Being a student at a university entails a lot of responsibilities in addition to the fun and excitement college campuses have to offer. Some decisions are harder to make than others. I’ve found that one of the toughest decisions I had to make was deciding whether or not to drop a course with a “W” midway in the semester. Since that date is coming up for University of Maryland students soon, I thought that this would be an appropriate topic to address.
For those not aware, the last day to drop a course with a “W” at the University of Maryland is on Wednesday, November 9th for the fall semester.
I have been in this particular situation twice; in one case I went ahead and followed through with the drop, and in the other case I decided to just grit my teeth and ride it out. Turns out I made the right call in both instances. The course I actually decided to drop was a statistics course that I had been taking at a community college. At that time, I wasn’t mentally ready for the mathematical concepts, which was one of the main reasons that led me to drop the course.
When I revisited the subject two years later to fulfill my major’s mathematical requirement, I breezed by with an A. I can’t really say that there is a logical explanation for this, but for some reason everything just made a lot more sense my junior year than it did when I was a freshman. The other course I was debating on dropping was my junior English course. The professor I had was extremely dry and again, it was not an easy course.
However, I decided to stick to it because my biggest reason for wanting to drop the course had been that I regretted not taking the “easier” professor who supposedly gave the “lighter” course load. I ultimately decided that it wasn’t a very valid reason—I received a B in that course.
For those of you also considering dropping your courses, my advice to you is to weigh your decision carefully, especially if you’re planning on pursuing graduate school or a job that requires you forward them a copy of your college transcript during the interview process. Having one or two W’s on record is forgivable; having numerous instances, however, not so much.
That being said, if you find that you are having great difficulties, and you’re confident about getting better grades another semester, then it’s probably okay, though not necessarily an ideal option. If you find that your reasons are superficial, however, like wanting a different professor or wanting to take the course at the same time as your friends for example, then I would advise against the drop.
Regardless of what you decide, as always I would like to advise that you not make any hasty decisions, as the staff here at Her Campus promotes making healthy, informed choices. Well, until next time then, ladies!