DS's college P/F

Parents Forum
1

S19’s college just announced today they will be making all classes this semester Pass/Fail. There’s an option for letter grades, but he has to request it. Other than that, I don’t have alot of details yet. I don’t know if he can opt for grades in some classes, but P/F for others, or if it’s all or nothing.

I’d like to know how to help him decide what’s best for him, but I know nothing about how P/F works. Any advice? TIA

2

D’s school went optional P/F. She can pick and choose which class to make P/F and which do letter grades.

About a week after the president of the school sent out the letter saying courses would be grade optional, the department for her major sent a letter saying not to take any course P/F without talking to the advisor first.

The main issue is that there are some courses required for the major that need higher than a C+ and the “Pass” threshold is a C-. There is also a higher threshold needed for co-oping.

My advice would be to have your student email their advisor and get their opinion.

3

Good questions and many of us are wondering the same things. I asked my S if there was any information about the implications in the email from his college, he said there were some broad statements such as P/F was an option, but encouraged students to stay with letter grades, and that students who were considering grad school should also take that into consideration, that it could make a difference (his words). I’ve read elsewhere that P/F can be a problem if transferring.

Both of my kids are choosing to take letter grades but also, at least one of them doesn’t have to make the decision until right before finals, which is nice. I do think advisor input could be good here before making the decision to go P/F.

4

Typically, there are college-specific rules on how P/F or P/NP works.

Things to consider, which may require reading through the college rule book and/or asking the college and major department directly:

  • P typically has no effect on GPA calculations at the college.
  • The threshold for P is often C-, but may be some other grade.
  • Does NP (if used instead of F as the counterpart of P) have no effect on GPA calculations at the college?
  • NP typically means no credit, like F (but not necessarily like D).
  • Where there are specific requirements for letter grade courses (e.g. for within one's major), are the letter grade requirements waived for P grades in spring 2020?
  • If the student will apply to professional school or transfer later, are any of the courses those where the professional school or transfer target really wants to see a letter grade (e.g. science/math/English-composition courses for a pre-med)?
5

Good things to think about!! S and I briefly discussed it. He’s not sure it’s worth it for him. 2 of his current classes are in his major (and so far hasn’t received anything below a B+). There’s one he may want P/F, but he needs to ask first if doing so will affect whether it’ll still count toward distribution. He said his Profs had already stated that kids could decide last minute whether they wanted a grade or not.