Hey guys,

I'm just curious... if you have a course listed as "Canceled" on your transcript, would this affect you in the long term? For example, if you're applying to grad school, or even a job, would having courses listed as "Canceled" on your transcript hurt your chances of being accepted?

Thanks in advance!
~KS

Although there are different reasons as why one would cancel a course, I would expect that when people look at your transcript they would assume the worst.

In this case however, I don't think it would hurt your chances a great deal. It's not like failing a course. I have extreme doubts it'll affect your future jobs. As for grad school, I believe they only look at your prerequisite courses as well as your CA. I also believe you have to go through an interview in order ot be accepted into grad school. So if anything, they'll ask why. But it's only a canceled course, it's not like you failed. 1 course in 40 isn't that bad.

Yeah, I basically agree with Jeremy.

I doubt it will make too much of an impact.

As Jeremy said, a class showing up as canceled is unlikely to have any affect on any schools looking at your transcript. I would think that a multitude of them would have an effect though.

Thanks guys!
~KS

I have three cancelled classes on my transcript...I turned out TV. Didn't seem to hurt my chances much.

I don't think they assume the worst, because for instance, 1 of mine was because I was foolhardy and overwhelmed by my course load. Another was due to financial complications, while the third was recommended by my Physician (I didn't get a note or anything, since I didn't need one to drop a course).

There are a multitude of reasons to cancel a course besides academic incompetence.

Haha, TV is the enemy of our kind.
Yeah, I can't find it in me to drop a course. I try to stick with it, even if I really hate it and man is it hard.

What happens when you cancel a course, and then take it again? Is it replaced or does it still show up on your transcript?

I also have a similar question... do grad schools check first year marks? because I have a course on my transcript that is listed as "Canceled" and it's a first year course...

It would show up twice...once as a CAN and once with your grade.

I know what you mean...I never took the decision lightly, but as I said 2 of the 3 times I cancelled I had really good reasons. (One of which involved stress-induced hallucinations!)

EDIT: @Matthew_K:

This varies from grad school to grad school. I'm only familiar with Mathematics, since that's where I was applying to, but I don't think I found a single one that cared about first year grades. It was either your final year, 3rd, 4th and 5th (if applicable) together, or your top 20 half semester grades...which must include something like 12 or 15 courses in your discipline.

More often than not, they also look specifically at courses in your discipline...so electives do not boost your chances, but nor do they hurt your chances.

Hope that helps!

That's a relief. Thanks, that helped a lot.

Sorry I also neglected to mention that the information I gave it for Canadian schools only...

In the US, you have to write what's known as the GRE exams to go to grad schools...much of a school's decision is based on those scores. (Think of it as an MCAT for other subjects besides medicines, though probably not as hard)

Originally Posted by Matthew K

I also have a similar question... do grad schools check first year marks? because I have a course on my transcript that is listed as "Canceled" and it's a first year course...

Although your first year grades may not be considered, they are still on your transcript. Sooo if they want to the selection committee can (and I'm assuming will) look at all of your grades.

It really depends too...I mean if you have a terrible average first year, but then the grad school claims to only look at say, your final year...and you're confident enough in those marks to have a good shot at being accepted...they might say "Wow, this guy's improved a lot!"

So to reiterate...I think we're both giving fine answers here. Except what we're overlooking is the part 'beyond' grades. The question is: "How do we distinguish between two, seemingly identical (in terms of grades) candidates?"

If two candidates have identical grades and courses taken, then the selection committee will base their decision on other factors...

But this is as unpredictable as can be...I mean, I heard right from the graduate advisor (he was my professor at the time) for Math that McMaster once denied a student entry into their program due to poor penmanship. The candidate was so equally matched with another one in terms of grades, interests and research potential (reference letters), that they had to resort to checking penmanship to make their decision. If you have a solid application, regarding what they claim they are looking for, then you'll have a good chance. Everyone makes mistakes, Pencils have erasers and whatnot.


So what I'm trying to say to Matthew_K is...although I'm reassuring you, saying that most grad schools claim to only care about upper level courses, poor first year grades may tip the scale against you (as lorend is saying).

But don't worry, because I really believe these are minor issues...if they say they care predominantly about whatever, they mean that...but sometimes the decision procedure can be cutthroat, and they'll resort to tearing apart any detail they can get their hands on, to declare one candidate superior to another.

I know that for optometry there are quite a bit of required courses and a lot of them are first year courses (oddly enough, but I guess they still need to adjust since they just increased the amount of undergrad years to 3). So technically when I apply they will be looking at my first year physics (both of them), english, psych, bio (both), chem and calc. Not to mention both kin if I were to have taken them as my physiology courses.

So what I'm saying is that is depends on which grad/prof school you are applying to. I would suggest looking into it so that you know which courses to put the most time/work into.