What are the ramifications of getting a "W" as an undergrad?

Depends on the course, what the rest of your transcript looks like, and how many other Ws you have. I think I had one and no one asked me about it. But my transcript was interesting enough to beg other questions, I guess.

Personally—it always bothered me when people bailed on a course at the last minute simply because they were doing poorly. I think it’s gaming the system. But do what you gotta do.

What do you plan on doing after undergrad?

grad (and this would be my second). Probably at the same school I’m attending now, to be honest.

Too many W’s and it looks like you drop classes you are failing in as a means of keeping your GPA up.

I had a few and had to give a written explanation when applying elsewhere. They do not look good.

Whats a “W”? eh>?<

Withdrew or withdrawal, depending on the student’s reasons for dropping a course.

Thanks. onwards – well, I kept my classes that I was doing poorly in. just tell people you had a lot of deaths in the family during that period if it comes up. works like a charm every time. and you can use the excuse on nearly every professor, i.e. in order to make up tests and get the grade you want without a W

So, what happens when you have to function in a job, using the skills you obtained (or didn’t) at college?

It depends on the situation; I had a lot of “W”‘s on my transcript for one semester because my mom and close friend both died. It was no problem when applying to grad school. I think overall they don’t really care as long as everything else on your transcript is normal.

@gail, exactly.

Here’s my scoop: I have three jobs. I spend every waking moment I’m not working doing calculus, and I still receive steady sixty percents on my homework. The reason is that I never took Pre Calculus, and though I sometimes am able to get the right answers, I don’t understand how or why. I will have to take calc 2 next semester, as well as a few other classes that need cal 1 as a prereq, and it will be the same deal there, except I’ll be taking five other classes on top of it.

In fact when I talked about how horrible my cal has been in this post, the majority rule was that I should drop it and take precal first (which is now what I want to do). I think it’ll be better in the long run to have a W than a string of C’s and D’s spotting my 3.4 average transcript, and an incomplete understanding of the subject.

Ah! I agree completely. Why did you jump into calc. without precalc? Is it a required course or can you take another math course that you would feel more comfortable with.

What is your major that would require calc 2 (If you think Calculus is hard…)From my experience with college math courses, if you don’t have some intuitive understanding of Integration and Derivation, jump ship.

MY daughter, who was a really gifted language-arts student and a quantitative idiot mediocrity, took “math for dummies” at her University.

I’m actually really good at math, at least I have been in the past. That’s what leads me to blame the whole problem on not having taken precalculus.

I’m actually minoring in computer science, that’s what required the calculus.