Credit/D/Fail Option
In order to encourage academic exploration 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.
1. A student may offer as many as four course credits earned on the Credit/D/Fail basis toward the bachelor's degree.
2. As many as two credits may be elected under the Credit/D/Fail option in a term; thus in an academic year a student may earn as many as four credits on the Credit/D/Fail option. In each term, a student must elect at least two courses, representing at least two course credits, for letter grades.
3. For the Class of 2008: 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.
For the Class of 2009 and subsequent classes: 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.
4. For the Class of 2008: Each course offered in Yale College during the fall and spring terms carries an indication of 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 designation "Not CR/D/F" may not subsequently in the academic year be changed by the instructor. A course without the notation "Not CR/D/F" is available for election on the Credit/D/Fail basis; the instructor may not subsequently in the year withdraw the option. Program descriptions in chapter IV of this bulletin 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 subsequent classes: All courses offered in Yale College during the fall and spring terms are available for election under the Credit/D/Fail option. Program descriptions in chapter IV of this bulletin specify whether or not courses taken on the Credit/D/Fail basis count toward the requirements of particular majors. A Cr/Year only course may be taken under the Credit/D/Fail option for one term while the other term of the yearlong course is taken for a letter grade. For Cr/Year only courses in which a student receives the mark of SAT or NSAT for the first term and a letter grade for the second (e.g., SCIE 198, Perspectives on Science), the enrollment option that the student elects for the second term governs both terms of the yearlong course; that is, students will receive either the mark of CR for both terms of the course or a letter grade for both terms of the course, depending on the option elected for the second term of the course. For Cr/Year only courses in which a student receives a separate letter grade for each of the two terms, each term of the course will be governed by the enrollment option the student elected for that term.
5. Students must indicate on their course schedules at the beginning of a term the use they wish to make during that term of the Credit/D/Fail option. As indicated above, in a given term a student may elect as many as (but no more than) two course credits on the Credit/D/Fail basis; and a student must elect at least two courses, representing at least two course credits, for letter grades. If a student indicates on the course schedule more than two course credits being taken on the Credit/D/Fail option, the registrar will record only the first two of them, in the order in which they are listed, as being taken on that basis, and the student will not be permitted to take the others on the Credit/D/Fail option.
6. Because a decision to employ the Credit/D/Fail option in a course must be declared at the beginning of the term on the student's course schedule, and because conversion from a letter grade to the Credit/D/Fail option is not possible for students who submit their schedules on time, a student who submits the schedule after the date on which it is due may not employ the Credit/D/Fail option in any course during that term. See "Enrollment in Courses" under the heading "Registration and Enrollment in Courses" in this chapter. The only exception to this rule may be in the case of a student who for some valid and extraordinary reason cannot submit the course schedule on time and who has the permission of the residential college dean and the registrar to submit it late. If the college dean approves, such a student may employ the Credit/D/Fail option only by submitting to the college dean by the date on which the course schedule is due (as published in the calendar in this bulletin) a written statement specifying the course (or courses) that the student wishes to take on the Credit/D/Fail basis.
7. In order to employ the Credit/D/Fail option, students whose registration is being withheld by the Office of Student Financial Services or any other administrative office of the University must submit their schedules on time, before the deadline indicated on the student's course schedule and listed in the calendar in this bulletin.
8. Until November 9, 2007, in the fall term (two weeks after midterm), and until March 31, 2008, in the spring term (a week after the date of the resumption of classes following spring recess), a student who has elected a course on the Credit/D/Fail basis may choose to receive a letter grade in that course by filing the appropriate form in the office of the residential college dean. After these dates such conversion is not possible. If a student converts from the Credit/D/Fail option to a letter grade before the deadline, the option may not again be resumed even if the student desires to do so before the deadline.
9. A course once elected for a letter grade may not subsequently be converted to a course taken on the Credit/D/Fail basis.
10. A student who for any reason has been granted extraordinary permission by the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing to elect a new course after the deadline for submitting a course schedule may not employ the Credit/D/Fail option in that course. A change of level in courses in which the subject is taught in an ordered progression is not considered the election of a new course.
11. In all courses (except for a few professional school courses), instructors report letter grades for all students. If the student has chosen the Credit/D/Fail option in a course that is available on that basis, the registrar converts grades of A, A–, B+, B, B–, C+, C, and C– into the notation CR, which is entered on the student's transcript. Grades of D+, D, D–, and F are entered on the transcript as reported. A student may not be required to disclose to the instructor of a course whether the student has enrolled in the course for a letter grade or under the Credit/D/Fail option.
12. Work completed under the Credit/D/Fail option cannot yield acceleration credit (see "Enrollment in Advanced Courses and Acceleration Credit" in chapter II).
13. Marks of CR are included in the calculations for some prizes, for Distinction in the Major, and for election to Phi Beta Kappa as non-A grades, but marks of CR are not included in the calculation for General Honors (see under "Honors" in chapter I).
14. Courses in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and in the professional schools of the University are not available on the Yale College Credit/D/Fail option. Some courses in certain professional schools of the University are, however, graded on a Pass/Fail basis only, and grades for undergraduates in these courses are recorded as CR or F. Such credits are counted in the total earned on the Credit/D/Fail basis that a student is permitted to offer in a term as well as the total offered toward the requirements of a bachelor's degree. Marks of CR in professional school courses are included in the calculations for Distinction in the Major as non-A grades. Marks of CR in professional school courses are not included in the calculation for General Honors (see "General Honors" and "Distinction in the Major" under the heading "Honors" in chapter I).
