year I apparently registered for a culture class (2 credits) that I had no intention of taking. I must have registered by accident - don't ask me how, but I clearly made a mistake somewhere for fall registration and registered a summer B class by accident. I dropped it obviously, but not within the drop/add deadline. I had to basically withdraw from the semester since it was the only class I was taking. There's really nothing I can do about it - it stays a W despite the stupid reasons. How badly will this affect my chances? I had these advisers tell me "oh it's no big deal, they will see it's not even really an important class and you have no history of dropping or withdrawing" but I figured that as a re-applicant I should be paying more attention to crap like this. Should I send some sort of a letter explaining these to the schools? Most schools' secondaries did not have space to explain why I had a W. It's such a dumb W too. I was studying for MCAT around that time, so I was ridiculously absentminded about everything else...

 

[mrmilad]

W will not do anything to your app unless you have like 10 or something. Don't focus on junk like this, focus on your gpa and mcat and ECs.

 

[Food]

Well, I can't really focus on my GPA since I've graduated already - although I am considering graduate work. And I dare not retake the MCAT for fear of doing worse. Although if I go for a 3rd re-application I will probably retake the MCAT since it will expire.

 

[strummin]

One W will make absolutely no difference - especially if you explain your circumstances. My carelessness caused me to withdraw from one class as well. I used it to my advantage on my application though. Whenever they asked for my weaknesses, I talked about my one withdrawal in order to explain that I can sometimes be careless, and how I have learnt from such experiences.

 

[Van Chowder]

Don't worry about it.

 

[Mattabet]

Eh, it's no big deal. It's one stupid class - and it's not like you have a history of withdrawing or anything.

Huh. I guess I do sometimes agree with advisors...

Seriously though, it's fine. Withdrawing from Gen Chem 3 times before getting a B is a red flag; the person struggles with the class. A withdraw due to clerical error shoes that the person made a mistake one time in filling out a schedule. No big deal.

 

[spyderefs]

I don't think it will matter from personal experience.

Of the interviews I've been in, they asked me about a C+ and not a W.

In one of them, I had the guy look at my transcript starting from freshman year. And the only thing that stuck out to him to ask was a C+

My W is in Gen Bio 1, by the way

 

[Perrotfish]

The experience of posters on here seems to be that ADCOMs only care about Ws when they see a pattern of dropping out of difficult classes.

 

[Food]

Alright dudes, just checking. Thanks for the info. It's always worth looking at small things, in case.