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P/D/F-ing, Part I
This week we presented two questions about p/d/f-ing courses.
#1 - I am a sophomore pre-med, and I was wondering how p/d/f-ing a course may or may not affect my application to med school. If it is a class that is not a pre-med requirement, and does not count towards my major, can a p/d/f have a negative effect on an application?
#2 - I have a question. I am a senior and have taken two English classes so far  - one was an art history class with a writing component (which fulfilled my freshman writing requirement) and the other was Shakespeare, which I P/D/F-ed. I am enrolled in another English class this semester (ENG 231) and was hoping to P/D/F it as well. My question is this: how important is it to med schools that I have two semesters of English taken for a grade? I would really like to use the P/D/F this semester in order to not waste the P/D/F and because I don't want to risk lowering my GPA, and also I could use the extra time for thesis work. I am done with all my pre-med science requirements - this is the last thing I am trying to get taken care of.

Answer: It will not have a negative effect at all unless you employ it in a semester in which you're only taking two other classes (seniors excepted) for some reason. Go for it.
Answer:  You MUST take the course for a grade, especially as you P/D/F’ed the second course. The medical schools require that the pre-medical requirements be taken for a grade. Sorry.

P/D/F-ing, Part II
For the English pre-med requirement, I have taken the Writing Seminar class, and have PDF-ed another English course.  However, I was told that PDF-ing does not count towards my requirements.  Is this true? Do I need to take another English course for a grade?

Answer:  Yes.  All requirements for medical school must be taken for a grade.  In all likelihood you will end up applying to medical schools that require 2 semesters of English--well over half of them do--and all classes that are required for admission (or entrance), whether they be science or English, should be graded. 

P/D/F-ing, Part III
Hello, I am a sophomore and signed up for an EEB class this semester in order to decide whether I should consider EEB as my concentration. I now know that I do not want to be an EEB major. I would like to take the class under the PDF grade option because I am enrolled in 5 classes, one of which is biochemistry. I have not had enough time to do well in each of my classes. However, I am concerned that med schools may wonder why my biology class was not taken for a grade. Would it be worse for them to see a low grade in the class? Thank you!
I would appreciate a response by the end of the week since the PDF deadline is this Friday!

Answer: The PDF deadline was indeed last Friday, so questions about taking classes pass/fail have been frequent in recent weeks. The following response is worth repeating... Yes, it would be worse to receive a low grade in your EEB class than to take a Biology course 'PDF.' You need to do well in Biochemistry, so your logic does make some sense.  Use the PDF option for your EEB class (as long as it's not 211), and as long as you limit taking the PDF option to a couple of classes over your four years at Princeton. While the University allows you four PDF classes, doing many more than two may look a little 'lite' to med schools. However--and this is important: EEB 211 is a requirement for medical school, so if EEB 211 is the class we're talking about then it must be graded (we're assuming your EEB class is not 211?). Also: Remember to continue taking one science class per semester if possible after you've completed your pre-med classes, regardless of your major--and take most, if not all, for a grade.  Lastly, we're glad to hear you're doing Biochemistry for a grade.  Biochem is a class that pre-meds commonly want to take pass/fail, but since it is a requirement for some medical schools and strongly recommended by others, it needs to be graded.

‘PDF’ vs. ‘Audit’
Hi HPA! I am currently taking Economics 101 (Macro) P/D/F. However, this is a very, very a busy semester for me. I also heard from both the professor and other students that it is not uncommon for P/D/F students to be the ones that end up with the D's in the class because they are typically not the ones pouring their hearts and souls into it. I was wondering whether med schools see any significant difference in taking a class P/D/F or for audit. Econ does not fulfill any of my unmet distribution requirements, and I already have three classes beyond what I will need to graduate. Therefore, Econ is a class that I am taking purely out of personal interest. I was wondering, from the pre-med point of view, whether I may audit it, or whether I should stick with the P/D/F?

Answer: As long as you haven't audited other classes in the past, go ahead and switch to Audit if you really want to. Having more than one Audit on your transcript may appear overly cautious so limit yourself to one, if possible. Having one ‘audit’ on your transcript doesn't make much difference, however. Just make certain that you are sitting well with credits toward graduation and that, as a rule, you’re not always shying away from difficult coursework. Also, please do not believe everything you hear about a professor’s grading habits!

C on Midterm
Hello - as a member of the class of 09 it may be a little early for me to be worrying about this, but I had a question.  I just got my midterm exam grade for my ART class.   My grade wasn't great (it was a C). I’m wondering how big of a role this would play if I apply to med school. I guess it's better for this C to be in a ART class and not in my CHM class, right? I was pretty disappointed when I saw the grade; I’m not used to doing this poorly. Any advice you can give would be appreciated. 

Answer:  Yours is a very typical question this time of year, as many students experience post-midterm misery.  Let us first point out that you're a freshman, and you have seven more semesters to shine academically, so you're right to say that it's early.  An extremely common phenomenon (some might say disorder!) among freshman pre-meds is the shock one feels upon realizing that Princeton isn't high school, and the focus and discipline required to excel in high school, while a good foundation, needs to be built upon in college - not rested upon . . .  As long as your academic performance continues to improve over the years prior to applying to medical school and your final grade point average is in line with the averages of accepted students at the medical schools to which you're applying, then some trouble in freshman year - or even sophomore year - is not an issue.  True, a C in a science course might be more of a concern than one in a C in an Art class, since med school does involve more science than Art, thus schools look for demonstrated competence in science, but in either case such a scenario is survivable. 

Getting Help
Hi.  I’m in two science classes this semester both with labs, and I’m totally overwhelmed.  I may end up dropping one but even if I do, I’m worried about midterms and how I’m going to do on them.  I’m a freshman who did fairly well last year, but my grade from CHM 201 last fall wasn’t great.  Now it looks like I may be in the same situation again.  I need to know what I can do.  I know there are study halls but I’ve never used them.  Are they worth it?  What else should I be doing before midterms to get help? Sorry to bother you.

Answer:  In our opinion, yes, the McGraw Center study halls in Frist are indeed “worth” the trouble of walking over to Frist, but don’t take our word for it.  Go judge for yourself.  The McGraw Center organizes these study halls and also has a lot of other very useful information for someone in your position.  They run occasional seminars and workshops on how to succeed in certain difficult courses, including science courses such as CHM 201-202, Organic Chemistry, and Physics; they have a wealth of “tips” and strategies on their website; they have peer mentors available; and they have full-time staff available for academic counseling.  Go to http://web.princeton.edu/sites/mcgraw/undergraduates.html.  Also, don’t be shy about using your professors’ and preceptors’ office hours; sometimes students, especially those who were very successful in high school, find it difficult to admit their academic troubles to our faculty, but you will not improve unless you’ve sat down with someone more knowledgeable than yourself and identified your exact weaknesses and the ways in which you study most effectively (ways which may differ from those of your friends).  Lastly, make an appointment with your Dean or Director of Studies in your residential college (if you haven’t already).  Let us know how it goes!

JP Grades and Factoring GPA's
Hello. I am a Molecular Biology major and wanted to ask about the calculation of the science GPA for the AMCAS application.  Does my junior independent work grade get factored into my science GPA on the AMCAS?  Also, is it factored into my Princeton GPA? Thank you so much for your help.

Answer: Yes it does.  Your grade is included in factoring both your AMCAS and your Princeton GPA.  When you complete your AMCAS application during the summer before the year you'd like to enter med school, you will list all of the courses you have taken above the high school level. All of the grades for these courses - as long as credit was awarded - will be factoring into your AMCAS GPA's, both your "BCPM" (science) and your "All Other" GPA's.
If you'd like to know more about what is commonly called your "science GPA," keep reading.... Below you will find a Question of the Week from December 2004 which may be useful.

Your Science or "BCPM" GPA
Hello. I had a quick question for you: what do I count in my pre-med GPA? Is it all science courses or just the required pre-med courses? Do engineering and math classes count? What about astrophysics and geoscience? Thanks so much for your help.

Answer: Your "pre-med" GPA is more commonly known as your science GPA, and sometimes referred to as your "BCPM" GPA (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math). When you apply to medical schools using the online AMCAS application, you may include any course under the "BCPM" heading if over 50% of the content of the class was one of those four basic science subjects, regardless of the course number, professor, or Department. AMCAS leaves these decisions up to you; you are the person who categories your courses as science or "all other." So when we ask for your science GPA, that's what we mean. Engineering, Geosciences, Astrophysics, some Psychology and Neuroscience…there are many fields that involve "science," but according to your med school applications a majority of the courses must be Bio, Chem, Physics, or Math.

Calculating Your GPA’s
I am wondering how I calculate my science GPA.  Med schools look at my science grades separately, right?  How do I figure out what that number is?  Thanks HPA!

Math question
I just had a question about Math and what med school admissions committees like. I got a 5 on the AP Calc BC exam. This semester I am taking MAT 214 (number theory) for my QR req., but I decided to change the course to be graded p/d/f. Was this an advisable decision through the eyes of an admissions officer? What if I should take more math in the future (like statistics, for example)? Will this grading decision make me seem like a “lightweight” at all?

Answer: It is fine to take an advanced math course p/d/f if you fulfilled your pre-medical calculus requirement with AP Calc. You will not look like a “lightweight.” That said, if you felt inclined some day to take a stats or computer science course for a grade, the medical schools would think that was very nice. It is not, however, a requirement.