Grading System

The mark of IN is given to a student who has satisfactorily met all the requirements of a course except for the completion of certain assigned papers or reports or the final examination, which the student has been compelled to postpone for reasons that are 1) beyond his or her control and 2) satisfactory to the instructor. Students must arrange for the mark of IN directly with the course instructor. For a course in the Arts and Sciences, if the student does not submit the outstanding work by the deadline specified below, the mark of IN will be changed to an F, which will not be subject to change at a later date.

For Incomplete marks earned in the fall semester, the deadline for students to submit their outstanding work is the June 30 that immediately follows. For Incomplete marks earned in the spring semester or summer term, the deadline for students to submit their outstanding work is the December 30 that immediately follows. Departments and instructors may set an earlier deadline for completion of the outstanding work; in such cases, that deadline will supersede the GSAS deadline.

Leaves of absence approved by GSAS stop the clock on Incomplete deadlines. If a student is granted a leave of absence from the university during the grace period (about six months) of an Incomplete, the grade of Incomplete will remain on the student's transcript while the student is not enrolled, and the time of the leave will not count against the student's grace period. A grade of Incomplete received by a student who has not registered and has not been granted an approved leave of absence from the university will be changed to an F after the original deadline has passed.

Deadlines for students who have been granted leaves of absence are the following:

Please note that students granted an incomplete for a course taken at a school other than GSAS must follow the host school’s rules for grading if they fail to submit the outstanding work.

The mark of R is a non-evaluative grade that confers credit for registration without designating an A-F letter grade. It appears on SSOL and on official transcripts.

Please note: R credit and Pass/Fail (P/F) are two different marks. Unlike R credit, the mark of P/F assesses the quality of a student’s performance. Additionally, students taking a course Pass/Fail are evaluated on all the gradable assignments for the course. 

Students who elect to take a course for R credit are not required to take the final examination; however, they must meet all other course requirements, unless the instructor states otherwise in writing.

Before electing to take a course for R credit, students should first consult the DGS or program director to learn whether the course will count toward their degree requirements. They should also confer with the instructor of the course to obtain permission to take the course for R credit.

Please note: Starting with Spring 2017 registration, the R process has changed. Students may no longer elect R credit on SSOL during Change of Program Period.

Requests for R are handled directly between students and instructors any time from the start of the semester until the eleventh week of classes. (See Academic Calendar for the precise deadlines each term). For students taking half-semester courses, the deadline to request R is the Friday of the fourth week of the course.

Students should discuss the R credit option with the instructor, and obtain written confirmation of the agreement, typically via email. Instructors will be able to select the R at the end of the semester, when submitting grades.

The deadline to request R credit for a course in the fall and spring semesters is the same as the deadline to request to take a course Pass/Fail; please refer to the School of Professional Studies website for summer-term deadlines.

A course that has been taken for R credit may not be repeated for a letter grade.

When a student chooses to take a course for R credit, but does not satisfactorily fulfill the conditions for receiving R credit, the instructor may award the mark of IN, UW, or F depending on what he or she deems appropriate, using the Change of Grade tool in SSOL. 

If a student receives an Incomplete for a class taken for R credit and does not submit the work by the GSAS deadline, the mark of IN will be changed to an UW, which will not be subject to change at a later date.

Courses taken for R credit are applied toward the calculation of Residence Units for billing purposes in the same way as courses taken for a letter grade. The number of points of R credit acceptable for a degree, however, is set by each program in consultation with the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

A few specific graduate-level courses are offered only on a Pass/Fail basis; typically these courses focus on the cultivation of professional or disciplinary skills (e.g., MUSI GR6000, Professional Strategies & Skills; SOCI GU4097, Designs of Social Research). In these cases, the instructor notifies the students of the P/F grading scale and submits grades accordingly.

In the fall and spring semesters, students may request to take a letter-grade course Pass/Fail and reverse their decision on SSOL any time from the start of the semester until the eleventh week of classes. For students taking half-semester courses, the deadline to request Pass/Fail is the Friday of the fourth week of the course. See the GSAS Academic Calendar and the University Academic Calendar for the precise deadlines each semester. Please refer to the School of Professional Studies website for summer-term deadlines. After the deadline, decisions to take a particular course Pass/Fail are not reversible at any time, and requests to take a letter-grade course on a Pass/Fail basis will not be granted.

A course that has been taken for P/F may not be repeated for a letter grade.

The number of points of P/F credit acceptable for a degree is set by each program in consultation with the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Students should contact their program with any questions regarding P/F credit as it applies to their degree requirements.

A mark given at the end of the first term of a course in which the full year of work must be completed before a qualitative grade is assigned. The grade given at the end of the second term is the grade for the entire course.

The mark of CP implies satisfactory progress. It is differentiated from IN in that it is given only in graduate research courses in those rare situations in which the research project, by the nature of its subject, unavoidably and predictably continues beyond the end of the term. Upon completion, a final qualitative grade is assigned and credit allowed. 

Deadlines for courses with the mark of CP follow the deadlines for courses with the mark of IN. 

The mark of UW is assigned to students who have registered for a course but who have never attended or have discontinued participation prior to the due date of substantive work. Participation includes regular attendance and completion of readings and assignments. Additional information is available on the Registrar’s website.

Students may appeal to the DGS or program director of their department to retake a course in which they have received an F. The student must obtain approval from the DGS of the department offering the course, as well as from the DGS of their department. The student must retake the entire course. Students cannot retake a course for which they received a passing grade (i.e., R, P, D, or higher). To receive permission to retake a course, the student must submit the Registration Adjustment Form to the GSAS Office of Student Affairs, requesting that the course be added to the student's registration the next time it is offered. Please note: This appeal must be filed no later than ten days after the grade has been posted on SSOL. 

The grades for both of the courses will be posted on the student's transcript; the first course will not count toward the student's minimum GPA for good standing, but the second iteration will. The student will be charged applicable tuition for both courses.

As a matter of course, GSAS recognizes that faculty members have both the right to determine grading policies for their classes, and the expertise to evaluate their students' work. A grade appeal requires objective evidence of a substantive breach in grading policy. A GSAS student wishing to appeal a final grade should first contact the professor to attempt to resolve the dispute informally. If no resolution results, the student should next consult his or her advisor, director of graduate studies, or chair. If the dispute is still not settled, a student should submit a detailed written statement describing the disagreement to the GSAS Office of the Dean no later than thirty working days after the end of the term in which the class was taken or, if the grade is posted on SSOL after the end of the term, no later than thirty working days after receiving notice of the grade.

Please note: Grade changes are not allowed after a student has graduated and his or her terminal degree has been conferred.