<p>Hey everyone! I’m currently a freshman and want to apply to the Haas Undergraduate Program at Cal and was wondering if selecting pass/no pass for 3 out of the 4 courses I’m taking this semester (my first at Cal) is wise. I’m also wondering if this will affect my chances of getting into top tier law or business schools in the future.</p>
<p>I don't know how things are these years, but I had a friend who took a number of courses pass/fail at Brown and it nearly killed him when he went to apply to Top Law Schools.</p>
<p>They may wonder, "Why would you take a p when you could get an A?" Do you have a good reason?</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>dude9, go to the Haas building and ask a counselor. That is what the counselor is there for. Getting into Haas is very competitive, has requirements to get in and taking three classes p/f is probably not going to work.</p>
<p>You take 3/4 of your classes P/NP during your first semester and you pretty much kill your chances of getting into Haas (and a top law/business school) later on. There are lots of UCB undergrads that want to get into Haas; getting into Haas is like getting into the College of Engineering. To do that (from L&S), you need to distinguish yourself...which means pulling high grades in all your courses but especially the Haas prereqs (BA10, etc). So unless you have a great reason (mono at the very minimum), this shouldn't be an option for you.</p>
<p>If you plan on applying for any kind of graduate work, you should consider doing all your courses for grades. From my own experience: during my interviews for engineering graduate programs, I was grilled about the two P/NP courses I took at Cal - even though neither remotely technical and one was a language class I took for fun. At a law school interview the grilling would be much worse.</p>
<p>I am taking four courses this semester. Of these, I am only taking once P/NP and that is Integrative Biology 41. This course is only 2 units and I am taking it solely for the bio sciences breadth requirement. All my other courses, including Statistics 21, are 4 units and are for letter grades. Given that it is not a Haas prereq and is a fairly minor class, would taking it P/NP hurt my chances of getting into Haas.</p>