pass/no pass grades and c's and d's

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amiphysicist
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Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2010 5:16 am

pass/no pass grades and c's and d's

Post by amiphysicist » Fri Oct 29, 2010 5:31 pm

any idea
Last edited by amiphysicist on Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

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HappyQuark
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Re: pass/no pass grades and c's and d's

Post by HappyQuark » Fri Oct 29, 2010 5:46 pm

amiphysicist wrote:any idea how catastrophic pass/no pass grades and d's appear as upper level physics course grades on transcript? would it really put one behind on an application for ph.d.? seems like i will a have terrible gpa for a semester. i know there are other factors such as research exp. etc that have an effect, but i'm curious about your opinions.
Contrary to popular belief, admissions committees actually like to see that you failed, withdrew and/or took a pass/no pass on a few of your upper division classes. Ideally, half of your upper division coursework should be a bunch of A and A+ grades while the other half should be complete bombs. This tells them that you are first and foremost interested in doing world class scientific research, except of course when it's time to PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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LoronDotCom
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Re: pass/no pass grades and c's and d's

Post by LoronDotCom » Sun Oct 31, 2010 2:45 pm

Really!? I've never heard anyone say anything like that before...

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HappyQuark
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Re: pass/no pass grades and c's and d's

Post by HappyQuark » Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:10 pm

LoronDotCom wrote:Really!? I've never heard anyone say anything like that before...
Oh absolutely. It's a pretty standard part of the "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" educational philosophy. As a matter of fact, if you look up the official crest of every graduate program in the united states, over 90% of them use this image

Image

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WhoaNonstop
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Re: pass/no pass grades and c's and d's

Post by WhoaNonstop » Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:30 pm

amiphysicist wrote:any idea how catastrophic pass/no pass grades and d's appear as upper level physics course grades on transcript? would it really put one behind on an application for ph.d.? seems like i will a have terrible gpa for a semester. i know there are other factors such as research exp. etc that have an effect, but i'm curious about your opinions.
Let's be honest. Every school is different. Every application procedure is different. There is probably no one on this forum who can specifically gauge how much certain grades will affect you. If you want an honest opinion though:

I can understand a C or a D. It happens. However, I don't think application committee's will smile upon multiple bad letter grades, even if the rest of your classes are A+.

-Riley

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grae313
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Re: pass/no pass grades and c's and d's

Post by grae313 » Sun Oct 31, 2010 9:16 pm

amiphysicist wrote:would it really put one behind on an application for ph.d.?
yes.



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