<p>I'm going to be a second year engineering major with hopes in getting into a good grad school for engineering. </p>
<p>I was wondering when is it appropriate to drop? obviously if you're failing but is it better to get a c/c- and risk failing or a w? Fortunately this hasn't been the case for me.</p>
<p>And which classes should i do pass/no pass.. I'm not sure how other schools work but im sure its the same but i can use pass/no pass for 25 percent of my credits or courses i believe. Well i haven't used any yet but i dont really know when...maybe i wont. </p>
<p>I hear that its bad to take pass/no pass in your major courses, and the non-science courses seem like gpa boosters. So when should i take them? What about a math courses, physics labs, etc. courses which are not really part of my major but they are part of my major's requirements.</p>
<p>if you're an academically strong student, a W does not always mean that you were getting a C for the class -- if other grades in same quarter/semester are all B+ or above, then the reasons for dropping are not very obvious -- however, is you are a C or B- student, then a W might signify that you were getting an F -- admissions committee for grad schools probably looks at the next quarter/semester when you retook the class to see what grade you finally achieved -- a C would denote that you dropped the class because you were seriously struggling -- a B+ or above would mean that something else got in your way of taking that class -- like i've heard of A students dropping out in middle or end of quarter because a prof or TA would make passes at them, that kind of crap</p>
<p>W is better than a C because it won't pull your GPA down -- for a single C that you receive, you need three(!) A's to "quench" the 2.0 you're received to pull GPA to a 3.5 -- getting 3 straight A's is significantly more difficult to do than dropping the class, taking it over, and hoping for a B or above -- therefore W's are preferable to C's if you have overall GPA above 3.0 -- however, if you're a B- student who is just hoping to graduate and go to work, then a C does not matter that much</p>
<p>i've never taken P/NP in my major -- but i've taken some sociology, economics, and computer science classes with that -- i wanted to force myself to go to class -- because sometimes you decide to sit in a class -- and by the middle of the quarter with other classes having midterms and such you get too lazy or stressed to continue coming -- taking the class with P/NP option i forced myself to keep on coming to the class until the quarter ended -- like i would not attend all lectures if the class wasn't as interesting as i hoped, but i'd attend over half of them to at least get a C -- this way i learned something on the side -- it is basically like taking 1/2 class instead of a full class plus having your curiosity reflect in your transcript</p>