When you hear that someone had to withdraw from a class or is thinking of withdrawing from a class, your initial reaction is that they are probably failing the class, cannot handle the workload, or just do not want to deal with a hard class. But that is not always the case. Withdrawing from a class is perfectly fine, sometimes these things happen and they can for multiple reasons.
Before coming to Monmouth, I attended Brookdale Community College for three years and earned my Associate Degree in Psychology. On my way in doing so, I had to withdraw from two classes early on. Having to withdraw, without a doubt, is one of the worst feelings ever. It is a feeling of thinking you are not enough. But that fear gets better once you realize you had to drop the class to save your GPA, even if it was a total waste of your money.
There are pros and cons to withdrawing from a class or multiple classes, but the cons outweigh the pros. I would be interested to find someone who could tell me otherwise. The pro of withdrawing from a class, the one and only, is dropping the class because it is in the running to ruin your GPA.
The cons of withdrawing from a class make up the rest of this list. To start, if you withdraw from a class, it holds you back from your written track to graduate. Most colleges set their students up on a course track, semester by semester and year by year to graduate on time.
When I was trying to decide on whether or not I should withdraw from a class, the only factor that would force me to make the ultimate decision of doing so was the professor. Two, if you are dropping the class, there is a good chance you and the professor are not getting along because they probably would have attempted to help you at this point (if you have shown up to every class and done the work you have been assigned to).
Three, it is a total waste of money. At Brookdale, you pay per class (or per credit) and at Monmouth, you pay the same price whether you take four or six classes (12-18 credits).
While withdrawing from classes is nothing you should be upset about, the cons are something to consider when you are trying to make the decision on whether you should or not.
Once you have weighed all of your options, in the end, it would be more ideal to waste the money then it would be to fail the class and have your GPA plummet. It only takes one failing final grade to drastically lower your GPA. The better option is withdrawing from the class and having the college put a W on your transcript instead of an F.
For each of you reading this, try to remember that withdrawing from a class is not the end of the world despite what your parents say. The best advice I can give is to work hard and try your best to pass the course as difficult as it might be. Study hard, take mental breaks, gather a study group, and promise yourself that you will pass the class because let’s be honest, you will!
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth University
