withdrawal (w) on transcript

[wolf30]

I just dropped a course from athabasca university and according to them I will receive a W (withdrawal) on my transcript even though the course ends in November and I have 6 months to drop it. I dropped the course like 5 weeks after it started and the course ends in 6 months. I couldn't drop it earlier cause my ta took like 3 weeks to mark my first assignment and I was still feeling out the course. I have never had this issue with any ontario universities before and they simply don't list my dropped course but somehow athabasca feels like it likes to screw students over. I'm planning to apply to physiotherapy school for the 2013 cycle and I'm wondering whether or not this looks bad or will affect me?


I took this online english course at athabasca last month called eng 255: introductory composition to satisfy an english prerequisite for pt school but have regretted it big time. I've taken around a dozen online courses and this has to be by far the worst run online course I've ever taken. I'm also taking an online course at york right now and it is like night and day.

The course taught at athabasca is completely unorganized and the website looks like it was designed by a high school student. There is no discussion board to talk to other students or ask questions. The only thing on the discussion board are announcements that date back to 2010! The textbook I received is an outdated text, yet they chose to use an unpublished textbook for my readings and assignments as well as our student guide. I constantly have to refer back to the website to look for the updated pages and to know where to find all the chapters and readings. What a waste of time. What the hell was the point of sending me an outdated textbook if they are going to use a new one for our readings and assignments?

The TA who is suppose to be the course instructor is completely useless. He doesn't email or announce anything and your basically left to do everything yourself. The school has established a policy where assignments are suppose to be returned back within 5 days and when I emailed the ta about this. He sent me some word document saying that its now 7-8 days. It took the guy 3 weeks to return back an assignment and when I questioned how about it, he just replies back that he has 7-8 days. Clearly he's a jackass and can't count.

I wouldn't have been so worried about this, except the student guide has established guidelines and due dates. First I was lead to believe I have 6 months to complete the course, but it seems their are assignments due every week and we are suppose to receive back our old assignments before submitting the new assignments. I was already 2 assignments behind the course because of the TA when I decided to drop it. I was quite frustrated with this TA. I looked up his ratemyprofessor rating and he didn't do so well.

I've become really pissed off with this university. They seem like a huge cash grab. I paid like over $800 for this course and it was run extremely poorly.

[xlc_88]

I just dropped a course from athabasca university and according to them I will receive a W (withdrawal) on my transcript even though the course ends in November and I have 6 months to drop it. I dropped the course like 5 weeks after it started and the course ends in 6 months. I couldn't drop it earlier cause my ta took like 3 weeks to mark my first assignment and I was still feeling out the course. I have never had this issue with any ontario universities before and they simply don't list my dropped course but somehow athabasca feels like it likes to screw students over. I'm planning to apply to physiotherapy school for the 2013 cycle and I'm wondering whether or not this looks bad or will affect me?

It doesn't matter whether if the course was poorly run. Did you check the University calendar? When was the last day to drop the course without withdrawl notification on your transcript? Did you drop before the course before this date? If so, you should petition to the University and let them know this.

If you dropped the course after this date, you're out of luck.

Having a withdrawl on your transcript is not the end of the world. Admittedly, it is not the best thing to see on a transcript but if you can explain your situation on your application, then you should do so.

[wolf30]

It doesn't matter whether if the course was poorly run. Did you check the University calendar? When was the last day to drop the course without withdrawl notification on your transcript? Did you drop before the course before this date? If so, you should petition to the University and let them know this.

If you dropped the course after this date, you're out of luck.

Having a withdrawl on your transcript is not the end of the world. Admittedly, it is not the best thing to see on a transcript but if you can explain your situation on your application, then you should do so.

They state you have 4 weeks after the course start date to drop the course without a W appearing on your transcript. They run the university a little different compared to traditional universities which have specific dates. Courses start at the beginning of every month and you basically have 6 months to complete it by yourself depending on when your enrolled. They state you can withdraw from the course up to the date you request to write your final exam or submit all your course work. I started the course on june 1st and received back my first assignment on june 28th. I didn't receive any meaningful feedback until near the end of the month and then I was still deciding whether or not I should stick with the course.

They also state you can get a full refund minus a withdrawal fee if you withdraw out of the course during the first 30 days of it starting. I think its pretty stupid policy. Only giving people 30 days to wthdraw out of a course without having a W on your transcript. It takes nearly that long to receive back your first assignment so how would you know how your doing before 30 days?

[DrXenon]

I had a withdrawal on my transcript and my girlfriend left me. I now live in a van down by the river.

There are a lot of things worth worrying about in this world. Dropping a course a few days late is not one of them. The people reviewing transcripts have life experience and are not going to hold it against you.

[fuzzy_avocado]

[QUOTE=wolf30;15015864]I just dropped a course from athabasca university and according to them I will receive a W (withdrawal) on my transcript even though the course ends in November and I have 6 months to drop it. I dropped the course like 5 weeks after it started and the course ends in 6 months. I couldn't drop it earlier cause my ta took like 3 weeks to mark my first assignment and I was still feeling out the course. I have never had this issue with any ontario universities before and they simply don't list my dropped course but somehow athabasca feels like it likes to screw students over. I'm planning to apply to physiotherapy school for the 2013 cycle and I'm wondering whether or not this looks bad or will affect me?

There should be set dates in the school calendar where the first course work you submit is returned to you by a certain date so you know whether you want to stay or drop the course. If your TA gave you your first assignment back after this date then you might have reasonable grounds to remove this course completely from your transcript, but double check to make sure.

Withdrawals are generally fine, because they saved you from a 0 and it's not like a 'W' is a grade. W's happen for various reasons, the only way they might be a hindrance to you in the future is if you have a lot of them. But even then, you can explain why.

[wolf30]

[QUOTE=wolf30;15015864]I just dropped a course from athabasca university and according to them I will receive a W (withdrawal) on my transcript even though the course ends in November and I have 6 months to drop it. I dropped the course like 5 weeks after it started and the course ends in 6 months. I couldn't drop it earlier cause my ta took like 3 weeks to mark my first assignment and I was still feeling out the course. I have never had this issue with any ontario universities before and they simply don't list my dropped course but somehow athabasca feels like it likes to screw students over. I'm planning to apply to physiotherapy school for the 2013 cycle and I'm wondering whether or not this looks bad or will affect me?

There should be set dates in the school calendar where the first course work you submit is returned to you by a certain date so you know whether you want to stay or drop the course. If your TA gave you your first assignment back after this date then you might have reasonable grounds to remove this course completely from your transcript, but double check to make sure.

Withdrawals are generally fine, because they saved you from a 0 and it's not like a 'W' is a grade. W's happen for various reasons, the only way they might be a hindrance to you in the future is if you have a lot of them. But even then, you can explain why.

Problem was the guy sent it back to me like 2-3 days before the drop date. I'm not checking my emails every day, so I missed like 1-2 days. Then I was still deciding whether or not to complete it. I didn't realize I only had a month to drop the course without having a "w" on my transcript until it was july, as most ontario universities don't do this when you drop a course within the specified deadline.
Should I be entering athabasca university as one of the schools that I attended when filing out my grad school app online? I'm just curious since I dropped it and therefore it shouldn't even technically count towards my gpa calculation for grad school.

Anyways looks like I'll just have to suck it up. I'm quite pissed off at this university, not only did they screw me over with a course I needed, but they also screwed me over with the W on my transcript.