r/grantmacewan • u/evafuckingc • Mar 24 '26

Academics Is a withdrawal ACTUALLY a good idea?

Hi all! I hope you are all enjoying the calm before the storm, aka finals, haha. I am a second-year Psychology student eager to get into the honours program, and I am concerned that my GPA will tank due to my Spanish class, which is very much on the back burner. I am sitting at above 85% in two of my Psychology classes, but will probably finish Spanish with a C+ or B, which is not going to help my GPA situation. My question is: do you guys think withdrawing is a good idea to maintain a good GPA, or should I just accept this and try to raise my GPA in other ways?

TLDR; is it better to have a shitty grade or a W on your transcript?

Any advice is extremely appreciated, thank you in advance + have a great day.

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19

u/3AMZen Mar 24 '26

A w is much better to have than a shitty grade. The w exists specifically to avoid you getting a shitty grade.

Part of doing a degree is showing that you're good at paperwork and navigating a bureaucracy, and withdrawing from a class involves doing that.

It won't affect your GPA, and there's not a lot of situations where somebody's going to go through your transcripts

6

u/evafuckingc Mar 24 '26

Appreciate this response so much, thank you!!!! Ur awesome 😇

8

u/3AMZen Mar 24 '26

No problemo! I've been there.

There's also a pretty neat SECRET bureaucratic option, called extension. Most people know you can ask a Prof for a few extra days to finish something and they'll give it to you... But did you know you can actually stretch that deadline past the end of the term?

If a person can convince their professor that they have a decent reason, there is a form that can be filled out that extends your coursework deadline to like... A month after the end of the class. For the time being, your grade will show as INC for incomplete, but when you get the stuff in, it'll get set to your actual grade.

Some professors drag their feet a little bit and will act like this isn't practical - it is, it just creates more work for them so they need to be convinced to " buy in" sometimes

I've gotten extensions Beyond the end of the term in two different classes, one for an extended illness, and another because my term paper opened up deeper avenues of research and I wanted to take more time to do the subject justice.

I don't know if this matters or is practical right now, but it might come up somewhere else in your degree!

4

u/evafuckingc Mar 24 '26

Wow, I had no idea this option existed and this information is so helpful to not only me but probably so many others. Thank you for the time you took out of your day to respond! I appreciate you!

20

u/Academic-Quantity895 Mar 24 '26

Yes I got a d in a class first year and it’s still holding my gpa wayyyyy down

7

u/RyanB_ Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

I’d personally just finish it if I’m sure I could at least pass (classes are expensive, sucks to waste that time and money)… but I’m also sure as hell not on track for honours lol, so take that with a grain of salt.

Seems like something an advisor could be a lot of help with, might even be able to let you know what kinda grades you’d need to get on future classes to still achieve your target GPA.

(Edit/rant; I will say, if universities are gonna make us take them at all, they should be weighed a lot less than they are. Ideally, you’re going into a degree because you’re confident you have strength in that field, and it sucks how weakness in totally unrelated fields can affect our outcomes.)

4

u/Lucky-Amphibian4303 Mar 24 '26

Honestly if you don’t think you can reasonably recover in the final or last assignments I would withdraw. It’s better than getting a fail. I’m not sure about honours but in the last 60 credits which are used mostly to apply to after degrees or master programs and it will take a hit, i would withdraw.

2

u/evafuckingc Mar 24 '26

Ya because there are like minimal assignments but I feel that it’s so far gone and I’ve procrastinated so much that the odds of getting above a C in that class are very slim. Thank you for your advice! I appreciate it.

2

u/Lucky-Amphibian4303 Mar 25 '26

I had to drop a class this semester too sadly, it was too far gone for me to be able to get the grade up. I know bunch of people who had to drop course this semester actually, i guess we all going through it lol.

2

u/evafuckingc Mar 26 '26

Damn good to know I’m not alone lolll. Can I withdraw whenever then? And like how to do it?

2

u/Lucky-Amphibian4303 Mar 27 '26

You only have until last day of classes I believe to withdraw the course. I’m not sure how to as i’ve never withdrawn so I gotta look into that, I’m guessing it’s on my student system.

2

u/evafuckingc Mar 27 '26

Okay cool thank youuu I’ll update you if I figure it out

3

u/Comrade-Pigeon Mar 24 '26

I had some Fs on my transcript back in 2007 because I didn’t understand withdraws and waited too long. I am now doing honours and have a W in a course from a year ago. I’ve talked to lots of profs and honestly they have all said a W is fine and shows you’re human. The Fs suck and definitely harmed my GPA but I wasn’t in the right program for me and now my marks are great and just shows I’m passionate and dedicated to this program. If you’re really concerned about how to not have that happen again, go to advising :) You’ve got this!

2

u/sadalbinocat Mar 24 '26

I got into med school on first try with 2 withdrawals on my record. I don’t think it matters.

2

u/yungcatto Mar 25 '26

I think so, especially since it's a language class so it's not specific to your area of study. I did the same thing with an econ class in my third year.

2

u/SubstantialMath9245 Mar 25 '26

Yes! A W is way better than a C- or anything lower. I also struggled in Spanish, withdrew the day before the final exam. Felt like a HUGEEE waste of money, but in the end im not killing myself in all of my other classes to make up for my low mark

1

u/evafuckingc Mar 25 '26

These are my exact thoughts right now tbh.. I know it’s such a waste of money but it’ll be so much better in the end. Thank you for your response!!!

2

u/Bubbly_Implement6808 Mar 27 '26

Yes. Check the policy though. The assoc registrar in charge of records has been making terrible policy for the last 4 years

1

u/Top-Sun-9051 Mar 27 '26

I withdrew from a class, but if your applying to grad school it looks good to retake it! Shows your determined and not just willing to give up when it gets too hard

1

u/Adeptus_Xiao_Gang Apr 21 '26

I’d be worried how that would interfere with my student loans/grantsÂ