If you are not going to pass the class (C- or below), a withdraw is a good idea. Some scholarships may require a student repay a portion of the scholarship, but this option may be less costly in the long run than a “W”.
Professional schools do not want to see patterns of withdrawals – so if a student wants to drop a class to protect the GPA but the actual grade in the class will be a C or greater, the student would probably impress the professional school more by taking the grade and moving on to a more advanced class (if the foundation is there) or taking a difference class in the same subject.
The last day to withdraw from classes is November 9th.