Adcoms Check Transcript Legends for Weird Grades-True/False? Forum

[Herky Jerky Slo Mo]

Some colleges give out very weird looking grades. Mine, for example, gives out an "S" for satisfactory in pass/fail courses. If you pass, then you get an S. Likewise, we get an "X" for audited courses.

Quick question:

Is it true that adcoms will check a student's transcript legend to see what a grade means if it's not a traditional A thru F grade? I'm a little paranoid about this because I've gotten an "X" grade before for an audited physics/astronomy class and I am scared it might come across as some kind of failing grade. The "X" just seems like it would look very visually suspicious to me if I didn't know what it was and was scanning through some random person's transcript (of course, I'm not a professional adcom person, but just giving my first intuitive response). I might intuitively think it was a dropped class or failed withdrawal, etc. and it doesn't help that it's closer to the last letter of the alphabet, which feels like it would denote something bad/worse than earlier letters in the alphabet.

What is the word out there for how adcoms approach bizarre grades? Do they really check and is it something just scanned quickly where there could be potential for mistakes in understanding? If so, would it be wise to add a note to explain what these non-traditional grades mean?

eta: I've also gotten an "S" before.

[Johann]

you mus think adcomms work harder than they do. LSAC does all this work for them and they do nothing past that.

[hillz]

They might review your actual transcript but they won't automatically assume the worst. If needed, they'll ask for clarification about the X and S.