{"id":13076,"date":"2017-07-06T10:55:29","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T14:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/academic-resources\/registar\/exams-grades-papers-course-evaluations\/jd-passfail-policy\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T19:16:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:16:04","slug":"jd-passfail-policy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/academic-resources\/registrar\/academic-honors\/jd-passfail-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"JD Pass\/Fail Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring 2021 Modifications to the Pass\/Fail Option due to COVID-19<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fall 2020 Modifications to the Pass\/Fail Option due to COVID-19<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

In April 2014, the faculty revised its pass\/fail policy.\u00a0 The policy is intended to encourage students to be adventurous in their course selection and not be deterred from taking a course out of concern for their GPAs.\u00a0 Effective beginning in summer 2014, upperclass J.D. students are permitted to take a maximum of 7 credits pass\/fail in elective courses that are available on a pass\/fail basis.\u00a0 Mandatory pass\/fail courses (e.g., upperclass Week One courses) and the pass\/fail components of experiential learning offerings (field placements in practicum courses and externships) do not count against the 7-credit pass\/fail limit.\u00a0 In other words, the 7-credit ceiling applies only to classroom courses that students elect to take on a pass\/fail basis.\u00a0 Note that courses taken on a mandatory pass\/fail basis in an approved study-abroad program or at another ABA-approved law school (e.g., while the student is a visiting student) also do not count against the 7-credit ceiling.<\/p>\n

*Effective Spring 2016*<\/strong> – Please note the following change to the Pass\/Fail policy effective Spring 2016<\/em> – The Pass\/Fail committee voted unanimously to adopt a 4\/4 approach, i.e. both the election of Pass\/Fail and the selection of the target grade must be made by the end of the fourth week of the semester.<\/p>\n

Eligible Students<\/h2>\n

Upperclass J.D. students are eligible to use the pass\/fail option for upperclass electives at the Law Center and at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, and for cross-listed Law Center graduate courses that are available for pass\/fail.\u00a0 The pass\/fail option is not available to LL.M. students.\u00a0 Students sign up for the pass\/fail option online and receive instructions on how to do so from the Office of the Registrar.<\/p>\n

Non-Eligible Courses<\/h2>\n

The following courses are not eligible for the pass\/fail option:<\/p>\n

(1) courses in the required first-year program, including the first-year elective, any course that meets the Professional Responsibility requirement, upperclass legal writing requirement seminars, and Supervised Research projects;<\/p>\n

(2) clinics;<\/p>\n

(3) Law Center graduate courses that are not cross-listed;<\/p>\n

(4) courses for which the faculty member has elected not to make the pass\/fail option available (these are listed in the Curriculum Guide and in links to the right); and<\/p>\n

(5) for students pursuing a J.D.\/LL.M. joint degree, courses counting toward the LL.M. degree.<\/p>\n

Other Restrictions<\/h2>\n

Students may exercise the option to take an otherwise graded course on a pass\/fail basis only once a semester.\u00a0 This does not apply to mandatory pass\/fail courses, which do not count against the 7-credit pass\/fail limit (i.e., students may only elect to take one course pass\/fail in a semester but may take any number of mandatory pass\/fail courses in the same semester).<\/p>\n

Grading<\/h2>\n

A student must decide whether to use the pass\/fail option and designate to the Office of the Registrar the pass\/fail course by the end of the fourth week of the relevant semester (second week of Summer session).\u00a0 By the end of the fourth week (second week of Summer session), the student must also designate to the Office of the Registrar the grade the student hopes to receive in the course.\u00a0 This is referred to as the “target” grade.<\/p>\n

If a student elects to take a course pass\/fail but fails to designate a target grade by the deadline, the Office of the Registrar will assign to the student a target grade that is equal to or just above the student’s current cumulative grade point average (GPA).\u00a0 For example, if a student has a GPA of 3.33\/4.00, a target grade of B+ will be assigned; if a student has a GPA of 3.42\/4.00, a target grade of A- will be assigned.\u00a0 No changes to the pass\/fail designation or target grade will be permitted after their respective deadlines.<\/p>\n

Faculty are not informed of who is taking their course on a pass\/fail basis, and students should not inform them.\u00a0 If the student earns the target grade or above, the actual grade will appear on the student’s transcript and will be included in calculating his or her cumulative grade point average.\u00a0 If the student earns a grade below the target but a grade of at least a C, a pass will appear on the transcript.\u00a0 If a student earns a grade of C- or lower, the actual grade will appear on the transcript and will be included in calculating his or her cumulative grade point average.\u00a0 Whether a student receives a pass or the grade, the academic credits associated with the course will count against the 7-credit pass\/fail limit.\u00a0 If a student withdraws from a course taken on a pass\/fail basis, the academic credits associated with the course will still count against the 7-credit pass\/fail limit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring 2021 Modifications to the Pass\/Fail Option due to COVID-19 Fall 2020 Modifications to the Pass\/Fail Option due to COVID-19 In April 2014, the faculty revised its pass\/fail policy.\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"parent":13067,"menu_order":222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-13076","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13076"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24360,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13076\/revisions\/24360"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}