How is auditing a course viewed by professors teaching the course?
It is fine.  If it makes you feel better though you could clarify that the reason you're not taking it isn't just worry about the class.  I have used the line in an email before &quot;I have an amateur interest in learning the material&quot; which I think deflects any concern about why you're not committing to doing the course 'properly'. When I said it, it was true, and even if you think it might be a field you wish to participate in later, technically you're currently just dipping your toe in the water right?  So perhaps the same line would work for you.