Dear GSAS Students,
We have been asked by the Office of the Provost to extend the Pass/Fail grading deadline to May 12th for spring courses in light of the stresses caused by the disruption in our regular course delivery methods. We at GSAS fully support this request. GSAS has always been flexible in allowing students to take as many courses Pass/Fail as they wish, unless program requirements specifically state otherwise, and we will continue to offer wide latitude in this regard. Provided it is allowed by the requirements of your program, you may opt to take any course in which you are currently enrolled as Pass/Fail, regardless of whether or not it is a GSAS course.
We wish to simplify this process as much as possible, not only for you, but for our faculty and administrative staff as well. Therefore, if you wish to take any or all of your spring 2020 courses Pass/Fail, please send an email to your home department graduate administrator listing your University ID number (the “N” number) and the full course number, with course section if applicable, of each course you wish to convert to Pass/Fail by noon on May 12th. Please consider carefully before you make this request, because once you have requested Pass/Fail grading, you will not be allowed to switch back to standard letter grading. Please also consult first with your department’s student handbook or your DGS to make sure that there are not any programmatic restrictions that require you to take a particular course for a letter grade before you make your request. You may request Pass/Fail grading for any of your courses in this way, even if they are offered outside of your home department or, indeed, outside of GSAS. Do not contact administrators in other departments or schools or your instructor about changing your course grading to Pass/Fail.
Please be aware that Pass/Fail grading awards credit for the course but no numerical grade points if you receive a Pass. Thus, a Pass adds to your earned credit total, but it does not affect your GPA. Conversely, a Fail acts just like an F in the standard letter grading system. You do not get credit for the course and it does affect your GPA negatively.
We hope that giving you this option helps reduce any stress you may be experiencing as a result of the University’s move to remote instruction. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs Allan Corns at allan.corns@nyu.edu.
Sincerely,
Phil Harper