Pass/Fail for MCS Graduate Students

Handbook Table of Contents | Constitution | Faculty Policies | Degree Policies

Pass/Fail for MCS Graduate Students

Approved by College Council 27 April 1995
Revised by College Council 5 October 2001

Eligibility


A student enrolled in an MCS graduate degree program may take any given undergraduate or graduate course pass/fail, unless: A requirement under (a) must be included in the description of the degree program. A determination under (b) must be included in the course description and must be approved by the College or School Council of the department in question; if the course is part of a graduate degree program in another unit, the approval of the Academic Council is also required. A special MCS graduate student may take any given undergraduate or graduate course pass/fail, unless the course is required to be taken letter-graded under (b) above.

Enrollment Procedure


A graduate student proposing to take an eligible course pass/fail fills out a "pass/fail" form. This form must be endorsed by the student's home department's designee (department head, student's advisor, or advisory committee) to certify eligibility under the above provisions. The endorsed form must be submitted to Enrollment Services by the end of the university's add period; the decision to take the course pass/fail is irreversible thereafter. No information regarding the student's decision will be passed on to the instructor.

Grading Procedure


If the student is taking the course pass/fail, the letter grade is automatically converted to "pass" or "fail" according to rules made and published by the department offering the course. In the absence of such rules, rules made and published by the department's college or school apply; in the absence of college or school rules, the following rule applies: grades of A through C are converted to "pass"; grades D and below are converted to "fail".

"Pass" is recorded as "P*", and "fail" is recorded as "R*", on the student's academic record. Credit is given for courses graded "pass", but not for courses graded "fail". Neither "pass" nor "fail" grades are considered in the computation of quality points.