Taking courses pass/fail while study abroad?

[SephirothXR]

I will be studying abroad with a US institution different from my university, so my university will take my grades into account my cumulative gpa (but not my university gpa). 2 of the courses don't worry me, but the other two are economics courses that aren't necessarily my expertise. I have a high 3.9 gpa and am fully confident that I could get As in those courses, but I AM ABROAD and want to invest time in other things (one of the courses is a 20 hr/week internship which means a lot to me)


How would it look if I took 2 courses pass/fail? How much benefit could I get if those courses are difficult? Namely, I've taken some pretty difficult courses at my university and got through them, which is why I'm confident I could get As in them, but I much prefer to ease off. At the same time, I feel that I would probably end up studying more for those courses and getting the As ANYWAYS because I do care about grades pretty seriously (but then have no letter grade to show for it, just a pass/fail). So what is everyone's thoughts in reference to taking courses pass/fail while abroad when medical schools look at your transcript?

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[trypanosomiasis]

A lot of study abroad programs won't let you take courses P/F, so you ought to make sure that's even an option for you.

If they're both economics... doing well boosts your overall/non-sci GPA (you've got that covered though, nice)! But in terms of med school, I don't really see why advanced econ courses would matter, especially if you don't have a major/minor in econ. But in that case, you wouldn't be able to take them P/F either.

The only negative I'd see is a potential for schools to see a "blow off" semester by taking two courses in a four course schedule P/F, if they decide to examine your transcript closely in any way. You'd need to be able to justify that decision. But otherwise, I'd imagine you'd be set to go if you wanted to take P/F.

 

[SephirothXR]

If I state that the reason I did that was because I wanted to spend more time at the internship, would that be justifiable? That is what I'll be doing, but I can take the extra course if need be.

 

[Barcu]

If they aren't med school prereqs (and you shouldn't take those abroad), do them P/F. You will thank yourself later.

You will also thank yourself later by not spending extra time doing an internship either.

I was asked about my study abroad experience in EVERY interview. NONE of my interviews mentioned academics at all. What you learn from study abroad is found outside the classroom. So give yourself and break and enjoy yourself. You won't get that chance again.