Grades

Grades and Calculating the Grade Point Average

Courses offered on a graded basis are done so according to the following scale:

P

Pass grades have no numerical value and are not included in the student's grade point average.

(Please see below, "Pass/Fail Grading," for further information.)

Other grades found on student transcripts are as follows:

N:          No Grade Submitted

I :           Incomplete

The work of students taking courses at the Law School who are not enrolled in either the J.D. program, the LL.M. program or a dual degree program of this or another accredited law school will be graded on a pass/fail system.

To determine your grade point average (GPA), multiply the number of points assigned to the grade in each course by the number of credits in the respective courses. The total number of points should be divided by the total number of credits to obtain the grade point average as illustrated in the example:

Due Dates for Submitting Grades

The deadlines for submitting grades to the Registrar's Office are as follows:

• Fall Semester:
  • 1L Day Division Grades: The Wednesday before the first day of the Spring Semester
  • All other Grades: January 24th
• Spring Semester: 4 Weeks after the last day of Exams
• January Interterm: February 19th
• June Term/July Term: 4 Weeks after the last day of Exams

If January 24th falls on a weekend, grades are due the following Monday. If February 19th falls on a weekend, grades are due on the preceding Friday.

It shall be the policy of the Registrar's office to enter a student's grade within 24 hours of receipt of the grade unless instructed otherwise by the instructor

Honors

Honors will be granted to graduating students using the percentage system as follows:

• Highest Honors: Top 1% of the graduating class
• High Honors: Next 5% of the graduating class
• Honors: Next 24% of the graduating class

If necessary, the percentages will be rounded as follows: .5% will be rounded up and .49% will be rounded down.

For purposes of determining honors, all graduating students (both from the Day and the Evening Division) are considered as one group, despite the fact that the three-year Day Division and the four-year Day and Evening Divisions are ranked separately.

Degree Conferral and Commencement

The Law School confers degrees three times during the year. The conferral dates are January 31, July 10, and Commencement Day in May. There is only one commencement ceremony each year, and all students planning to graduate in a given year are encouraged to participate in the ceremony. All course work must be completed on or before the conferral date. Any student who does not complete the coursework by the conferral date must wait until the next conferral date for the award of the degree. No exceptions will be considered. Diplomas are mailed to graduates at the end of the summer.

Written Work of High Excellence

Papers of high excellence submitted in satisfaction of the requirements of any course or seminar or independent study project, with the permission of the student, upon approval by the dean, are deposited in the Law Library. Such papers may be approved by the dean for deposit in the Law Library as an "Honor Paper" upon certification by the faculty member grading it that the paper both is of high excellence and makes a substantial contribution to its field which will be of value to others thereafter working in the field and also is free from serious defects of organization and workmanship and appropriate to serve as a model for students writing similar papers in the future.

Papers approved by the dean for deposit in the Law Library are bound, indexed, and shelved as a special reference collection. The students who have written them are so informed and the fact is recorded in their file.

Subject to the right of the Law Library to make the manuscript available to readers and to make single photocopies, the literary rights of the manuscript are reserved to the author, who is free to publish the manuscript and to take steps to secure a statutory copyright thereon.

Class Rank

Students are ranked at the end of each Spring Semester, except for those students for whom June Term work is mandatory. This includes July Graduates and 1L students in the Four Year Day and Evening Divisions. Students in the top quintile are ranked numerically by cumulative grade point average. All other students are ranked by quintiles only. Grades or grade corrections received after the completion of ranking (June 30th for those students ranked after Spring Semester, July 30th for those ranked after June Term) will not change the student's class rank for the year.

Grade Distribution Requirements

A median grade of B is required in the following courses:

• all required courses
• all courses with multiple sections taught in the same academic year
• all courses with 19 or more students

In all these courses, at least half the students will receive a grade of B or higher and at least half will receive a grade of B or lower. In determining the median, a grade of pass will be considered a B.

For purposes of the multiple-section provisions of the B median requirement, June/July term courses are to be grouped with courses in the preceding academic year.

When a faculty member is required to post grades before all students in a class have taken the examination, and under other similar circumstances, the B median requirement is understood to except grades that should be posted late and cannot reasonably be taken into account in calculating the median for a class.

Please note: When calculating the number of students in the course for the purposes of determining the applicability of the B Median requirement, only UConn J.D. degree-seeking students are counted.

Pass/Fail Grading

The Law School has a modified form of pass/fail grading. Under this system the grade of "Pass" indicates that a student receiving it has performed at a level equivalent to a C or higher on an A-F scale. Thus, in effect, the system is a Pass/C-/D+/D/D-/Fail grading scale. A grade of C or better is recorded as a grade of "Pass" and is not used in the computation of the student's grade point average. A grade of C- or lower is used in the computation. Student transcripts contain the legend that any course in which a grade of "Pass" was awarded did not enter into the computation of the student's grade point average, class rank, and eligibility for honors.

All Juris Doctor students must complete at least 74 of the required 86 semester hours of course credit for graduation graded on the traditional A-F scale. Thus, twelve semester hours of non-required courses taken at the Law School may be taken under the pass/fail grading option for students graduating with exactly 86 credits. LL.M. students may take 3 semester hours of non-required courses under the pass/fail grading option.However, students must complete a minimum of two graded courses per semester. All required courses taken at the Law School must be taken on the A-F basis. Pass/fail credits for individual externships, externship clinics, Lawyering Process teaching assistants, Moot Court Competition, Moot Court teaching assistants, and Legal Editorship credits are included in the number of pass/fail credits allowed.  Courses that appear on the transcript with a grade of T (Transfer), if taken for a letter grade at the other institution, are not counted as pass/fail credits.  This includes dual degree, certificate and study abroad course work.

Each faculty member reserves the option to deny students the right to take his/her classes under the pass/fail option or to limit by any reasonable method the percentage of students taking any course on a pass/fail basis.

During the fifth and sixth weeks of each semester, and during the third week of classes in the June/July Term, students must make a decision as to whether or not they are taking any course so available on a pass/fail basis. Once chosen, or once the pass/fail registration period has completed, students may not modify their pass/fail selection.  Forms are available at the Registrar's Office.

Pass grades received as a result of course work completed outside the Law School are not included in the number of hours of pass/fail which are allowed. This assumes that the work successfully completed outside the school of law was taken on a graded basis (A-F).

Release of Grades

Students may access grades and transcripts via the Internet. Full instructions may be found here.

Grade summaries for courses. Grade summaries for each course by section are compiled by the Registrar's Office at the end of each term. These summaries are available to assist the faculty in normalization of grades and to disclose to students the distribution of grades in each course.

Grade Changes

By University policy, grades may be changed only to correct an error in calculating the grade.