How bad are W's for admission to the T-14? Forum

[ComatoseClown]

1. How would the top law schools view, for instance, 3 Ws?
2. Is it absolutely necessary to write an addendum for every single withdrawal?
3. Do schools that request any type of interview usually always ask you in the interview to explain why you withdrew from those course(s)?

[whymeohgodno]

Won't matter a bit. Unless Yale maybe. I've heard Yale rejects people for a typo, I wouldn't be surprised if they reject for one W lolol.

[YCrevolution]

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[ctxmike]

^Haha. I don't think that first one was a yes or no question.

No, W's aren't that big of deal especially if they aren't in your major. Three is a bit high. Most say to keep it to two, but provided your GPA and LSAT are good, at worst, they'll have a negligible effect, if any effect at all. Most people in this forum got into schools like Duke with a few Ws and pretty standard stats for the T14. Hell, I saw one person get in with multiple Fs and Ws get into Cornell (had them his first year in college and later really cleaned up his act). Anything is possible.

[HowdyYall]

this discussion just made it easier for me to withdraw from one of my classes haha

[YCrevolution]

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[Sentry]

I had a 1 or 2 W's on my transcript and have already gotten two T14 admittances. HTH

Edit: I didn't write any addenda or anything.

[vanwinkle]

My academic history was a tad unusual, but I had a lot more than 3 W's total on my transcript. I had entire semesters that were nothing but W's. I had a legitimate explanation which I included in an addendum, though. I still got into T14.

For fewer Ws it's not really worth addressing. I know plenty of folks who had 1 or 2 and never mentioned it without any problems. Even for 3, unless there's something that stares them in the face (an entire semester's worth of Ws all at once) that makes them curious, they won't really care. They'll just look at each, go "well, he did okay in the rest of his classes that semester... and his overall GPA is still good" and stop caring.

Schools really do care first and foremost about overall GPA, especially now with the weight it has in the rankings. If your GPA is good and the rest of your app is good, they won't let a couple scattered W's hold you back.

[McDeere]

I had at least 3-4 W's as well and didn't even think about writing an addendum. Didn't affect my T14 chances at all. (I didn't apply to Yale)