Question about dropping a course

[curiously42]

Throughout my undergrad career, I've been ahead of where I need to be - credit-wise - by an entire year.  Because I wanted to make my time here last (I really enjoy college, and didn't want to end up 3 years in only to realize that I've got nothing left to do), I thought it would be a good idea to double major.  Problem is, I could never figure out

Comments

[jennesy]

Which class (or what department is it in?) are you thinking of dropping? Is it even possible at this point in the semester?

What area of Psych do you want to go to grad school for? What sort of career do you want? Psych is really, really broad; the preparation that you have in your undergrad will make a tremendous difference in your options for grad school.

[curiously42]

It's organic chemistry. My main problem with it is that the quizzes and exams aren't in the format that I've studied the material in, which for some reason confuses me to no end. Dropping is possible at any point in the semester; getting a refund is not. It kind of sucks, but I really feel like I'm doing too much - this week for example, goes something like this: exam on Wednesday, lab report due on Wednesday, powerpoint presentation due on Wednesday, paper on Thursday, quiz on Thursday, plus I'm in the pep band, so today and Friday I've got basketball games in the evenings. I don't mean to whine, but I'm having trouble keeping up with it all.

I'm interested in clinical psychology, possibly focusing on child psychology. I don't really see what benefit organic chemistry will be to me there - the rest of my courses involve biology of some sort, which I figure is more relevant, which is another part of why I'm considering dropping this course in particular.

[mbwahl]

Well, I'd say drop orgo. You want your other grades to be good. It's your only W so far, right?

[curiously42]

Yep, this would be my first (and likely only) W.

[freeuglycouch]

How many credit hours are you taking? I wouldn't do it if I were you... unless you're taking an insane number of credits.

[curiously42]

I'm taking 16 credit hours, which is a bit more than average, I guess, but I am in marching band (1 credit), which is 1.5-2 hours a day Tu-F, 3 hours a day on Monday, and more often than not takes up the entirety of Saturday. So while the number of credit hours I'm taking may not be insane, the amount of time I devote to those credits is much higher than said number...which feels insane to me.

[ravenword]

I think one W on a transcript outside your major won't hurt you too much. If you feel like it's something you really need to do, do it and the transcripts be damned. You can spin it that you wanted to put more of your focus on psych stuff because that matter to you the most.

I find it hard to believe that there's anyone who isn't totally enthralled by classical history, but, different strokes for different folks. ;-) (neuroscience major, classics minor -- now THERE are two areas with zero overlap).

I have one W from a calculus class. I didn't need it for anything I was doing later, and so unless I made a stellar grade it wasn't worth the extra work I was doing for the class. I was making around a B, so I dropped.

[blastulababe]

I assume that it's too late to Pass/Fail the orgo, right? If not, that can be a good option - you don't need to spend anywhere near the same amount of time. But it may be too late in the semester for that.

[shaydlip]

I had a W on my transcript from junior year. No one seemed to care/notice.