Grades
The grade point system at Kalamazoo College is:
| Final Grade | Quality Points |
|---|---|
| A | 4.00 (excellent) |
| A- | 3.67 |
| B+ | 3.33 |
| B | 3.00 (above average) |
| B- | 2.67 |
| C+ | 2.33 |
| C | 2.00 (average) |
| C- | 1.67 |
| D+ | 1.33 |
| D | 1.00 (below average) |
| F | 0.00 (failure) |
CR (credit), NC (no credit), H (honors), IP (in progress), W (withdraw), and I (incomplete) do not affect the grade point average (GPA).
Credit/No Credit
Students in good academic standing may elect to take at most one letter graded course per term as CR/NC for a total of up to four courses while enrolled at Kalamazoo College. Courses taken CR/NC must be outside the major, minor, or concentration (including cognates). Students may elect this option for at most one course in any one department. Before signing this form, please be sure to investigate all possible implications:
- This form is due to the Registrar’s Office on or before Friday of eighth week of the quarter during which Credit\No Credit is a course registration option.
- Once declared a Credit\No Credit course, the course cannot be converted back to a letter-graded course.
- Declaration of a course as Credit\No Credit makes the student ineligible for the Dean’s List consideration for that quarter.
- Many graduate schools and professional institutions may not accept Credit\No Credit graded coursework in subjects related to an intended program of study.
- Students may retake a CR/NC option for a letter grade.
- The course will not satisfy prerequisites for those course sequences that require a “C- or better.”
- The course will not satisfy the last course in the language requirement (103 or 201) or any of the Shared Passages Seminar requirements.
Grade Reports
Grade reports are made available online to students at the end of each quarter. Printed copies are available upon request. Copies of grade reports will be sent to parents only if students present a signed statement of request to the Registrar.
Course Attendance
Attendance is the responsibility of the student and is regulated within each course. Faculty members may report to the Early Alert Committee those students whose absences may be impairing their performances.
Final Examinations
Examinations are held at the end of each quarter for most courses. Students and faculty are required to follow the exam schedule as set by the Registrar. However, if a student has three final exams scheduled for the same date, one of these exams may be changed by making appropriate arrangements with one of the instructors.
Incomplete Grades
An I (incomplete) is recorded when work is of acceptable quality but has not been finished because of illness or other extraordinary circumstance outside the student’s control. Final letter grades for Incompletes are due to the Registrar’s office by the end of Week 6 of the following term. Faculty should set appropriate deadlines for submission of student work in order to review the work and assign the grade by this deadline. If the work has not been completed in the timeframe outlined by the instructors, the student should be awarded the grade they earned by the end of the quarter. This deadline applies whether the student is on or off campus or has left the College.
If a student has been granted a Leave of Absence after the end of a quarter in which he/she has received an incomplete, the incomplete deadline will be extended for one quarter. In this circumstance, the incomplete grade will be due by Friday at 5:00pm week six of the quarter following the first quarter in which the student is on a Leave of Absence. There are no exceptions to this extension unless the student petitions and receives approval from the Academic Standards Committee.
Change of Grade
Students seeking a grade change should contact the course instructor responsible for the grade issued. Both students and faculty should understand that a change in an assigned grade should reflect only identifiable and distinct errors in the evaluation process. Students should initiate this process as soon as possible and no later than the end of the sixth week of the following quarter or within six weeks after graduation or withdrawal from the College. Faculty who identify an error in grading should submit a change of grade form to the Registrar within one year of the original recording. After one year, the transcript record is considered the permanent record.
Cumulative GPA
All courses taken at Kalamazoo College are included in the calculation of the cumulative Kalamazoo College grade point average (GPA), except the SIP, PE activities, other credit/no credit (CR/NC) courses, and repeated courses. When a student repeats a course (for which they received a C-, D, F, W, CR or NC), both attempts will appear on the student’s transcript but only the second attempt will be used to calculate the Kalamazoo College cumulative GPA, and only one course unit will be earned. (See the section on Registering to Repeat a Course for more information). Transfer courses and courses taken on study abroad/study away do not affect the cumulative GPA.