III.  ACADEMIC REGULATIONS & PROCEDURES

III.A.  The Grading System

            1.  Grades for Graduate Coursework

Grades for graduate coursework are recorded as follows:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Assigned Grade:         Grade Quality Points:

     A                                           4.000

     A-                                          3.670

     B+                                         3.330

     B                                           3.000

     B-                                          2.670

     C                                           2.000

     F                                            0.000

     I                                             Incomplete

     W                                          Withdrawal

     S                                            Satisfactory  (used only for pass/fail courses)

     U                                           Unsatisfactory  (used only for pass/fail courses)

     AU                                         Audit

     IP                                           In Progress

     NR                                         No Grade Reported

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

A Grade Point Average (GPA) of no less than 3.000 will be required to maintain good academic standing and to graduate.

Grades of “S” and “U” are not included in calculations of a student’s GPA, except that a “U” will be considered the same as an “F” in review of academic performance leading to termination; see Section III.D. Standards of Satisfactory Academic Performance.

Grades received in courses that have been approved for transfer credit and in courses taken through the Consortium are not computed in calculations of the student’s GPA.

Once a final grade for a course has been correctly posted to the transcript, a student may not retake any portion of the course requirements or do additional work to change the posted grade.

Some programs may allow students to repeat a course in which they receive a grade of “F” or they have failed to meet the minimum grade requirement for a designated course. Students are not ordinarily allowed to repeat courses under other circumstances. If such a course is repeated, all registrations for the course and their respective grades, including the original grade, will remain on the transcript and be included in the GPA calculation.

2. Audit and Pass/Fail Options

Courses that have been designated by departments and programs to be taken only on a pass/fail basis may be applied toward a graduate degree program. Other courses for which a student chooses to register on a pass/fail basis cannot be applied toward a degree program.

Students may not register for language courses on a pass/fail basis. Ph.D. students may audit a language course with the approval of the language instructor. 

Students who register for a course on an audit or pass/fail basis will be assessed tuition on the same per-credit basis as for letter-grade registrations.

3.  Completion of Coursework, "Incomplete" Courses

It is expected that students will complete all coursework by the end of the academic term in which that coursework is taken. Under special circumstances, when a student has only one or two outstanding exams or assignments, an instructor, in consultation with the relevant director of graduate studies or school advising dean, may grant a student an exception to allow a student to complete outstanding work after the end of the semester (i.e., “take an incomplete”). Incompletes must be resolved no later than the last day of classes of the subsequent academic term following the academic term in which the incomplete was granted unless the instructor requires an earlier submission date. Students who take a leave of absence for the academic term following receipt of an Incomplete grade are expected to resolve all outstanding work by the last day of classes of their return semester. 

Instructors are not bound to grant such requests or to allow students to take “incompletes,” nor are they bound to grant an entire semester to complete such work that have been granted. Some departments or programs, as well as some individual instructors, do not permit the option to take an “Incomplete”. Students should be familiar with the policies of their department or program and of individual faculty members regarding incompletes.

When permission for an incomplete has been granted, instructors will assign the student a grade of “Incomplete” (“I”) for the course, and this grade will appear on the student’s official transcript until a final grade is reported. 

The student must submit the completed work to the instructor in sufficient time to enable the instructor to review and grade the work before the last day of classes.

Unresolved Incompletes will be converted to an “F” on the student's transcript.

This policy will apply whether or not the student has continued to enroll in a graduate program. The sole exception is that students who receive an “Incomplete” in their final semester of enrollment, but who are able to graduate without those credits, will retain an “Incomplete” indefinitely. Upon graduation the transcript will be closed and no further grade changes will be made.

4.  "NR" Grades

The “NR” (“No Grade Reported”) is used in a restricted set of circumstances. The University Registrar will assign a grade of “NR” (“No Grade Reported”) to a student’s enrollment in a course only when a) the instructor does not assign a grade to anyone in the course, or b) the instructor assigns grades to some or all other students but not to the student in question.

In cases where some students are graded while others are not, the “NR” is functionally equivalent to an “I” assigned by the instructor. If the “NR” is not updated to a final grade by the last day of classes in the following semester, it will be converted to an “F” on the student's transcript.

5. Appeals Contesting Final Course Grades and Other Academic Assessments

The process to appeal or contest a grade can be found in the school handbooks. Grade appeals must be initiated no later than sixty days after the start of the academic term following the one in which the disputed grade was assigned. 

Satisfactory progress toward a graduate degree, especially those at the doctoral level, is measured by more than successful completion of coursework. Other academic activities that are subject to faculty assessment include but are not limited to such milestones as qualifying or comprehensive examinations and the acceptance of a thesis or dissertation proposal. This form of appeal must be submitted no later than ninety days after the date of the assessment.

The decision of the school is final. 

III.B.  Transfer of Credit, Advanced Standing, and Prior Graduate School Enrollment

Students pursuing either a master’s or a doctoral degree may be eligible to transfer credit to their current degree program, but normally only students pursuing a doctoral degree are eligible to receive advanced standing. Students who have previously enrolled in a graduate certificate or master’s degree program may be eligible to incorporate some or all of that coursework into a higher degree program; see Section III.B.1. 

The double-counting of course credits between two programs in an approved dual-degree program does not involve a transfer of credits; see instead Section IV.E. Dual-Degree and Joint-Degree Programs.

1.  Transfer of Credit toward the Master’s or Doctoral Degree

After satisfactory completion of at least one semester of full-time registration in a graduate program, a master’s or doctoral degree student may make a written request to transfer credit for specific applicable courses taken (a) at another accredited institution or (b) at Georgetown University prior to admission to a Georgetown graduate degree program. Requests for transfer of credit must be made in writing, and should be directed to the Director of Graduate Studies or program director of the student’s department or program. Decisions about whether specific courses may be transferred and about the total number of transferable credits will be made by the school dean, with guidance from the program. The program will forward a recommendation to the school dean’s office concerning the applicability of both the specific courses and the total number of credits requested toward the student's degree program.

Credits are normally only transferred in semester equivalency. 

The following minimum restrictions apply. Schools, departments, and programs may opt to impose more restrictive limits on either degree level and may deny transfer of credit entirely.

For master’s only students: Graduate students who are enrolled in a master’s-only program must complete at least 75% of the credits required for the master’s degree at Georgetown. Consequently, transferred credits and Consortium enrollments combined may not account for more than 25% of the credits required for the degree.

For doctoral students: The total number of credits that may be transferred by a student enrolled in a Georgetown doctoral degree program may not exceed 25% of the total number of credits required for the degree after any credits of advanced standing (described below) have been granted.

Only graduate-level courses for which the student received a grade of “B” or better may be transferred into a graduate degree program. Credits will not be approved for transfer if they have been or are being applied toward another degree at any institution, or if they have already been used to award advanced standing toward a Georgetown doctoral degree. In addition, courses taken seven or more years prior to the request are not usually acceptable for transfer. Students may not use transferred credits to resolve any academic deficiency (e.g., low overall GPA or failure to achieve a sufficient grade in a required course) through the use of transferred credits.

The grades posted will be those of the institution giving the course, but Georgetown reserves the right to determine the number of credits that will be assigned to transferred coursework. Grades for transferred courses are not counted when calculating the student's overall GPA. 

2.  Advanced Standing Toward the Doctoral Degree

A doctoral student who has been awarded a relevant master’s degree by another institution may petition for advanced standing toward the coursework required for in their doctoral degree program. A maximum of thirty credits of advanced standing may be awarded. Some doctoral programs may impose a lower limit, or may refuse to grant advanced standing entirely. Students who have been awarded advanced standing may be eligible to transfer a limited number of other additional credits to their degree program.

Requests for advanced standing should be made during the student's first year of enrollment in their Ph.D. program. Requests for advanced standing must be made in writing through the Director of Graduate Studies of the student's doctoral program who will forward a recommendation to the school dean’s office. This recommendation must include both the number of advanced standing credits to be awarded and the number of credits of coursework that remain to be completed for the degree. The number of approved credits of advanced standing will be recorded on the student's transcript. Final decisions on advanced standing rest with the school dean.

3.  Use of Graduate Credits Earned in Another Graduate Program

A student pursuing a master’s degree at Georgetown, who is subsequently admitted to a doctoral program in the same field, may absorb the course credits earned in that program into the doctoral program. 

Some or all of the credits earned by students enrolled in a Georgetown master’s program and posted on the student’s transcript may be eligible to be absorbed into a doctoral program in another major field, irrespective of whether the requirements of the master’s degree were completed. 

Absorption of prior credits is contingent on approval by the school in which the doctoral program is housed.

Analogously, some or all of the credits earned while a student was enrolled in a Georgetown certificate program may be eligible to be absorbed into a master’s program in the same or another major field, irrespective of whether the requirements of the certificate program were completed. 

The program’s school determines whether or not prior credits may be absorbed in any given case. 

Requests to absorb prior courses are made in accordance with school-specific procedures. Approved courses will be applied to the higher degree with the full credit value posted on the transcript. Prior coursework that is not approved for use toward the higher degree (because it is deemed insufficiently relevant or the student has performed poorly) will remain on the transcript but will not be counted toward completion of the higher degree’s requirements.

Special considerations apply to the use of earned graduate credits when a student has withdrawn from one graduate degree program and enrolled in another. See Section III.F Request to Change Graduate Program.

III.C.  Time Limits for Completing Degrees

The time limits defined below are baseline requirements. Some graduate programs may have more stringent restrictions on time for the completion of the degree and for milestones (e.g., the passage of comprehensive exams) toward the degree. Students should consult with their department or program for more information.

Part-time students are subject to the same time limits for completing graduate degrees as are full-time students.

Students who have failed to meet the baseline time limits stated below or any additional temporal restrictions set by their graduate program will be terminated from degree candidacy, unless an extension of time to complete the degree is approved by their school and the Joint Office of Graduate Studies (JOGS).

1.  Master's Degrees

Each graduate program of study that leads to a master’s degree has defined normal progress in terms of the number of credits its students are expected to complete both in each semester and in total. Individual programs also define the total length of time required to complete the requirements for the degree. Normal program length for a master’s program can range from nine months to three years. These standards are used by schools to assess student degree progress, and by the Office of Student Financial Aid to determine eligibility for student loans under rules established by the U.S. Department of Education, and by the Office of Global Services to set time boundaries on student visas issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

2.  Doctoral Degrees

Students admitted to a Ph.D. or doctorate program must complete their degree within five years of achieving candidacy (see Section IV.D.1.A. Doctoral Candidacy) and ordinarily no more than seven years overall from matriculation to award of the degree. Some schools may set more stringent time-to-degree expectations. Students may continue into their eighth year only with the approval of JOGS; see Section 4, below. 

3.  Dual-Degree Programs

Students admitted to a dual- or concurrent-degree program typically complete fewer total credits than they would if they were to enroll in the two programs separately. Consequently, the time allowed to complete the requirements of both degrees is typically less than the time permitted to pursue the two degrees separately.

For master’s/master’s and master’s/Ph.D. dual-degree programs, the total time allowed from matriculation to completion of both degrees is typically one year more than what would be permitted for the longer of the two degrees alone. 

Students pursuing a master’s or Ph.D. concurrently with a J.D. degree from the Law Center are typically permitted an additional two years beyond what would be required for the master’s or Ph.D. degree alone.

A dual-degree program combining a graduate degree with an M.D. from the School of Medicine may require fewer credits than the same graduate degree alone. In such cases, the student is expected to complete the combined program in a comparably abbreviated period of time.

4.  Requests for Extension of Time Limits

Students who will not complete all graduation requirements within the time allowed for their degree type may petition their program for an extension of time to complete the degree. Approvals are not guaranteed and must include an explanation of the delay and a specification of any intermediate deadlines or other academic criteria to be met by the student, as well as a realistic date for completion of the degree. Even when such extensions are approved, the new deadline may or may not be the date requested by the student. Students should ordinarily expect to complete their degree requirements within a year of the programmatic deadline. 

Extensions for master’s students are approved by their schools. Extensions for Ph.D. students must be approved by JOGS in consultation with the student’s school dean. 

International students are subject to strict monitoring of their degree progress. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security expects all international students to complete the requirements of their degree programs within the time period set when the student’s visa was issued. Only under unusual circumstances will the University agree to support requests for visa extensions. International students with questions about their ability to complete their degree program within the duration of their visa should speak with their international student advisor in the Office of Global Services.

III.D.  Standards of Satisfactory Academic Performance

This Bulletin establishes minimum standards for academic performance. Departments and programs within schools are permitted to set higher standards. Students should therefore familiarize themselves with the academic performance standards of both their school and their department or program.

The initial responsibility for recognizing an academic difficulty and for taking steps to resolve it rests with the student. Students experiencing academic difficulty in courses or other degree requirements are expected to consult with their instructor immediately and, if necessary, to seek additional assistance. Schools, departments and programs also monitor the academic records of their students as a matter of course.

When it is found that a student is in academic difficulty, and depending upon the severity of the situation, the student may receive:

• an oral warning from the department or program;

• a written warning from the department or program;

• a written warning from their school; or

• a written termination of degree candidacy from their school

Actions short of termination will be taken when the student receives one “F,” or when the student’s grade point average or letter-grade average falls below the minimum level required for good academic standing. Candidacy will be terminated either when the student has failed (grades of “F” or “U”) 20% or more of the credits required for the degree, or when it is no longer possible for the student's grade point average (GPA) to reach the minimum level required for graduation in their degree program. Students will not be allowed to register for additional credits beyond those required for graduation for the purpose of raising an inadequate GPA.

A student’s candidacy for a graduate degree may also be terminated for: 

• unsatisfactory progress toward a degree as defined by the department or program;

• failure to pass a comprehensive examination or to prepare or to defend a thesis, doctoral project, or dissertation satisfactorily; 

• or for violation of the time limits for completing degrees. 

All actions for termination on these and other possible grounds will be determined by the student’s school, in consultation with the department or program.

III.E.  Faculty Mentoring

Georgetown recognizes the vital role that mentoring plays in graduate education, especially for Ph.D. students. Georgetown endeavors to assign all admitted Ph.D. students an appropriate faculty mentor. At the same time, students have the responsibility of behaving professionally and of meeting generally accepted academic standards set forth by their instructors and program. No individual faculty member is compelled to work with a particular student. For instance, students who refuse to accept the recommendations of their advisors or to modify their work in response to feedback cannot expect that faculty will want to work with them. Students who do not have a mentor may eventually be found to be making inadequate progress toward the degree. If challenges arise, programs must document the student’s lack of progress and/or concerns about the student’s engagement with their mentor; absent such documentation, the program remains responsible for providing a suitable mentor.

III.F.  Request to Change Graduate Program

Students may occasionally be allowed to transfer from one program to another within a given school. Students wishing to enter a program outside their school must submit an admissions application. Schools will determine whether previously earned credits will count towards the new program of study. 

Formal dual-degree and joint-degree programs are governed by the terms of their agreements, and special considerations apply if a student withdraws from a program of this sort to pursue a single-degree program, whether or not the new program was part of the dual-degree or joint-degree program. See Section IV.E. for information on dual-degree and joint-degree programs of study.

III.G.  Appeals Regarding Termination of Degree Candidacy

A student’s candidacy for a graduate degree may be terminated by the dean of their school for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to:

• failure to make satisfactory academic progress, as defined by the school or program;

• failure to maintain continuous registration; 

• violations of the University’s Code of Student Conduct;

A student whose degree candidacy has been terminated for any reason will be notified in writing by the dean of their school. The student shall have the right of appeal in accordance with the procedures articulated in their school’s handbook. The student must present the grounds for appeal to the dean of their school in writing within thirty days of the date of the dean’s letter terminating degree candidacy. While the student may submit any evidentiary materials deemed relevant to the appeal, the narrative presenting the basis of the appeal must be limited to ten typewritten double-spaced pages. The outcome of the appeal process is final.