How highly do veterinary schools consider Withdrawals on transcript? everything else looks good for me except I have around 9 W’s on my undergraduate transcript. Some advice please! 🥹
Withdrawals
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Doctor Ham
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AdCom member here.
9 is a lot. I see some applicants that have an entire semester of withdrawals, but have a reasonable explanation for it (car accident, illness, family tragedy etc). One withdrawal over the course of a degree (if there is an explanation) isn't a dealbreaker necessarily. A pattern of withdrawals is a concern.
9 is a lot. I see some applicants that have an entire semester of withdrawals, but have a reasonable explanation for it (car accident, illness, family tragedy etc). One withdrawal over the course of a degree (if there is an explanation) isn't a dealbreaker necessarily. A pattern of withdrawals is a concern.
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Hey, I saw you posted in the WAMC forum - but in case you didn't see it there, for a little reassurance - I had ~7 withdrawals at vet school application. I'm finishing up my second year of vet school, and despite the regular vet school hiccups that people hit from time to time, I'm doing just fine.
Have you thought about where you want to apply yet? I figured that my withdrawals would be a concern going in, so I emailed the admissions departments of the schools I planned to apply to, and discussed. And after hearing me out, two of the three schools I was interested in were not too concerned about the Ws and said I may as well apply. The other school made it pretty clear they were uncomfortable with the level of Ws that I had, and that was okay too. I just didn't apply there. At the end of the day, though, it was conversations with the admissions counselors at the schools that I was focused on that really helped me figure out what to do, so I do really recommend reaching out to them if you haven't already.
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I had 9 and I don’t think they really cared because I got in to my #1. I think it’s more important to keep your gpa higher so that your application makes it through. I would definitely choose a W over an F
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I would suggest contacting the schools you are planning to apply to and see what they say. I used to be on several admin committees and nine is a lot unless they were like one semester with an obvious reason for them (in hospital, illness, family death etc). The explanation statement will be important to explain why they occurred and allow the committee to understand that that trend won’t continue in vet school.
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Okay, this isn't what you asked and I'm not really your target audience. I'm just butting in as a current vet student who had trouble (and subsequently several withdrawals) my first time through undergrad due to PTSD resulting from a trauma.
I think the biggest issue with numerous withdrawals is that you work through for yourself what happened and what's changed. A bunch of withdrawals in a short period of time due to major illness/injury/death in the family/traumatic experience/etc. makes sense, and if you have some time and space between you now and you in that frequently-withdrawing period, even better. Life happens, some things are really difficult to deal with - especially when you're young - and there can be a period in your life where school just couldn't be the priority. Taking some time, dealing with whatever happened, and then moving on to be successful academically is fine. I wouldn't really worry about it, and with appropriate explanation, I imagine most vet schools could overlook it.
If you frequently withdraw from courses because they get away from you somehow and you do it to salvage your grades, I'd be concerned beyond just what the ad com will think. Vet school courseloads are heavy, and you can't just withdraw and take a class the next semester like you can in undergrad. For your own mental health and academic success, that's something you'd need to work through before you enroll in vet school.
I do think a lot of people fall in something of a grey zone between these two, often due to mental health concerns or the like - withdrawals are kind of spread out and maybe have more to do with psychological "flare-ups" than actual academic rigor or not keeping up with assignments. I know that's more how my experience was. It would be random things - I had a panic attack in a very small lit class and was too embarrassed to go back, or a guy in econ would come on too strong and trigger my PTSD, or I'd have a period of depression and just not be able to get through a particularly demanding project. If it that's been more the trend, then please, make sure you've had the time/space/life experience/therapy/whatever you need to heal before attempting vet school. At that point, getting in isn't even the issue - vet school is really tough on mental health (partially because you're just so darned tired and stressed all the time), and you really want to be in a good place emotionally, mentally, and psychologically before you subject yourself to that.
So.... my thought is that you do some soul-searching about those withdrawals and really figure out why they happened and what's changed (real, tangible changes, not just "I think it'll get better" if there's no history yet to support that). In the short term, it'll make it way easier to explain them to an admissions committee. In the long term, your vet school experience will be better for it.
