Grades

College Grades vs. High School Grades

     College grading may be very different from what students have experienced in school prior to enrolling in college. For example, students may be used to earning a percentage grade in high school. UNL uses letter grades assigned a point value starting with 4.0 as the top grade and 0.0 the lowest. We also have a pass-no pass option that does not impact a student's grade point average.

Grading Standards

     Each instructor determines what standards are used in a particular class. Some instructors may give an "A" grade to all students they think have done excellent work in the class, even if that is a substantial percent of the entire class. Other instructors grade on a bell curve, which means that more students end up with a grade in the middle, while a smaller percent receive either a very high or a very low grade. The course syllabus, an outline of what is assigned and expected for the semester, should be distributed the first week of the semester. Students should review the course syllabus carefully so they will know how grading will be done for the course. Students should keep the syllabus for each course so that they can refer to it frequently.

How important are grades?

     The answer to this question really depends upon the student's goals. Students who plan to attend graduate or professional school will need to achieve very high grades to gain admission into competitive schools and programs. Earning a 3.6 gpa versus a 3.8 may mean the difference of being admitted to their target school versus not being admitted. Students who have other life goals may find that earning a 3.33 versus a 3.8 gpa may not impact their future life goals. Students should strive to do the best they can and to earn a degree in a subject that matters to them.

What's a GPA?

     GPA stands for "Grade Point Average". Grades are weighted by the number of credits in the course. This means that a 3-credit course affects the GPA less than a 5-credit course. Each grade received is worth a certain number of points. These points are multiplied by the number of credit hours the course is worth. The total number of points received for all courses is divided by the total number of credits for the semester. The result is the grade point average.

For example:

MATH106 5 credits (X) "B" (equals 3 points) =15 pts for Math 106

ENGL150 3 X "A" (equals 4 points) =12 pts

GEOG142 3 X "B" (equals 3 points) =9 pts

SOCI101 3 X "C" (equals 2 points) =6 pts

Grade Point Average = 42 points divided by 14 graded credit hours = 3.0 gpa

Grade Reports

     Grades that appear on the UNL record are given at the end of each semester. Within the semester, each instructor may assign grades for papers, midterm exams, class participation, etc. The syllabus should outline how various grades will be used to assign the final grade for the semester. In one course, students may have a single final exam that determines their entire grade for the semester, while in another course students could have weekly assignments or "quizzes" which, along with a midterm and a final exam, will total 100% of the final grade.

     Grades are recorded in MyRED about a week after final examinations.

Pass/No Pass Option

     Students may take courses either for a grade or under the pass/no pass (P/N) grade status option. 

     The P/N option enables students to receive credit for a course (if they earn a  "C" or higher average in the course) without an actual grade calculating into their University of Nebraska system GPA.

EXAMPLE (Pass/No Pass)

COMM 109 3.00 hrs X "B"= (9.00 pts)

ENGM220 001 STATICS W (3.00) [no pts or hours are affiliated with "W"-withdraws]

HIST101 003 WEST CIV SINCE 1715 PASS OPTION 3.00 hrs X 0.00 pts

POLS100 150 POWER & POL IN AMER 3.0 hrs X "B"= (9.00 pts)

SOCI101 150 INTRO TO SOCIOLOGY 3.00 hrs X "C"= (6.00 pts)

9.00 graded hours 24.00 = 2.666 gpa

Transfer Credit Grade Issues

UNO, UNK and UNMC Credit

1. Credits earned from UNO, UNK and UNMC may transfer to UNL as credit and these credits may fulfill degree requirements. The student's UNL college determines the applicability of transfer credit to the student's degree program.
2. Credits from UNO and UNK and UNMC are included in the student's NU system cumulative ID.
3. Courses from UNO and UNK and UNMC may be used for C-/D/F grade removal. The student, however, should work with an adviser to determine the correct course that can be used for this purpose. Only equivalent courses with the same or more number of hours of the original course taken may be used for grade removal. Additionally, students must contact an adviser upon completing the grade removal course to request that these hours be used for removing a previous grade from the GPA calculation. UNL courses may also be used to remove previous grades from UNO , UNK and UNMC and vice versa.

Credit from Colleges and Universities Outside the NU System

1. Credits earned from any school other than UNO, UNK and UNMC may transfer to UNL as credit and may fulfill degree requirements. The student's UNL college determines the applicability of transfer credit to the student's degree program.
2. Grades for credits earned from institutions outside the NU system are not included in the student's NU system cumulative ID.
3. Credits earned from any school other than UNO, UNK and UNMC may not be used to remove a previous grade for a course taken at an NU system school. Thus students who previously earned grades of C- and lower at an NU system school (UNL, UNO, UNK, UNMC) should plan to repeat these courses at one of the NU system schools (UNL, UNO, UNK, UNMC).