Which is worse, a "C" or a "W"

[GH253]

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Slept in today and missed an exam. This is going to annihilate my final grade in the class. Should I keep going or withdraw?

 

[DocMcCoy]

A W with a good reason will not impact your application negatively at all. (I had two when I applied). A C won't keep you out of medical school either (had one of those too). Since you don't have a good reason for a withdraw, I suggest you gut it out and hope to get a B knowing that if you get a C it won't kill you.

 

[Marcus Brody]

Talk to the prof and take it later.

Why do people not get it through their heads that rules are flexible? This isn't high school anymore.

 

[ucsfstudents]

I agree that you should talk to the professor and reschedule. This happens.

In other cases, I would vote for a "W" over a "C" if the class is worth a significant number of units, or is one of your premed required science courses, or is a repeat where you had a bad grade on the first try, or a case in which you have too many poor grades.

I also agree that a "C" won't kill you, but too many of this might kill your chances of going to a competitive medical school.

Good luck! 🙂

 

[GH253]

I asked the prof and he said no. It's worth 10% of the final grade so I can still pull off a B if I kill everything else from now on.

 

[Mr Cookie Pants]

If you were going to get an A, or are going to make a C, retake it. If it's in an important class, retake it. A B wont hurt, but a C will. I had a W and was NEVER asked about it. Just make sure you get an A next time, otherwise they will.

 

[Raryn]

W's don't matter in the least. Chances are, you will never even get asked if you had a good reason for it or not.

OTOH, C's *do* matter, in that they actually count for your GPA and may or may not get asked about. I got asked about my one C during a few interviews last year.

 

[45408]

a C is worse.

 

[flip26]

A W with a good reason will not impact your application negatively at all. (I had two when I applied). A C won't keep you out of medical school either (had one of those too). Since you don't have a good reason for a withdraw, I suggest you gut it out and hope to get a B knowing that if you get a C it won't kill you.

I had 5 Ws and nobody ever asked me a thing about them, whether my reasons were good or not.

Drop the class. A C is far worse than a W.

 

[BlueElmo]

I asked the prof and he said no. It's worth 10% of the final grade so I can still pull off a B if I kill everything else from now on.

Kill everything else from now on and try to get that B-.

 

[the duck]

I am wondering a similar thing, so instead of making a new thread, I'll just hijack this one if the OP doesn't mind. In my stats class it looks like I'm going to possibly get a B. Since I'm only a freshy and this is a large unit course, it'll bring my cGPA down to a 3.86, and sGPA to a 3.75. What do you guys think? I'd hate to ruin my 4.0 over such a dumb class...

 

[Raryn]

I am wondering a similar thing, so instead of making a new thread, I'll just hijack this one if the OP doesn't mind. In my stats class it looks like I'm going to possibly get a B. Since I'm only a freshy and this is a large unit course, it'll bring my cGPA down to a 3.86, and sGPA to a 3.75. What do you guys think? I'd hate to ruin my 4.0 over such a dumb class...

You'll have plenty of time to dilute the grade and bring your GPA back up to 3.9+. (Almost) everyone gets that first B eventually, don't worry *that* much about it.

A B is OK, C and below is problematic. But even then, you're only a freshman...

 

[DRMRL]

W is worse than a C

 

[sideways]

C is definitely worse. Anyone can BS a W, if it's even noticed. The C affects your GPA. It's a no-brainer.

 

[Brigade4Radiant]

A C is always worse even if you might loose your scholarship and be on probation. I'm am paying heavily for not withdrawling with a crappy GPA of 3.4 (even though I've been accepted into two schools). Don't let me be you.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I racked up my fair share of C's during undergrad. A C is much worse. You can always retake the MCAT, you can always cram in some volunteer work or research here and there. But fixing a GPA once it's in the gutter is damn near impossible. Protect it at all costs, otherwise you end up spending more time and money in SMP/Graduate programs to add more academic strength to your application.

If it's an intro course and you make a C and it's your only one, and if you show improvement over the intermediate course/advanced course, it's definitely salvageable.

 

[MrCheetah]

C worse than W IMHO

 

[Longshanks]

I asked the prof and he said no. It's worth 10% of the final grade so I can still pull off a B if I kill everything else from now on.

10% is nothing. I had a similar situation happen once in an upper level bio course because I had a miscommunication with the TA and missed a quiz worth 10% of the grade. Busted my ass off the rest of semester after not letting me retake it and had a B+.

You'll be fine. With the caveat that you need to be near perfect here on out.

 

[ReptarBar]

Talk to the prof and take it later.

Why do people not get it through their heads that rules are flexible? This isn't high school anymore.

what are you talking about? its the complete opposite...can't do **** if you miss an exam at my school.

 

[flip26]

W is worse than a C

How? A number of med students and accepted students (like me) are telling the OP the opposite based on our experiences with admissions.

What is the basis for your position?

A C is far worse than a W.

 

[Raryn]

How? A number of med students and accepted students (like me) are telling the OP the opposite based on our experiences with admissions.

What is the basis for your position?

A C is far worse than a W.

The one and only situation I can think of a W being worse than a C is if you're a graduating senior who got accepted to med school already. In which case, all you want to do is pass and graduate.

In all other situations, your GPA matters, and a C is far far worse than a W.

 

[mediterranean]

Most likely you need to have an excuse at least 24 hours in advance. I think DRMRL means by W is worse than a C is that you can bypass it if it was only one and that you don't need to spend more money (redo the class that is the same number of credits because you actually pay twice for the class depending how late you withdraw).

 

[Narmerguy]

Talk to the prof and take it later.

Why do people not get it through their heads that rules are flexible? This isn't high school anymore.

Even though the prof didn't allow it still, I still think this needs to be emphasized. Rules are flexible now. If I blindly followed every supposed rule that I encountered in college I'd probably suck really bad. Most professors/administrators/janitors are people and are receptive to negotiation of some sort.

 

[4X4MD]

you could just make up a really good excuse...search the newspaper for a distant relative whos recently passed...idk, ive been in this situation before and i pulled out all the tricks i had in the bag (the professor eventually saw my enthusiasm and perseverance and let me take it, although i had only missed it due to a wreck on the way to the exam)

 

[Morsetlis]

One C is far worse than one W.
Four C's are FAR worse than four W's.
In fact, there are no levels at which an equivalent of C's would be better than an equivalent of W's. A 2.00 GPA student is just as unlikely to get into medical school as somebody who dropped an entire year's worth of credits.

 

[TexasPhysician]

C is WORSE than a W