For continued enrollment at the University, an undergraduate student must maintain a cumulative retention/ graduation grade point average as indicated below:
0 through 30 semester hours attempted - 1.7
Greater than 30 semester hours attempted - 2.0
Students with 0 to 30 semester hours attempted and a retention grade point average of 1.70 to 1.99 will be placed on academic notice.
The retention grade point average is based on all work attempted, both transfer and OU, minus those courses repeated or reprieved in accordance with the academic forgiveness policy, as well as remedial courses, and PE activity courses. These standards are minimal. Each degree-recommending college may establish higher standards for retention.
Students not meeting retention standards will be placed on academic probation for one semester, at the end of which they must have met the minimum standard required to continue as a student in good standing. However, a student enrolled on probation may be continued on probation provided he or she makes a 2.00 grade point average on that semester’s work. Students should check with their college office or the Office of Academic Records for specific requirements for enrollment while on academic probation. A student enrolled on probation who fails to raise his or her cumulative retention/graduation grade point average to minimum requirements or to make a grade point average of 2.0 or better on work taken while enrolled on probation, excluding activity courses, will be suspended for poor scholarship.
Credit completed after the end of the term, or credit earned at another institution, will be included in the student’s retention/graduation grade point average at the time the work is recorded in Academic Records. The student’s current academic status will be reviewed and/or updated at that time but previous postings of academic standing will remain unchanged. A student’s academic status will not be changed retroactively.
A student suspended from the University for poor scholarship is not eligible for readmission until one full semester has elapsed following the date of suspension. To be readmitted, a suspended student must submit an application for admission and a letter of appeal to the Office of Admissions.
Complete withdrawal from the University. Undergraduate students withdrawing from all courses receive the grade of W in each course of enrollment. Graduate students withdrawing from all courses in the first six weeks of classes in fall or spring receive the grade of W in each course of enrollment. Beginning with the seventh week through the last day of classes of the semester or summer term, students must receive a grade of W or F from the instructor in each course upon withdrawal.
Dropping courses while still enrolled. For students who drop one or more courses after classes begin, but who remain enrolled in at least one course, the following grading regulations for dropped courses apply:
- In the first two weeks of the semester, no grade is recorded;
- Undergraduate students: Third through twelfth week of Fall and Spring, courses dropped during this time will be recorded with a grade of W. Thirteenth week through end of classes in Fall and Spring, instructors assign a grade of W or F.
Graduate students: Third through sixth week of Fall and Spring, courses dropped during this time will be recorded with a grade of “W.” Seventh week through end of classes in Fall and Spring, instructors assign a grade of W or F.
For summer session, please refer to the Academic Calendar for specific dates for all summer blocks. Courses that do not meet the full term will have different deadlines.
I is a neutral mark and means incomplete. It is not an alternative to a grade of F, and no student may be failing a course at the time an I grade is awarded. To receive an I grade, the student should have satisfactorily completed a substantial portion of the required course work for the semester. The university-wide incomplete Contract Form that all instructional faculty are required to use when assigning a grade of INCOMPLETE, effective with the Fall 2014 semester, includes a grade if the work is not turned in by this date (Cannot be an “I”). The instructor will indicate to the student and to the Office of Academic Records what must be done to complete the course and set a time limit appropriate to the circumstances. However, the time limit allowed may not exceed one calendar year. If by the end of the year no change in grade has been submitted, the grade of “I” will be changed to the pre-determined permanent grade from the Incomplete Contract. If the professor does not turn in an Incomplete Contract, the student’s grade will be changed to an F after the allotted one-year time period. After a grade of I has been changed, a student may re-enroll in the course if appropriate or required. The foregoing time limitations concerning removal of an Incomplete do not apply to graduate research and graduate problem courses.
All instructional faculty are required to use the university-wide Incomplete Contract Form (PDF) when assigning a grade of Incomplete. This document protects both faculty and students by documenting circumstances that led to the assignment of an Incomplete grade.
If an incomplete is received, the “I” grade remains on the student’s record and the final grade is next to the “I” (example I/B).
Undergraduate Students
- University policy prohibits students from repeating a course in which they have earned a grade of A or B unless the course is one in which there is a change of subject matter and the course has been designated “repeatable for credit”. Courses that are repeatable for credit are identified as such in the course description.
- Undergraduate students may repeat up to four courses or 18 hours (whichever comes first) in which the original grade was a ‘D’ or an ‘F’. Only the second grade will be included in the calculation of the retention/graduation grade point average. The original grade will still appear on the student’s permanent record, but will not be calculated into the student’s retention/graduation grade point average or total hours earned.
- Students who repeat courses/hours beyond those under the Repeat Policy may do so with both the original grades and repeat grades included in the calculation of the retention/graduation grade point average. Academic credit from any division of the University of Oklahoma—Norman campus, OU Health Sciences Center, OU-Tulsa, or the College of Continuing Education—are included in the OU retention/graduation and cumulative grade point averages for purposes of retention and graduation.
Graduate Students (effective beginning Summer 2019)
- A student may repeat courses and have only the second grade earned, even if it is lower than the first grade, count in the calculation of the GPA, up to a maximum of four courses, but not to exceed 18 hours, in the courses in which the original grade earned was a C, D or F.
- Both attempts will be recorded on the transcript automatically with the earned grade for each listed in the semester earned. The Explanation of Grades section of the transcript will note that only the second grade earned is used in the calculation of the GPA.
- If a student repeats an individual course more than once, all grades earned, with the exception of the first, are automatically used in the calculation of the GPA.
- Students repeating courses above the first four courses or 18 credit hours of C, D or F may do so; however, the initial grades and repeat grades will be used in the calculation of the GPA.
- A student must be currently enrolled as a degree seeking graduate student at OU in order to receive grade forgiveness for a repeated course under this policy.
- Students enrolled under a non-degree classification such as unclassified status, teaching certification status, graduate visitor status, and students who are admitted solely to a graduate certificate program are not eligible for grade forgiveness under this policy.
- Courses with variable credit and/or content, even if letter graded, are not eligible for grade forgiveness under this policy. This includes, but is not limited to, seminars, special topics, independent studies, directed readings, and thesis or dissertation research.
- Maximum allowable tuition waiver will not be increased to cover repeated courses.
- The repeat policy grade forgiveness does not negate the limit of C, D, and/or F grades permitted for doctoral students. Doctoral students who accumulate nine credit hours of C, D, and/or F grades in any combination will be disenrolled from the doctoral program (see Disenrollment for Low Grades).
- The repeat policy grade forgiveness does not apply to course substitutions approved for courses in which the student previously earned a grade of C, D and/or F. The substitute course may take the place of the original course on the program of study but the substitute course grade will not replace the grade earned in the original course. Both courses will be used in the calculation of the GPA.
- Coursework previously assigned a temporary course number might be eligible to be repeated under this policy; however, if there is any deviation in course number and/or course title, the student and academic unit will need to consult with the Graduate College before the course in question is repeated to verify eligibility under this policy.
