<p>
</p>
<p>That’s smart. At (eyes profile) Brown, calculus is going to be much more difficult than AP calculus. You can get a 5 in AP calc by regurgitating formulas . . . I know from personal experience.</p>
<p>So one classes taken S/NC shouldn’t be a problem then? It’ll be noted on the transcript that it was mandatory.</p>
<p>Nevermind to my question above. I did a Google search and this popped up on NYU’s Medical School (pre-med preparation) website so I’m just going to assume it’s the same for most other schools as well:</p>
<p>“Pass/Fail courses are also a no-go for pre-meds. If you withdraw from a class or take it Pass/Fail, a medical school will assign that grade the equivalent of a C- or lower.”</p>
<p>Talk about harsh, but rules are rules I guess.</p>
<p>AmbitiousMind07:</p>
<p>You appear to be quoting from [this</a> webpage](<a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/clubs/amsa/courseRequirements.html]this”>http://www.nyu.edu/clubs/amsa/courseRequirements.html), which is not from NYU SOM or the pre-med advising website. It is part of the NYU AMSA club website, which appears to be (very poorly) paraphrasing the following and more from the NYU pre-med advising website:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Source: <a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/cas/prehealth/gcwds.htm[/url]”>http://www.nyu.edu/cas/prehealth/gcwds.htm</a></p>
<p>If you ask me, the answer to the question, “Should I take (insert some course here) P/F?” is, “It depends.” Is the course a gen-ed requirement for your school, a prerequisite for your major/minor, or a pre-med requirement? If the answer is no, then I would say it’s probably alright to take the course P/F. I find it hard to believe that if you take a course like “Flatbreads 101” P/F, adcoms will automatically think you were trying to dodge a D.</p>
<p>I would not put a lot of stock in the NYU AMSA website. If you’re looking for advice, go to the [NYU</a> pre-med advising website](<a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/cas/prehealth/]NYU”>http://www.nyu.edu/cas/prehealth/).</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification, shades! I just find it vexing that medical schools, law schools, and graduate schools try to clump every type undergraduate school into one–as if each undergraduate school has the same curriculum. Yes, Calc I and Calc II are required for my major, but Calc I is mandatory S/NC so it’s not like there’s a choice. Yes, a student can start out in Calc II, but I just don’t feel like he should be forced to make such a decision (especially as a freshman)—plans change throughout college. What if he decides he doesn’t want to go to medical school, suffers through Calc II, earns (let’s say) a “C”, and now has a relatively low mark on the transcript? This is just me, but I think this admissions game is a little too, umm, unforgiving. I appreciate your clarification though!</p>
<p>The good news is that a single C doesn’t kill you. The even better news is that even in a tough class, college students shouldn’t be getting C’s.</p>
<p>^Haha, I thought your last statement only applied to graduate and PhD programs? ;)</p>
<p>I don’t understand what you’re getting worked up about. If the norm at your school is taking Calc I P/F (and no other grading option is available), then that’s fine. No need to throw yourself right into Calc II if you think you’re unprepared.</p>
<p>True enough, and I totally did have Calc I in my schedule a while back, but when I mentioned it was S/NC many people said not to do it, medical schools look down on classes like that, I’ll be at a disadvantage, blah blah the usual. But I appreciate and am grateful for everyone’s advice and insights.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t think it would matter if it was mandatory P/F. It may, but I would think that as long as you took classes beyond that and got good grades, it would be fine.</p>