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Hi guys, I've been on here for a couple months now and this is my first post. I'd appreciate any advice and insight.

I just got accepted into the school of my choice, and I am in the process of taking the last pre-req course for the program. The school is already aware of this, and all I need to do is send in the grade for the last pre-req course (with a C-) or better to them before the program starts.

Here is my question: to pass time this semester along with my required course, I took another course, (an elective) but decided to drop it because it wasn't working out with my work/family schedule. My problem is that the drop date had passed and the professor had put my grade down as an F for the course. Will this elective "F" affect my acceptance even though they are only looking for the pre-req grade? I am in the process of getting it to become a "W" but how detrimental is that in it's own sense? I have a pretty good gpa, and great academic history, so what are the chances of the school looking at this "F" and taking my acceptance back? Or is that not even a chance at all?

Thanksssssss

If you can get it changed to a non-punitive W it will not affect your GPA. However, an F in any course, no matter what it was for, will be factored into your GPA and have a significant effect on it. How harmful it will be depends on how many credits it was (more credits means it'll have a larger weight when averaged into your GPA).

For example, if you had 120 credits before and a 3.8 GPA, a 2-credit F will drop you to a 3.74, while a 4-credit F will drop you to a 3.67.

Do your best to get it changed to a W. Then it won't matter, because LSAC ignores non-punitive Ws when calculating GPA.

You should be fine as long as you graduate by the time orientation starts.

vanwinkle wrote:If you can get it changed to a non-punitive W it will not affect your GPA. However, an F in any course, no matter what it was for, will be factored into your GPA and have a significant effect on it. How harmful it will be depends on how many credits it was (more credits means it'll have a larger weight when averaged into your GPA).

For example, if you had 120 credits before and a 3.8 GPA, a 2-credit F will drop you to a 3.74, while a 4-credit F will drop you to a 3.67.

Do your best to get it changed to a W. Then it won't matter, because LSAC ignores non-punitive Ws when calculating GPA.

This is good advice generally, but it looks like in this case the OP has already been accepted. As a result, I believe that it's likely that all you need to do is graduate on time and you'll be fine. If you can't get it changed to a W, though, it may well impact your scholarship opportunities and will certainly decrease your bargaining power if you happen to get better offers later in the cycle.

Congrats on the acceptance, though!

blurbz wrote:This is good advice generally, but it looks like in this case the OP has already been accepted.

Ugh, RC fail. I'd still recommend trying to get it changed to a W; the other advice I'd give is just to not give an updated transcript to LSAC (which you don't have to do). You can give a final transcript directly to your school, and they will require it to confirm you've graduated; the F won't really affect them if it's not reported to LSAC (since it won't change the LSAC GPA they report to USNWR) so they won't care much, as long as it's one F.

vanwinkle wrote:

blurbz wrote:This is good advice generally, but it looks like in this case the OP has already been accepted.

Ugh, RC fail. I'd still recommend trying to get it changed to a W; the other advice I'd give is just to not give an updated transcript to LSAC (which you don't have to do). You can give a final transcript directly to your school, and they will require it to confirm you've graduated; the F won't really affect them if it's not reported to LSAC (since it won't change the LSAC GPA they report to USNWR) so they won't care much, as long as it's one F.

This is what I did. Granted, I didn't fail a class but my grades and GPA dropped a bit my senior year. I sent a final transcript to the school and never to LSAC, so the LSDAS GPA that was reported for me was my original application GPA and not my lower final GPA. Good call, Vanwinkle.

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letsgetitstarted wrote:can people do this even if they didn't end up applying before they finished senior year?

If you apply as a college graduate without complete transcripts, that will result in all kinds of red flags.

I'm actually curious about something related to this as well - is there something on a transcript that will indicate that the individual is a graduate(has received a diploma)?

I ask because at the end of my senior year, May 09, I was not able to receive my diploma b/c of a hold on my student account. For some weird reason, I was still able to send my transcript to LSAC. The hold was removed and I now have a copy of my diploma but I'm curious what the transcript that will be sent out to the schools I apply to will "indicate," any ideas?

thatjuanguy wrote:I'm actually curious about something related to this as well - is there something on a transcript that will indicate that the individual is a graduate(has received a diploma)?

I ask because at the end of my senior year, May 09, I was not able to receive my diploma b/c of a hold on my student account. For some weird reason, I was still able to send my transcript to LSAC. The hold was removed and I now have a copy of my diploma but I'm curious what the transcript that will be sent out to the schools I apply to will "indicate," any ideas?

The transcript should say what degrees you've received, but can't you just get a transcript to see for sure?