Enrollment News (2020-21)

Last changed 11:00pm Saturday March 28, 2020

For information about changes from previous years, see the enrollment news history.

Important COVID-19 Update

As mentioned in a recent email from the Dean (and on the Arts and Science COVID-19 Information page), the faculty will make the following option available:

"All Arts and Science students who achieve a passing grade in an Arts and Science undergraduate course that is lower than they might have achieved had the disruptions not occurred will have the option to change their grade to a 'Pass' (P) instead of their final letter grade."

However, the announcement of this option also comes with the following cautionary note:

"We are strongly encouraging you to take time to consider these options and think carefully about the consequences of changing a letter grade to a 'P'. Your final grades will be available May 11 and you have until May 20 to make the decision that is in your best interest. Note that you may still need letter grades for access to courses with specific prerequisites, for first-year plan selection and perhaps for some merit-based scholarships and awards."

In the School of Computing, this new option affects two of the School's policies and rules:

Minimum grade requirement on prerequisite courses Given the extraordinary circumstances, the School's minimum grade requirement on prerequisite courses will be changed to allow students to use a 'Pass' obtained in this term to satisfy the grade requirement. More precisely, the minimum grade requirement will be changed from
"At least a 'C-' in all prerequisite courses"
to
"At least a 'C-' (obtained in any term) or a 'Pass' (obtained in Winter 2020) in all prerequisite courses"
Plan selection and minimum requirements for automatic acceptance and pending list These requirements remain unchanged. That means that, e.g., a 'Pass' in CISC 124 obtained this term CANNOT be used to satisfy the 'at least a B in CISC 121 or CISC 124' requirement for automatic acceptance to a Computing plan; if a student chooses to take a 'Pass' in CISC 124 for this term, then they must have at least a 'B' in CISC 121 (or in CISC 124, if it was attempted prior to this term) to satisfy that part of the automatic acceptance requirement. More details on the plan selection process and the requirements for Computing plans can be found at the Arts and Science Plan Selection page and the Computing plan requirments document (PDF).

For general information about this option, please see the detailed FAQ on the Arts and Science COVID-19 Information page under 'FAQ for Undergraduate Students (On-Campus and Online)'.

First Year Information Session

PDF of First Year Information Session Slides