How will taking a non-required math class as P/NP affect my record?

[SilentAnon_404]

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So I asked this question on reddit and I was getting a lot of crap on how I'm taking the easy way out, how I'm making excuses, and that it will look "really bad". That's why I'm asking here to know if that's the case.

I'm a first year student and I'm taking calculus C right now (third quarter). I have already taken Calc A and B for a grade, and my major requires only the first 2 calc classes (the med schools I like also want just a semester of math, which would be the first 2 classes in the series).

So basically, this is a non-required class (correct me if I'm wrong).
Now, I can present a lot of reasons why I'm doing this but it will just look like excuses, so I'm not going to bother.

Basically, the best I can actually do is maybe get a "C" in this class.
If I change it to P/NP and get a "Pass" instead of a "C", how will it look?

On my reddit thread I was being told that it will look as bad as a "C-" and a NP will coubt like an "F".
Is this true? Because in that case I might as well get a D+ and re-take it next year.

Thanks guys.

 

[KnightDoc]

So I asked this question on reddit and I was getting a lot of crap on how I'm taking the easy way out, how I'm making excuses, and that it will look "really bad". That's why I'm asking here to know if that's the case.

I'm a first year student and I'm taking calculus C right now (third quarter). I have already taken Calc A and B for a grade, and my major requires only the first 2 calc classes (the med schools I like also want just a semester of math, which would be the first 2 classes in the series).

So basically, this is a non-required class (correct me if I'm wrong).
Now, I can present a lot of reasons why I'm doing this but it will just look like excuses, so I'm not going to bother.

Basically, the best I can actually do is maybe get a "C" in this class.
If I change it to P/NP and get a "Pass" instead of a "C", how will it look?

On my reddit thread I was being told that it will look as bad as a "C-" and a NP will coubt like an "F".
Is this true? Because in that case I might as well get a D+ and re-take it next year.

Thanks guys.

Yup! It's way too early for you as a freshman to be freaking out about one class, which will have a negligible effect on your GPA when you are applying to med school. In any event, you don't really think you're smarter than the adcoms, do you? Ps are used to mask Cs, not As or Bs. The P won't be used to calculate your GPA, but, yeah, a P will read as a C to an adcom, unless it was mandatory and ALL of your grades were P/F for the semester.

Bottom line, if you're getting a C anyway, you might as well take the P and save the few fractions of a point on your GPA. Just be careful you don't end up playing yourself and end up turning a B (or even B-) into a P. Just realize that you will be fooling nobody, because a single P under these circumstances (not mandatory, single class) will not be viewed any more favorably than a C.

 

[SilentAnon_404]

Yup! It's way too early for you as a freshman to be freaking out about one class, which will have a negligible effect on your GPA when you are applying to med school. In any event, you don't really think you're smarter than the adcoms, do you? Ps are used to mask Cs, not As or Bs. The P won't be used to calculate your GPA, but, yeah, a P will read as a C to an adcom, unless it was mandatory and ALL of your grades were P/F for the semester.

Bottom line, if you're getting a C anyway, you might as well take the P and save the few fractions of a point on your GPA. Just be careful you don't end up playing yourself and end up turning a B (or even B-) into a P. Just realize that you will be fooling nobody, because a single P under these circumstances (not mandatory, single class) will not be viewed any more favorably than a C.

So a C+ or higher is viewed better than a P, even if it may lower your GPA?

And will they recalculate your GPA and add in a "C" for the "Pass"?

 

[KnightDoc]

So a C+ or higher is viewed better than a P, even if it may lower your GPA?

And will they recalculate your GPA and add in a "C" for the "Pass"?

No! Premeds stress over every single grade while adcoms look at an entire body of work, where one grade just doesn't mean anything. They won't recalculate the GPA (the 0.01 one way or the other won't mean anything to them!). They will just assume that P=C because no one would go to the trouble to mask an A or a B. Cs optically look bad, which is why you are thinking about this, and, no, no adcom will distinguish between C, C+ and C-.

 

[Goro]

One P, especially in a non-required class, isn't going to hurt anybody. Same thing with Ws.

Please pass it on; these types of posts are getting annoyingly common.

 

[SilentAnon_404]

One P, especially in a non-required class, isn't going to hurt anybody. Same thing with Ws.

Please pass it on; these types of posts are getting annoyingly common.

Well thank you. Reddit had me scared for my career here.