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Cover up certain grades?

mashUSMMmashUSMM Member
in Law School Admissions 52 karma

Hey-

Due to the virtual format of my classes this year, my university is allowing us the optional "S/NS" (Satisfactory/Not Satisfactory) selection for certain grades. Satisfactory gives you credit for the class but does not count towards your GPA.

As my semester comes to an end and final grades start to get posted, I am wondering if I should cover up all my grades that are below a 4.0 with an "S". This will optimize my GPA. For example, I am in 5, 3-credit classes and have 3 4.0's and 2 3.5's. That is a GPA of 3.8. I could cover the 3.5's with "S" and get a 4.0 for the semester.

Will this be concerning for a law school to see while reading my transcript? Thanks in advance

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Comments

  • Christina WaltonChristina Walton Member
    769 karma

    I wouldn’t do this. At my school we had Pass/Fail and if you got a Pass you got a D- or above. Meaning if you took a Pass instead of your actual grade, law schools could assume you chose Pass because your grade was very bad. But if your grades are still in the A-/B range you would want them to see that and not a Pass or Satisfactory

  • alumivacuialumivacui Alum Member
    212 karma

    I think it's a case by case basis. I know I had some marks come back lower than I wanted... and would have brought my CGPA lower than I would have wanted... so I opted for a pass/fail option. The marks weren't bad, by any means, but i think preserving your CGPA trumps having a visual number on there.

  • EllegoalsEllegoals Member
    342 karma

    There are multiple reasons why someone could take a class pass/fail. My undergrad encouraged anyone taking a class that may have been way out of their major/comfort zone to consider taking it pass fail so you still get the chance to enjoy the class and learn about a topic you maybe otherwise wouldn't without having to stress as much about the outcome for your GPA. I'm not sure admissions would just assume you were pass/failing to cover up a really low grade.

    At the end of the day, law school admissions care about the numbers, so if you think the 4.0 would boost your cumulative GPA nicely, that's something I would consider. You do have to take the lower credit load into account though. A 4.0 with 5 classes is going to have a much bigger impact on your overall GPA than a 4.0 with 3 classes. I'd recommend running the numbers with your cumulative to see the impact either would have.

  • mashUSMMmashUSMM Member
    52 karma

    @Ellegoals said:
    There are multiple reasons why someone could take a class pass/fail. My undergrad encouraged anyone taking a class that may have been way out of their major/comfort zone to consider taking it pass fail so you still get the chance to enjoy the class and learn about a topic you maybe otherwise wouldn't without having to stress as much about the outcome for your GPA. I'm not sure admissions would just assume you were pass/failing to cover up a really low grade.

    At the end of the day, law school admissions care about the numbers, so if you think the 4.0 would boost your cumulative GPA nicely, that's something I would consider. You do have to take the lower credit load into account though. A 4.0 with 5 classes is going to have a much bigger impact on your overall GPA than a 4.0 with 3 classes. I'd recommend running the numbers with your cumulative to see the impact either would have.

    Thanks for the input. Ran the numbers and covering u the two 3.5's would gives me a .04 bump in cumulative GPA. Not much but def helpful.

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