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Biological Sciences Undergraduate Program
387 Thimann Laboratories
UC Santa Cruz,
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Phone: 831.459.4143
Fax: 831.459.1568
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DEPARTMENT POLICIES: Letter Grade Policy

Biological Sciences Letter Grade Policy:
For students entering UCSC in fall 2001 and later, all courses used to satisfy the Biological Sciences degree requirements MUST BE TAKEN FOR A LETTER GRADE.

Professional schools in fields such as medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry or physical therapy receive large numbers of applications that are processed through a central admissions committee; they may have a difficult time rating a student's academic performance without letter grades. Even in academic graduate programs in biological science or other fields, which tend to have a more individualized admissions review process, letter grades are helpful to clearly convey the level of a student's performance.

QUESTIONS: Contact BioAdvising

UCSC Campus Letter Grade Policy:
According to the current Letter Grade Policy, which takes effect Fall 2001, students receive letter grades for all courses by default. The pass/no-pass grading option is available only for students in good academic standing or for those going back to earlier catalog requirements. Students who began at UCSC in Fall 1997 or later and who take letter grades for at least two-thirds of their total units will receive an official Grade Point Average, which will be printed on the transcript.

Students entering UCSC Fall 2001 and later: No more than 25 percent of the UCSC credits applied toward graduation may be graded on a Pass/No Pass basis. This includes any credits completed in the Education Abroad Program or on another UC campus in an intercampus exchange program. Departments may require that some or all courses used to satisfy the major must be taken for a letter grade.

For more information about the UCSC Letter Grade Policy see the Navigator.