The Credit/D/Fail Option
In order to encourage academic experimentation and to promote diversity in students' programs, the Yale College Faculty has provided that students may elect a certain number of courses on a Credit/D/Fail basis.
At the beginning of the term students may elect the Credit/D/Fail option in courses in which it is available to them. Enrollment in a course for a letter grade may not later be converted to enrollment on the Credit/D/Fail basis. Until a deadline set approximately two weeks after midterm, a student who has selected a course on the Credit/D/Fail option may choose instead to receive a letter grade by filing the appropriate form in the office of the residential college dean. After the deadline, no such conversion is possible. A student is not required to disclose to the instructor of a course whether he or she has enrolled in the course for a letter grade or has chosen the Credit/D/Fail option.
Instructors submit letter grades to the registrar for all students in their courses. For a Yale College student who has elected the Credit/D/Fail option, the registrar converts grades of A, A–, B+, B, B–, C+, C, and C– to CR and enters that mark on the student's record. Grades of D+, D, D–, and F are recorded as reported.
The Yale College Faculty has approved certain modifications to the Credit/D/Fail option in response to a proposal from the Committee on Yale College Education. As a result, students have differing opportunities for employing the Credit/D/Fail option and are subject to somewhat different regulations, depending on the class with which they matriculated.
For the Class of 2008:
1. No more than one course credit earned on the Credit/D/Fail basis may be applied in any distributional group toward satisfaction of the distributional requirements for the bachelor's degree.
2. The YCPS indicates for each course offered in Yale College whether or not it has been designated by the instructor or by the department as available for election under the Credit/D/Fail option. The notation "Not CR/D/F" in the course listing means that the course must be taken for a letter grade. The instructor may not remove the designation "Not CR/D/F" during the current academic year. A course without the notation "Not CR/D/F" is available for election on the Credit/D/Fail basis; the instructor may not, later in the year, withdraw the option. Program descriptions in chapter IV of the YCPS specify whether or not courses taken on the Credit/D/Fail basis count toward the requirements of particular majors.
For the Class of 2009 and later classes:
1. A student may not apply any course credit earned on the Credit/D/Fail basis toward satisfaction of the distributional requirements for the bachelor's degree.
2. All courses offered in Yale College are available for election under the Credit/D/Fail option. Program descriptions in chapter IV of the YCPS specify whether or not courses taken on the Credit/D/Fail basis count toward the requirements of particular majors.
For further information about the Credit/D/Fail option, consult the academic regulations, chapter III of the YCPS.
