<p>Would admissions officers at highly selective and Ivy League colleges dislike if a student takes an unweighted elective class/activity (such as newspaper staff) as Pass/Fail, in order to maximize their GPA given an already extremely rigorous course-load and straight As? My dd's large public high school allows one Pass/Fail per semester, and because AP, IB and Honors are all weighted at a 5 for an A, -- taking an unweighted elective will bring down the GPA and class rank. My dd asked her teacher to Pass/Fail this elective and was met with reproach (although the guidance counsellor feels it may be in her best interests, and warned us this particular teacher wouldn't like it) The teacher made it sound as if colleges will dislike seeing a Pass/Fail here but I am wondering if that is really the case. It is better to take it Pass/Fail and maintain a class rank of 3 or 4 out of 350 rather than slip down to number 15 or 20 by way of taking an elective for a grade and make the teacher happier? It seems wrong to be penalized for participating in extracurriculars that are classes while those who are not involved in the school activities/classes and only take weighted classes have a much better class rank. Newspaper staff is important to dd but if she can win local awards for stories and articles, doesn't that say more than taking a Pass in a class where everyone gets an A anyhow? This school's val/sal last year pretty much had no extracurricular activities. Thanks for any advice on this matter.</p>
<p>Holy crap - this is why I hate rankings… my D is also taking an extra class her senior fall (in conjunction with 4 APs and an honors class), an elective class that is right in line with her career aspirations, and a class that is unweighted…she never even gave it a second thought about the impact on her GPA because our school does NOT rank… ever…she thought the colleges would like that she was giving up her free period to take a 6th class…</p>