Grades
Grades are reported to the Office of the University Registrar at the end of each academic period according to the deadlines published in the academic calendar.
In arriving at these grades, faculty members are obliged to utilize the same criteria for all students in a course, and are at liberty to consider any and all components of the student's work in a course: attendance, written work, classroom participation, recitations, laboratory technique and reports, special reports or research and all examinations. Grading in full-year courses is cumulative so that spring grades take into account the fall semester work and replace the midyear grades. The following grades will be used with plus or minus where appropriate:
A High Distinction
B Distinction
C Satisfactory
D Passing, but Unsatisfactory
E Failure
- Grades below a B- do not earn credit toward graduate degrees and are considered to be unsatisfactory at the graduate level.
- Grades below a D- do not earn credit toward a bachelor's degree.
- Grades below a C- for undergraduates are considered to be unsatisfactory.
- Grades below a C- generally may not be applied toward undergraduate major or minor requirements.
- Individual departments and programs may impose higher grading standards for specific departmental/program requirements.
The letters "S" (Satisfactory) or "U" (Unsatisfactory) may be used as the midsemester grades for undergraduates. At midyear there must be a regular letter grade, even in full-year courses. The only exception is that "EI" (excused incomplete) may be used in a full-year thesis course (usually numbered 99D).
The numerical equivalents of the grades as determined by the faculty are:
A+ or A 4.00
A- 3.67
B+ 3.33
B 3.00
B- 2.67
C+ 2.33
C 2.00
C- 1.67
D+ 1.33
D 1.00
D- 0.67
E 0.00
Final grades are available to students through the registration system upon posting by the University Registrar after the end of each academic period.
C+ Grades for Graduate Credit
For master’s programs in the Heller School and the School of Business and Economics which students are in residence for four semesters or more, students may receive a grade of C+ in two courses throughout their program and still earn graduate degree credit for such courses. For master’s programs in which students are in residence for two or three semesters, students may receive only one grade of C+ throughout their program and still earn graduate degree credit. Students are not allowed to receive a grade below B- in the capstone course of their respective programs (Team Consulting Project [TCP] for the MBA Program). If a student receives two grades of C+ in one semester and one of the C+ grades is not eligible for degree credit (e.g., master’s programs in which students are in residence for two or three semesters), the Program Director may decide or create a committee to decide which course will count toward degree requirements.
Certain courses, for example ENG 19a, ENG 79a and b, ENG 109a and b, ENG 119a and b, ENG 139a and b, MUS 80a through 87b, MUS 111a and b, MUS 112a and b, MUS 116a and b, and PEER 94a do not utilize letter grades. For pedagogical reasons, the grades assigned in these courses are either Credit ("CR") or No Credit ("NC"). Graduate degree programs in musicology and music composition may also utilize this grading basis. These grades do not factor into the computing of grade point averages, however they are included in assessing a student's academic standing and satisfactory academic progress.
Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory Grading
HWL (Health, Wellness, and Life-Skills) courses are graded on a Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) basis. Certain graduate degree programs (e.g., PhD in Social Policy, PhD in Sociology) also utilize the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading basis for their students. These grades do not factor into the computing of grade point averages, however they are included in assessing a student's satisfactory academic progress.