Take class pass/fail or go for another A? Forum

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CoriOlivia

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Take class pass/fail or go for another A?

Post by CoriOlivia » Tue May 31, 2011 2:56 pm

My gpa sucks. It's right around a 3.1 now that I've accounted for all of my retaken classes, etc. Anyway, I only have a few more classes to take this summer and one of them is just to earn the required number of upper-level courses in residence at the school I'll be graduating from. My undergrad advisor suggested that I take this class pass/fail since it's not required for my degree because the instructor is known to be tough and getting a B would bring down my GPA (Cum. GPA around 3.5). I have to make the decision fairly soon with class starting next week but I'm wondering if it would make me look like a slacker in my last semester of undergrad? Would it look better to just finish out my last few semesters with all As or do you think an admissions committee would really even care if I had a P on my transcript? The one final A would raise my gpa one one hundredth of a grade point thanks to me having so many classes. I intend to submit a gpa addendum explaining my bad start in school and really focus on how well I've done these last few semesters so I will basically be actively drawing attention to my transcript and I don't know if taking a class pass/fail is looked down upon. Any advice?

If it matters, I probably could get an A in the class without worrying too much about it. I am really only considering taking it P/F because it's the only class this summer that will actually require a lot of work and I wouldn't mind being able to slack off a bit while I'm studying for the LSAT outside of classes.

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Corwin

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Re: Take class pass/fail or go for another A?

Post by Corwin » Tue May 31, 2011 3:16 pm

I don't think the admission committee will care if you take it pass/fail. Don't risk getting a bad grad in a class with an instructor known to be hard. Do pass/fail and spend the next 4 months doing LSAT prep.

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Helicio

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Re: Take class pass/fail or go for another A?

Post by Helicio » Tue May 31, 2011 6:32 pm

Corwin wrote:I don't think the admission committee will care if you take it pass/fail. Don't risk getting a bad grad in a class with an instructor known to be hard. Do pass/fail and spend the next 4 months doing LSAT prep.
Agreed. Your GPA isn't great, but an A will only help it be marginally better. The downside to getting a bad grade in that class--a class known to be hard--is really tremendous at this point. Take it pass/fail!

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fatdouche

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Re: Take class pass/fail or go for another A?

Post by fatdouche » Tue May 31, 2011 10:26 pm

PF.

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