Withdrawals on Transcript
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02 Apr 2021, 10:58
Hi,
I'm planning to apply for MBA programs either this year or next and would like to ask for some advice on how to handle Ws(Withdrawals) on my undergraduate transcript. I think my GPA is about average (3.67) but I have too many withdrawals on my transcript. I have 4 Ws in total here and there and three of them are business-related courses such as supply chain and data analytics. I was an ECON major and took some business courses as electives and to be honest, I used the withdrawal system as a strategy to get a higher final GPA. Back then, I wasn't really thinking about going to graduate school, especially MBA, and thought it'd be okay to drop some of the electives because they were not the major courses. I did well in my major(Economics) classes but I'm really concerned about the withdrawals because MBA admission officers might see them as lack of ability to follow through, especially in business/quantitative classes. FYI, those are not withdrawal-fail. I just dropped them at the beginning of the semester and it doesn't necessarily mean I "failed" those classes.
I'm thinking it might help if I prepare an alternative transcript by taking some online courses which are equivalent or similar to the courses I withdrew. Also, I'm trying to get 740+ GMAT score so that it can compensate for the withdrawals. Plus, I'm a second-year analyst working in a data analytics/very quant-heavy segment of a global consulting firm and got promoted pretty fast compared to my colleagues. Do you think this can compensate for the Ws I got on business or data analytics classes with the help of high GMAT score? I think those Ws will definitely raise a flag but would like to know how negatively it would affect my chance to get into top MBA programs like Wharton, Booth, Sloan, etc. Do I still have a chance with those top programs if the remaining parts of application (e.g. GMAT, promotion, EC) look strong? I really regret that I used withdrawals to get a better finer GPA but unfortunately this isn't something I can change now. I want to focus on what I can change from now to compensate for the weakness on my transcript.
I'd appreciate any comment on this.