<p>Okay, so UW curves many of their classes at a median of 2.5, meaning that you could do bloody brilliant compared to the rest of your class and still get a 2.9 (B-) for the term.</p>
<p>However, for some prerequisite they allow for people to take the class at S/NS for the purposes of the class. So, for example, I could take a Geometric Applications course as a pre-req for a 300 or 400 level Math course and earn a 2.9, then try to explain how I was actually 4 deviations above the median, or I could earn a S for the class and then just take the upper devision.</p>
<p>How would this look on a graduate school application, though? Would it be viewed as if I was taking "Mickey Mouse" classes? Because it most definitely is not a "Mickey Mouse" class.</p>
<p>I think that you are going to have to trust that grad schools have the same information that you do about the grading at such a well known school. OTOH, my daughter went to Brown and had the same option for S/nS and it did not hurt for grad schools in CS, she is in one now. I don’t think she took any in her major, but certainly some non major studies. Prereq, don’t think so. But I can’t help but think the prereq will be insignificant if you do well on the later course. Did you think to see if you can place out of the prereq? (if you feel confident)</p>
<p>For me, my undergraduate school always published median grades along side your actual grade on your transcript. then they gave a summary like 3 classes below median, 14 classes at median, 18 classes above median. So even if a graduate school was not familiar with my school’s particular grading system it was clear on the transcript how well i was doing in my respective classes compared to other students. Perhaps your school has a similar policy?</p>
<p>with that said, I don’t think grad school will have a problem with S/NS grade in a non-major class</p>
<p>Well there are other classes which are only offered as C/NC, which are grades of above 80%. Some of these are in-major. They’re applications classes which adjoin to another. For example, Math 3XX could have Math 199 as a C/NC or S/NS class which attaches and is an applications class along with it.</p>