The Preprofessional Advisement Center is committed to helping you attain your career goals and aspirations. In light of COVID-19 there are a lot of moving parts and things are changing day to day. But with the recent P/F option announcement from Vice President Reese we wanted to update you on how that may impact your professional school application.

Prehealth Students

**For our most current updates on Allied Health Professions (PA/PT/OT, Chiropractic, Pharmacy, etc.) as we receive them, click here here for the most current information.**

**For medical schools, click here or the most current information.**

The general consensus as of 3/25/20 is that schools still really value your grades (over a pass/fail) particularly in pre-requisite courses. We highly recommend that you continue to do well in your courses and plan to get a grade. At BYU pass/fail is an option, not the only option (!), and hence using pass/fail may hurt you. Some schools are only giving pass/fail grades and students may not be hurt by a pass in these cases.**

As of March 23, 2020, there has not been an official statement from health profession associations (AAMC, AACOMAS, TMDSAS, AADSAS, PAEA, etc.) regarding their thoughts on P/F grades being accepted in place of letter grades. While Harvard Medical school has made a decision regarding P/F courses, it is important to note that it is just one medical school and they do not speak for medical, dental, physician assistant, optometry, etc. schools as a whole. Some schools may accept P/F grades only if the policy of the undergraduate institution is that they will ONLY award P/F grades for the semester. That is not the policy for BYU. The BYU PPA office is keeping up to date with communications from these associations, the Health Profession advisor list-serve, and individual schools, and will share any new information we learn.

Here are some things to consider as we await information from professional associations:

1.) With the option to have a letter grade versus P/F, we strongly recommend to continue working hard in your classes and then decide what you want to do based on how well you did and what information is out from the professional associations at that point. This will help you best understand what the impact will be instead of the pressure of needing to decide now.

2.) You may consider doing a P/F for non-BCPM courses, as it may allow more time to focus on science courses. It is important to take in consideration what your major is and if there are any grade requirements or entrance requirements for undergraduate majors you are applying to that need a letter grade in certain courses.

3.) P/F courses will not affect your GPA for health professional schools. If you are trying to raise your GPA (overall, science, prerequisite), we advise you choose to take a letter grade if you are doing well.

4.) If you do not perform well in a course, you have the opportunity to explain your concerns when applying to professional programs.

For most up-to-date information about health professional programs, please visit here.

Please reach out to your pre-health advisors with any questions.

Kye Barnett Pre-Med A-M: kye_barnett@byu.edu

David Kaiser Pre-Med N-Z, Pre-Dent: david_kaiser@byu.edu

Ashley Mendoza Physician Assistant, Physical Therapy, Optometry, Chiropractic, Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry: ashley_mendoza@byu.edu

Prelaw Students

Because there are no prerequisites when it comes to applying to law school, taking some P/F classes should make little to no difference on your law school application. Of course, because there is such a strong emphasis on grades and LSAT performance when it comes to evaluating your application you are always better served with higher letter grades. However, as this is an extraordinary situation, one semester of P/F grades should have very little to any impact on your application. If you have particular law schools in mind, feel free to reach out to them and ask how they will view these grades. Because this is an ever-developing situation they may not have an official response yet but letting them know you want to make sure your application is in good shape for them is a great first move.

Please consult Kris Tina if you have any questions for prelaw at prelaw@byu.edu.

All Schools

Something to keep in mind: Please continue to take care of your health (physical, emotional, and mental). Continue to engage in self-care, as this is a challenging time. Please consider that this is also a time to develop and demonstrate resilience and adaptability, important things to demonstrate for any program you are plan on applying to. Our hope is that professional schools will understand the current circumstances we are facing. Some of you may face unavoidable barriers to your academic success and feel discouraged. As a result, if you feel the need to take a P/F, please reach out to us so we can discuss with you and provide advisement based on your circumstances, or any other questions/concerns as we move forward together.