I am currently a graduating senior. The course in question is within my department, but will count as an elective (since I have already met the requirements, I just took this class for the experience). This class ended up being way harder than I anticipated, and online learning turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected. My current overall gpa is a 3.8, and my departmental gpa is a 3.96. I anticipate getting a B in the class, a C+ at the lowest. However, a B or C+ would prevent me from getting cum laude (which I would get otherwise), and would tank my departmental gpa. My question is, will taking this class S/NS be a disaster for PhD program admissions, especially since it is within my department, or will exceptions be made for Spring 2020 given current events? I am weighing the benefits of graduating with cum laude and a high gpa against the damage of having an S/NS grade.
More details as requested: I have to register for S/NS now but can switch back to a letter grade later if I wish. I have access to all my scores so if I end up doing much better than I anticipated I could take the letter grade. The class is only made up of 3 test scores (which are hard and difficult to gauge my performance before getting graded) so my fear is that one of them will tank my average.
- I have to register for S/NS now but can switch back to a letter grade later if I wish. I have access to all my scores so if I end up doing much better than I anticipated I could take the letter grade.
- The class is only made up of 3 test scores (which are hard and difficult to gauge my performance before getting graded) so my fear is that one of them will tank my average.
- S/NS means satisfactory / not satisfactory.
