Course Work

In accordance with university policy, letter grades and quality points for those graduate courses that award letter grades are:

Note that there are no C-, D+, or D- grades.

All graduate seminars in the Department are normally graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U).

A student desiring S/U grading in a course that normally uses letter grades must satisfy the requirements below and submit a written request to the instructor by the end of the fourth week of classes. The instructor's decision is final and will be transmitted to the student in writing. The S grade will be awarded only if the student's letter grade would have been equivalent to C or better. The Graduate School limits the number of S/U credits to no more than 25% of the required course credits in a student's graduate program (not including courses taken as research, thesis, or dissertation guidance).

You may request S/U grading in a course that normally has letter grading if and only if

• you are an MS candidate who has completed 30 credits of graduate study, or
• you are a PhD candidate who has completed 30 credits of graduate study and completed the core course requirements in the PhD Qualifying Process

A grade of Incomplete (I) will be given only in exceptional cases and will be decided case by case.

Once an I grade is incurred by a student, it must be removed after no more than two additional semesters plus the intervening summer, e.g., according to the following schedule:

Fall - December 31 of the next calendar year

Spring - May 31 of the next calendar year

Summer - August 31 of the next calendar year

If the I grade is not removed by the specified date, the University will change the I to a grade of U (Unsatisfactory) or F (Fail).

If the actual date for removing an I is approaching and you have not yet completed the outstanding work, you may petition the Graduate School for relief. The petition must be endorsed by the course instructor and the Chair of the Department. The Graduate School will decide whether the circumstances (e.g., poor health) warrant an extension.

Note that you cannot graduate with an I grade, whether or not the course in which you received the I is being used for your degree (i.e., whether or not it appears on your Application to Candidacy)!

You may also receive credit for independent study with a faculty member (CSE 700). After discussing the work to be performed with the faculty instructor, use the SEAS Force Registration Portal to submit a request to register under the specific faculty members section before the semester add/drop deadline.