Pass/fail??

[AverageMan]

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Is it better to take courses pass/fail or to take poor grades (C's) in them? To salvage my GPA for the semester, I would have to take biochemistry pass/fail as well as one of my other engineering courses. Biochemistry is a pure elective for me so pass/failing would be fine for my course schedule (IE don't need it to graduate). My engineering course is required to graduate, and pass/fail credit doesn't count so I'd have to take it again next semester, but at least this time I could do better in it. I'm a senior now, so my applications are done and I'll I'd have to do is to now submit my final transcript in the summer. So which is the lesser of these two bad situations?

 

[Spitting Camel]

Hey Old Friend!

Well, sometimes you are only allowed to take a course once UNLESS you get a poor grade in it. I would check with your school's policy and see if you still have the option to take the engineering class again next semester if you take it p/np. I would definitely take the biochem p/np instead of geting a C. You don't want your future med school to think you got lazy. Anyways, this forum is no substitue for your counseling office at school. Good Luck and see you on the 23rd!

~AID

 

[Ranger47]

This is from my university's guide to pre-med education:

PASS/FAIL COURSES

If you attend an institution that does offer this program (allow you to take a pass/fail grade in lieu of the regular A, B, C, or D grade), it is not wise to use this option very often. When either A, B, C, D, and E or P and F grades are available, P grades are converted to C's on the AMCAS application. However, some courses are only offered as pass/fail courses.

 

[HollyJ]

Originally posted by Ranger47
When either A, B, C, D, and E or P and F grades are available, P grades are converted to C's on the AMCAS application. However, some courses are only offered as pass/fail courses.

That's not true. I have a couple of courses that I elected to take pass/fail, and they show up as Ps on my AMCAS application and in my AMCAS GPAs. I don't know how this rumor got started, but it's definitely not true.

 

[musiclink213]

what if a class is only offered pass/fail? (my music class next semester is only pass/fail) does that also translate into a C?

 

[omores]

See above. P=P, not C. At AMCAS, that is. At McMaster in Canada, all P/F grades are converted to whatever the average GPA of the applicant pool is that year. If you have a bunch of them, you have essentially no chance of admission.