Take an A- or change to P/F? 3.97 v. 3.96 GPA Forum

[cyclist]

Hi all! Undergrad here with two semesters left. I have a 3.95 right now and am in the position where every A- takes me down by a point. If I 4.0 the final two semesters I'll finish undergrad with a 3.97.

I had a near-perfect semester and have one A-. My school's allowing me to change it to pass/fail because of COVID. If I don't, the highest my GPA can be is a 3.96. With a pass, it doesn't really have a difference on my GPA and won't limit me at all.

Would law schools care if I had one pass? Prob not but wanted to see (and also if people think I'm insane haha). But I figured that at the HLS level each point counts enough that I'd want to make it a pass. Thanks!

[ALCA1920]

Neither. You should drop out of college and flip burgers.

Really though, maybe with the possible exception of Yale, no one will care about the difference– you can go with either one and still get into the school of your dreams. My personal preference is for taking an A- over a pass, but that's just me. I had 2 passes on my transcript and I still got into my target schools with good scholarships. Your LSAT and overall GPA (barring any serious C&F issues) will carry the day. Best o' luck.

[polareagle]

For what it's worth, I would *not* take it pass-fail. Not because any law school besides Yale will notice/care that you took a course P/F (at Yale, the professors who read your file might). But because in a future semester, you might get a B. If you do, the A- will help keep your average higher. Seems worth it for the totally negligible 0.01 difference. I think it's next to impossible that a 3.96 vs. 3.97 would make a difference in your chance of admissions. (Every point on the LSAT is much more important at this level.)

[hoponthiswood]

For what it's worth, I would *not* take it pass-fail. Not because any law school besides Yale will notice/care that you took a course P/F (at Yale, the professors who read your file might). But because in a future semester, you might get a B. If you do, the A- will help keep your average higher. Seems worth it for the totally negligible 0.01 difference. I think it's next to impossible that a 3.96 vs. 3.97 would make a difference in your chance of admissions. (Every point on the LSAT is much more important at this level.)

I guess the thing about law students being bad at math is true.

[polareagle]

For what it's worth, I would *not* take it pass-fail. Not because any law school besides Yale will notice/care that you took a course P/F (at Yale, the professors who read your file might). But because in a future semester, you might get a B. If you do, the A- will help keep your average higher. Seems worth it for the totally negligible 0.01 difference. I think it's next to impossible that a 3.96 vs. 3.97 would make a difference in your chance of admissions. (Every point on the LSAT is much more important at this level.)

I guess the thing about law students being bad at math is true.

I guess I must be bad at math because I don't follow. Care to explain?

[The Lsat Airbender]

For what it's worth, I would *not* take it pass-fail. Not because any law school besides Yale will notice/care that you took a course P/F (at Yale, the professors who read your file might). But because in a future semester, you might get a B. If you do, the A- will help keep your average higher. Seems worth it for the totally negligible 0.01 difference. I think it's next to impossible that a 3.96 vs. 3.97 would make a difference in your chance of admissions. (Every point on the LSAT is much more important at this level.)

I guess the thing about law students being bad at math is true.

I guess I must be bad at math because I don't follow. Care to explain?

Even if OP gets a B or two later, an A- now still hurts their average. A-'s aren't a positive change until their entire GPA is below 3.67.

[Dcc617]

Scenario 1: You have one grade, and it’s a 100. Then you pass/fail a class, then you get a 50 later. Your final average is 75.

Scenario 2: You have one grade of 100. You take an 90 in a class. Your average falls to 95. Then you get a 50. Your final average is an 80.

[The Lsat Airbender]

Scenario 1: You have one grade, and it’s a 100. Then you pass/fail a class, then you get a 50 later. Your final average is 75.

Scenario 2: You have one grade of 100. You take an 90 in a class. Your average falls to 95. Then you get a 50. Your final average is an 80.

That's an extreme scenario, though, with fewer total classes and a bigger relative gap (90 minus 50 is four times 100 minus 90; 3.67 minus 3.00 is only about twice 4.00 minus 3.67).

OP is halfway through junior year so they have like 20-30 credits of 3.96 by now. The A- only costs them maybe a hundredth, but it definitely does drag down their GPA unless they plan on averaging like a 3.05 through their last two semesters. That's not "a B," that's a dozen credits of mostly B's with some B+ and B- mixed in. And it doesn't help their GPA unless they do substantially worse than 3.0 henceforward. Presumably super avoidable for someone who so far as been a straight-A student.

All that said, I wouldn't bother with the P/F here. An A- is no black mark and 3.95 is sufficient to get into any law school.

[isogoria]

I was in a similar situation as OP in the most recent term. I ended up taking the A- instead of the P despite it lowering my GPA by a marginal amount because I can't guarantee that I'll get As in all my remaining classes. Even before Covid, my department allowed a limited number of P/F courses to count toward the major. If I end up with an A- (or less) in any future courses, I'll still have the option of taking the P then--basically more flexibility. Of course, OP might be subject to different P/F rules, and the Covid-induced P/F scheme extended to OP this term might not carry over into future terms. If the P/F options remains open to you no matter what, I'd say take the A- now and retain the option to exercise it later.

[allezallez21]

It doesn't matter at all. I had a withdraw on my transcript and it was never mentioned by anyone during law school admissions. I got into Harvard and was waitlisted at Yale. No one will care that you have a pass on your transcript.

I defer to discussion above about whether you should actually do it. Depends on how hard your final semester is and hedging.

[ESQ92]

What class is it OP? If it's a difficult, technical, or high-level class I would take the respectable A-. If it's like Comm 101 then I would take the pass/fail lol. One a whole though, I think Pass/Fails are more suspect than an A-, and you might want to use them sparingly in case you get a bad professor next year and actually need to patch a low grade.