Why would anyone ever take a WX/WF

[chrisski]

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I was looking at my college grade distributions, and noticed that there are classes where a solid 30% of the people receive a WX. I always though that this is basically the same as an F, and counts for 0 on your GPA. So why in the heck wouldn't you just stay in the class, with the possibility of bringing it up to a D. I might be missing something, could someone please explain. By the way, I'm not in a situation where I have to make this choice, I am simply curious.

 

[ShinyDome19]

Every semester I was teaching we had students that intended to drop the course during the first month of classes, but stick in it to get copies of exams and see what the material is like, to make it easier on themselves in the second go round...but they either forget or never get around to actually dropping the course until late in the semester and they either forget or just miss the school's drop deadline for an automatic W in the course...

I am sure there are other reasons though.

 

[ahowardmd]

These kinds of students aren't serious about their education, simple as that. It's okay to withdraw from a course, as long as you do it before the deadline. Otherwise, stick it out and try for the 'C'!

 

[FiestyFutureDr]

At my institution and most others, "WX" = withdraw WITHOUT penalty. You can choose this option from the 2nd week of school until the week after midterms. There's no harm in dropping with a WX in terms of your gpa, transcripts, etc. I did this in the second week of class a few semesters ago when I realized I was not enjoying an elective course. My GPA remained the same, and I've had zero questions about it during my interviews. I've also gotten 2 acceptances to MD schools already,so apparently medical schools care about it about as much as I did. A "W" or "WF" is the same an F though, so I don't know why someone would do that. Hope this helps

 

[ThaliaNox]

At most schools, a W does not figure into your GPA in any way. Even when applying to medical school, most people would rather have a W hanging out on their transcript than an F or even a D, which might significantly drop your GPA. A W might raise an eyebrow. An F definetely will!