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MIT describes the purpose of Pass/Fail during the first semester as:

> giving you time to adjust to factors like increased workloads and variations in academic preparation and teaching methods. [0]

I can 100% get behind that logic.

I can't get behind a college saying they're doing it to "curb a mental health crisis".

[0] https://registrar.mit.edu/classes-grades-evaluations/grades/...

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> giving you time to adjust to factors like increased workloads and variations in academic preparation and teaching methods.

> curb a mental health crisis

In this context, both have the exact same meaning, of "stop freshmen who are used to overachieving their entire lives from taking a header off the tallest buildings on campus because they're not used to being less than the top 5% at everything"

Small nit: it’s Pass/No Record rather than Pass/Fail.

If you get a D or F, there’s no external record you even attempted the class, rather than a record that you attempted and failed it.

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