<p>Hello,
I'm currently a junior in high schools right now. I am really interested in going to Stanford and some of the Ivies and have been researching pass/fail classes and how high level universities view them, but nothing has turned up. So, I decided to post my concerns here. </p>
<p>I'm currently taking 4 AP classes and 4 regular/honors classes so I have a GPA of 4.5. A friend of my has the same schedule as me except for one class, a study session for AP Calc, which is considered pass fail. He has a GPA of 4.57. So obviously, pass fail classes help raise your GPA, but what would a college view as better:
1. Taking a regular class and getting an A in it or...
2. Taking a pass/fail class, passing it, and bumping up your GPA and class rank?</p>
<p>If I was an Adcom, I’d much prefer the person who took a regular class and got an A in it as opposed to someone who took a pass/fail class which, more often than not, will raise one’s GPA. (It’s pretty hard to fail those.)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I’m not a college. I can’t say which they’d prefer.</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I would love some advice. I’ve just been really bummed out lately because I’m worried about how my transcript will appear to colleges. I’m starting to consider some pretty good institutions, but this past semester, I did rather poorly in my calculus II class. I ended up changing it to a pass/fail course, but I’m scared that my transcript will not be good enough for the colleges I want to attend. Help?</p>
<p>Pass/fail classes don’t do anything to your GPA and class rank, do they? I thought that was the point. They can’t hurt your GPA, but they don’t help it either.</p>
<p>Well it depends. Do you have any reason why you made it a pass/fail?</p>
<p>I mean, I’ve had like 3 classes (not all in one year) that had to be made into pass/fail because it was when I had depression and test anxiety and basically everything was going badly for me. </p>
<p>But if things aren’t so bad, or if you have no reason to do so, get that A in a regular class. Pass/Fail classes don’t add into your GPA, so it keeps your GPA the same. I know of cases where it lowers GPA, but never where it increases the GPA.</p>
<p>Put it this way, if you are a math major and you take “Intro to Celtic Literature before 1800” P/NP, then nobody will bat an eye since that is way out of your specialty range. If you took “Advanced Differential Toplogy” P/NP because it is difficult and would lower your GPA, then people might look down on it because that is within your specialty range (math). </p>
<p>My college (UCSB) will allow you to take any class P/NP (up to 60 units or so) as long as it is not a class required for your major.</p>
<p>At my school, pass/fail classes have no effect on your GPA (classes like Gym, teacher assisting, etc.) - which is why they’re pass/fail, as there is no number attached to them to actually be put into your GPA.</p>
<p>Pass/fail classes are often easier than normal classes, meaning that your courseload becomes significantly lighter than it would be if you were to fill in a normal class, and MUCH easier than it would be if you were to fill in an AP/DE class. You get the picture?</p>