PASS/FAIL OPTION
Amherst College
Max: 2 of 32 courses
Time frame: elect within 14 days of start of semester
Additional wrinkle: First-year students, who have the privilege of withdrawing from one
course without grade penalty, and transfer students, who have the privilege of withdrawing
from one course during their first semester at Amherst, must take no less than three graded
courses
in each semester.
Bowdoin College
Max: 4 of 32 courses; no limit for courses beyond 32. No more than one course of the normal
4-course load per term (4 sem crs), but a 5th course is also allowable. Typically don’t count
toward major.
Time frame: same as drop/add deadline. No course may be changed from graded to
Credit/D/Fail or vice versa after the sixth week of classes.
Additional wrinkle: Elective Credit/D/Fail do not count toward distro. Also note that the
requirement of completing a first-year seminar will not be met if the seminar is taken on a
nongraded (Credit/D/Fail) basis.
Grinnell College
Max: One course per term.
Time frame: Same as the add deadline. No changes after this deadline under any
circumstances.
Additional wrinkles: In their S/D/F option only the S grade does not count toward GPA. Won’t
count toward major or interdisciplinary concentration. First-year Tutorial can’t be taken S/D/F
and neither can any independent study of any kind (including Plus-2s). A student may not elect
the “S/D/F” grading option for a main course when registered for the companion “Plus-2.” A
student may not elect the “S/D/F” grading option when repeating a course. A course elected
for grading on the “S/D/F” basis does not satisfy any part of the professional courses in
education required for certification in Iowa and certain other states.
Haverford College
Max: 4 course career total; 1 of 4 full course credits per term. Those on schedule who
choose to carry five credits in a given semester may elect the NNG option for two course
credits.
Time frame: By the end of the 6th week for semester courses.
Other wrinkles: Courses taken to fulfill the language requirement may not be taken NNG at
Haverford, CR/NCR at Bryn Mawr or Swarthmore, or P/F at the University of Pennsylvania.
Courses meeting the distribution requirements may not be taken NNG, CR/NCR, or P/F. If
passed, it doesn’t count toward GPA; if failed, it does. Adviser must sign form. When the
instructor of the desired course is the student's advisor, the approval of the student's dean may
be substituted. Students further have the option to change the NNG designation to a
numerical grade upon application to the registrar no later than the end of the first week of
classes of the following term. Even if the numerical grade is recorded, the course will still
count toward the four NNG course-credit limit allowed of each student during his/her
Haverford career. Finally, even if students decide to uncover the NNG after seeing the course
grade, the course will not fulfill any degree requirement except cumulative credits.
Macalester College
Max: 1 course per semester (fall and spring)
Time frame: Start of the semester.
Other wrinkles: Courses included in a major, minor, or concentration should not be taken on
the S, D, NC basis, except with specific permission of the department chair. The alternate
grading option is S (satisfactory), SD (passing), N (no credit). None count toward GPA. Courses
may be taken under this option in a summer term, but each course so taken reduces by one the
number of such options available to the student in the fall or spring semesters. There is no
limitation on the number of courses a student may take under the S, SD, N option with written
evaluation, or in activity courses.
Middlebury College
Max: Credit, no credit: winter term internships, student-led courses, and 0555 courses.
Oberlin College
Max: No limit to P/NP.
Time frame: Last day of 8th week for semester class. No changes beyond this.
Other wrinkles: All passing work (A+ to C minus) is given the uniform grade of Pass (P). Work
below C minus is considered not passing, and is given a grade of No Pass (NP). The grades of P
and NP do not enter into the GPA calculation. Departments will have the option of deciding
how to handle P/NP grades with respect to credit in the major.
Pomona College
Max: First-year students and sophomores are limited to three P/NC courses per year. Juniors
and seniors have unlimited P/NC options outside their majors. In some cases, students may
petition their departments to take specific major courses on a P/NC basis. To qualify for
Commencement honors and certain other prizes and awards, a student must have taken at
least three quarters of their courses for letter grades.
Time frame: Thursday of the 10th week in the fall semester and Thursday of the 11th week of
the spring semester.
Other wrinkles: With rare exceptions, courses taken for the major must be taken on a lettergrade basis. Many courses are not offered for P/NC grading; students should not assume the
option is available without consulting the Schedule of Classes, the course syllabus or the
professor for verification. P: Pass, work equivalent to C – or higher NC: No credit, work
equivalent to D+ or lower. Courses graded on the P/NC system are not entered into the grade
point average calculation. Work in no more than two junior or senior Independent Study
courses within the student’s major may be graded on a P/NC basis at the discretion of the
instructor. The instructor reports this decision to the registrar within the first 10 class days of
the semester.
Swarthmore College
Max: The only grades recorded on students' official grade records for courses taken during the
first semester of the first year are CR and NC. In the balance of their work at Swarthmore,
students may exercise the option to take up to four more courses for credit/no credit
Time frame: End of 9th week of the term.
Other wrinkles: Repeated courses normally may not be taken credit/no credit. For first-year
students and sophomores, CR will be recorded for work that would earn a grade of straight D or
higher. For juniors and seniors, that is, students in their fifth semester or later, the minimum
equivalent letter grade for CR will be straight C. Instructors are asked to provide the student
and the faculty adviser with an evaluation of the student's CR/NC work. The evaluation for firstsemester first-year students includes a letter-grade equivalent. For other students, the
evaluation may be either a letter-grade equivalent or a comment. Such evaluations are not a
part of the student's official grade record. If available, letter-grade equivalents for firstsemester first-year students may be provided to other institutions only if requested by the
student and absolutely required by the other institution. Students should save their copies of
these evaluations for their records.
Trinity College
Max: 1 course each semester, a maximum of four courses total.
Time frame: Add/drop deadline (6th day of semester).
Other wrinkles: A pass/low pass/fail option. Full credit will be given for courses graded “pass”
or “low pass”; no credit will be given for courses graded “fail,” and a “fail” will have the same
effects on academic standing as the regular grade of F. A course once designated as pass/low
pass/fail counts towards the maximum of four pass/low pass/fail courses, even if the student
should change from pass/low pass/fail to a letter grade by the last day of classes. Students
who have been placed on academic probation may not take a course pass/low pass/fail during
the next semester of enrollment after the probation is incurred. Courses taken pass/low
pass/fail may not be counted in the student’s major, minor, or applied toward fulfillment of the
general education and proficiency requirements. Courses taken as part of a special first-year
program, such as the Guided Studies Program, must also be taken for a letter grade, as must
first-year seminars.
Wellesley College
Max: Unlimited (CR/NCR) but limits for Latin honors.
Time frame: First three weeks of the fall and spring semesters (or the first two days of
wintersession or each summer session).
Other wrinkles: If a student receives a grade of C or higher in a course that she has elected
credit/non, a notation of CR (credit) will appear on her transcript; if she receives a grade lower
than a C, then a notation of NCR (no credit) will appear on the transcript. If a student
withdraws from the course after the fourth week of the semester, a WDR will appear on the
transcript; if she does not complete the work for the course, then an I or INC will be printed on
the transcript.
Wesleyan University
Max: ? Credit (CR) or unsatisfactory (U).
Time frame: Drop/Add.
Other wrinkles: Whenever the credit/unsatisfactory mode is used, the faculty member is
expected to submit to the Office of the Registrar a written evaluation of the student's work in
the course. An example of what I find at the college or departmental level (College of Letters):
“Letter grades are not given in courses taken for COL major credit, and COL seminars do not
generally have final examinations. All COL course credit must be taken selecting the
credit/uncredit (CR/U) option.”
Williams College
Max: Won’t count toward 32 courses required.
Time frame:
Other wrinkles: Tutorials may not be taken on a pass/fail basis. Not for distro. Except in the
case of the unbalanced course program described above (5/3 or 3/5), a student may, at the
beginning of any semester, enroll in a fifth course that must be specified as the pass-fail course.
By the sixth week, a student must decide whether to continue the course, and if so, whether
on a pass-fail or regularly graded basis. A processing fee of $5 per day may be assessed for
5th course grading option designations accepted after the announced deadline. A course graded
“Pass” may not be used as one of the thirty-two semester courses required to complete the
degree, to fulfill distribution or major requirements, or to make up a deficiency. A pass-fail
course converted to a fifth regularly graded course may be used to fulfill distribution or major
requirements or to make up a deficiency incurred in a prior term. The grade received will be
included in the calculation of the student’s cumulative grade-point average.