Do Adcoms view any difference between a P and a W on a transcript?

[flatearth22]

---

Members don't see this ad.

P = pass in a class designated on AMCAS as pass/fail

W = withdrawn

Do adcoms view them differently or are both frowned upon?

 

[sector9]

Uh yes they are viewed differently. What is the point of your question?😕

P means you passed the class. Withdrawn means you didn't pass and didn't finish the class.

The only way a P would be "frowned upon" is at schools where you can designate some classes as either a letter grade or pass/fail, but are the adcoms really going to care unless you do this in a prereq? Probably not too much

 

[gettheleadout]

Some classes are only offered Pass/Fail. Unless you take a prereq P/F (which wouldn't work anyway, it would have to be taken with a letter grade later) a P will not be likely to be seen as a negative in any way.

A W leaves questions. Why did the applicant withdraw? Could they not perform well in the class?

There is no reason why a P and a W would be compared unless they were for the same course in the case of a retake. (But really, who retakes a course P/F?)

EDIT: Just realized sector9 said pretty much the exact same thing. Oh well, I agree.

 

[flatearth22]

Uh yes they are viewed differently. What is the point of your question?😕

P means you passed the class. Withdrawn means you didn't pass and didn't finish the class.

The only way a P would be "frowned upon" is at schools where you can designate some classes as either a letter grade or pass/fail

My bad....I thought withdrawn meant grade withdrawn and not withdrawn from the class with no credit earned.

But would a W look like you failed the class and dropped it while a P looks like you got a D or a C in the class? I have 3 classes that I pass/failed (one each in sophomore, jr, and sr year) and am getting kind of paranoid at all these W threads...

 

[sector9]

My bad....I thought withdrawn meant grade withdrawn and not withdrawn from the class with no credit earned.

But would a W look like you failed the class and dropped it while a P looks like you got a D or a C in the class? I have 3 classes that I pass/failed (one each in sophomore, jr, and sr year) and am getting kind of paranoid at all these W threads...

What classes did you do this with?

 

[gettheleadout]

My bad....I thought withdrawn meant grade withdrawn and not withdrawn from the class with no credit earned.

But would a W look like you failed the class and dropped it while a P looks like you got a D or a C in the class? I have 3 classes that I pass/failed (one each in sophomore, jr, and sr year) and am getting kind of paranoid at all these W threads...

The following is the only information known by looking at the grade report:

P = student completed the course and did not fail.

W = student did not complete the course, with an unknown grade at the time of withdrawal.

With a P, the student was not earning a failing grade, whereas with a W, the student may have been.

What do you think looks better?

The bottom line is an application with P's won't raise the same questions as one with W's, unless of course you pass/failed a prereq, in which case you will have to retake and may be questioned as to why you pass/failed it the first time.

 

[flatearth22]

What classes did you do this with?

2 of them were upper level linguistics classes (I was considering being a linguistics minor but then scratched the idea).

The other one was a upper level biology class not required for my major (Genetics).

 

[flatearth22]

The following is the only information known by looking at the grade report:

P = student completed the course and did not fail.

W = student did not complete the course, with an unknown grade at the time of withdrawal.

With a P, the student was not earning a failing grade, whereas with a W, the student may have been.

What do you think looks better?

The bottom line is an application with P's won't raise the same questions as one with W's, unless of course you pass/failed a prereq, in which case you will have to retake and may be questioned as to why you pass/failed it the first time.

Sounds good...thanks

 

[gettheleadout]

2 of them were upper level linguistics classes (I was considering being a linguistics minor but then scratched the idea).

The other one was a upper level biology class not required for my major (Genetics).

Yeah you'll be fine.

Sounds good...thanks

No problem. 🙂

Didn't mean to come off as sarcastic in my last post either.