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If a student wishes to appeal his or her final grade in an engineering undergraduate or graduate level course, please refer to the College’s official grade appeal policy and procedures on the college's faculty and staff website.
Minimum Grades At minimum, pre-requisite courses require a grade of C- or higher to enroll in the subsequent course. Some majors require an even higher grade for pre-requisite courses. Some majors require minimum grades in certain courses, even if they are not pre-requisite courses. Check with you academic advisor regarding grade minimums for your major.
Minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) You must maintain 2.000 (2.250 prior to December 2021) semester and cumulative GPAs to maintain good academic standing in the College. In order to graduate with a BS degree, you must have a 2.000 (2.250 prior to December 2021) cumulative GPA as well as a 2.000 (2.250 prior to December 2021) Major GPA.
The overall University of Colorado GPA (also called Cumulative GPA) is computed as follows:
- Add up all the "quality points" for the courses you have taken. You can find the quality points earned for each course printed on your transcript in the far right column (you can print an unofficial copy of your transcript from MyCUInfo.colorado.edu).
- Divide the total number of quality points by the quality units to get your GPA. Courses with grade symbols of P, NC, *** , W, and I are excluded when totaling the credit hours that go into quality units.
- Tip: See the very end of your transcript for the total number of quality points, and quality units, going into your cumulative GPA.
Your Major GPA is calculated as follows:
- Add up the “quality points” for courses in your major (e.g., MCEN courses if you are a mechanical engineering major, PHYS courses if you are an engineering physics major, check with your advisor to learn which courses go into your Major GPA).
- Divide the total number of quality points by the total number of major-course quality units to get your Major GPA.
Grades of F earned for courses graded on a pass/fail option are included in the GPA. Incompletes that are not completed within one year are calculated as F grades in the GPA.
Tip: Your degree audit calculates and displays your “Cumulative GPA” and “Major GPA”.
After that 10th week final drop deadline published by the Registrar's Office, engineering students should first consult with their academic advisor to determine if they have documented extenuating circumstances to warrant petitioning for a late or retroactive drop of a class(es).
The student should then prepare an online College Petition, indicating what the student is requesting with a detailed explanation of the extenuating circumstance(s) beyond the student's control. Student's statement should include:
- Address why the course could not have been dropped prior to the 10th week final drop deadline
- Address why action is being requested on only a selected course(s) in the term instead of pursuing a full withdrawal of all courses
- A student who received an "Early Alert" message for the course, or who is not in Good Academic Standing, will need additional explanation regarding the late drop request (since such students would have been expected to act proactively and drop the course before the 10th week final drop deadline)
- Supporting documentation should accompany the petition; for example:
- For a health-related reason, students should submit a letter from the student's doctor (on letterhead stationery with signature) indicating the nature of the situation and how it impacted academics. Students SHOULD NOT submit clinical medical reports or medical appointment memos since these materials do not specifically address how the situation impacted academics.
The online petition will be routed for review, including review by the CEAS Undergraduate Affairs Review Board, and the student will be notified of the decision on the petition via email.
If a student wants to drop all of their classes in a semester/term, that is called a Withdrawal and students should refer to the "Withdrawals" section further down on this web page.
In general, the minimum passing grade for a course that is not specifically a prerequiste for another required course is D-. However, individual degree programs in the College may require higher minimum grades for specific courses in their curricula (and these courses may or may not be prerequisite courses).
A student is permitted a maximum of three attempts to demonstrate sufficient proficiency in a particular subject area (such as Calculus 1, Physics 2, etc.), including attempts at CU Boulder or other collegiate institutions. A successful attempt means earning the minimum grade needed for a pre-requisite course or earning D- or higher if the course is not a pre-requisite. Please note the minimum grade for pre-requisite courses does vary across departments within the College. Students may not register for courses (or course equivalents) in which they already have a successful attempt.
An unsuccessful attempt means failing to earn the minimum grade needed for a pre-requisite course or earning a grade below D- for standalone courses. Some degree programs consider receiving a W for a class as an unsuccessful attempt as well. Students should consult their academic advisor for major-specific policy. After the third unsuccessful attempt, a student may not be able to retake the course or substitute it with a course in the same subject area from CU Boulder or another institution.
The College will apply the grade a student earned in their most recent course attempt to determine if the student meets the grade required for a pre-requisite course. If a student has already earned AP, IB, or transfer college credit for a course, the letter grade from a subsequent attempt of the class through CU Boulder will become part of the student’s CU cumulative GPA. Students cannot retroactively claim AP or earlier earned credit for a course after a subsequent unsuccessful attempt of the class.
- Academic Alert is a College academic standing status
- Academic Recovery is a College academic standing status
- Academic Suspension is a College academic standing status
- Academic Progress FAQ
Before withdrawing, students may wish to consult with their academic advisor to consider CEAS policies on academic standing, repeating courses, and the implications for financial aid/scholarships, on-campus housing eligibility, and student health insurance.
If a student wants to drop one or more, but not all of their classes in a semester/term, that is called a Late or Retroactive Drop and students should refer to the "Late Drops & Retroactive Drops" section further up on this web page.