The deadline for you to drop a course or withdraw from the university without having the course(s) appear on your transcript is shortly before the 100% refund deadline for a regular 15-week semester. After this, each dropped course appears as a DR on the transcript.

A DR on your transcript indicates that you chose to drop a course after being enrolled for at least the first week of the semester. The DR reflects the accurate history of your enrollment but it does not provide a specific reason for why you dropped the course. Some reasons that you may choose to drop a course include:

• A spot in a preferable course opened up late and you chose to add this new course and drop the old one.
• Once you attended all your courses and reviewed syllabi carefully, you chose to drop a course to better focus on the remaining courses.
• You attended a course and it wasn’t what you were hoping for.
• The course interferes with other commitments.
• You don’t think you will be successful in the course.
• You changed your plans and no longer need the course.

These reasons are insufficient to appeal for a “late drop” or that a drop to be “removed” from your transcript by an Academic Dean. These actions are only to be used in truly exceptional circumstances beyond a student’s control.

The Center for Pre-Health Advising (CPHA) and Center for Pre-Law Advising (CPLA), UW-Madison’s experts on preparing for and applying to nation-wide health professions programs and law schools, provide the following advice about dropped courses and a "DR" on your transcript:

Academic preparation is carefully weighed by professional programs, but please rest assured that dropping a course during your time as an undergraduate (having a “DR” on your transcript) is not going to negatively impact your competitiveness as an applicant.

Dropping courses becomes a potential area of concern when there are multiple DRs and/or it starts to look like a pattern. This is particularly true when DRs involve program requirements (note that while health programs have many course prerequisites, there are no course prerequisites for law schools).

• •  DRs in and of themselves are not going to prevent you from gaining entry to programs.
  • Removing these from your academic record may be a missed opportunity to explain personal growth and change.

You will be able to address DRs and other possible academic or non-academic concerns within supplemental essays (health professions applications) and addenda (law school applications).

If you are concerned with how a drop or multiple drops will be perceived, please discuss the situation with CPHA or CPLA and they will guide you in the process of addressing the issue – if needed – in your application materials. Appointments can be made via Starfish, or questions can be directed to questions@prehealth.wisc.edu or information@prelaw.wisc.edu.

If you are considering withdrawing from the university or have other concerns, please contact your academic advisor or the CALS Dean on Call.