How bad is a Pass from Pass/Fail on a transcript?

[u/skrxbcord]

for context, i'm in undergrad EE, and i'm thinking of marking some of my humanities requirement classes as P/F since i'm 95% sure i'll be getting worse grades in those classes than my STEM ones. i hear that a P/F course is a huge black mark on one's transcript if they're applying for jobs and grad school, the latter being a future possibility i'm a bit interested in, but also that it depends on whether the class in question is lined up with your major (e.g. P/F in calculus would be way worse than P/F in art history). Those with more experience and knowledge in the 'applying for grad school/jobs that actually look at your transcript', what's your take? is it okay to use P/F on a few humanities classes as an engineering major, or should i avoid P/F entirely?

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[u/Tall_Pumpkin_4298]

You guys are allowed to choose if a class is marked with a grade or a pass/fail on your transcript? For me that's set for the class and so if the class is pass fail it shows up that way and if it's a grade it shows up that way, no matter what you do.

[u/SN1572]

I had one pass and two withdrawals on my transcript. Did not prevent me from getting into a masters program nor my current job.

[u/MiserableDog6357]

For jobs I dont think pass/fail for non major related classes would be a giant deal. I have a pass on my transcript for a required gym class(I know) I constantly skipped, not once has that ever impacted me in any way. I know people say C’s get degrees but it’s better to be safe during the current job market.

I dont know many employers that would look at a fine GPA but get upset you passed art history, I would definitely not do this for calculus or major related courses as you stated though-it does not tell them much about your proficiency in the subjects. After your first job your transcript wont matter much. For grad school it would be more impactful. I think it somewhat depends on how you use this. If its a backup to saving your gpa once or twice I kinda doubt it will hurt you significantly. If you do it a ton then I think it will for more competitive grad programs

[u/lazydictionary]

Most schools won't accept them for transfer credit. Other than that, it really isn't an issue.

[u/CatchSpecialist7732]

Does taking a Math course at a community college in the summer for credit transfer look bad to recruiters or engineering grad school too?

[u/Odd_Eagle7915 → u/CatchSpecialist7732]

No, they don't see that

[u/CatchSpecialist7732 → u/Odd_Eagle7915]

The credit transfer is in the transcript. Some internship applications ask for a copy.

[u/Odd_Eagle7915 → u/CatchSpecialist7732]

It's more of a HR thing, nobody has time to look at dozens of transcripts and care where someone took Calc 2. By the time you are sending in a transcript you already have the job.

[u/CatchSpecialist7732 → u/Odd_Eagle7915]

I am currently applying for summer internships, many companies ask for an unofficial copy of the transcript. May be it’s to verify the gpa?

[u/LitRick6 → u/CatchSpecialist7732]

My company asks for transcripts. Its purely to verify gpa.

[u/Odd_Eagle7915]

Michigan 1st year is all pass/fail

[u/Odd_Eagle7915]

Pass/ fail isn't for core classes. It's for if you want to take Mandarin and don't want it to mess up your gpa

[u/skrxbcord → u/Odd_Eagle7915]

funny enough i am in fact taking mandarin but im actually intending to use P/F only on my econ classes

[u/Odd_Eagle7915 → u/skrxbcord]

Exactly, they won't let you take Thermo as P/F

[u/Acceptable-Fly5050]

My company didn't care what grades I got, they cared that I had a degree and I was willing to pay attention, learn from failure, not cry when I am confused, and ask for guidance from mentors when i was lost. Also FE

[u/Happy-Property1162]

Lol why are we giving our transcripts to jobs

[u/Odd_Eagle7915 → u/Happy-Property1162]

That's mostly to prove you actually graduated

[u/RunExisting4050 → u/Happy-Property1162]

Because some jobs tequire them.

[u/Happy-Property1162 → u/RunExisting4050]

Crazy, I've at most needed to show I wasn't bsing about a GPA lol

[u/time-wasting23 → u/Happy-Property1162]

You may need to have a certain GPA. My husband’s EE division at his large R and D firm requires a 3.5 GPA for students directly out on undergrad. This is higher than most, but a lot of places require 3.0. You will have to provide a transcript.

For a challenging class outside your major, P/F can be a great option.

[u/cointoss3]

Huge black mark lol

If you want to do a masters, it’ll likely be a problem. Besides that? No

[u/time-wasting23 → u/cointoss3]

A class that isn’t an engineering or math class will generally be fine. I’m a professor. In undergrad, I took a notoriously difficult linguistics course with a brilliant writer and scholar. I didn’t want to miss studying with him. I took the class p/f because it was far from my major. I would have had a B+ in the class. My undergrad gpa was a 4.0. I would have been kind of sad to wreck a 4.0 for a class that I took for the sake of learning.