A course taken pass/fail earns credit if passed and no credit if failed; no letter grade or grade points are given.
Pass/fail allows eligible students to take some elective courses outside their usual area of study without concern for their grade point average (GPA).

You are eligible for pass/fail if:

• You have at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA OR
• You are a first-semester freshman or transfer student

Freshmen, sophomores and juniors may carry one pass/fail course per term.
Seniors may carry two pass/fail courses per term.

No changes to pass/fail registration are permitted after the registration deadline.
Take very few pass/fail courses if you're planning graduate or professional school; take only graded courses if you're pre-med

Warning: If a student or course is ineligible for pass/fail, the Dean's Office will cancel the pass/fail registration, and the course grade will count. Notification of this change may arrive too late for you to drop the course. Be sure that you qualify before registering for a course pass/fail.

• Only elective work may be taken on a pass/fail basis.
• You may not carry any course in your major department on a pass/fail basis, whether required for the major or not, even if you have already completed your major.
• Courses required for a major but offered by another department (e.g., chemistry for the zoology major) may not be taken on a pass/fail basis.
• Courses cross-listed with your major department may not be carried on a pass/fail basis.
• You may not take a foreign language course pass/fail until you have completed the BA or BS foreign language requirement.

Pass/fail courses count toward four requirements:

• 120 total degree credits needed for graduation,
• 80 credits outside any one department,
• 60 credits of intermediate or advanced work (if the course is designated as I, A, or D level),
• Residence requirement (if the course is taken within the last 30 credits before graduation).

Pass/fail courses do not count toward the following requirements:

• Major
• Breadth (humanities, literature, social science, science)
• Foreign language
• Math
• Ethnic studies
• General education
• A maximum of ten (10) pass/fail courses may count toward graduation

• Instructors are not informed which students have registered for pass/fail and assign a regular letter grade to all students in the class. The Registrar's Office converts the letter grade to a pass/fail grade of S or U.
• If you earn a grade of C or better, the letter grade S (Satisfactory) will be posted on your transcript. Your GPA is not affected.
• If you receive a grade of D or F, the letter grade U (Unsatisfactory) will be posted on your transcript. You will receive no degree credit for the class, but your GPA is not affected.
• Pass/fail courses have no effect on probation status.
• Pass/fail courses may affect Dean's List eligibility. You must earn a minimum of 12 graded degree credits in a semester to be eligible for the Dean's List.

1. Go to your Student Center in My UW
2. Click on the Course Enrollment tab
3. Click on Term Information tab
4. Select Course Change Request
5. Your classes will appear with checkboxes next to them. Please click in the box of the class you wish to declare Pass/Fail.
6. This will expand and give options. Choose Add Pass/Fail (or “Remove” to remove Pass/Fail).
7. Click “Save”. Undergraduate Academic Services will receive your submitted request.

** If you are not a degree-seeking candidate in the College of Letters and Science, you should contact your Dean’s Office about the pass/fail policy and submitting your pass/fail request.

• Please confirm dean’s approval by going to My Class Schedule in your Student Center.  You will see the words Pass/Fail in the Grading column.

• Record deadlines for Pass-Fail.  The online request is FINAL (paper requests after the established deadlines will not be accepted).  AND, you will be unable to change a course back to graded credit after the established deadlines.

• Fall Term 2009 – Friday, September 25th!

• Remember your grade will be “S” for passing (grade of C or better) or a “U” for failing (grade of D or F). 

If you have questions, please contact your assigned academic advisor or Undergraduate Academic Services in 70 Bascom Hall.

Deadlines

• spring and fall term: the Friday of the Fourth week of class (see Registrar's official semester calendar for exact dates)
• summer sessions: the Friday of the week where 1/4th of the course is completed. (In a four-week class, it would be the Friday of the first week of class, for example).

Prior to the pass/fail deadline, you may cancel pass/fail registration and take the course on a regular graded basis.