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Hello! I am currently sending in all of my graduate school applications. Most programs I am applying to are within the California State University system. I have a 3.70 GPA and been pretty involved in honor societies, club, and other organizations during my four years. I just wanted to know if a "W" (withdraw) impacts your chances of getting into graduate school? I am finding myself contemplating withdrawing myself from this one course (taking it for fun and is not a requirement) and after the professor made some discriminatory remarks and has been unfairly grading my work (my classmates and I have done the same work) I don't feel comfortable being in the class anymore as well as jeopardizing my GPA I worked hard to keep up. Just looking for some advice/to hear some stories. This would be my first (and only) withdrawal. Did you face challenges having a withdrawal on your transcript? Am I over-thinking? Thank you in advance!

I have 3.67 GPA at Rutgers in Materials Engineering and I plan on going to UConn for a masters in Mechanical Engineering since my job after graduation is more aerospace and mechanical engineering ( I am working for Pratt & Whitney) and I am more interested in the crossovers between MechE and MSE. However I have some W's on my transcript. One was a Matlab course my freshmen year I took that I hated and dropped a week after the withdrawal deadline (wasn't needed for my major). Another was during my junior year when I did a full time internship and this was an elective in industrial engineering for systems and reliability engineering. The course was in the evening but at a horrible time after work and I disliked it by the middle of the semester and I didn't have an interest in the material anyway. I also withdrew from 2 major classes because of courseload problems one semester my senior year but I took them the next semester and got an A in both. I dropped a graduate level MSE class in thermo recently because the course subject matter was dry (I don't like phase diagrams and chemical thermo too much) so I dropped it; I took the class originally to see if I would like MSE at the graduate level despite my career path moving towards mechanical engineering just to get a feel for things. I anticipate doing well on the GRE and I can have many letters of recommendation. Will these W's hurt my chances of being accepted into the UConn engineering masters program?

Hey everyone, I am applying next fall to Econ PhDs, shooting for something in the top 15. I had a 3.8 in undergrad in International Affairs - although had a B+ in a Principles of Macro class, and I'm finishing up a Master's in Development Economics with a 3.9 including a few A+'s in upper level theory and econometrics classes. 95th percentile quant GREs. About 2 years of solid RA experience and an internship at a leading development research group. My math backround is as follows: A in Calc for Business and Economics (UG), As in several statistics courses (UG), A in Elementary Linear Algebra (UG), A in Introduction to Formal Methods (UG), A- in Real Analysis (Graduate), A- in Math for Economists (Graduate). I decided to take Calc III this semester despite never really going through the normal calc sequence to try to check the calc box for admissions committees, and the class is killing me!!! I think that there is a very small chance I'll get anything more than a C. My question is how much would a W hurt my application? Given time and money constraints I won't be able to take another calc class before its time to apply next fall. Thanks for any advice you have.

Hi All, I have a question for those who may have experience regarding withdrawls and PhD admissions. I continued from undergrad into a Master's program with the intention of taking a semester of coursework in order to beef up the PhD applications (English/Lit) I'm currently working on. However, doing so made me realize that I need a break, and the burn out has not only made me consider postponing my applications, but withdrawing from the courses I'm currently enrolled in. While the semester's end is only a few weeks away, there still remains the seminar papers I'll need to submit by December, and my ideas just aren't coming. That said, my concern is with the way these "W"'s could be perceived by future graduate programs -- that is, my first attempt at graduate work ending in a withdrawal. If ever I have to submit these transcripts, all anyone will see is two "W"'s. Could this negatively impact my chances for admission in the future? Has anyone been in this situation?

Hello everyone! I am in the second semester of my first year of my Master's degree (MS in Exercise Physiology, graduating in May 2018). I got a bad concussion at the end of my first semester (November 2016). I'm still having really bad symptoms (dizziness, nausea, trouble concentration, problems spelling and typing, etc.) I am taking 9 hours (3 classes, full-time). I had a 4.0 my first semester. I am working with a concussion doctor. Two of my classes are pretty easy for me to keep up. In one class, all of our work is outside class (presentations worked on outside of class, our exams are essays we have a week to do, etc) and it is only once a week for 2.5 hours. My second class is a sports psychology class. Most of our grade is based on our psychology papers (done outside of class) and we have many assignments we do outside of class to prepare for class discussion. We have 2 exams, but they are mostly essay based and I am getting extended time if necessary (I have not taken the first exam yet). My third class.... I'm struggling. I know all of the information, but I am having so much trouble concentrating (due to migraines and nausea) and retaining information that I didn't do well on my first exam. I also was having trouble trying to understand the questions on the exam (confusion due to concussion). About 80% of our grades are exams in this class. I know the professor well (I had him twice in undergrad) so I... basically cried in his office about how frustrated and sick I am. He basically said that there is no shame in withdrawing and that I should not ruin my GPA because I was not able to keep up with the work. Thankfully, the second exam is not until before the withdrawal date. He is willing to let me take the exam by myself and give me extra time if necessary. If I don't do well enough to salvage my grade, I can withdrawal. I'm worried because I want to apply to PhD programs (Ohio State being my #1). I'm worried about how bad a W would look... I don't know if it would be better to finish out the class and take the grade I get.. I don't know. I'm just really anxious about having a W. Any advice would be appreciated!!

Can anyone please help me with this question? (the second part of the question)What happens when a person decides to withdraw or becomes distressed part-way through the focus group and what are the procedures in place to allow withdrawal in front of others so it does not negatively impact on the participant? In other words, how can a participant leave in front of the other participants without judgement i suppose? I really can't seem to get my head around the issue. I've searched other journals for inspiration but there seems to be no way of doing it other than making sure the participant is well informed beforehand.