Can you retroactively change a grade from "pass" to "a letter?"

[AStudent]

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Friend of mine who's now a sophomore took genchem 1 for pass/no pass and easily passed (89%). He's now premed and wants to know if most schools will retroactively assign a grade of a letter if asked. And if not, how much will it hurt him in the eyes of the adcoms.

 

[derf]

Friend of mine who's now a sophomore took genchem 1 for pass/no pass and easily passed (89%). He's now premed and wants to know if most schools will retroactively assign a grade of a letter if asked. And if not, how much will it hurt him in the eyes of the adcoms.

i'm not aware of any schools that would allow it. if that were the case, most students would just take the P/F initially with the "wait and see" philosophy.

since its an intro chem1, i wouldn't make a big deal out of it since there's plenty of time to prove yourself.

 

[javert]

It depends on the school. My school (URochester) does allow you to convert your passes into letter grades, but there's a catch: it can only be done your senior year, you can't see your grades beforehand, and you have to convert ALL of your P/F classes to letter grades. So it's an all-or-none thing here.

I have no clue how common this type of policy is.

If this was a non pre-req course, then I don't see why your friend should worry, but since it's gen chem...I could see how that could be a major problem. If possible, he should definately get it converted to a letter grade in my opinion.

 

[medic170]

Friend of mine who's now a sophomore took genchem 1 for pass/no pass and easily passed (89%). He's now premed and wants to know if most schools will retroactively assign a grade of a letter if asked. And if not, how much will it hurt him in the eyes of the adcoms.

I know MSU doesn't, wait you went here so you know that, neither does Wayne or Uof M from what my wife and friends said. I bet most if not all schools would not do that or it would negate the reson for having a pass.fail option for the class, right?

Tell your friend too that if he can't change it for a grade, he will HAVE to retake it for a grade because most if not all medical schools require you to have taken the prerequisite sciences for a grade (including gen chem1) with a C (2.0) or higher. I don't think doing this would hurt PROVIDED he gets an A in the course (since he already had it once), but he will def have to retake it for a grade for med school.

 

[45408]

I would think that if he aces his other chem courses, they might not make him re-take an easy class just for a grade.

 

[medic170]

I would think that if he aces his other chem courses, they might not make him re-take an easy class just for a grade.

Maybe true at a few schools, and you also may be right in that he could take a different chemistry class and have it count towrds his prerequisite. One way or the other, though, he will have to have taken 2 semesters of inorganic chemistry, with lab, for a grade.

 

[skiracer90]

I know at my school that if you take a course pass/fail and receive a grade that is above your GPA, they'll record it as a grade instead of a P/F. Tell your friend to check with the administration and advisor.

 

[synapse lapse]

My school you can chose to convert from P/F to grade up to something like 2 months into the semester following the class (if you like your grade). You are allowed 4 P/F during your academic career.

 

[boardchic]

If they don't allow you to change it to a grade, you could maybe get a course performance report from the professor (who could possibly put the grade you would have gotten in the report). I personally don't think a pass/fail in genchem1 would really matter, if you take genchem2 and both orgos for a grade. Why don't you call a couple of med schools you would consider applying to and just ask them their opinion? (Just say something like, "I took genchem1 pass/fail. Is this acceptable or do I need to retake it/take another chem course?)