Withdrawn Undergrad Course

[BipolarBearr]

Hi,

At this point in the undergrad semester, I've heard it looks terrible to med schools and graduate schools if you drop out of a course because you get a withdrawn on your transcript. If I were to withdraw from a course now, but take an extra course next semester to ensure I'm still at the 5.0 credits, do med schools discourage this or is this acceptable?

 

Thanks!

[rmorelan]

41 minutes ago, BipolarBearr said:

Hi,

At this point in the undergrad semester, I've heard it looks terrible to med schools and graduate schools if you drop out of a course because you get a withdrawn on your transcript. If I were to withdraw from a course now, but take an extra course next semester to ensure I'm still at the 5.0 credits, do med schools discourage this or is this acceptable?

 

Thanks!

if you withdraw what would the school consider the course grade to be? 

that is the important point of this - if the school doesn't consider it a fail, then med schools  don't either typically. Just be aware of the impact of dropping a course on the various school policies as well 

 

[BipolarBearr]

7 hours ago, rmorelan said:

if you withdraw what would the school consider the course grade to be? 

that is the important point of this - if the school doesn't consider it a fail, then med schools  don't either typically. Just be aware of the impact of dropping a course on the various school policies as well 

 

It would just appear as withdrawn at this point in the semester. This is Western btw. 

I know a withdrawn looks bad but I dont know how it looks as long as its compensated for by an extra class in the second semester

[CardiacArrhythmia]

17 minutes ago, BipolarBearr said:

It would just appear as withdrawn at this point in the semester. This is Western btw. 

I know a withdrawn looks bad but I dont know how it looks as long as its compensated for by an extra class in the second semester

How many withdraws do you have currently? 

If it’s 1 or 2 it won’t hurt you. If you have a continuous trend with multiple withdraws then they may be concerned.

But as @rmorelan said earlier be wary about the different med school GPA weighting  policies if you choose to drop.

i would also like to add that a 6 course load in a semester can be very heavy - make sure you plan well if you choose to do this.

[rmorelan]

20 minutes ago, BipolarBearr said:

It would just appear as withdrawn at this point in the semester. This is Western btw. 

I know a withdrawn looks bad but I dont know how it looks as long as its compensated for by an extra class in the second semester

I am not even sure I would call it "looking bad" - for many places the GPA is just put through a computer and gets spit out. No one is looking at things course by course at those schools.

For those schools that are then sure if you a ton it looks maybe less than ideal but again a few of them won't matter. As long as you are hitting the rules for the school etc things are are bad. 

And you are potentially taking that extra class not to make this look better. You are taking it simply because there are hard and fast rules about course load for a year for that year to count or for TO even access to their wGPA policy. 

 

[BipolarBearr]

9 hours ago, rmorelan said:

I am not even sure I would call it "looking bad" - for many places the GPA is just put through a computer and gets spit out. No one is looking at things course by course at those schools.

For those schools that are then sure if you a ton it looks maybe less than ideal but again a few of them won't matter. As long as you are hitting the rules for the school etc things are are bad. 

And you are potentially taking that extra class not to make this look better. You are taking it simply because there are hard and fast rules about course load for a year for that year to count or for TO even access to their wGPA policy. 

 

I see, makes sense. So sticking it out despite the potential mediocre grade is probably a better option than dropping it at this point

 

Thank you!

[rmorelan]

1 hour ago, BipolarBearr said:

I see, makes sense. So sticking it out despite the potential mediocre grade is probably a better option than dropping it at this point

 

Thank you!

well maybe - that depends on your situation. where are you at in your training? Do you need this year to apply to your target schools? Is it possible to make up a credit next term - is there some easy course kicking around that you could some how add to your schedule - even if it means rearranging things a bit? Have you already dropped a course? 

Often the solution is to drop the course and make it up next time (sometimes the made up course is the same course taken a second time next term - you pretend you are still taking it this term, learn the material. Even with the assignments and tests etc - all to make sure the next time you maximize your grade in it).

Be careful and be informed - then make the choice that works for you

 

[Blasé]

1 hour ago, BipolarBearr said:

I see, makes sense. So sticking it out despite the potential mediocre grade is probably a better option than dropping it at this point

 

Thank you!

I went to Western for undergrad. I also withdrew from a course. At western, if you drop before the drop date deadline, it is considered WDN without academic penalty. This means that although it shows you on your transcript as WDN, OMSAS doesn't require you to input it because it was without academic penalty. Medical schools do not care about it unless you dropped the course too late or you don't have a full course load. Just make sure to have an extra course next semester and it will be fine. I am currently in medical school, so I would say dropping that course worked out fine.

[m_jacob_45]

I dropped a course in 1st year and got a WDN .I also had an 4.5 course load for that year since my school did not allow first year students to overload. It worked out fine in terms of med schools (I interviewed at 2 ON schools). The only downside was that my average for U of T was much lower so I did not get an interview there, but it worked out. Overall, I don't think having 1  WDN is an issue. I would try to avoid having any year with less than 5.0 courses though to keep your options as open as possible.