what the heck is the pass/fail policy????

College Search & Selection
1

<p>hey guys, </p>

<p>i've heard about this being in place at a bunch of colleges but I don't get how it works. anybody wanna explain the pass/fail policy?</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

2

<p>you don't get a letter grade (A, B, C, D, or E) you either get a passing grade or a failing grade.</p>

3

<p>Yep, no grade, just a P or F on your transcript. The P doesn't affect your GPA, although I believe the F might. So if you have a class that you have to take but isn't a major requirement, just an elective, and you know your schedule is going to overloaded or you won't be that interested in it, take it Pass/fail. You can't do that too much though -- they won't let you, plus it looks bad on your transcript. The kicker is if you do that, and then get an A, you still just get a P! I know someone that happened to. Nutrition 101 turned out to be a boat class and she skipped half the lectures, and got an A in the class but a P on her transcript. That sucked.</p>

4

<p>So you can decide if you want to take a class as a graded class or as pass/fail?</p>

5

<p>Yes. Although some intro classes are only pass/fail (like my intro to library search methods class freshman year) and usually youre limited to only so many hours pass/no pass within your major.</p>

<p>This is an important deadline to be aware of as you can usually change midway through the semester the nature of the class, and most places that i know of the fail doesn't count in your GPA either.</p>

<p>However, if you really hate a class, and just don't want to work on it, and you don't really care about how your GPA will be affected, then just take the class for a grade. Yeah, you'll have that D on there, but you only have to get a 60%, rather than a 70% or higher (depending on your school's policies).</p>

6

<p>Double-check your school's policies: deadlines, how the P/F effects your gpa, etc. At GW, only electives can be taken P/F, not major requirements, not general requirements. If you're going to grad school, be also aware of how they look at P/F on your transcripts. I also know that certain goverment jobs will have a rule about P/F. The line goes something like: "If more than 10% of your classes are P/F, you claim that you have superior standing." It's not the exact wording, but I hope you get my drift.</p>