Drop a class yes or no?

Question

My friend in my Theology class asked me a few days ago for advice if he should drop a class from his schedule. He said if he drops a class he will still be a full time student but this one class will bring his GPA down because he said he has "a messed up teacher from hell", How does dropping a class in college work? and should he drop this class because he showed me his first semester transcript and it was pretty impressive except for one class. He said he dont wanna make the same mistake twice so he needs my advice. I said go talk to your advisor he said I will but i need your advice just in case.I said what classes your taking and what grades are you gonna get. Global Studies A- or A, Speech B+ or A- Theology A- or A and English B- or B and his class from hell Discover New York which he said he might get a C+ or even lower like in the D range. What should he do? Any suggestions?
P.S Joe, hope you dont get mad.

Answer 1

Dropping a class when you're overloaded is absolutely acceptable and will cause no permanent damage to your transcript.

If you feel guilty about dropping a class, you're creating more stress than you need. Go ahead and drop the class and take it when you don't have a heavy load.

Answer 2

I usually found that dropping classes is a good idea if you know for a fact you will be getting a bad grade. However, in college these days (I went to a US University so it may differ if you go to overseas ones) there is a cut off time to when you can drop classes.

Talking to the advisor is nice, and will put you in some what of a persspective but a few things you shoudl consider.

1. Even though dropping this class will still consider you a full time student will you have to take an extra load in the future to cover this drop?

2. Is this class necessary for your major?

After considering these 2 things, if the class is not crucial to your major and will not affect you in the long run I suggest you stay until your first quiz/mini-exam/exam depending on when the cut off for dropping classes are and see how you do. Although the prof might be from hell and back the material maybe genuinely interesting and suit you. If that is the case then keep the class. But if D is the best you can do I suggest you get out ASAP and pick up a new course or just have 1 less class to worry about. This way you have more time to your self and not be in such a rush when finals come around the corner...if all else fails claim mental depression. That gets you out of classes after the cut of (use in sever cases only)

If you need the class for your major. Just bite the bullet and hope for the best.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

First of all, he needs to know what the "drop date" is at his school. For us, there is a date by which you can drop with a W, and it is past. Now, if you drop, you get a WF, which means that you dropped the class with an F. This would NOT look better on his transcript than would an F. Secondly, your friend needs to know that it is a poor idea to accumulate Ws on the transcript. It is obvious to anyone who looks at a transcript with a lot of Ws on it what was going on, and it wouldn't help him if he plans to drop classes each time he has trouble. Having said that, we've all had the "messed-up teacher from hell", and if it starts to drag his other grades down, that is when you make a decision to drop a class. Thirdly, if he does drop the class, he should have a plan for making up the units, or he won't graduate on time (I know it seems like a long way off, but...). Will he retake the class in summer school, or take an extra course next Fall? There is no absolute answer, and your advice to talk to his advisor was absolutely the correct one, but I hope this helps.

Answer 4

well he could drop it and retake it another semester that way it wont show up as a dropped class..or he could just drop it but keep in mind that a lot of dropped classes does NOt look good

Answer 5

i dropped a class in college not so long ago if you friend wants to he can take a fast track course and get that instead.