It's October, midterms are rolling around, and so is the stress of keeping up your grades. In some classes, you may have an insane number of extra credit opportunities, or you may be taking classes that are meant to be GPA boosters. Unlike these scenarios, I am not.

I am a science major, biochemistry to be more specific, and my course load is intense. Recommended courses to take during your first semester in order to stay on track are Biology 1201, Chemistry 1201, and Math 1550 (calculus), as well as other courses such as biology lab, possibly a foreign language or general education course, or another class that takes a large amount of your time and dedication such as a band course or anything extracurricular.

All that being said, I am a first-year undergraduate student trying to juggle 17-course hours, as well as obstacles outside of the classroom. Now realize, to be considered a full-time student, you only have to schedule 12 hours. Yes, you read that correctly, 12, and I am attempting 17.

Initially, I did not think this was a horrible idea being that I was not a bad student in high school. I came into college thinking 17 hours wasn't going to be insanely difficult, just an adjustment that I would have to get used to.

Boy, was I wrong...

I am the first person to admit when I am struggling in something but to also admit I hate bothering someone for help. I will sit and struggle trying to teach myself before even remotely thinking about talking to someone else for help.

Because of this, I began to fall behind in multiple classes because I really could not handle taking 17 hours in my first semester. Luckily, withdrawing from a course is an option and also is not frowned upon at my university, nor did my parents have an issue with me dropping a class and deciding to take it at a later time.

So, the week of midterms, I decided Calculus was just too much for me to juggle on top of all of my other courses too. After dropping this course I will go from taking 17 hours to 12 hours. Yes, I will have gone from taking the max number of hours a first-semester freshman can take, to taking the minimum number of hours for anyone to be a full-time student at Louisiana State University.

In doing this, I have gotten a lot of questions as to why I am choosing to withdraw from the course. Why not just push through it and keep going?

Let's be real. In the long scheme of things, I cannot allow a course that I admittedly struggle in to take my attention away from other courses in which I will ultimately fall behind in all of them. Also, ANY medical school (my goal) would much rather see a W on a transcript and then the course is taken again and passed, rather than it being failed and taken again along with a GPA below their liking.

So, before you go off judging people for taking a W in a course or thinking you are just that much better than them because you never have, think of the possibilities as to WHY they may have needed to withdraw. Why ruin your GPA over one course? I didn't.