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I am curious how (if at all) federal judges view a P/F on a transcript from this semester. Are they really just looking at cumulative GPA? My understanding is that they are able to sort by GPAs in the first place to weed applicants down.

If you're talking about a mandatory P/F imposed on the whole school because of covid, I can't imagine any judge looking askance at it. Too lazy to find it, but there was some interview with a federal judge around the spring who said pretty forcefully that he wouldn't penalize applicants for that, and frankly, if there are any judges out there who take a different view, they're probably not someone you want to work for. But if you're talking about a class you personally chose to take P/F, I'm not sure.

OP here -- curious about a non-mandatory P/F.

They’re judges, so the answer is, it depends on the judge. I bet most judges won’t care about a voluntary P/F if everything else looks good, but I’m sure that there are some who comb transcripts looking for signs that the applicant lacks RIGOR. No way of knowing. If you’re trying to decide whether to take a voluntary P/F, if the class is guaranteed to tank your GPA, the higher GPA is more important. If you’re just afraid the class might hurt your GPA, eh (but I never had a super high GPA to protect or anything). If you already have one there’s no point in worrying about it.

(Possible exception: if the voluntary P/F is on top of a full semester of them already I might avoid it because judges will want to see enough grades to evaluate you, but that’s just an opinion.)

Follow up question. For a course that is P/F'd -- any thoughts on including a letter attached to transcript from Professor of P/F'd course saying student was great and had highest B+ in class? Or better just leave the letter out?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:05 pm

Follow up question. For a course that is P/F'd -- any thoughts on including a letter attached to transcript from Professor of P/F'd course saying student was great and had highest B+ in class? Or better just leave the letter out?

The highest B+ in the class seems a bit to me like damning with faint praise in the context of federal clerkship applications. While an 89 is very strong for a non-mandatory P/F student, remember that strong applicants typically have mostly As. I would leave it off.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:46 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:05 pm

Follow up question. For a course that is P/F'd -- any thoughts on including a letter attached to transcript from Professor of P/F'd course saying student was great and had highest B+ in class? Or better just leave the letter out?

The highest B+ in the class seems a bit to me like damning with faint praise in the context of federal clerkship applications. While an 89 is very strong for a non-mandatory P/F student, remember that strong applicants typically have mostly As. I would leave it off.

Yeah, agreed. No disrespect to B+s (I had plenty) but that’s not really going to come across as impressive. If it was the highest grade in the class, or even one of (say) the top 5 grades, depending on the size of the class, maybe.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:46 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:05 pm

Follow up question. For a course that is P/F'd -- any thoughts on including a letter attached to transcript from Professor of P/F'd course saying student was great and had highest B+ in class? Or better just leave the letter out?

The highest B+ in the class seems a bit to me like damning with faint praise in the context of federal clerkship applications. While an 89 is very strong for a non-mandatory P/F student, remember that strong applicants typically have mostly As. I would leave it off.

Yeah, don't do this.