How much will previous withdrawals impact my pharmacy application?

Question:
I have five withdrawals in my transcript and they all came at a time when I was unsure of what I wanted to do (which I talk about in my personal statement). A supplemental question asked to explain any withdrawals. Does this weaken my application drastically? Should I try to explain each one and how should I approach explaining it? Some of them were due to not being happy with my grade (which is common I hear) and some were due to course load. What do AdComs consider a GOOD reason? Thanks.


Answer:
Withdrawals on a transcript are certainly a negative, but what a committee looks for is a whether there is a pattern of withdrawals. Generally speaking, withdrawing from a class because you were doing poorly and anticipated receiving a less than desirable grade is not an "acceptable" reason. But these are common reasons. The best reasons for withdrawals would be due to illness or personal circumstances (ie, death of family member). A committee will forgive these without much question.

The key is how you explain the withdrawals. I would suggest being honest, yet somewhat vague. A poor explanation might be, "I withdrew from Orgo because I was overwhelmed taking 15 hours, so I withdrew and took Orgo in the summer instead." A committee will look at that and question you have the aptitude to handle the rigors of a pharmacy courseload when withdrawing from a course is not an option.

Good luck.