Grades of D

Although a letter grade of D is normally considered passing, it is strongly recommended that you retake any D’s received in math, science and engineering.  There are two ways to have the D or F grade removed from your GPA. 

Repeating a Course 

Students can repeat a course if they receive a D. The D is e-credited and comes out of the GPA calculation. This will only work if you do it right away. Once a student moves on in the curriculum to the next level, grade replacement cannot occur. 

There is no maximum or minimum number of times you can get a D grade at Rutgers. But, if at any point your overall GPA, or major GPA drops below a 2.0, you will be put on Academic Probation.

A student cannot graduate with a cumulative GPA or major GPA below 2.0. 

If you get a D in any course, you can choose to retake the course. It is strongly recommended that students refrain from advancing to other courses before retaking the pre-requisites. Also, a student should never take two Calculus courses in the same semester. E-credit will be applied to any 4 classes regardless of when they repeat the course and whether or not they advance to the next level course in the same subject. See Repeated Course/E-credit for more information.  

Once the course has been taken the second time, the Office of Academic Services will process the E-credit automatically (no form required by student). However, if the student has taken a substitute course (ex. 160:161 instead of 160:159), or if there is an unprocessed repeated course from the past, the student must contact their dean or advisor in the Office of Academic Services

C's cannot be retaken for grade replacement. If you do this, the new grade will be removed from the GPA and credit totals on your transcript. 

Pass/No-Credit 

Students can elect to take a course on a Pass/No Credit basis. This means there are only two grading outcomes that can occur. Students can pass the course or they can fail it and therefore receive no credit. Professors do not know who is taking a course P/NC. They assign your overall grade and then the Registrar convert’s that grade to either a P or NC. Since there is no grade with this option, it cannot effect the GPA. 

An engineering student may take up to two elective course (tech elective, h/ss elective, general elective) on a Pass/No Credit basis in any two terms of the curriculum (meaning, only 1 Pass/No Credit in a semester). Grades of A, B, and C correspond to Pass, and D and F correspond to No Credit. A No Credit is similar to an F in that it cannot count towards anything for graduation.

Pass/No Credit applies only to h/ss electives, technical electives, and general electives (excluding courses taught by one's engineering department, required courses, substitutes for required courses, English courses before Expository Writing, Math courses before Calculus). A course taken as a substitute for a required course (ex, an 198:112 in place of 332:252), may NOT be used as a Pass/No Credit course.

The last day to submit an application for P/NC coincides with the last day to drop a course. This is NOT reversible. For courses taken during Summer Session, the application must be submitted by the end of the first week of classes.

For those students pursuing a minor, you should be aware that certain departments do not honor Pass/No Credit courses for a minor. For example, the Economics Department will not accept a Pass/No Credit course towards the fulfillment of an Economics minor.

The student must fill out an online Pass/No Credit Form.