W's on transcript

[briy61]

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To what extent do W's on a transcript hurt chances of acceptance (i have 2, that I got when I started taking post-bacc courses because I simply didn't balance work / school very well)

...assume that all other post-bacc grades are good/excellent and the applicant has had some solid work/volunteer experience in the field.

 

[cubbbie]

I think I had 5 total. They were never an issue. Don't even bother bringing them up in your applications.

 

[briy61]

they have to be reported though, right?

do you mean in terms of explaining them?

 

[acedens]

One semester I was taking 21 hours, including organic chem. Orgo wasn't working well for me, so I withdrew. I put it on my AMCAS since you do need to report them if they are on your transcript, but I made no other mention of it, and it was never brought up in an interview, and I had no problems getting into school. (However, when I did repeat orgo, I made sure to work hard and get an A, and it was sophomore year, so I had a lot of other grades to prove that the W was an isolated thing.)

I would assume that one or two aren't a big deal - but if you consistently withdraw from a course or two every semester, or if you withdraw from an entire semester, you may need to explain those cases (such as in a PS or it might be mentioned in an interview).

I am sure with two you'll be fine- good luck!

 

[cubbbie]

they have to be reported though, right?

do you mean in terms of explaining them?

Yeah, I mean don't bother explaining them. 5 was a bit much and I did end up explaining them in some applications, but it never really came up in interviews and I got accepted at plenty of schools. 2 is no big deal if you have a generally good track record.

 

[relentless11]

I don't think its much of a problem for briy61. The average student probably has 1-2 W's in their life time anyway. I've seen way more. I think I had 2-3, but that was in the late 90's..haha.

Anyway, in terms of med school, it really depends on the big picture. About 1-2 W's isn't bad because its insignificant over a 3-5 year undergraduate career. You may want to put a sentence in about it, if all the W's were for the same class though..haha.

When you see W's for the same class, it doesn't look too good. Its either showing you can't handle the class, and/or you are fishing around for an easier professor. My W's were due to having to work more hours mid-quarter to support my family/myself, so whatever. But again, it'll depend on the big picture too. Those W's were almost a decade ago😉.

 

[postbacker]

When asking "how many" I think it also matters "what flavor" of Ws are we talking about - I had a couple of plain vanilla Ws with no suffix, but I guess people are talking about the Ws with a letter grade attached at the time of the drop - WC, WD, or WF - is this the real concern?

Because the early semester Ws should not be a big concern, right? I am not concerned about them...

 

[oxeye]

I have 6 W's on my record. I briefly explained them on my secondary (basically that I was an indecisive teenager) and got an EDP acceptance.

 

[oxeye]

they have to be reported though, right?

do you mean in terms of explaining them?

You don't have to explain them if you don't want to. I chose to explain mine but if I only had two I might not have.

 

[relentless11]

When asking "how many" I think it also matters "what flavor" of Ws are we talking about - I had a couple of plain vanilla Ws with no suffix, but I guess people are talking about the Ws with a letter grade attached at the time of the drop - WC, WD, or WF - is this the real concern?

Because the early semester Ws should not be a big concern, right? I am not concerned about them...

Not all schools have this stratification for withdrawel grades. My JC, and when I went to University of California Davis used the standard "W" for everyone regardless of when or how they dropped the class.

I would speculate that your W grading system shows the current grade that you had at the time of drop. You will probably have to consult with the AMCAS manual on this one. One may luck out and only report it as a W (no grade). Or it may be bad and it may be counted as a grade, and that could be devastating. I'll try to check the manual when I have time later today.

 

[woolfda]

I had a total of seven W's. Interviewed at four schools and was only asked about it at one school. Five W's were from one semester when I had to move due to my husband's job relocation. I thought that this might be an issue (i.e. my dedication to a program of study), but it was never brought up. Accepted at three schools, and still in limbo on the fourth.