Not if you pass. A P (pass) earns credit but no grade points, so it stays out of your GPA. Failing is where schools split. At some colleges, an F in a pass/fail class counts as a 0.0 in your GPA. At others, an NP (no pass) doesn’t count. Law school applications count it as a 0 either way.
And “pass” doesn’t mean the same thing everywhere. At one university a D- passes; at another you need a C-. The option also has limits, plus a deadline that lands weeks before you know your final grade.
P vs. NP vs. F: what each grade does
| Grade | What it means | Credits earned? | In your school’s GPA? |
|---|---|---|---|
| P, CR or S | You passed | Yes | No |
| NP, NC or U | You didn’t pass | No | Usually not |
| F in a pass/fail class | You failed, and the school records an F | No | At some schools, yes, as 0.0 |
| Letter grade (A to D-) | Normal grading | Yes | Yes |
The names change by school. UC Berkeley says P/NP (pass/no pass). UT Austin records a pass as CR. S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) is a third version: the University of Colorado Boulder replaced pass/fail-only grading with S/U in fall 2022, except in some law classes. For your GPA they all work the same way: a passing mark has no grade points to add.
Three real pass/fail policies
These come from each school’s current catalog or advising office:
| UT Austin (2026–27) | CU Boulder (2026–27) | UC Berkeley, Letters & Science | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest passing grade | D- | D- (C- or better shows as P+) | C- |
| If you fail | F, counted in your GPA | F, counted in your GPA | NP, not counted |
| Who can choose it | Students with 30+ college credit hours | Any student, if the department allows it | Any student, with some exceptions |
| How much | 2 courses a term; 5 courses total for most majors | Set by your college or school | Up to one-third of the 120 units to graduate |
| Major classes | Electives outside your major only | Not set in the general rules | Letter grade unless your department says otherwise |
UT Austin’s 2026–27 catalog has the most detailed limits: 16 semester hours of pass/fail electives in Liberal Arts, 19 in Plan II and only six for B.S. students in Natural Sciences. A D- or better earns CR and stays out of the GPA, but an F “is included in the University grade point average.”
CU Boulder’s 2026–27 catalog treats failure the same way: F grades earned in pass/fail courses count in the GPA. A D+ to D- becomes a P and a C- or better a P+, and neither carries grade points.
Berkeley’s L&S advising office sets the bar higher and the penalty lower. You need at least a C- to pass. A D+ or lower is an NP, which earns no units, and neither P nor NP affects your Berkeley GPA.
So the same D in the same kind of course is a pass at UT Austin and a no-pass at Berkeley. And the same F lowers your GPA in Austin and leaves it alone in Berkeley.
What pass/fail actually does to your GPA
Say you have a 3.40 GPA after 60 graded credits, which is 204 quality points. You add a 3-credit elective. Here’s where each final grade leaves you, using the standard plus/minus 4.0 scale:
| Your grade in the class | Taken for a letter | Pass/fail, D- passes (UT, CU) | Pass/fail, C- passes (Berkeley) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 3.43 | 3.40 | 3.40 |
| C | 3.33 | 3.40 | 3.40 |
| D | 3.29 | 3.40 | 3.40, but no credit |
| F | 3.24 | 3.24 | 3.40, but no credit |
In the A row, pass/fail costs this student 0.03. In the C row, it saves 0.07. That’s the whole decision in one rule. Pass/fail helps your GPA only when the grade you’d get is below your current GPA. A B is a win for a 3.8 student and a small loss for a 2.9 student. If you think you’ll land above your average, keep the letter.
The bottom row is the risk people forget: at UT Austin and CU Boulder, pass/fail gives no protection from an F. To test your own numbers, put your classes in the GPA calculator once with the course and once without it.
Can you pass/fail a class for your major?
Usually not. UT Austin’s rule is that a pass/fail course “must be in an elective subject outside the student’s major field.” A department can offer up to two major courses entirely pass/fail, and it decides whether they count toward the degree. UT also bars pass/fail for its required American government and history courses, since those aren’t electives (UT Austin graduation requirements, 2026–28).
Berkeley says major coursework is typically letter graded unless the department says otherwise. Several general requirements are letter graded only, including Reading & Composition and Quantitative Reasoning. Berkeley also tells students to take all prerequisites for a graduate program for a letter grade. Watch for classes that could count toward a minor you declare later, too.
When do you have to decide?
Earlier than you’d like. At UT Austin you can switch the grading basis in the registration system during the first 12 class days (four in summer), and after that you need your advisor, according to Texas One Stop. You can change it only once.
Berkeley’s deadline for fall and spring is the Friday of the tenth week of instruction at 11:59 p.m. Pacific; for fall 2026, that’s October 30. Requests after the late-change deadline aren’t considered, and there’s no retroactive change. CU Boulder closes changes at its “Last Day to Change Your Grade Mode” for full-semester classes.
In practice, you’re choosing with a midterm grade and a guess. Compare that guess with your GPA, not with your hopes.
Does pass/fail look bad on your transcript?
One P in an elective, almost never. A pattern of them can. Berkeley’s advising office warns that for medical and law programs, even patterns of P grades can affect admissions decisions, though courses offered only as P/NP are generally fine.
Pass/fail credits can also fall short of other requirements:
- Dean’s list. Ohio State doesn’t count PA/NP hours toward the 12 graded hours its dean’s list requires (Ohio Administrative Code 3335-8-30, effective December 2024).
- Graduation honors. Berkeley’s honors have minimums of letter-graded units, and Ohio State doesn’t count PA/NP credits toward the 60 hours its Latin honors require. The Latin honors guide has the details.
- Academic standing. At Berkeley, a fall or spring term with no grade points at all, such as one taken entirely P/NP, leads to academic notice.
- Retakes. CU Boulder’s grade replacement applies only to letter-graded courses, and Berkeley doesn’t let you repeat a letter-graded course as P/NP.
Medical school (AMCAS)
The 2027 AMCAS Applicant Guide lists Pass/Fail-Pass and Pass/Fail-Fail among the course types that are generally not included in AMCAS GPA calculations. Their hours go to medical schools separately as “Supplemental Hours,” so the courses stay visible. The medical school GPA calculator applies the AMCAS rules to your own classes. Compare that with a letter-graded F, which AMCAS includes in your GPAs even if your school leaves it out (source).
Law school (LSAC)
LSAC’s transcript summarization rules leave out passing grades from systems with one or two passing grades, such as Pass/Fail, Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory or Credit/No Credit. Those credits are reported separately as unconverted credits.
Failing grades go the other way. LSAC converts any grade that signifies failure, including No Credit, Not Passing, Unsatisfactory and Fail, to zero on its 4.0 scale, even if your school considers the grade nonpunitive. A withdraw/fail is the main exception. So the Berkeley NP in the table above, which left the school GPA at 3.40, becomes a 0 for law school. If you’re headed to law school, the law school GPA calculator shows the effect.
What about COVID-era pass/fail grades?
They still get special handling. Berkeley doesn’t count spring 2020 P grades toward its one-third limit, though P grades from fall 2020 through summer 2021 do count. LSAC attaches a letter to the reports of applicants enrolled in spring 2020, reminding law schools that the coronavirus disrupted that term and changed many grading systems.
Before you switch a class to pass/fail
- Compare your likely grade with your GPA. Pass/fail only helps if the grade would pull your average down.
- Check what failing means. If an F still counts, a W may be the better exit, if its deadline hasn’t passed.
- Confirm the class isn’t required for your major, a minor, general education or a grad school prerequisite.
- Count your limit, and whether this term’s change is your only one.
Quick answers
Is pass/fail better than a W? For credit, yes: a P earns the credits and a W doesn’t. For your GPA, they’re equal if you pass. If you might fail at a school that counts pass/fail F’s, the W is safer.
Can I switch back after I see my final grade? At the schools above, no. The deadlines fall during the term.