Live to Fight Another Day

I‘ve written before about having students withdraw from courses if they aren’t doing well. Making a strategic retreat from courses is often a good idea for students who are struggling. But students often don’t understand that, and neither do their family members.

Think about it. Students who are struggling in a course spend a great deal of time working on those specific courses, often to the detriment of others. I can’t tell you the number of students who decide they have to “dig in” and work harder on courses to pass them who eventually earn a “D” in that course anyway. At the same time, they find that courses in which they were earning “Bs” suddenly fall to “Ds” as well because they weren’t paying attention to them. The tougher course dragged everything down.

Valid Reasons to Withdraw

Fresh U has given 5 Big Valid Reasons to withdraw from a class” I’ll add mine as well. They highlight some of the things I would point out including that a “W” is far better on a transcript than an “F.” This is a hard one for students to swallow, because they’ve heard that graduate schools look askance at “Ws” on transcript. Well, if they have twenty “Ws” that may be true, but having a few sprinkled on a transcript over four years is really no big deal.

Another reason to withdraw that Fresh U highlights is when there is a mismatch between the student and the instructor. These things do happen. I’m not talking about situations where the professor is just tough or stringent: that’s a part of life and of college. What I’m referring to is when professors are teaching in ways that a student simply can’t grasp, no  matter how hard they try. There is no blame to be laid here, but when a student genuinely believes they can’t cut it with one instructor and another might be a better bet, withdrawing from the first course is a good choice.

Equally valid as a reason for withdrawing is with the student is overloaded, either by taking too many courses, or when the combination of courses in which they’re enrolled is too much. One of my students took her math and lab science courses together in one semester, and instead of taking a full load of sixteen credits, took only twelve that semester. She knew herself well enough to know that taking the regular sixteen credit load would have crushed her. Turns out she was right, and she graduated in four years—on time.

Reasons That Aren’t So Valid

Another reason to withdraw that Fresh U talks suggests is to when a student changes majors, particularly in the middle of the semester. I’m not sure about this, primarily because courses still count as credits required for graduation. It doesn’t make sense to withdraw from a course in which the student is performing well just because they change their major. Withdrawing may require students to make up the course credits at some other time, like summer or to overload during a subsequent semester. That makes no sense unless they absolutely have to do so. The only exception is when the student can add another course in its place.

Students may also withdraw from courses if they are part of what is known as general education, and the student really hates the course. Again, this is not a terrible reason, since few specific general education courses are crucial in themselves, though they are a valuable part of the curriculum. On the other hand, withdrawing from a course because you hate it isn’t a good idea if it forces to students to overload later. Toughing it out when they can and when it won’t hurt their GPA builds the kind of resilience that serves students well in college and beyond.

What You Can Do

When your student mentions their desire to withdraw from a course, don’t freak out. Ask them what is driving them to the decision, be it poor performance, a mismatch between teaching and learning styles, or that they hate the course. Help them make the most mature decision that keeps them on track for graduation without undue stress. On the other hand, if your student talks about the stress of the semester, and it’s clear that a single courses is at the root of the trouble, you may suggest withdrawal as a strategic retreat that reduces stress and maintains their good performance in other courses. Sometimes when your student calls, it’s to get support for a decision they’ve already made, or to ask you for some kind of lifeline. So the more you know about the process and about when a withdrawal is a good decision, the better.

Good luck!