<p>Hello there, I’m a second year Junior/Senior at BYU and have come to the realization right now that this isn’t the place for me, at least not right now. Last semester I wasn’t much of a fan of Provo/BYU (just not the lifestyle or scene for me) but there were a few positives that kept me going and kept me around. This semester those “positives” have fallen by the wayside. My good friend Mike couldn’t take this place anymore and deferred this semester and is cruising the West coast. My other good friend Ashley is getting too caught up in work and ends up unavailable or horribly stressed. The college hockey team ended up being a frustrating joke. As of now, I just feel the need to get out of town and out of school. I really feel like if I stay enrolled my grades will be absolutely miserable as I have no heart or drive any more. </p>
<p>My question then is what would be the effects of completely withdrawing this semester. I would end up with an entire semester’s worth of W’s. I know that can’t look good for graduate schools but would it absolutely demolish my chances of getting into a great graduate school even with a good explanation behind it?</p>
<p>Many thanks,
Jesse</p>
<p>Looks like the term is “discontinuance.” BYU’s policy is to basically apply for discontinuance through paperwork, get professor’s signatures and be done with it. If I officially discontinue within the next week, I will get 70% of tuition back. I can reapply for admission in the Fall. I think that might be a good game plan. Take the rest of this semester off to work and collect my head, work hard over the summer, take some summer school classes perhaps, come back to BYU in the Fall, maybe Winter, do well and transfer.</p>
<p>I would still like to hear if there are any big hidden costs in terms of graduate school requirements I should watch out for. Personally, I will most likely be going into law school and I feel like a great LSAT score (with a solid 3.5+ UG GPA) will make up for any worries they might have.</p>
<p>What is the status of your health insurance? If you are on your parent’s policy will your coverage end when you are no longer a full time student?</p>
<p>Jesse,</p>
<p>If you can withdraw without penalty, as it is not indicated on your transcript, then this would be your best option.</p>
<p>If you feel this is not the place for you, consider transferring now since most of the deadlines for transfer have not passed.</p>
<p>You can also consider just finishing the term and applying for a transfer .</p>
<p>Your transcript is forever. Yes, a flag will be raised when a grad school sees that you have a stirng of withdrawls. You will be asked to explain why this happened. Your response that you cannot take it any more may come across as you not being resilient or just quitting if you think that the going is tough.</p>
<p>Mominva is correct in checking how dropping affects your health insurance as you may lose all coverage once you are no longer a full time student. In addition, check to see if any of your student loans will kick in because some start repayment within 90 days.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up, folks. I will check my parents medical coverage today to see what will or will not happen there. Regarding that it seems like I’m just quitting when the going got tough, it has been pretty tough since I first got here three semesters ago. I was able to get through it by accentuating a few redeemable aspects that exist for me up here but those parts of my life have more or less fallen by the wayside this semester. Beyond that, I do have an LDS mission to worry about in the not too distant future and a withdraw/discontinuance would allow me to work full-time now until the end of the summer which will be very helpful in keeping my mission from being a financial burden on my parents.</p>
<p>Thanks again for the help, I much appreciate it. I will calll my parents to deal with the insurance issue and stop by the student advisement office to see what is left or not left on my transcript with a discontinuance.</p>