Thinking of taking a W - How Will It Affect Apps?
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:27 pm
Hi, all,
I love this site and appreciate the feedback I've gotten before. I am going to graduate this spring with a BS in physics. This fall I am currently taking Classical Mech, Stat Mech / Thermo, and a Math Methods For Scientists (or some such thing), part of a 2 semester series. I also enrolled in a graduate level Classical mech class. That may sound silly now, but my classes so far had been so easy as to be almost boring at my current school, so I thought I'd go ahead with this one, especially after talking to the professor who believed I could do it. Now I am also studying for the physics GRE. Basically I am swamped. The classical mech and stat mech class have turned out to be way more challenging and way more work than I expected and I'm having trouble finding time to study for the physics GREs.
Basically, if my other grades are very good (4.0 since I came back to school as a physics major, somewhere around 3.5 or a little higher overall), will grad schools look down on taking a W and withdrawing from my grad mechanics class? I'd probably have to retake it wherever I went anyway, there's really no reason I need it, I just wanted to challenge myself. I also have two summer REU's, the last one in theoretical particle stuff, and strong recommendations from people at William and Mary and Stanford (I currently am at Virginia Commonwealth University in my hometown, which is obviously not a top-flight physics department). My general GRE's were 800 Quant, 730 verbal.
So, can I withdraw??? I think my time will be better spent on PGRE study and I'm strained to the breaking point as it is. I think programs will understand my heavy schedule.
Thanks.
I love this site and appreciate the feedback I've gotten before. I am going to graduate this spring with a BS in physics. This fall I am currently taking Classical Mech, Stat Mech / Thermo, and a Math Methods For Scientists (or some such thing), part of a 2 semester series. I also enrolled in a graduate level Classical mech class. That may sound silly now, but my classes so far had been so easy as to be almost boring at my current school, so I thought I'd go ahead with this one, especially after talking to the professor who believed I could do it. Now I am also studying for the physics GRE. Basically I am swamped. The classical mech and stat mech class have turned out to be way more challenging and way more work than I expected and I'm having trouble finding time to study for the physics GREs.
Basically, if my other grades are very good (4.0 since I came back to school as a physics major, somewhere around 3.5 or a little higher overall), will grad schools look down on taking a W and withdrawing from my grad mechanics class? I'd probably have to retake it wherever I went anyway, there's really no reason I need it, I just wanted to challenge myself. I also have two summer REU's, the last one in theoretical particle stuff, and strong recommendations from people at William and Mary and Stanford (I currently am at Virginia Commonwealth University in my hometown, which is obviously not a top-flight physics department). My general GRE's were 800 Quant, 730 verbal.
So, can I withdraw??? I think my time will be better spent on PGRE study and I'm strained to the breaking point as it is. I think programs will understand my heavy schedule.
Thanks.