<p>i'm a math major and might go to grad school in sociology
if i get a b in an english class
is it better to take the b,
or to take the class on pass/fail
(assuming most of my other classes are a's)</p>
<p>i have a week to decide</p>
<p>I would take the B, personally. Looks more impressive that just “passing” which could be a D.</p>
<p>Sometimes a pass/fail class won’t count toward requirements for various things. Take the B and move on, it’ll be a drop in the bucket by the time you graduate, and you can use your in-major GPA if you’d like for a lot of things.</p>
<p>Pass fail it. Especially if you are getting mostly As and this class is a straight B - a 3.0. This is arguably what the pass fail was intended for - to take a class without it disrupting your gpa.</p>
<p>You people don’t realize that the academic transcript, especially mickey mouse courses outside your major, is not scrutinized heavily by either graduate schools or employers (I mean in detail - the bottom line gpa may be weighted heavily). Maybe top law schools, but even then - a pass/fail would be better than a B.</p>
<p>Point is, if you take it pass/fail - the one grand “take away” message that is usually the ONLY thing glanced at on your entire transcript - YOUR CUMULATIVE GPA - will be higher. Sometimes in-major GPA is looked at, but really — if you’re presenting that it just verefies you fricked’ up the course outside your major anyhow.</p>
<p>And yeah, I’d check to see what the credit policy is for pass/ fail – but most situations it counts. Usually the only stipulation is that you cannot pass/fail courses within your major, but you’re fine on that.</p>
<p>The effect of one B over the course of 3-4 years is, in every sense of the word, negligible.</p>
<p>thanks for your input (=</p>
<p>Firstly, A B isn’t really a bad grade. Secondly, Who would care that you got a B in English if you are in math? They probably wouldn’t care if you got a C-. Now if you got a C in a math course and an A in English, that would be worrisome.</p>
<p>If you think about it, the effects of every individual grade is negligible by itself… none of them matter… oh wait…</p>
<p>It’s not a big deal obviously but tell me one good reason why you SHOULDNT pass/ fail it. There are none.</p>
<p>By mitigating the effects of a B in every case and class, you will have a higher gpa long term. That is, if you care about that sort of thing.</p>
<p>i agree with peterparker, if the B hurts ur GPA even negligibly, might as well take advantage of the pass/fail feature Also, I think it would be nice to take a class without having to worry about the letter grade.
Although I would take a B happily, but that’s another story</p>
<p>Definitely pass/no pass it. Forgetting entirely about GPA for a second, there’s nothing wrong with taking your worst course pass/no pass. It’ll probably make it more relaxed and enjoyable. </p>
<p>If you end up wanting to go to grad school in sociology, hopefully you’ll have plenty of letter grades in sociology classes that will matter far more than some english class.</p>
<p>Let’s not miss a greater point, either.</p>
<p>If you’re applying for grad school in sociology, let’s say, the admissions board is going to put heavy wait on research and work-related experience, your career interests and ambitions and how they fit with their program, the university you went to, your GRE scores, and in terms of your gpa - they will look at your overall cumulative gpa, MAYBE your sociology gpa. They do not have the time, nor the desire to sift through each and every class on your transcript, trying to award merit on whether or not you got a B or B+ in some theatre or film joke class - hell they probably won’t look at which sociology classes you actually took. This may frighten or annoy some people here who think their transcripts deserve to be scrutinized further b/c of the great efforts they put into classes. They do take that into account - it’s called bottom-line, cumulative gpa - that’s all thats looked at. Ipso facto, pass/fail it. Yeesh.</p>
<p>Actually most grad programs ask for multiple breakdowns of GPA. Heck, during my interviews at many grad schools I had professors comment on my grades in various classes. I got Bs in most all of the classes in my minor (physics), but many professors understood when I told them how I was slightly behind due to me not taking a few pre-reqs that taught the math and instead just went straight in because I was mostly interested in the concepts.</p>
<p>Pass/fail is there for people interested in learning what a subject is about without having to put out a huge time commitment. I don’t think I’d pass/fail an English class if I’m looking at going into a humanities field, especially if I’m coming from a technical one. Admissions committees would probably be interested in your “soft” skills such as writing and reading unless you’re applying to a very quantitative sociology program.</p>
<p>And, seriously, if one B is going to be the make/break factor for your transcript there’s probably more important things you need to fix first.</p>
<p>I’d take it Pass/Fail. I plan to eventually use P/F to be able to take a couple classes I’m interested in but fear may hurt my overall GPA if taken for a letter grade. Used sparingly and only for non-major classes, it won’t have a negative impact on how grad schools perceive your transcript.</p>
<p>Just make sure the English course you’re taking is eligible for P/F – my school will not allow required or general ed classes to be taken P/F, only free electives for your degree program.</p>
<p>I still stand by my last comment. If any interviewer is asking you about grades on specific classes (unless you bombed one) - or a socio grad program is asking you “about that english class” - the interviewer is extremely bored, has too much time on his hands, or is an utter moron. Your research experience, intern experience, career aspirations, and fit for the program will be discussed much more extensively.</p>
<p>If socio grad program interviewer is thinking to himself … hmm look he got a B in some English class, that proves he has ‘soft skills’ and knows how to write - RUN. Run far away. Not to mention every B.A. involves extensive reading and writing.</p>
<p>However, one may think - hmmm this kid makes the gpa cut off with his 3.7 - oh this kid does not make our unspoken cutoff with his 3.65. Think about it. Oh yeah and pass/fail it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Except this guy is likely getting a BS in Math.</p>
<p>And if you think one B is the difference between a 3.7 and a 3.65 then I recommend you take some more.</p>
<p>(And, as for why I was being asked about my physics classes, it’s because I was in an engineering program in undergrad and was going into a more physics oriented program for grad school. They wanted to be sure I’d be able to do well even though I had considerably lower grades than most of my peers here.)</p>
<p>No, the difference is 3 B’s. And you should avoid all of them. Starting with this one. No need to get defensive.</p>