These represent general academic standards and requirements of the Graduate School as they apply to graduate students in degree programs. Some programs have special regulations more detailed or stringent. Students should acquaint themselves with their own program’s requirements as set forth in this Catalog and subsequent ones, as appropriate. Undergraduate and non-degree students taking a graduate course should consult the appropriate bulletin for regulations which apply to them.

Course Grades

Instructors are required to file with the University Registrar grades for all courses that a student takes for credit. While instructors are free to set the standard of performance they expect in their courses, a uniform scale is published to encourage general agreement on the meaning of grades.

The letter A signifies work of distinction. The letter B represents work of good quality, such as is expected of any successful graduate student. The letter C represents work below the standard expected of graduate students in their area of study. It is recognized that work of C quality in a supporting area may be of benefit to students and that they should not be discouraged by the grading system from including some supporting work in their programs. Such work shall be identified on the plan of study. Plus and minus values may be assigned to all but failing grades, are entered on the permanent record, and are computed into the student’s grade point average.

A grade of D+, D, or D- signifies work of unsatisfactory quality. If a graduate student receives any form of a D grade, the course may not remain on the plan of study and the student’s eligibility to continue in the degree program is reviewed by the student’s advisory committee.

The grade of F or U signifies failure in the course and necessitates a recommendation by the advisory committee to the Graduate School as to whether or not the student shall be permitted to continue graduate study.

Final grades of S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory) are associated only with certain courses designated as such by the Executive Committee of the Graduate Faculty Council. Certain foreign language courses designed under method (2) for fulfillment of a doctoral language requirement also may carry the S/U grading option, if chosen by the student. (See “Foreign Language; Related or Supporting Area of Study.”) All but the foreign language courses are identified in this bulletin by the symbol �  preceding the course number. This type of grading is designed for courses or sections of courses in which student performance cannot readily be evaluated due to the nature of the course as conducted at the time.� �  An S is not computed into the student’s grade point average, while a U is viewed as an F (except that no computation is made for 1000’s level courses).

Graduate students are not permitted to take any regular course, undergraduate or graduate, on a Pass/Fail basis.

A mark of I (Incomplete) is assigned if a student has been doing work of acceptable quality but, for some reason satisfactory to the instructor, has not completed all of the work required to earn credit for a course by the end of the semester or session.

The letter W signifies withdrawal from a course after either the tenth day of a semester course or the first week of a summer-session course. Except in extraordinary cases where academic factors or extreme or unusual circumstances warrant it, this mark is not deleted from the permanent academic record.

If a student whose work in a course throughout the semester has been of satisfactory quality fails to take a required final examination in the course because of illness or other serious cause, the instructor is permitted to give a mark of X (Absent) and may, with the permission of the Graduate School, reschedule the examination. If the student’s work up to the time of the examination was not clearly of passing quality, the instructor is to enter a mark of F or U if a required final examination is missed.

The letters L, N, and Y are administrative symbols signifying that a letter grade had not been reported by the instructor when grades were processed. The letter L signifies lateness in reporting grades for an entire section of a course. The letter N signifies that no grade was reported for an individual student duly registered for a course. The letter Y signifies that no grades were due to be reported for an entire section of a course (because of the scheduling of the course) when grades were processed.

Beginning with the Fall 2004 semester, the symbol I or X is replaced by the final course grade on the permanent academic record when the student completes all required work for the course and the instructor reports the final grade to the Registrar. Prior to the Fall 2004 semester, the symbols I and X appear together with final course grades on students’ permanent academic records.

The letter T indicates that course credit has been accepted in transfer from another institution.

The letter R is an administrative symbol signifying that a student is registered. Any zero-credit course (e.g., GRAD 5998, 5999, 6998, or 6999) for which a student registers appears on the permanent academic record with the letter R  as the grade.