Audit or Pass/Fail?

[Matryoshka]

Is there any benefit/drawback to either?

Dd18 is transferring to  4-year in the fall as a junior.  Because she got an AS in Business at a CC with an articulation agreement, she can finish an Accounting degree in 4 semesters (or 5 if she does an internship, which we're encouraging) taking only 4 classes (~12 credits) most semesters, even if she also completes an Economics minor, which she's also planning on.  She's honestly not a super-hardworking student, so in a lot of ways that's a good thing for her to have less classes to concentrate on.

At orientation, when they signed up for classes, they mentioned a bunch of electives for kids who may still need GenEds or elective credits (which she doesn't).  But she thought the topics in some of the classes sounded really cool, and I'd love for her to have the chance to learn about topics that are just fun and interesting while in college, and not just do career classes.  She does NOT need the credits.  I suggested she audit or take some of those classes pass/fail so she can have fun expanding her mind without worrying about grades, and not take study energy away from the classes she will need good grades in.  Either way, it would be no extra charge.  I think she can take up to 20 credits (or even more with override) for the same price as 12.

Is there any advantage to one over the other?  She seems to think it's easier to sign up P/F.  I told her to talk to her advisor.  P/F she'd still have to do the work, just put in minimal effort - if she audited, she'd just have to show up, yes?  The first class like this she wants to sign up for is History of the Carribean, lol.

[kokotg]

Wouldn't she need to take any tests and write papers to do pass/fail? I wouldn't think History of the Caribbean would be an especially light class--lots of brutal/grim history to deal with and likely a lot of reading/writing expected. With auditing I would guess she'd be free to just sit in on the lectures if she wanted. 

[Matryoshka]

Yeah, I think so, so I was thinking audit would be even less stress. I think she figures if the bar is only 'don't fail' the tests or papers wouldn't be too bad, but if the bar's that low, she may not put even that much work in... ? Yeah, and I do worry about her keeping up with any reading.   If one audits a class, can one still get work graded if one decides to do it?

[chiguirre]

Will she have the 150 credit hrs needed for the CPA license if she only takes 12 hrs/semester?

Once you've fulfilled the accounting and business course requirements, the other hrs can be in anything so History of the Caribbean P/F is fine but audit wouldn't be.

ETA: You can take the CPA exam with 120 hrs and no work experience, but you don't get the actual CPA license until you've got the requisite time on the job and the 150 credit hrs.

Edited July 25, 2019 by chiguirre

[Matryoshka]

She should actually have 150 credits no problem, especially if she takes the 5 semesters (the internship semester includes 2 accelerated classes).  She should even already have the minimum credits in Accounting courses and other Business. .. need to go count again, but it seems that the AS in Business was a good idea. She has something like 90 credits going in,  of which I think 75 transfer to the 4-year, but for the purposes of the CPA exam wouldn't they count all credits anyway? 

Edited July 25, 2019 by Matryoshka

[chiguirre]

8 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

She should actually have 150 credits no problem, especially if she takes the 5 semesters (the internship semester includes 2 accelerated classes).  She should even already have the minimum credits in Accounting courses and other Business. .. need to go count again, but it seems that the AS in Business was a good idea. She has something like 90 credits going in,  of which I think 75 transfer to the 4-year, but for the purposes of the CPA exam wouldn't they count all credits anyway? 

Check to be sure, but I think all credits count.

[Corraleno]

Since she doesn't need the credits, I would definitely go with auditing. "Not failing" may seem like a really low bar, but depending on what the assignments are and how they're weighted, she could still end up having to do a lot of work for a course that won't count for anything anyway. Auditing will let her learn the material to whatever extent seems useful or interesting to her, without having to jump through hoops she doesn't need to waste time on.

 

[Matryoshka]

44 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

Check to be sure, but I think all credits count.

Yes, it does say you have to submit a transcript from each school attended - transfer credits don't even count.

So, she has 89 going in, she needs 49 more to complete her major credits, and 9 more than that for the Econ minor.  By then she'll also have well over the 21 credits needed in Acctg classes and way more than the 9 in 'other business' req. for the CPA.  That does look to make her 3 credits shy of 150, because they're not making her re-take Stats, which from the transfer materials it had looked like she would have to as it said CC Stats would transfer as a lower-level course, but apparently it will transfer to their reg Stats if you make a B or better (she did).  She'd have to take 15/semester with the minor if she only does 4 semesters, but she'll have extra room if she takes the internship semester.  But maybe she should do P/F if she needs those extra 3 credits! 

She also told me if she audits they make her write to the Prof with an explanation of why she wants to audit rather than just take the class, and she says she'd rather write papers! 

[Matryoshka]

5 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Since she doesn't need the credits, I would definitely go with auditing. "Not failing" may seem like a really low bar, but depending on what the assignments are and how they're weighted, she could still end up having to do a lot of work for a course that won't count for anything anyway. Auditing will let her learn the material to whatever extent seems useful or interesting to her, without having to jump through hoops she doesn't need to waste time on.

Well, now that I've re-added the credits, it does look like she needs one more class for the '150 hours', and she might as well do it for free rather than post-grad... but maybe I can convince her to audit after this?  The classes are only going to get harder...  I may also have her look up this teacher and class and make sure it's on the lighter side rather than hardcore...