How bad are "W's" (withdrawals) on your transcript?? Forum

[moose]

I've been looking at my transcript, and man, it doesn't look good. While its a 3.11 and I am a URM,...the most disconcerting thing is that I have 2 W's (Withdrawal) and a G (unfinished coursework). The W's were really scheduling issues (one of them I took later and got a B, the other I never took again). I didn't realize back then that it might not look good on a transcript. How naive I was. The G grade was an external study that I didn't complete because I got an extension but later had to leave school for financial reasons. When I came back to finish my credits I was told G grades become permanent after 1 year. So I'm stuck with it. Do you guys think I should write addenda explaining all this? I already have one explaining why I stayed out of school for 1 year and a half. I'm just wondering how much W grades affect the admissions process.

Also,..I was a Finance major, is that generally seen as an "easy" major for law schools?

[teaadntoast]

I don't think you need to be overly concerned about two Ws, though you might want to see if there's a way to resolve that G prior to submitting your transcript to LSAC.

About those Ws, though - they'll only be a problem if your school consideres them to be punitive. That is, if the school makes is clear that it considers a W to be equivalent to a failing grade or similar LSAC will follow their lead, but otherwise they likely won't be included in the GPA calculation.

[kiwislug]

if it is a WF then it will be factored into your GPA as an F by LSAC. if it is a regular W I don't think they count it. Schools will care more about your final GPA than how many W's you have would be my guess.

[Pablo E]

I don't know in general how much they affect admissions, but I had one W and I have done fine so far. I don't think it's a big deal but it might be worth it to write an addendum explaining these grades just to be on the safe side, since you seem to have good explanations.

[jdn012]

if it is a WF then it will be factored into your GPA as an F by LSAC. if it is a regular W I don't think they count it. Schools will care more about your final GPA than how many W's you have would be my guess.

+1.

Although, be cautious about this. My guess is that anything over two 'W's and things start looking suspicious. I think Dean Pless at UIUC addressed this in his thread. One or Two 'W's won't be a problem, any more and it may require an explanation.

[moose]

if it is a WF then it will be factored into your GPA as an F by LSAC. if it is a regular W I don't think they count it. Schools will care more about your final GPA than how many W's you have would be my guess.

I have a "w",...so according to my school its not considered a "fail",..just a "withdrawn" class and it has no impact on my gpa. I'm just concerned about it not looking good. Also, my transcript has no "trend" persay, it varies from term to term.

[FrenchiePatootie]

hahaha well I seriously had like 5 (at least) and my cycle's been going pretty well so I'm not sure it really matter.
It's really common to just change your mind at my undergrad and the W was a never penalized or anything exc. in terms of refund. I don't really how it'd look bad on your transcript.

[trombone88]

Does anyone know if they look at them differently if they drop your course load to below full time - I'm considering taking a W, but it would drop me from 12 to 8 units.

[lucydog]

Does anyone know if they look at them differently if they drop your course load to below full time - I'm considering taking a W, but it would drop me from 12 to 8 units.

Make sure you fill in your extra time with volunteer/EC/part-time work and you will be fine. If you are not comfortable with the course, taking a W is much better than getting a subpar grade.

[LawandOrder]

You're worried about only 2 W's? LOL!

[pany1985]

W's don't make a lick of difference unless your UG institution considers them punitive. If they don't hurt your GPA (and at most colleges they don't), they won't hurt you with the LSAC.

[moose]

You're worried about only 2 W's? LOL!

While I'm glad you guys think its minor,...Its not just the W's its the G grade. Actually, the G and one of the W's are in the same term. THe G was an external studies project that I never got the opportunity of finish.

Also,..Dean Pless of UIUC said while 2 W's wouldn't affect HIS judgement, he also said other adcomms might be more strict in that regard. I wanted to see what you guys thought given your experiences.

[Other25BeforeYou]

I had 8 Ws, four of them were in one semester. I technically withdrew for the semester but I still had one grade, so on the applications that didn't ask if I had left UG for a semester it probably looked like I only completed one course that semester since I didn't include an addendum unless they asked for it.

So far I've gotten in everywhere I expected to get in and a few places where I expected a waitlist. Hasn't seemed to have any effect.

[trombone88]

So I asked an academic advisor at my school if my W would be viewed as punitive or non by law schools, and she had no idea what I was talking about, saying (incorrectly of course) that if anything it would be up to the law schools to decide. Would it be safe to say that if an advisor doesn't even have an idea of what the difference is, it is most likely nonpunitive?

[moose]

So I asked an academic advisor at my school if my W would be viewed as punitive or non by law schools, and she had no idea what I was talking about, saying (incorrectly of course) that if anything it would be up to the law schools to decide. Would it be safe to say that if an advisor doesn't even have an idea of what the difference is, it is most likely nonpunitive?

From what I understand, there is a punitive and non-punitive form a withdrawal. A WF (withdrawal- fail) is obviously punitive and a simple W is not. This is my understanding.

[OperaAttorney]

Don't worry about the W's. If they are non-punitive, LSAC will disregard them. The G, however, is a different story. I'm not sure how LSAC treats those, but my guess is that it will count against you. Have you spoken to your adviser about it? I had one of those--the teacher never turned in the grade--and had to get a retroactive withdrawal. Perhaps you can try that.

[moose]

Don't worry about the W's. If they are non-punitive, LSAC will disregard them. The G, however, is a different story. I'm not sure how LSAC treats those, but my guess is that it will count against you. Have you spoken to your adviser about it? I had one of those--the teacher never turned in the grade--and had to get a retroactive withdrawal. Perhaps you can try that.

From what I could tell,..the G does not count against me in terms of GPA. But i'm more concerned about how it looks.

[Teapot]

i don't know for sure, in fact this is a wild ass guess, but i think w's probably matter more if you are a splitter.