I’m a Junior in high school & I chose to take AP Chemistry because I made A’s in chemistry last year. However, my AP Chem teacher became sick, so instead of taking AP Chemistry at my school everyone was placed into chemistry at a community college with a different professor (without our consent). Sadly, my teacher eventually died so we were stuck at the college chemistry class. However, this professor was the worst teacher I have ever come across. And despite going to chemistry tutorials I still failed two tests (80% of our grade) so I decided to drop. And out of 19 students, 14 dropped, which is shocking since this class had a 100% success rate when my AP teacher was teaching it. I plan on taking it again with a different professor and I plan on making an A or at least a B. I’ve always aimed for Ivy League colleges but now I fear that this will hurt my chances of getting in. Despite the fact that I am in the top of my class, that I have studied abroad & founded a club, I fear that this will be too big of a factor that may hurt my chances of getting into the schools I’ve always aimed for.
A single W won’t prevent you from getting into a more competitive school.
you should ask your HS guidance counselor to explain the circumstances surrounding the W in his LOR to colleges, just as you have done above.