AS&E Students
Arts and Sciences, Engineering, SMFA at Tufts
TUFTS.EDU
AS&E Students
Arts and Sciences, Engineering, SMFA at Tufts
Registrar

Pass/Fail Option

Pass/Fail Policies

Undergraduate students may choose to have their grade in certain courses recorded simply as a pass or fail. This means you will be graded as usual throughout the course, but your final grade transcribed by the registrar will be a pass (if you have a D- or better) or fail. When deciding whether to take a course pass/fail, consider these points:

  • A pass does not affect your grade point average, but a failing grade is averaged into your grade point average.

  • You may not repeat a course you have passed using the pass/fail option for credit.

  • You can choose the pass/fail option by completing a Pass/Fail form by deadline noted on the academic calendar. Forms are not accepted after the deadline to declare or revoke a submission.  

  • Arts and Sciences BA/BS students are required to take at least 90 Semester-hour units (SHUs) under standard grading, but you may use the pass/fail option for any elective course in excess of 90 Semester-hour units (SHUs). You cannot take foundation, distribution, major, or minor requirements pass/fail.

  • Arts and Sciences BFA students may take only their non-studio elective requirement pass/fail. All other distribution requirements must be taken for a letter grade.

  • Engineering students may take a maximum of 8 pass/fail courses toward the total number of credits required for graduation. Pass-fail credits may not be applied toward the SHU requirements for SOE-Engineering + SOE-Computing and SOE-Mathematics + SOE-Natural Sciences. In addition, ENG 1, EN1, ES2, and COMP11 may not be taken pass-fail. Courses that fulfill a major requirement may not be taken pass-fail unless specifically excepted by the program description as recorded in the Bulletin.  No distinction is made between regular courses that students elect under the pass-fail grading and those courses in which grading is pass-fail.

  • Transfer students and those students who transfer credit to Tufts from programs at other institutions must complete three-fourths of the semester hours they take at Tufts under standard grading, subject to the stated quality requirement. The pass-fail option may be applied to courses in the remaining one-fourth of the program.

If you are interested in taking one or more courses pass/fail, please complete the form, and do so by the deadline.

Complete the Pass/Fail Form

Historical Note: Given the extraordinary pedagogical changes made in the middle of the Spring 2020 semester at Tufts and around the world, exceptional measures for undergraduate students were established for Spring 2020, with additional exceptional measures extended to Summer 2020, Fall 2020, and Spring 2021, via faculty vote in Arts and Sciences (including SMFA) and Engineering. Please review the details of the exceptional measures as they relate to the Exceptional Pass/Fail option that replaces the student elect pass/fail option detailed in the policies on this page.