To Pass/Fail or Not to Pass/Fail, That is the Question

[benlikeslizards]

SDN,

I'm a Chemical Engineering major, planning on applying next cycle. I recieved good grades for my science classes this semester, but for my engineering classes (Fluids Lab, Thermodynamics for Engineers) I recieved B+'s. It's not going to affect my GPA a ton, I have a 3.85 and I think it should average out not to affect my overall GPA, but I'd like to show ADCOM's that my lower initial GPA back when I wasn't pre-med is trending towards a better, especially since I got strait As last semester. Would it be better to take a pass/fail on both and have another 4.0 this semester, or take the B+'s and have to explain why it was such a weak semester for me?

This is another totally unrelated question, are higher level chemistry and physics classes broadly accepted to replace lower level classes? I did not take Gen Chem (Or physics), but I took the first semester of P-Chem and plan on taking another, and I'll take higher level physics classes as electives for my major. I'm also not sure what to do about Gen-Chem lab and physics lab, I have many chemical engineering related labs, but I doubt those are accepted as alternatives, and so I plan on taking the the general chemistry and physics labs instead. Does anyone have definitive knowledge on either of these situations? I talked to my school's pre-med advisor, but I'm told by other students not to trust what he says, apparently he's been wrong about pre-req's before.

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[Paralegalities]

SDN,



This is another totally unrelated question, are higher level chemistry and physics classes broadly accepted to replace lower level classes? I did not take Gen Chem (Or physics), but I took the first semester of P-Chem and plan on taking another, and I'll take higher level physics classes as electives for my major. I'm also not sure what to do about Gen-Chem lab and physics lab, I have many chemical engineering related labs, but I doubt those are accepted as alternatives, and so I plan on taking the the general chemistry and physics labs instead. Does anyone have definitive knowledge on either of these situations? I talked to my school's pre-med advisor, but I'm told by other students not to trust what he says, apparently he's been wrong about pre-req's before.

-Ben Johnson

No. The prerequisite classes are not replaceable by anything. You need to take a full year of gen chem and physics with labs. I'm not sure how it's possible for you to have taken P-chem without gen chem though....every school I've ever seen has gen chem as a prereq for everything else in the chemistry department.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

If you were able to skip your prereqs because you had AP credit, then you'll be fine.

 

[benlikeslizards]

OK, good to know. Any advice on the taking a P instead of a letter grade? I did get AP credit for Gen. Chem and Physics, although I know that usually isn't enough for many medical schools.

 

[KnightDoc]

OK, good to know. Any advice on the taking a P instead of a letter grade? I did get AP credit for Gen. Chem and Physics, although I know that usually isn't enough for many medical schools.

That's been beaten to death here over the past few weeks. A quick search will yield whatever opinion you are looking for!

 

[benlikeslizards]

Ok, thanks!