Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I started part-time at a community college this summer at the age of 20, and I finished with two As and one C - I had a baby just before the end of the quarter, though, and had a very difficult birth, so that explains my course load and grades. I took the fall quarter off and started again in the winter quarter online as a single parent to a two-month-old, working part-time, but my situation became unstable and I had to move states and take on fulltime employment. So now I am totally swamped with my 16-credit course load and it is simply unsustainable. I tried, but since the move I am getting further and further behind. I need to withdraw or face Cs and Ds and maybe an F.
My goal has always been to transfer into a good engineering program and I'm feeling defeated because I'm worried that my rocky start (iffy grades in a low courseload, a quarter off, followed by a quarter of withdrawals) will shoot my chances. Would my circumstances make any difference to admissions counselors? I feel like if I can just settle down here and get going in my new job I can start again in February with a manageable part-time load and do well. Am I out of luck?
Better to withdraw then have a transcript littered with D's and F's. At most colleges, if you withdraw by the stated deadline, the course will not show up on your transcript when you apply for transfer.
Also, your circumstances would be worthwhile explaining on your applications when you apply for transfer in either an essay or the additional information section of the application. Not all applications ask for an essay or provide room for additional information, but if it is available, I think an admissions office would be interested in knowing how you've preserved despite the challenges of raising a family, and that will help admissions understand why there are some gaps in your attendance. Most colleges will understand and view your determination positively AS LONG AS your grades are good.
Finally, since you are interested in engineering, be sure to continue talking with the counseling staff at your current school about the pre-requisite courses you'll need in order to transfer into an engineering program. Engineering programs often have less flexibility than other majors in terms of meeting requirements before transfer, so be sure to stay on top of what is required .
Hang in there, and keep working hard! Before you know it, you'll reach your goal.
Better to withdraw then have a transcript littered with D's and F's. At most colleges, if you withdraw by the stated deadline, the course will not show up on your transcript when you apply for transfer.
How they look on transcripts is unique to each college in question but in general one W is not bad, a few is cause for concern. Without explanation in the transfer essay[s] it will most likely be assumed that the courses were dropped because the student was failing all of them. Depending on how the student wants to defend the grade in the essay, at least it can be claimed that with the F or D the student still saw the course through to the end. Some schools will view that as fortitude, others, utter stupidity.
So the real question comes down to this: would you rather transfer into the university that values you as a person of character or to one that only cares about your GPA to boost rankings?
MUCH better to withdraw early than stick it out and not do well. When I first went back to CC I had to take Basic Skills Algebra. The prof I got was elderly and the kind of person who may have been brilliant at math but was unable to explain concepts to people who were not. I would ask him to re-explain something I didn't understand, and would be even more confused after and just end up pretending I understood now. So I withdrew after a few weeks, under whatever the deadline was for it not to show, and took it again with a different prof next semester (after asking around) who was more like a kindergarten teacher in her approach, which is exactly what I needed for math. I do not think it is a failure in any sense to recognize a class or professor is not the right fit for you, everyone has different learning styles.
I also did the same thing another semester with Physics. It took a little longer, but I graduated with a 3.96, got into a very competitive university for occupational therapy, and received a $3000 per year scholarship from them for having the highest GPA in the incoming class.
GPA is everything when transferring, regardless of what else they use as well. First and foremost they want to make sure you can hack the program and won't drop out/flunk out, and GPA is one of the most reliable ways for them to know that.
GPA will almost always trump a semester of W's on your transcript. At the end of my first attempt at College I had a horrible drug addicted roommate that had stopped paying all bills and utilities. The only way that I was going to be able to keep my apartment was to work more than fill time. As a result I was either failing or nearly failing all of my classes. Before that I had a 3.7 overall GPA at a top tier research university.
I was actually advised by my counselor to withdraw and save my GPA as a semester of W's can be explained through hardship and you'll still have the positive GPA to show that you were a good student before something that happened beyond your control.
Better to withdraw then have a transcript littered with D's and F's. At most colleges, if you withdraw by the stated deadline, the course will not show up on your transcript when you apply for transfer.
Also, your circumstances would be worthwhile explaining on your applications when you apply for transfer in either an essay or the additional information section of the application. Not all applications ask for an essay or provide room for additional information, but if it is available, I think an admissions office would be interested in knowing how you've preserved despite the challenges of raising a family, and that will help admissions understand why there are some gaps in your attendance. Most colleges will understand and view your determination positively AS LONG AS your grades are good.
Finally, since you are interested in engineering, be sure to continue talking with the counseling staff at your current school about the pre-requisite courses you'll need in order to transfer into an engineering program. Engineering programs often have less flexibility than other majors in terms of meeting requirements before transfer, so be sure to stay on top of what is required .
Hang in there, and keep working hard! Before you know it, you'll reach your goal.
I had one W on my transcript for the one class I withdrew from (too heavy a course load that semester). Not all colleges drop W's from their transcripts.
I had one W on my transcript for the one class I withdrew from (too heavy a course load that semester). Not all colleges drop W's from their transcripts.
It depends when you do it. There's a time period if you drop it early enough that it won't show.
GPA will almost always trump a semester of W's on your transcript. At the end of my first attempt at College I had a horrible drug addicted roommate that had stopped paying all bills and utilities. The only way that I was going to be able to keep my apartment was to work more than fill time. As a result I was either failing or nearly failing all of my classes. Before that I had a 3.7 overall GPA at a top tier research university.
I was actually advised by my counselor to withdraw and save my GPA as a semester of W's can be explained through hardship and you'll still have the positive GPA to show that you were a good student before something that happened beyond your control.
Yep, if you have a really good reason, an entire semester of W grades doesn't mean anything.
I ended up with one of those that just happened to hit at the same time as a major hurricane that trashed my apartment. No one has ever brought it up, and it's likely that no one will ever care. In fact, I doubt anyone will ever look at my grades ever again -- the only thing that matters is that I defended my dissertation and got a nifty title out of it.
Yep, if you have a really good reason, an entire semester of W grades doesn't mean anything.
I ended up with one of those that just happened to hit at the same time as a major hurricane that trashed my apartment. No one has ever brought it up, and it's likely that no one will ever care. In fact, I doubt anyone will ever look at my grades ever again -- the only thing that matters is that I defended my dissertation and got a nifty title out of it.
Exactly. If you have multiple W's every semester it might raise some eyebrows but overall, if you have a solid GPA before that then it won't matter.
I started part-time at a community college this summer at the age of 20, and I finished with two As and one C - I had a baby just before the end of the quarter, though, and had a very difficult birth, so that explains my course load and grades. I took the fall quarter off and started again in the winter quarter online as a single parent to a two-month-old, working part-time, but my situation became unstable and I had to move states and take on fulltime employment. So now I am totally swamped with my 16-credit course load and it is simply unsustainable. I tried, but since the move I am getting further and further behind. I need to withdraw or face Cs and Ds and maybe an F.
My goal has always been to transfer into a good engineering program and I'm feeling defeated because I'm worried that my rocky start (iffy grades in a low courseload, a quarter off, followed by a quarter of withdrawals) will shoot my chances. Would my circumstances make any difference to admissions counselors? I feel like if I can just settle down here and get going in my new job I can start again in February with a manageable part-time load and do well. Am I out of luck?
Thank you so much for responding.
Could you withdraw from some, but not all the courses - maybe drop the ones that are most difficult and keep one or two that you can pull up your grade in?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I do not think it is a failure in any sense to recognize a class or professor is not the right fit for you, everyone has different learning styles.
