Bryn Mawr College

Credit / No Credit Option Credit/ No Credit Option

The credit/no credit option allows students to take a limited number of courses on a pass/fail basis. It is intended to allow students to experiment and to take risks when choosing their courses. Bryn Mawr students are permitted to choose to take up to four courses credit/no credit during the course of their four years at Bryn Mawr. Transfer students are allotted one CR/NC course per year enrolled at Bryn Mawr.

The following rules apply:

•  Students must sign up to take courses CR/NC by the end of the sixth week of each semester. The sign-up book is available in the Registrar's office, on the third floor of Taylor Hall. This deadline is strictly enforced, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time to sign up. In the case of year-long courses, you must sign up each semester.

• No more than one course per semester may be taken through the CR/NC option. However, if a student is taking a course that is CR/NC for everyone (for example, Chorale or Orchestra), she may still choose to take one course under the ordinary CR/NC option.

•  Instructors do not know which students have elected to take a course CR/NC. The registrar records the grade submitted by the professor, but the grade does not appear on the transcript. Instead, grades of 1.0 and above are recorded as CR, and grades of 0 are recorded as NC. CR and NC are not calculated into the official GPA.

•  Students may take any course CR/NC except those in their major. If a student later declares a major in a subject in which she has taken a course CR/NC, that grade will be uncovered: it will appear on her transcript and will be included in her GPA.

•  Once the deadline for sign-up has passed, a student may not reverse her decision or otherwise "uncover the grade," except by declaring a major in the subject.

•  If a student wishes to use a CR/NC course towards a College requirement, she is still bound by the rule requiring that only courses with grades of 2.0 or above will count towards a requirement.

•  Grades behind CR/NC courses are included in the calculations used to determine magna cum laude and summa cum laude.

•  Bryn Mawr students are bound by Bryn Mawr CR/NC rules, even when the course being taken CR/NC is at Haverford, Swarthmore, or Penn.

 

If you have questions about the CR/NC option, or want advice on whether or not to take a course CR/NC, see your dean.