Academic Policy Updates

***Note: The following information outlines academic policy updates for the spring 2020 semester ONLY. New information for the 2020-21 academic year will be available soon.

As a student pursuing a graduate or undergraduate degree, second major, or minor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, the Sam Fox School Registrar’s Office would like to inform you of some amendments to our academic policies for the spring 2020 semester only, due to the transition to online/remote learning.

Deadline Extended to Drop a Course

The deadline to drop a course with no “W” (withdraw) notation on your transcript is extended to 9:00 pm (Central Daylight Time), April 24. If you withdrew from a course prior to March 13, the “W” notation will remain on the transcript.

If you want to drop a course, you must do so in WebSTAC. You will receive a temporary “W” for the drop. The Sam Fox School Registrar’s Office will be monitoring course drops and will administratively change the “W” to a drop once per week. If you drop a course, please wait until the following Friday afternoon to ensure that the “W” has been removed.

WebSTAC does not allow students to drop below full-time status.

May 15, 2020, degree candidates should verify the number and type of credits needed to complete degree, major, and minor requirements with Assistant Dean & Registrar Cris Baldwin at crisbaldwin@wustl.edu BEFORE dropping a course, as the total number of units to complete program requirements or to graduate will not change.

Changes to the Pass/Fail Grade Option

Beginning Wednesday, March 25, most courses in the Sam Fox School will be offered for both the credit and pass/fail option. You will be allowed to take more than one course pass/fail if you choose. Most courses completed with a “pass” under the pass/fail grade option, other than those in University College, will count toward Sam Fox School undergraduate and graduate degree, major, and minor requirements. (See exceptions below).

• College of Architecture:
  The requirement of a C- or better in a first-year writing course remains in place. Architecture students may opt to change Introduction to Modern Art, Architecture, and Design to pass/fail. Architecture students must take any Calculus course counting toward that requirement for credit and receive a C- or better. The humanities and social or behavioral sciences distribution requirements may be taken pass/fail if the course allows.
• Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design:
  Students must earn a grade of C- or better in all required coursework to receive a passing grade. Therefore, if a student elects to take a required course under the pass/fail option, the pass is equivalent to C- or better. **Please reference Graduate Architecture policy at https://bit.ly/2QHAe4C to confirm if a C- is passing in the case of studio sequencing in core and options studios.
• College of Art:
  The requirement of a C- or better in a first-year writing course remains in place. The humanities, natural sciences or mathematics, social or behavioral sciences, and art history/visual culture distribution requirements may be taken pass/fail if the course allows.
• Graduate School of Art:
  Students must earn a grade of B- or better to receive a passing grade. Therefore, if a student elects to take a course pass/fail, the pass is equivalent to a B- or better.

If a course was initially only offered pass/fail, pass/fail will remain the only grade option. If a course allows for both the credit or pass/fail option, students may change the grade option in WebSTAC. It is no longer possible to switch a course from credit or pass/fail to audit.

If a “pass” is received, the course will count toward requirements but will not impact your semester or cumulative grade point averages. If the course is not passed, it will not count toward requirements nor will it impact your grade point averages. Undergraduate students must have a 2.00 cumulative grade point average to graduate. Graduate students must have a 2.70 cumulative grade point average to graduate.

Students should confirm with the course instructor the requirements needed to pass a specific course. Each course instructor determines their own pass/fail grading criteria.

Undergraduate students planning to pursue graduate or professional studies should check with their faculty advisor to determine if it is appropriate to complete courses pass/fail.

Students receiving non-Washington University scholarships (i.e., scholarships that are not listed in your Washington University financial aid award) may want to confirm with the scholarship provider that pass/fail grades are acceptable in order to retain future scholarship support.

Deadline Extended to Resolve Outstanding Incompletes

May 15, 2020, degree candidates must finish all outstanding incompletes by May 1 to be eligible for graduation. Non-degree candidates must finish any outstanding incompletes by June 1.

SP2020 Deans List Requirements (undergraduates only)

To allow students the full advantage of the opportunity to take courses under the pass/fail grade option and receive degree/major/minor credit, the Sam Fox School has decided that it will not award Dean’s List honors for the Spring 2020 semester. We do not want any student to feel disadvantaged if the virtual/online environment is not conducive to their best learning. Instead, we are planning to add a notation to transcripts for Spring 2020 indicating that the Dean’s List was suspended due to the COVID-19 disruption. This is in alignment with the College of Arts & Sciences and the McKelvey School of Engineering. As of April 2, 2020, the Olin Business School has not made a decision.

Graduation with Honors

The criteria for graduation with honors will not change.

Questions?

Please feel free to reach out to Cris Baldwin, Assistant Dean & Registrar for the Sam Fox School, at crisbaldwin@wustl.edu with any questions or concerns.