Would a W affect my chances to break into Consulting ?

majority of firms don't require transcript submission when applying and retaking the class with a better professor will be much better than getting an F. worst case, if you're asked, just say you were sick and that's why you withdrew.

also, if the entire class is performing horribly, i don't think it's a guarantee that you'd perform badly since the professor can curve up.

No offense but if you are failing Calculus at a nontarget of all places maybe you have bigger problems to worry about than how a W will "affect your chances to break into consulting."

Had pretty much the exact same scenario and ended up dropping. Didn’t make any impact in my recruiting.

Advice here isn’t very specific. I run recruiting for some target schools at a T2 and an F in calc 1 would knock you out immediately. We’re just too competitive for interviews. It’s not that we want people to be hardos from day 1 in colllege (if anything, the opposite), but a F in a core course is just a bad signal about grit and intelligence.

Having said that … doesnt sound like you’re gonna get an F. I imagine your course HAS to be curved. But you’d know better than us.

If you withdraw, a W is also a poor signal but not a deal breaker. I don’t remember us interviewing kids with a W since I’ve been running things, but it’s because the kids with Ws usually have multiple and other bad factors. If it’s really just one W, shouldn’t be an issue. And no one would bat an eye if you got a B/B- in the class, so long as your overall GPA was a 3.8+ or so.