Does a NP in a Pass/No Pass Class Impact Grad School Admissions?

[oswae]

Hey there everyone! First post here, sadly on a bad note. So I'm currently a second year physics major and I'm really trying to aim to get into a top 20 physics grad program but I just received my grades back from this last semester and I actually did pretty well! However, I found out that I received a NP in a P/NP Statistics class that I took for fun. Will this affect my chances quite a bit or should I not be too concerned? Thank you!

 

[DrSteve]

Shouldn't matter much at all, but you'll need to have a story ready in the unlikely case it comes up. At some point a good grounding in statistics will be necessary - a lot of that can be acquired in your physics classes.

 

[oswae]

Alright thanks for your reply and I will work harder on understanding stats :) Thanks again

 

[radium]

It probably won't look good but based on what I have observed among my friend in physics grad school admissions, lower grades in other areas don't hurt too much. My friend majored in another science field where he got some bad grades but still got into a top ten physics program. I think strongest factors in grad school admissions are probably letters of recommendation and research experience. So you can overcome lower grades if you are outstanding in those areas but not the other way around.

 

[Student100]

Tip: don't take classes for fun if you aren't going to follow through with them.

A NP doesn't affect GPA, but will still raise some eyebrows- especially since it was a mathematics course. "Top 20" schools receive far more applications than they have room to admit, you're giving them an easy reason to pick another applicant. Don't do that.