Not doing so hot what should I do about my classes.

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We are knee deep in the semester and have until friday to do withdrawals. I have had alot on my plate. I got in some of my classes late, didn't get one of my books until a month later, just recently got my clicker, got lost on campus and had conflicting course schedules. So all in all I haven't been doing well. I have 4 classes, A&P, Medical terminology, Statistics and Psych. The one class I'm doing good in is Psychology. The others have suffered for various reasons.

I was told from Financial Aid that I will not be penalized if I keep at least one class. Also the school only allows 6 W's in your entire career at that school. I have faced the music that I have to retake A&P without a doubt in the summer. With that being said I have a few questions, hopefully someone can help me out.

1. Will the program look at my w's when I apply?

2. Is it better to stay in a course (even though it will affect my gpa) retake it again next semester to keep from getting a withdrawal on my transcript and will my gpa change once I re-take it?

3. What courses the the program look at? Your total gpa or just the pre-reqs for the program? * Medical terminology is not required for the program.

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They WILL look at Ws, but really, would you rather have a C, or a W and an A? I had to withdraw from Anatomy last spring, but I'm much more ready to focus now, so I'm not worried at all. I'm just looking forward to getting great grades from now on.

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It depends; my school is only concerned if the "W" is a "Withdraw/Fail." In that case, WF would affect the GPA. WF means the person had a failing grade when they dropped the class, and it is factored into their GPA as an F.

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Thank so much for the responses. It looks like I'm really in a situation I just tried to withdraw from a few courses and didn't realize there is a hold on my account from immunizations.

Uggghh.. Any advice at this point would help. I don't even know that I can pull a passing grade out of 2 of my classes. I can try but this is not good. Should I procede if I don't have a choice?

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Is it impossible to take care of your immunizations in order to drop? Sometimes county hospitals have better deals for local residents.

Good luck!

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1. Will the program look at my w's when I apply?

2. Is it better to stay in a course (even though it will affect my gpa) retake it again next semester to keep from getting a withdrawal on my transcript and will my gpa change once I re-take it?

3. What courses the the program look at? Your total gpa or just the pre-reqs for the program? * Medical terminology is not required for the program.

Nearly all nursing programs look at w's when you apply, however they put differing amounts of importance to them and look at them in differing ways. Some care which classes are involved, some care about the number of classes dropped, some care about patterns, some don't care much. You should talk to advisors at the schools you are interested in... specifically nursing advisors rather than general advisors.... many times the school of nursing has a different view on this than the school overall.

Generally, it is better to drop a class than to fail it. Generally it is better to get a C or better in a class than to drop it. I think most schools do not a assign a grade to a class that is dropped, therefore it doesn't affect your grade. If you don't drop it, your grade will be factored into your overall gpa. When you retake the class, usually both grades are factored into your overall gpa (as if they were totally different classes). I take classes at two schools, one will replace the old grade with the new grade as far as the school of nursing is concerned. That school of nursing checks that the overall gpa is over the minimum, then doesn't factor that gpa into their decision. They rank applicants based on the "nursing gpa" which is a short list of classes and they count only the last grade recieved for that class. The other school looks at overall gpa and at the nursing gpa and the nursing gpa. The nursing gpa averages every grade recieved for those classes. You will need to check into how your school does it.

If I were you, I would get the immunizations done today and hand carry the proof to where ever it needs to go.

I would make a spreadsheet for each class. I'd lay out the possible points of the class, how many points I've gotten so far, how many are still available to get, and calculate the highest grade it is still mathematically possible to get. I'd also calculate how many points I could miss and still get that grade and how many to get the next lowest grade.

Other factors to consider are which classes have cummulative exams and how much those are worth compared to the nonweighted classes (and how much the coming material builds on past material). Also, how easy a class is for you... if you've been putting most of your study time into ClassA and are still really struggling in that class vs getting the material quite easily when you study it having a poor grade in the class because of how many classes you missed/didn't have the book for.

If it were me, I'd bend over backwards (and have no life - cut back on work hours, prop a notebook up on the counter while I made dinner, live at the science or math tutoring rooms, talk to the professor about how to study effectively for that class, talk to the academic resource center about effective study strategies.....) to save the classes that have a reasonable chance of being saved with such effort. And drop the ones that can't be saved (and put the the time that was going to them into the savable classes).

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Specializes in Oncology/hematology.

Should I procede if I don't have a choice?

I think you answered your own question. If you truly don't have a choice, then you HAVE to proceed.

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Thank you Saysfaa for you advice and input. I did go to the school early this morning to get my immunizations and my hold got released. I was able to drop 2 of the courses that I will be picking up in the Summer...as registration is next Thurs. I can't do anything about the past now so I'm moving forward and striving for those A's. I know what to expect this time. It's been about 11 years since I've been in school and now I know how to manouver around things.

I've done all I can do with the courses. Well I'll have 1 A for sure. LOL :D..And it's a class I need, so hopefully when it's time to actually apply to a program (s). Three or four semesters will have past and this will hopefully be the only time I've had to do this.

Thanks again for the responses.

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If I were you, I would drop the courses you are doing bad in and keep the good one. It will be better to have A's in replace of the W's instead of having D's or C's all across the board. Most nursing schools look at your GPA for just the prerequisites. Also, I wouldn't take any courses that aren't required. Its just adding on to you work load unnecessarily. I would be careful about taking A&P during the summer...I don't know what your school is like but most summer courses are accelerated and A&P is no walk in the park. I was going to take A&P 1 last summer but I ended up dropping it before it was too late to get my money back...The schedule was CRAZY. There was no way I was going to process all that info in such a short amount of time. We had a test every week basically...sometimes 2. I took A&P 1 last fall and I'm soooo glad I took it in a full semester. I ended up getting an A. Save your easy classes like sociology, psych, etc. for the summer.

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