The Misunderstood “W”
by Dr. Dean William Bisese
In over 30 years of advising students, one misunderstood transcript notation stands apart from others in my mind. The often dreaded and misunderstood “W” or “Withdrawal” mark. Poor thing: it is maligned by students across campuses everywhere. Students often have a misguided perspective about what it is and what it means. In short—if you don’t want to read any of the rest of this essay—it just means a student withdrew from a course after attending it for a substantial amount of time during a semester. It has no relevance to GPA and carries no “weight.” It’s a record notation. Alone, it’s a big nothing.
If you are still reading, here’s more:
A ”W” carries no academic weight. It does not affect a GPA. In fact, given the choice between a “W” and a “F,” how many students would choose to have the “F” grade appear on their transcript? Think of it as a get out of jail free card. No harm, no foul. Keep in mind uncompleted credits/courses in a semester may result in a change of academic planning for an on-time graduation. And, in rare cases, not completing a certain amount of credits might affect financial aid. But, again, the “W” versus a “F”? It’s a no brainer.
Students might argue, “But it looks bad on my transcript!” No, it doesn’t. A “W” here or there means nothing. Think about it: how many people do you think ever actually look over a student’s transcript? Your employers? I highly doubt most employers ever check out the grades on a transcript. If anything, when they do a background check during a job search, they’ll only be confirming that you earned the degree listed on a transcript. Most just don’t care about your grades, and they certainly don’t care about “W” marks. The degree is the thing.
So, should a student ever be concerned? They may be one case in which “W” grades (and I mean a multiple numbers of them) might raise a question. It has to do with graduate schools. If I am an admissions officer for a graduate school, or a professor who does review a transcript for an applicant to my department, I might question the reason for multiple “W” grades. For instance, if I see a “W” each semester on a student’s academic history, I may wonder if a student can finish what they commit to. My concern about that student might be if they will finish their graduate work in a timely manner, or does a student have deeper issues surrounding not being able to complete what they commit to. Graduate programs want students in and out; they don’t want a graduate student spending too much time trying to get through a program. Multiple “W” marks may just beg the question, “Why? What was going on?” They don’t instantly disqualify a student from graduate study.
But why this mark on a transcript? It’s all has to do with accurate academic histories. It may be interesting for you to understand how administrators at an institution reflect upon their work and effectiveness as a whole. Each semester, a review of the number of courses offered, the number of students attending those courses, and the “earned” credits awarded for each class might be assessed. When a student earns a regular grade of A-F, clear information can be gathered on a large scale about what’s going on at the classroom level and how the institution is doing in educating and awarding degrees in a timely fashion. However, what happens when a student engaging in a class, and later finds out that they cannot complete the class successfully? Or they find they simply signed up for too many courses in a semester? How does the institution track and assess that? Those are “unearned” credits. Luckily, most colleges allow for a “W” (withdrawal) from a course. Sometimes there are limits in a given semester to how many a student can have; sometimes there are not. But, as far as the administration (and Registrar—they keep the records for everyone) is concerned, the “W” simply means for whatever reason, a student did not complete a course they started. It’s a placeholder feeding any data review. And it is a marker for the transcript, an academic “history.” The University must post the “W” mark to give a full account of a student’s academic work and attempts at work.
So, there you go. Tell your friends. A “W” is a big nothing to worry about. Use it wisely, and you’ll go far!