Reopening of Pass/Fail Registration
November 30, 2022
Dear Students,
The last week and a half have been difficult for our community. We know that everyone reacts to tragedy differently, depending on one’s history, relationships, and personal style. Some students find returning to a normal routine to be helpful, while other students need more time and space to navigate grief.
To help alleviate the academic pressure that you may currently be facing, all Brandeis students will have the opportunity to change one of their courses to a pass/fail grade (undergraduates) or a credit/no credit (graduate students). The new deadline for declaring a Fall course pass/fail or credit/no credit will be Wednesday, December 7, 2022 at 5:00 pm EST.
In addition, faculty have been encouraged to consider allowing for extra absences, offering remote participation in classes, late submission of work, and offering alternative formats for exams or even optional exams for students in good standing. Depending on the structure, nature and size of the course, some classes will lend themselves to this kind of flexibility more than others, so it is up to each faculty member to decide what, if any, changes they can make and to communicate any such options or alternative plans to the students in their classes.
For undergraduates, if you do elect to take a course pass/fail, the normal regulations for how pass/fail is administered will remain. For example, a student may only take one course pass/fail in a single semester, not multiple courses. At the undergraduate level, if a student changes from a letter grade to a pass/fail, the class will not meet major or minor requirements. Similarly, if a student is preparing for a specific post-graduate opportunity such as medical school, law school, or graduate school, a pass/fail grade may not satisfy the admissions requirements. At the graduate level, a credit/no credit will meet program requirements.
If you have questions, we encourage students to contact your faculty, academic advisors, or your program advisors. The procedure for declaring a pass/fail is included below.
We wish everyone a safe and successful end to your semester.
Sincerely,
Carol Fierke, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dorothy Hodgson, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
Kathryn Graddy, Dean of the Brandeis International Business School
Maria Madison, Interim Dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Wendy Cadge, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
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If You are an Undergraduate Student
To declare a course Pass/Fail under this revised timeline, an undergraduate student must send an email to passfail@brandeis.edu, with the following information:
Student Name (First and Last)
Student ID #
Course Department and Title
Course Number
The student should indicate that they would like to elect pass/fail for the course listed for the Fall 2022 semester.
All other aspects of the existing pass/fail policy will remain in effect.
A student who has previously chosen one Fall 2022 course as pass/fail and would like to make a change to a different course must indicate this in the body of the email message.
If You are a Graduate Student
Before Wednesday, Dec 7th at 5:00pm, email registrar@brandeis.edu with the Fall 2022 course that you wish to convert to a CR/NC grade. Please include a statement that you wish to change the course to CR/NC grading, along with your student ID number, the course subject, number, and title.