Sometimes, you just have to rid yourself of a terrible mistake.

For some, that could be waking up next to the creature from Hell after a crazy night on the town.

For others, that could be engaging in the bedroom Hokey-Pokey without the proper protection.

Or, that mistake could be your class schedule this semester.

Fortunately, our University provides us with a perfect means to correct the latter.

Oh wait, just kidding, they don’t.

Beginning in the fall semester of 2008, the University passed new rules regarding class withdrawals. Undergraduates are afforded only four withdrawals for their entire Georgia academic career.

OK, we can live with that.

But the biggest change was that withdrawals came with the risk of being given a WF, or the equivalent of just receiving an F, instead of just a W.

Not only do students lose a career withdrawal, but their GPAs are sure to plummet faster than the stock market on a bad day.

What is the point of giving students an opportunity to withdraw from a class if it could still devastate their GPA?

If I wanted to, knowingly and voluntarily, fail a class, I would just quit going and keep that withdrawal tucked away in my back pocket for when I really need it.

The new policy is like giving someone a get-out-of-jail-free card that works only if they are innocent in the first place.

Today is the final day to withdraw from classes – your final chance to rid yourself of a mistake.

You could be a chronic procrastinator like myself and get buried under an avalanche of uncompleted assignments with no chance of seeing your grade recover.

Or you could be a double-major with a full-time job and simply have too much on your plate.

Or you could have made the worst semester schedule ever by enrolling in difficult – or embarrassingly easy – classes that have no bearing whatsoever on whether you graduate.

Or you could just really want football tickets and take 12 hours with the intent to drop a couple classes the moment you receive your tickets.

Withdrawing from classes is an unfortunate part of maneuvering through college.

I would bet that the vast majority of students fall into one, if not two, of the aforementioned categories.

I know I do.

Now in my fourth year of college – and second at Georgia – I have withdrawn from four classes, two this semester.

I did not enter this semester looking to withdraw from two classes – or any for that matter. But I withdrew to correct a premature, and incorrect, decision on where I thought my future was going to be. I am just glad I realized it now and not before it was too late to change it.

But the rules the University has placed on my ability to withdraw made me think long and hard before I hit the OK button on OASIS.

If you are thinking of withdrawing, ask your professor if you are in good academic standing. Otherwise, your withdrawal could place a permanent black mark on your academic record and potentially mortgage your future.

Withdrawing is essentially a waste of tuition money – either from HOPE, yourself or your parents. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but one day my dad will have that Mercedes he has always wanted.

And don’t forget about the 75 percent rule. If students don’t successfully complete – meaning pass – at least 75 percent of their classes for a single academic year, those students will become subject to being kicked out of the University.

Because they don’t make Plan B for that kind of mistake.

- Michael Fitzpatrick is the opinions editor for The Red & Black.