Withdrawal question

[leejqs]

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Ok, I have a very specific withdrawal question.

Currently I am a second semester sophomore and just transferred from a small school without any sort of reputation (low freshman SATs, easy to get into, etc) to a large public university with a very high reputation. I had a good GPA > 3.6 at my smaller school (where I played division 1 soccer, that's why I was there) but transferred for academic reasons.. aka I didn't feel that I was being challenged academically and didn't feel that I was being prepared correctly for the MCAT as both my general chemistry I and general chemistry II classes I took at this small school were quite easy A's (my honors chem class in high school seemed harder).

However, during my three semesters here, I accumulated two withdrawals on my transcript. One was an art studio class, which I withdrew because I quickly realized I wasn't an "art" student, I thought that it was going to be an easy elective, not a 8 hour a week studio class. And the other withdrawal was because I was in an literature class that I wasn't going to need in order to transfer (the class at the small school had NO transfer credit whatsoever, so I decided to drop it and focus more on my science classes).

Now I find myself at a much, much harder school. Last semester I took Physics with Calculus I at the small school, and garnered a very easy A. (My test scores were 97,100, and 97). I took this as a sign that I may have a knack for physics. Thus, I declared myself a physics major at my new school and registered to take Physics with Calculus I again, but at the physics major level. Four weeks into the semester I am sitting here trying to just start the homework problem set that is due tomorrow, but I have 0/9 completed, and I've worked over the weekend and all evening today. This class is COMPLETELY different than what I took at my small school, and I am not able to transfer any of the concepts that I learned in my physics with calculus I class to this physics major I class. I really do not want to get a C or even below a C in this class, and I don't see how I would be able to continue being a physics major when I can't even grasp the difficult concepts in this first intro class.

Finally, my question is, will it look absolutely horrible to MedSchool Admissions if I drop yet another class, this one being a premed req? (Even though I already completed the first Physics requirement at the small school and got an A?) I can try to somehow make a B in this class and not drop it if that would look a lot better to medschool admissions, it would just take a lot of time from my other classes this semester However, an A in this class is > 87 and a B is 76-87...

Sorry for the length of this post, I just thought that everything about the situation should be known in order for ample advice to be given.

Thanks so much!

 

[bannie22]

Interesting to comment on how you were not challenged enough when you only had a 3.6....

Drop it before you face academic penalty?

I dont think it hurts that much either way, that is probably the general consensus you will get.

 

[mediterranean]

I know you already transferred to your new school but I think you should stayed there. Most adcoms like stellar GPAs at a state school rather than a mediocre GPA at a prestigious university. But don't let this discourage you. See it as motivation to do better. The good thing is that this university (or at least the class you mentioned) has a little bit of wiggle room for grades which I wish I had.

You have good excuses why you had previous withdrawals but I don't know what adcoms think of "unexcused" withdrawals. I have not applied, nonetheless interview yet, to give good advice to you but that would be my logic. The advantage to withdrawing, as you recognized, is that it will not affect your GPA.

Just try your best to get a B in that class (A if you are an optimistic person) because it is not that bad and will not pull down your GPA drastically. But even a C is still decent because you did not fail it (which is the ultimate excuse for withdrawing from a class you realized you didn't need until it was too late). Just make sure this is your only C though. If you think you are going to be bombarded with difficult classes, change your major. Do what you LOVE.