So in my younger years (when I was 18, 19...Im 32 now). I bounced between 3 schools because it was really hard to get classes in my area. Anyways, I would get on the waiting list at all three schools for the same classes and which ever opened up is where I would go.
Well i just pulled my transcripts from all thress school and almost fell over when I discovered I have not one, not two but 22 W's on my record. Apperently some of the classes that I was waitlisted for the teached actually added me to the class (even though I was not there on the first day of class...got in the same class at another school). Since I was enrolled int he class and actually ever attened (not even one day) at the end the teachers dropped me and gave me W's....
I am freaking out here. Will 22 W's screw me for the nursing program? My GPA across all school is a 3.2 but those w's look AWFUL!!!! I have no idea what to do. I thought about calling the school to see if I could get them removed but they are from almost 12 years ago...
Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.
As former faculty, If you were on the waitlist I would have expected you to show up for the first day, that;s when you would find out if someone had dropped the class!!! They may also have automatically enrolled you since you had requested the class and were waitlisted. Also in some universities unless you officially drop or withdraw from a class whether even if you never showed up for a class, then they can assign a grade of either F or W, W if the faculty withdrew you for never attending. If the class was paid for thru financial aid then they can not withdraw you, but give a failing grade. I taught nursing for 9 years, we had students that deciding not to go to nursing school and never bothered to let the school know!! Gee we held a spot for them, can only take 48 each semester and people would not let us know they had changed their mind. I had one student move away after the first semester and not tell anyone, she also took a spot that could have been given to a returning student. I would have to say it was your responsibility to notify the professor/the registrar/someone that you would not need the class since you got in somewhere else. Did it occur to you that someone else was possible turned away that was lower on the waitlist???? Why did you not let them know to take you off the waitlist? You did this 22 or more times and it never occurred to you to take the courtesy of letting someone know???Every school has their own policy. I don;t know how Ws could even be calculated into the GPA.
As former faculty, If you were on the waitlist I would have expected you to show up for the first day, that;s when you would find out if someone had dropped the class!!! They may also have automatically enrolled you since you had requested the class and were waitlisted. Also in some universities unless you officially drop or withdraw from a class whether even if you never showed up for a class, then they can assign a grade of either F or W, W if the faculty withdrew you for never attending. If the class was paid for thru financial aid then they can not withdraw you, but give a failing grade. I taught nursing for 9 years, we had students that deciding not to go to nursing school and never bothered to let the school know!! Gee we held a spot for them, can only take 48 each semester and people would not let us know they had changed their mind. I had one student move away after the first semester and not tell anyone, she also took a spot that could have been given to a returning student. I would have to say it was your responsibility to notify the professor/the registrar/someone that you would not need the class since you got in somewhere else. Did it occur to you that someone else was possible turned away that was lower on the waitlist???? Why did you not let them know to take you off the waitlist? You did this 22 or more times and it never occurred to you to take the courtesy of letting someone know???Every school has their own policy. I don;t know how Ws could even be calculated into the GPA.
You mean to tell me you don't find it a little odd that a teacher would DROP a no show student only to enroll another student from the waiting list who was also not there?? I would think that a smart teach would go down the wait list and call off names and only admit students who were actually there...that just seems like common sense to me.
What the point of a college have a no show policy if they are going to drop one absent student only to replace them with another student who is not there?
First of all, I don't believe that a grade of 'W' is not calculated into an overall GPA. If your GPA, in spite of having 22 'W's on your record is still a 3.2, then I'd say you really have very little to worry about. Have you been going to classes and getting good grades for at least the past year or two? If so, I'd say that would prove to any admission committee that you're serious about pursuing a career in nursing. Do you have an opportunity to write an entrance essay? You might mention in there some place that in spite of your erratic transcripts, you're serious about starting the journey to becoming an RN, and show them that through your past few years' course work.
Second of all, I think it's a little crazy that your school enrolled you in a class that had a wait list and that YOU'D be responsible for notifying the professor you'd found a class elsewhere. Why is it your responsibility as a student to assume you have a place in the course if no one notifies you to tell you so? It sounds to me like someone at your college dropped the ball and never called to let you know that a) a space in the class opened up and b) they were expecting you'd take the space or c) they wanted to know if you were still interested. That's usually how a wait list works. I respectfully disagree with the former instructor who commented above that it's YOUR responsibility.
You mean to tell me you don't find it a little odd that a teacher would DROP a no show student only to enroll another student from the waiting list who was also not there?? I would think that a smart teach would go down the wait list and call off names and only admit students who were actually there...that just seems like common sense to me.
What the point of a college have a no show policy if they are going to drop one absent student only to replace them with another student who is not there?
From what I know of the colleges around here, especially CCs, their waitlists are electronic and professors are not the ones that determine said waitlists. They don't determine who gets in the waitlists.
It's different at my four-year university, but that's how it was at the CC I went to. And if you didn't make it off the waitlist, you had to show up in person and get a piece of paper signed to add (but those on the waitlist had first priority).
Well met with the nursing department at one of the schools today and we went over all my transcripts. I was basically told that W's count as repeats and if the school does not accept a repeat then the W' count. So I was told today that because I got a W in an english class (which is a pre-req for this schools nursing program) even though it was 12 years ago and my transcripts show I was also enrolled that SAME semester at a different school in the SAME class and completed it with an A, because the W counts as one attempt I am disq from EVER applying to their program. Ironically none of the W's I had were in any of my math or science class however this school is the ONLY school in CA that actually counts English as a core pre-req. Sad part is this was my #1 choice school....
And for those of you in Ca...the school is Cerritos College....so if you are applying there and have attempted English, A&P or Micro and either got a W or didn't pass, don't even bother applying.
I think is is RETARDED to penalize someone for a class they took 12 years ago...and of course this school does not have a 5 year cut off on pre-reqs....so you can have an A&P class from 20 years ago and as long as you passed your good and don't have to repeat it. Have a W in English form 12 years ago and an A in English at the same time and your screwed for life.
In another twist of irony....My financial fee waver got added late so I was not able to pay my fee's for the class I just enrolled in last week for the Fall semester. I logged in to pay them today and discovered all my classes had been dropped.....WONDERFUL...the first time I actually need them to NOT drop me they do....would have been nice to have been dropped for non-payment the other 22 times. I just can't win...FML
Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.
It was up to the registrar's office, they determined who got the next spot on wait lists, not the teacher, so yeah it would have been your responsibility to notify someone that you no longer needed the class, this is in response to the OP commenting why a teacher would give a spot to a student that did not show for the first day of class, since students register electronically, the wait list is electronic as some classes are all online, there is no way for me to know if a student has changed their mind, hence the responsibility on the student to inform the college they do not need the wait list.
I just can't win...FML
sailornurse
1,231 Posts
As former faculty, If you were on the waitlist I would have expected you to show up for the first day, that;s when you would find out if someone had dropped the class!!! They may also have automatically enrolled you since you had requested the class and were waitlisted. Also in some universities unless you officially drop or withdraw from a class whether even if you never showed up for a class, then they can assign a grade of either F or W, W if the faculty withdrew you for never attending. If the class was paid for thru financial aid then they can not withdraw you, but give a failing grade. I taught nursing for 9 years, we had students that deciding not to go to nursing school and never bothered to let the school know!! Gee we held a spot for them, can only take 48 each semester and people would not let us know they had changed their mind. I had one student move away after the first semester and not tell anyone, she also took a spot that could have been given to a returning student. I would have to say it was your responsibility to notify the professor/the registrar/someone that you would not need the class since you got in somewhere else. Did it occur to you that someone else was possible turned away that was lower on the waitlist???? Why did you not let them know to take you off the waitlist? You did this 22 or more times and it never occurred to you to take the courtesy of letting someone know???Every school has their own policy. I don;t know how Ws could even be calculated into the GPA.