Graduate School opinion of Pass/Fails

Graduate School
1

<p>I'm a current college senior and I'm considering applying to graduate schools in a few years. My college has an unusually low median GPA for a top LAC, and the result is that most people who make the threshold GPA for Phi Beta Kappa (3.6) are inducted into the organization because they constitute the top eighth of their class.</p>

<p>Currently I stand at 3.567...and I'm working on my last four classes. I don't think I'm going to make the 3.6 cut-off and no, there's no rounding up. But I have a solution that could put me over the edge for that...one remaining retroactive pass/fail. The lowest grade I have that I could pass/fail? A "B." Seems pathetic to me to pass/fail a B, in American Literature.</p>

<p>We get three retroactive pass/fails. I used one on Calculus (C) and one on Astronomy (C+) in my first year...and I don't worry too much about those...I'm not interested in math/science programs.</p>

<p>But my question is generally: if I could get into Phi Beta Kappa, is it worth it to use a third pass/fail...or do grad schools so much look down on pass/fails that I would be hurting myself to do that, regardless of what I could gain by it?</p>

<p>Do grad schools generally frown on the use of pass/fails?</p>

2

<p>I don’t think a grad school would see a huge difference in a 3.5 vs a 3.6 if the rest of your application is solid. Is Phi Beta Kappa relevant for anything relating to your graduate school admissions? Or is it just a personal goal to get in? </p>

<p>I was .05 away from summa cum laude…it sucked since it was a personal goal, but I don’t think that extra .05 will be the end of anything. </p>

<p>I don’t know how a pass/fail is looked at, unfortunately. I’ve never heard of the “retroactive” option. I don’t know if 3 will mean too much over the span of your college career, but if they notice you’re doing it to pad your GPA…it really depends on your field, I think, and what your other qualifications are.</p>