Transfer admission committees at Ivy’s and other highly competitive schools are going to assume the W was most likely for one of the three reasons you don’t want to convey, unless you give them a really plausible excuse.
the third reason you are considering is not advisable as there will be kids applying who took more classes that were more challenging than those you took.
the second reason raises the question “and you didn’t realize that before the drop deadline?”
the first reason you want to give will make them just think you’re taking summer classes to make up for the class you weren’t doing well in and dropped.
I’d say, either don’t mention it at all on your application and let them think whatever they want, or come up with a really good explanation that made continuing in the class impossible. Something on the order of a research opportunity that had a time conflict with the withdrawn class, or a paying job that you needed for financial reasons. But, you’d have to be able to back either one up.
@tdy123
Well I’m taking the summer classes because I’m interested in the topics they cover, and that was actually mentioned in one of my professor recommendations so I don’t think they’d assume the worst on that.
And they should know I’m not dropping the course due to a poor grade because I submitted it on my Mid-Term Report with a B (not great, but I don’t think they’d assume I would drop a course due to that grade).
At this point either I have to stay in the course or, if I’m dropping it, I have to inform the schools because otherwise it could be grounds for rescinding an acceptance. Unfortunately I don’t have reasons for dropping the course as compelling as the ones you mention, so I assume you would advise that I don’t drop the course at all? I have two days to make the decision.
Let me see if I’ve got this right: You’ve already been accepted, with a B on your mid-term report, for transfer admissions to a school you want to transfer to.
You don’t want a B on your transcript (grad admissions? med school? law school?) and want to withdraw from the class.
If you withdraw, you “have to inform the schools because otherwise it could be grounds for rescinding an acceptance.”
So, if I’m reading this right, the excuse, or explanation is something you “want” to use, but is not required and has no bearing on whether you will be rescinded, and that you are only at risk of being rescinded if you withdraw without notification?
If that is the case, then don’t worry about an explanation and just inform them that you are withdrawing.
If a poor explanation can possibly result in being rescinded, then stay in the class, take the B (which you said they’ve already seen) and move on.
@Groundwork2022
I’m a freshman in college applying as a sophomore transfer applicant, and dropping the course would bring me from 15 credits down to 12, which still meets the minimum requirement for both my current institutions and the schools I’m applying to as a transfer.
@tdy123
No, that is not the situation and sorry for not making it clear. I am an applicant who has not been accepted yet, and I just submitted the Mid-Term Report as part of my application with this course on it. I would still have to notify them if I withdrew from a class for if they accepted me based on the current information but then saw that I had withdrawn from the class after submitting the report, that would be grounds for rescinding an admissions offer (I called the admissions offices and this is basically what they’ve told me themselves).
But still, they have already seen the B so I suppose I might as well not withdraw from the class. I will just try my best to raise it to a B+ and settle for the B if that’s how it turns out. While withdrawing from the course could weaken my application, it would save my 4.0 GPA at my current school should I not get into any of these transfer schools (which is a highly plausible outcome). So that’s part of my consideration.
@Groundwork2022
I had a B at the time of the midterm report, it has since slipped to a high B- (82%) but with research and homework points it is still low B range. I would have to do extraordinarily well on the remaining exams to end up with anything higher than a B.
I’d rather see a B, or even a B-, than a W on a transcript.
There was a poster on these boards, a parent of a girl taking a dual enrollment class at a college 20-30 minutes away. She liked the class and was doing well. However the commute proved to be a hassle in terms of her other classes and high school life. She withdrew, but her college professor wrote a note testifying she was getting an A and the reasons for the withdrawal were beyond her control. I’m repeating this story to demonstrate what a “really good reason” for a withdrawal looks like, and to illustrate that substantiation of your reasons helps.
@Groundwork2022
Thanks for that anecdote, that is a good example of what adcoms would consider to be a compelling reason for dropping a course. Looks like I will have to cut my losses and stay in the class. If I work my tail off and get lucky I could end up with a B+, which I’d be more than happy with. Even a B would be fine. At this point the transfer schools have already seen the B on my midterm report, so sending them an update explaining why I dropped the course would just serve to further damage my application.