Will Grad schools care if I pass/fail during covid?

[dobiegerl]

So this is my last semester of undergrad and I'm planning on applying to grad school next fall. I really want to finish with a strong gpa and my school is offering students the ability to p/f any class and it will still count towards graduation requirements. I'm having a really tough time in a couple classes and I'm really considering p/f them but I'm not sure how that will look to grad schools? I know it's during a pandemic but do you think it will affect my chances of getting in?

Edit for context: I'm planning on applying for a PhD in political science. The two courses I'm thinking about p/f are a music gen ed and an upper level econ course (econ is my second major). I'm extra concerned because I already have two Ws (both were for legitimate reasons - an advisor told me to take a course I had actually already received credit for and the other is when I decided to extend my thesis work so I switched the class but it shows up as a W) and I know that already doesn't look good.

Edited September 4, 2020 by dobiegerl

[prokem]

Depends on the school and the program.

When colleges switched to mandatory P/F or something similar which applied to all students, most grad programs explicitly stated it was fine. If you're choosing to do P/F on the other hand, I think that's often looked down on/viewed suspiciously by grad programs, but again it depends on the specifics. It's hard to say right now because there's no precedent, but I think if you have the option to take a class for a grade and don't it's probably viewed negatively (can't say how much so) unless you have some specific circumstance (like having covid, caring for a sick family member, bad internet connection if you're taking online classes etc)

I think poli sci programs won't care as much about a P in music, but they might for the Econ class, especially bc it's your major.

Afaik high grades are critical for PhDs, though I don't have any exp with them myself and haven't come across any undergrads who went straight in. 

[adjunctlifer]

Years and years ago, for my last semester of undergrad, I opted for pass/fail in a class without considering what that meant for the future. I don’t know if it ended up affecting my masters applications much (by the time I decided to apply years later it just was what it was) but for what it’s worth, out of four applications, I got into two, waitlisted for another and only rejected by one. 

On the flip side - all my anxiety over failing the course prompted me to take pass fail. And yet my grade would have been an A! So in the end I regretted my decision.