Withdraw or Stay?

[Baller27]

Hello, I am a third year with a 3.996 GPA, and almost every pre-med pre-req completed except for biochem. I am currently not doing so hot in it, and if I grind out the next month I'll probably finish with a B/B+ if I get a 75 on the final (historically the average has been about a 50). The question is, I know withdrawals don't hurt your transcript if you only do it once, but if I wanna get into a med school like UMich or UWash does it hurt me?

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[MyOdyssey]

What’s the likelihood you’ll get a 75 (which would be equal to an A) on the final given how you’ve performed so far in the course?

 

[Worker_Bee_4952]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but just a side note, if you're not a Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, or Idaho resident (WWAMI), that will hurt you more with UWash than any W or bad grade. Acceptance Statistics | UW Medicine

 

[allseasons]

Hello, I am a third year with a 3.996 GPA, and almost every pre-med pre-req completed except for biochem. I am currently not doing so hot in it, and if I grind out the next month I'll probably finish with a B/B+ if I get a 75 on the final (historically the average has been about a 50). The question is, I know withdrawals don't hurt your transcript if you only do it once, but if I wanna get into a med school like UMich or UWash does it hurt me?

Withdrawals don't hurt you much if their non-pre req courses. They can hurt more for a course like biochem. That said, with a 3.996 GPA, the effect will probably be negligible. A B is better than a W, anything less, take the W. If you're not at least 80% sure you can get a B, or 95% sure you can get a B-, then take a W.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Withdrawals don't hurt you much if their non-pre req courses. They can hurt more for a course like biochem. That said, with a 3.996 GPA, the effect will probably be negligible. A B is better than a W, anything less, take the W. If you're not at least 80% sure you can get a B, or 95% sure you can get a B-, then take a W.

I would lower it to C or C-. Ws can look particularly bad if one has a very high GPA because it makes it seem like the high GPA is artificially inflated (ex. Correlates with seeking out easier profs, etc.) and or the applicant is motivated too much by numbers

I would go as far to say that Ws look worse for somebody with a 4.0 than below a 3.5

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Seeing a W on an application with a 3.9x would scream neurotic to me.

 

[allseasons]

I would lower it to C or C-. Ws can look particularly bad if one has a very high GPA because it makes it seem like the high GPA is artificially inflated (ex. Correlates with seeking out easier profs, etc.) and or the applicant is motivated too much by numbers

I would go as far to say that Ws look worse for somebody with a 4.0 than below a 3.5

Multiple Ws for sure, but idk about just 1. I have two pass/fails on my transcripts for courses where I ended up with an A-. To be clear, I didn't pass/fail them because I got an A-, but because at our uni you had to choose pass/fail at the beginning of the semester, and I just didn't feel like putting any effort into either class (they were known to be hard) and I didn't expect to still end up with an A- (and you can't revert pass/fails at our uni).

At 10 interviews, not once have these pass/fails come up, and my interviewers have typically even commended my extremely strong academics. Of course, there's multiple differences here between my situation and OP's. My pass/fail was not in pre-reqs, although one was science related (an advanced statistics class). Additionally, pass/fails are different from withdrawals.

Seeing a W on an application with a 3.9x would scream neurotic to me.

Totally understand, and at the end of the day, this is just personal opinion. I see taking a W and then getting an A in biochem as much superior to getting a C and then an A. @voxveritatisetlucis I would not lower it to C, because from what I've been told, a W typically indicates you got a C or lower. I believe a few adcoms on this site said that they typically read a W as a C (but I don't really remember so don't quote me lol). Therefore, I would say a B is better than a W, but a C is worse, because while an adcom might subjectively view a W and a C as the same, the C has a tangible impact on your GPA, while the W doesn't.

 

[Goro]

Hello, I am a third year with a 3.996 GPA, and almost every pre-med pre-req completed except for biochem. I am currently not doing so hot in it, and if I grind out the next month I'll probably finish with a B/B+ if I get a 75 on the final (historically the average has been about a 50). The question is, I know withdrawals don't hurt your transcript if you only do it once, but if I wanna get into a med school like UMich or UWash does it hurt me?

NO

 

[allseasons]

NO

So in your view, a C, either by itself or followed by an A is better than a W followed by an A?

 

[MyOdyssey]

So in your view, a C, either by itself or followed by an A is better than a W followed by an A?

@Goro is saying taking the W now won't look bad.

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

One W can't be too bad because I have multiple on my transcript and still received interviews.

 

[Baller27]

What’s the likelihood you’ll get a 75 (which would be equal to an A) on the final given how you’ve performed so far in the course?

If I work hard, I'd say 85%

 

[Goro]

Seeing a W on an application with a 3.9x would scream neurotic to me.

It would more likely scream GPA salvage.

 

[allseasons]

It would more likely scream GPA salvage.

how could a 3.9x gpa ever be considered "salvage". Unless you have 10 Ws or pass/fails, if you just have 1 or 2 then at most your GPA would have dropped 0.1.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

how could a 3.9x gpa ever be considered "salvage". Unless you have 10 Ws or pass/fails, if you just have 1 or 2 then at most your GPA would have dropped 0.1.

It probably just refers to being overly protective of insignificant decreases in GPA.

No medical school in the country would look at somebody with a 3.9 and say “if only he/she had a 3.99”

The caveat is if your school does valedictorian/salutatorian and to a lesser extent if it will prevent you from being top 5% vs top 15% etc. these are nice additions that could help an applicant stand out, especially if top 5% at Ivy League or equivalent school.

 

[Goro]

how could a 3.9x gpa ever be considered "salvage". Unless you have 10 Ws or pass/fails, if you just have 1 or 2 then at most your GPA would have dropped 0.1.

What would a C or B- or B do to your GPA?

There are people who are terrified of that 0.x decline in their GPA.

 

[allseasons]

It probably just refers to being overly protective of insignificant decreases in GPA.

No medical school in the country would look at somebody with a 3.9 and say “if only he/she had a 3.99”

The caveat is if your school does valedictorian/salutatorian and to a lesser extent if it will prevent you from being top 5% vs top 15% etc. these are nice additions that could help an applicant stand out, especially if top 5% at Ivy League or equivalent school.

How would adcoms know what gpa is the cutoff for top 5%, 15%, etc. At most, you have summa, magna, and cum laude that count as proxies.

 

[Baller27]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but just a side note, if you're not a Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, or Idaho resident (WWAMI), that will hurt you more with UWash than any W or bad grade. Acceptance Statistics | UW Medicine

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

How would adcoms know what gpa is the cutoff for top 5%, 15%, etc. At most, you have summa, magna, and cum laude that count as proxies.

Sorry my post was a little unclear. I think the applicant usually has a general idea regarding the cutoffs. Apparently based on SDN threads, latin honors don’t mean anything but I tend to disagree with that. It has came up in a handful of interviews. Not sure whether perception varies from school to school.