Advice on Dropping Courses Strategically

[Account6567]

Edit: What I mean is I can still drop the courses without it being considered late withdrawal- If I do, it disappears from my transcript as if I was never enrolled in the first place.

Hi all,

The final date to drop classes is coming up at my school and I'm a bit unsure what to do. Right now I'm taking 6 courses, of which 2 I'm struggling with and 3 I'm doing well (basically expected Bs vs. As) and the last one I have to take regardless. Anyway, I heard this semester is really important grade-wise, so I could be strategic and drop courses to take next semester instead without graduation issues. If I drop one (taking the normal 5 class courseload), I need to take 6 courses next semester. If I drop both, then I'd need likely 7 next semester (off chance I can get into a class that counts for both programs but I doubt it). So, I was wondering first of all, am I correct that graduate schools strongly consider first semester of senior year? I'll be submitting my applications mostly in mid-December before the grades come out (humanities graduate schools), so I'm not completely sure that that's correct. And then, if this is true, any recommendations on whether I should be dropping one or both courses? I'd like to drop one if first semester grades are considered since I'd still be doing a normal courseload anyways and the extra class really adds to my amount of work. That said, I was unsure if it'd look bad if I drop both given I'd only be taking 4 classes, especially as it's something I did last year as well- I entered school with AP credit and took full courseloads my first 2 years. Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[fuzzylogician]

My $.02: grad schools do look at fall grades if they are submitted, so you want to keep them decent. But if you are going to submit your applications before the semester ends and you aren't planning on submitting new transcripts later (and if the schools don't ask for that, which I assume is the case), then there isn't much of a point in worrying about these grades in particular. Keep in mind that as an undergraduate student, if you get admitted, you'll likely get a conditional acceptance, with the requirement that you show final transcripts before you start a graduate program. Those can sometimes (but I would say, not often) come with some GPA requirement. Which is to say, it's not like you can completely slack off in your last semester. 

This all said, I would be inclined to suggest dropping one class to keep the grades in the others up, and hoping that you can find classes with a reasonable workload in the spring. If you do get a conditional acceptance, ask if there are any particular requirements of the last semester/year, so you're not worrying overmuch. It's very likely that you just need to make it through and nothing more, but you should make sure of that.