Master's Program>Monitoring and Evaluating Progress

Your academic progress in the program is assessed in the following ways:

Feedback and Supervision

Throughout the program, you will have many discussions with instructors and your advisor. When you have meetings to discuss your performance in a class or your progress in the program, it is recommended that you take notes to review oral feedback from an instructor or your advisor. The student is expected to follow through on recommendations given in these oral sessions.

Faculty written comments on papers, projects, etc. should be understood as initiating a conversation with you about your work. If written feedback is provided the faculty member expects your response through revision and/or your own written comments in return. If this is the case, you will typically be asked to submit your previous edition with the current edition of your work. In other cases, you may have the option to revise your products and, perhaps, receive a revised grade. Comments should be reviewed carefully and if you have any questions, seek clarification. Written feedback is supervision and you are expected to follow through on recommendations.

Grades

In order to document the attainment of competencies associated with coursework, the student must earn at least a "B-" (CR in Cr/NC courses) in each class with no more than a total of three grades of "B-" or lower. And, the overall GPA must be at least 3.0 ("B") to remain in good standing in the Graduate Division. If need be, students will be placed on graduate probation. The minute you think you might not be meeting these requirements, see your advisor! Grades in graduate courses have somewhat different meanings from grades as an undergraduate:

Grades Indicating Satisfactory Progress

"A" Outstanding achievement - available only for the highest accomplishment

"B" Praiseworthy performance - competencies demonstrated - expected level of performance - most common grade in graduate courses

"B-" Minimally acceptable performance - basic competencies demonstrated - must be brought to the attention of your advisor.

"SP" Satisfactory progress - limited to "continuous courses" where attainment of competencies is expected across more than one semester (e.g., thesis)

"CR" Competencies demonstrated - all requirements met (only a limited number of courses and experiences may be taken for CR/NC)

Other Grades

"C" Grades of "C" (or lower) must be brought to the immediate attention of your advisor

"U" If you receive a "U" (unauthorized incomplete) it means that you appeared on a course roster but failed to attend the course. This happens when you enroll for a course and decide to withdraw, but fail to take the formal university procedures to officially withdraw. The "U" is calculated as an "F" when determining your GPA.

Report Delayed Grade (RD)
The grade of "RD" indicates that the instructor has not yet submitted the grade for this class. You should contact the instructor to inquire about the assignment of your grade.
A grade of "RD" does not affect term, campus or overall unit totals or your grade point average. Once the grade is submitted, the "RD" is replaced with the assigned grade.

Report in Progress Grade (RP)
The "RP" symbol is used when assigning grades for courses that extend beyond one academic term. It indicates that work is in progress and is satisfactory to date, but assignment of a final grade must await completion of additional work. Work is to be completed within a stipulated time period not to exceed one year except for graduate thesis (799A) or dissertation (899). The unit value of the course does not affect term, campus or overall unit totals or your grade point average.

"I" An authorized incomplete ("I") indicates that a portion of required coursework has not been completed and evaluated in the prescribed time period due to unforeseen but fully justified reasons. Incompletes require a departmental contract specifying justification, work completed, work remaining, and the timeline in which work is to be completed. An Incomplete contract form available at the department office must be completed by you and the instructor. Copies of the contract should be held by both the student and instructor, and placed in the student's program file. It is the responsibility of the student to initiate this contract and to provide a reply for the file. The length of time allocated for removal of the incomplete is at the discretion of the instructor, but not to exceed one calendar year. If the incomplete is not removed within one year, it is automatically counted as an "F" in your GPA.

Avoid Incompletes at all costs!

An incomplete in a course prerequisite to other courses is considered the same as not having taken the course! Thus, an incomplete could possible delay your program sequence as much as one year.

Incompletes require substantial extra work on the part of the instructor. The instructor was paid to do this work in the semester of your enrollment, not in the time period in which you complete the work. This is especially important to consider when the instructor is part-time - he/she may not be paid at all when you want to do the work.

Given the heavy loads of faculty, it is reasonable to assume that removal of your incomplete is a lower priority than other current demands. Faculty evaluation of your work may occur long after you submit it.

More than one incomplete on your record at any one time is considered to be UNSATISFACTORY PROGRESS in the program and may be reviewed by the faculty who may require a Leave of Absence until all incompletes are removed.

Incompletes aren't really "removed" - they stay on your transcript forever (the grade earned appears in the semester in which the grade change was reported). A record with incompletes may cause future employers to raise questions about your ability to handle deadlines (i.e., an incomplete is a professional as well as academic issue).

If an Incomplete is absolutely necessary, meet with the course instructor immediately (not when final projects and grades are due) and:

Be sure to complete the contract requirement form and place a copy in your program file.

Meet with your advisor immediately.

Complete the work ASAP.

Check your transcript to be sure the new grade was posted, after receiving the reported change of grade form in the mail.

Grade Appeals

It is presumed that the grade assigned is correct. It is the responsibility of the student appealing an assigned grade to demonstrate otherwise. Students who believe that an appropriate grade was not assigned must first seek to resolve the matter informally with the instructor. (Remember: an honest, clerical error may have been made!) If the matter cannot be resolved informally with the instructor, you may appeal the case by speaking to the Graduate Advisor and if it is mot resolved at this level, speak to the Chair of the Department.