A withdrawal is absolutely better than an F, and it’s much better for your GPA too.

The “W” may or may not disappear from your transcript if you retake the class. School’s have different policies on this–my schools leave the W regardless of retake.

If you’re planning on continuing to grad school, I haven’t found that having withdrawals on my transcript impacted admissions decisions at all (and believe me, I had quite a few withdrawals.)

As far as jobs are concerned, they *might* be interested in your GPA, but I’ve never talked to anyone who had a potential employer ask for a college transcript (that’s the only way they’d know about the withdrawal.) It’s pretty rare for the employer to even ask for GPA if you don’t volunteer this information.

However, seldom if EVER will a job ask about W’s on a transcript unless of course you’re applying for a job for the college you dropped the class in.

So if you’re not really worried about Med or Law school, graduate school, or some limited entry Baccalaureate degree, i wouldn’t sweat it…if you insist on sweating it, Audit it instead.