<p>D just got back from admitted student day, and loved the school. But there were a number of allusions to "pass/no pass," and it seemed like Oberlin is pretty liberal with letting students take classes pass/fail. Is this true? Do a lot of students do this? What are the rules/limitations?</p>
<p>Found this at the web site, but not sure it is current</p>
<p>[Oberlin</a> College | Office of the Registrar | Grading Policy for College of Arts and Sciences Students Matriculated After 2004](<a href=“http://new.oberlin.edu/office/registrar/grading-policies/college-post-2004.dot]Oberlin”>http://new.oberlin.edu/office/registrar/grading-policies/college-post-2004.dot)</p>
<p>I believe Brown University has an analogous policy.</p>
<p>The deadline to declare pass/no-pass grading for a full semester course happened to be yesterday, so it would have been on people’s minds more than usual while your D was visiting.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual for students here to take classes P/NP, but I don’t think it happens disproportionately often either. There’s an informal guideline that you shouldn’t take a class for a letter grade if you want to apply it to your major or to grad school prerequisites – instead, people use the P/NP option to explore challenging courses in different disciplines without jeopardizing their GPA. (e.g., “This semester I’m taking two tough classes in my major and doing independent research and teaching an ExCo, but I really want to take this awesome elective as well; I’m going to declare P/NP so I can enjoy that course and still stay committed to my other work.”)</p>
<p>Theoretically, a student can take as many classes Pass/No Pass as they like, but those requests must be approved by the student’s academic adviser, who makes sure the student has a good reason for not wanting to take a class for a letter grade. I would say that it would be uncommon to take more than one class per semester Pass/No Pass, and that most students will only take advantage of Pass/No Pass a few times (if at all) during their time at Oberlin.</p>
<p>Thank you for clearing that up!</p>