The Credit/No Credit grading option is similar to pass/fail. It is designed to encourage student exploration of areas of academic interest that might otherwise be avoided for fear of poor grades.

Students who earn at least a C-minus will receive credit hours with a final grade of “CR” on the transcript.  Students who earn a grade lower than a C-minus will not receive credit hours and will have a final grade of “NCR” on the transcript.  Courses taken for Credit/No Credit do not affect GPA and cannot be used to meet any General Education, major, or minor requirements, including courses taken to fulfill the foreign language requirement.

Students who elect to take a course for Credit/No Credit grading must schedule a meeting with their academic advisor by no later than the midpoint of the term for which they are enrolled in the course (e.g., the first 8 weeks of the semester, the fourth week of the summer session, or by the fourth week of an 8-week course). If students later want to return to the traditional grade option, they must file an amended request with an academic advisor no later than the original deadline to select C/NC. Students must file a credit/no credit form with AHS Undergraduate Affairs after receiving written approval from their advisor.

There are several restrictions on using the Credit/No Credit option:

• Full-time students may take up to two C/NC courses in a semester (one course if summer term).
• Part-time students may take only one C/NC course in a semester.
• Students on probation are not eligible for C/NC.
• A maximum of 18 hours of C/NC may be counted toward a degree.

Be careful about using this option if you plan to apply to professional or graduate school. These programs may consider applicants with a significant number of non-graded courses less favorably than those with none or very few. Likewise, some schools may convert the NC symbol to a failing grade in computing a pre-admission GPA. For example, passed courses taken C/NC at Illinois will NOT be included in the calculation of your LSAC-generated GPA. However, LSAC counts courses with 'NC' grades as 'F' in your LSAC-generated GPA.