Current undergrad: To W or not to W? Forum

[drdreesq]

I'm a current junior in undergraduate. I'm a Political Science major. I have pretty much straight-A's on my transcript, with a 3.9 average. I want to maintain this because it may be my best selling point in getting into TLS's.

I have this one NON-REQUIRED class where I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a B-. Now I still have a chance to withdraw at this point, so I want to know....To the LS admission officers, which one looks worse: A B- or a W?

[YCrevolution]

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[bk1]

Non punitive, right?

It's not the B- that looks bad, it's how much it drags your GPA down. I would say withdraw assuming non-punitive.

[005618502]

Definitely withdraw. Or if your school allows it, change it to Pass/Fail. that will never look bad, assuming you pass. Not all schools alow this option. When they do the credit will automatically be counted as an elective credit. Talk to an adviso about it

[jarofsoup]

Some schools let you W and then retake to replace the W on the transcript. Could you do this?

[WestOfTheRest]

W

[bk1]

Some schools let you W and then retake to replace the W on the transcript. Could you do this?

Won't LSAC see both anyways?

[WestOfTheRest]

Some schools let you W and then retake to replace the W on the transcript. Could you do this?

Won't LSAC see both anyways?

Depends on if the school includes it on your transcript. In most cases it does, but I think sometimes they completely replace it.

[2014]

A bit off topic, but why would someone ever take a W if it counts as an F? I would think that pretty much anyone could struggle out even a D and possibly get the credit and a GPA boost compared to an F, and worst case they get an F regardless and it's the same.

[YCrevolution]

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[AreJay711]

A bit off topic, but why would someone ever take a W if it counts as an F? I would think that pretty much anyone could struggle out even a D and possibly get the credit and a GPA boost compared to an F, and worst case they get an F regardless and it's the same.

I'm not really sure why, but people do it. Maybe there are schools that let you retake a class if you have a W, but not an F?

I think it is because some schools will average your grade if you retake an F but just give you the new grade if you retake a W.

[im_blue]

A bit off topic, but why would someone ever take a W if it counts as an F? I would think that pretty much anyone could struggle out even a D and possibly get the credit and a GPA boost compared to an F, and worst case they get an F regardless and it's the same.

Many UGs let you take a WF all the way up to the final exam, so if a student knew he was going to fail anyway, a WF (didn't try and failed) might look slightly better than an F (tried but failed anyway), even though they both count as zero in the GPA.

[drdreesq]

Where does a W count as an F? When LSAC looks at it? I already have one W from a previous semester.

It sounds like a W is better than a B-. There could be a million reasons why you withdrew a course (before the deadline of course)...the professor was an asshole, you got sick, etc. But a B- just indicates that you didn't pull your shit together.

In general, how many W's do you need before it starts to look bad to the law school admissions officers? Like 5 or more? My dad got into a decent graduate school and said he usually withdrew a course every semester (but of course grad school is different).