"Cannot take any courses pass/fail", advisor too strict?

[prehealthandengineering]

How does taking a course pass/fail affect an application? Obviously I'm talking about situations where you made the choice to do so, not cases where the course is only offered with that grading option. I also know that having to take the admission prerequisites for a grade is a given. But, what about non-prerequisite courses?

I was told by a pre-health advisor that every course that could be taken for a letter grade must be taken for a letter grade. The argument was that even if adcoms insist that non-prerequisite courses taken pass/fail will not negatively affect my application (yes, I have asked an admissions office directly before and that was the response they gave me), they can still subjectively assume that the grade behind the P was a C. They would think "why did you not take it for a letter grade if you were capable of doing well", thus assuming that the intent to only put forth the effort for a C grade is the only reason I would take a class pass/fail. I know there would be a problem if I actually fail a course I take pass/fail. But if I pass, is this the reality of how my application would be viewed, or is my advisor being too strict here?

At my school, the P/F notation is used only for courses where the student made the choice to take it pass/fail (if such grading was the only option, the notation would be CR/NC or S/U), so one can tell whether or not the course could have been taken for a letter grade.

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[Lost in Translation]

The pre-reqs must be taken for a letter grade. Courses for your major should (and likely must, according to your school's policy) be taken for letter grades. Gen eds, most are lenient towards. My alma mater was not so; certain gen eds HAD to have a letter grade associated with them.

On here, the consensus is that it's better to take a course W and retake than a P/F.

 

[Womb Raider]

I can't see it helping you... especially if you made the mistake of taking science courses in P/F. You'll need someone involved in admissions to give a more informed opinion.

Why do you want to take a course P/F?

 

[prehealthandengineering]

I can't see it helping you... especially if you made the mistake of taking science courses in P/F. You'll need someone involved in admissions to give a more informed opinion.

Why do you want to take a course P/F?

To date, I have not taken a course pass/fail yet, therefore I have not taken a prerequisite course pass/fail. However, there are some engineering courses (which are obviously not prerequisites) that I think should be interesting, but the only thing holding me back from taking them is concerns about the grade. These courses would be additional courses on top of what is required for my major, so my school would allow me to use the pass/fail option for those.

 

[Womb Raider]

To date, I have not taken a course pass/fail yet, therefore I have not taken a prerequisite course pass/fail. However, there are some engineering courses (which are obviously not prerequisites) that I think should be interesting, but the only thing holding me back from taking them is concerns about the grade. These courses would be additional courses on top of what is required for my major, so my school would allow me to use the pass/fail option for those.

I'll appeal to the wisdom of the adcoms here for you... @Goro @LizzyM

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

I took a few courses P/F (3 or 4 - all non-prereqs). I would actually recommend that if you're planning to take a challenging course like engineering and you're taking it just for personal interest that you take it P/F. That way, you learn something you're interested in without sabotaging your GPA. I can't imagine schools taking issue with P/F's as long as they're not in prereqs and as long you don't have more than a handful of them.

 

[LizzyM]

I've not heard any adcom member make an issue of it at my school. Sometimes it is hard to tell if a course is naturally P/F or not. I see this with research for credit as well as musical performance (choir, jazz band, etc).

 

[Goro]

No single course is going to affect the competitiveness of your application, nor will its grade.

An entire transcript of P/F is harder to interpret.

How does taking a course pass/fail affect an application? Obviously I'm talking about situations where you made the choice to do so, not cases where the course is only offered with that grading option. I also know that having to take the admission prerequisites for a grade is a given. But, what about non-prerequisite courses?

I was told by a pre-health advisor that every course that could be taken for a letter grade must be taken for a letter grade. The argument was that even if adcoms insist that non-prerequisite courses taken pass/fail will not negatively affect my application (yes, I have asked an admissions office directly before and that was the response they gave me), they can still subjectively assume that the grade behind the P was a C. They would think "why did you not take it for a letter grade if you were capable of doing well", thus assuming that the intent to only put forth the effort for a C grade is the only reason I would take a class pass/fail. I know there would be a problem if I actually fail a course I take pass/fail. But if I pass, is this the reality of how my application would be viewed, or is my advisor being too strict here?

At my school, the P/F notation is used only for courses where the student made the choice to take it pass/fail (if such grading was the only option, the notation would be CR/NC or S/U), so one can tell whether or not the course could have been taken for a letter grade.

 

[prehealthandengineering]

So if I have maybe a course or two that I want to take pass/fail, it should be fine as long as they are irrelevant to medical school?

 

[raiderette]

I waited to take P/F as a senior. It didn't affect my application and preserved my sanity my senior year.

 

[Krupke]

I took a medical-related class taught by a med school faculty P/F. He ended up writing me a really good LOR and none of my interviewers ever questioned me on it

 

[Promethean]

LOL.

I got in, and the institution which granted the most of my credits is entirely P/F. I have about 120 credits of P/F from that school. Also another 40 credits of P/F from credit by exam (CLEP).

I also had a 4.0 from nursing school that didn't count toward my AACOMAS / AMCAS GPA, due to the way hospital based diploma nursing schools are accredited as trade schools rather than as colleges.

All of my GPA calculation came from the 60 credits I took in at a community college, to satisfy pre-reqs. As long as there is clear evidence of academic potential in your transcripts, they don't have to follow strict rules.

In short, your advisor is wrong. The only problem with P/F for non-prereqs is that if you do well in the class, it doesn't help your GPA at all.

 

[prehealthandengineering]

I got in, and the institution which granted the most of my credits is entirely P/F.

Well if your school offers only that grading option, that's a different story. Your school likely had to send a letter to describe how that is what they do.

 

[Promethean]

Well if your school offers only that grading option, that's a different story. Your school likely had to send a letter to describe how that is what they do.

Nope. No such letter required. There is a little blurb at the bottom of the transcript, but that's it. P/F institutions are uncommon, but not unheard of. When med schools receive thousands of applications per year, it is likely that even uncommon situations occur frequently enough that adcoms become familiar with them.

 

[asw98]

I took 2 classes P/F my last semester. They were in South Asian Studies and a senior level history seminar. I wanted to explore different areas, while focusing on my lab work and not have to worry about my grades in the classes. It has never come up once in any interview.