New COE policy changes effective Fall, 2008

Effective Fall 2008, the College of Engineering will follow University Academic Regulation 20 (AR 20 – shown below).  In addition, the College will require a minimum grade of C or better in all required technical classes. 

This is a significant change in policy and it is important that you take time to consider the implications and plan accordingly.  Additional information and our implementation plan are included below.   If after you review this summary you have questions, please schedule an appointment with the Head Advisor for your degree program. 

AR 20. Repeated Courses

Courses may be repeated once for grade replacement. Both grades will appear on the academic record, but only the second grade will be counted in the cumulative grade point average and toward graduation requirements. Courses taken more than two times will appear on the academic record but not count in the cumulative grade point average. Regardless of the number of times a course is repeated, credits earned will be counted only once for graduation requirements. Recognized repeatable courses, such as activity courses, research, seminars, and selected topics, do not come under this restriction. A student receiving an A-F grade can only replace such a grade in the GPA calculation with another A-F grade (not with an S/U grade.)

Overview of Grade Replacement and the “C” minimum policy

Under the current policy:

If you earn a D in MTH 251 and retake the course and earn a C, we use both grades when computing your GPA for admission to pro-school.

Under the new policy:

If you earn a D in MTH 251 and retake the course and earn a C, we use only the C when computing your GPA for admission to pro-school.

But you must understand:

If you earn a D in MTH 251 and retake the course and earn an F, we use the F grade when computing your GPA for admission to pro-school and you must repeat the course until you earn a C or better.

General Implications for College of Engineering students

You may choose to repeat a course completed prior to Fall 2008, but if the grade in that course is a C- or better they are not required to repeat the course.

Any coursework completed Fall 2008 or later will be subject to the new minimum required grade of C.

Pro-School Admission Decisions

Pro-School admission GPA will be computed following the current policy through the application/decision cycle associated with Fall 2008 Pro-School admits.  Stated another way – students completing pro-school applications during March and April 2008 for admission to Pro-School in the fall of 2008 will have their admission GPA computed using the current policy. 

Beginning with the application cycle for Winter 2009, the new policy will become effective.  As noted above, students are not required to repeat courses for which they earned a C- or better if the course was completed before Fall 2008.  However if a student has repeated a course, we will use the grade from the first repeat when computing the admission GPA. 

Consider this fictional Pre-ME student with the grades shown in the table.  Under the existing policy, this student has an admission GPA of 2.292 (139.8/61).  Under the new policy, the student has a 2.716 (135.8/50).  If this fictional student applied for admission to Pro-School in Fall 2008, their admission GPA would be 2.292.  If the student applied for admission in Winter 2009, their admission GPA would be 2.716.

 It is important to note that although both admission GPA values are above the minimum of 2.25; neither may be sufficiently high to allow the student into Pro-School.  Admission is based on available resources and a rank ordering of admission GPA for all students applying in that admission cycle.