Grades: Understanding the Process

Please read the following information to understand the basics about receiving grades, the pass/fail option, and what to do when you return from your study abroad program.

General Information

1) Study Abroad coursework will appear as graded credit on your UConn transcript, except for NSE students.

2) NSE students: Grades do not get calculated into your GPA (credit is listed Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory), whether or not courses will count toward your major, electives or general education requirements.

3) Grades issued by host universities will be converted to a US scale after your foreign transcript is received by the Office of Study Abroad.  Many universities have different grading systems.

4) Credit systems also vary from country to country, and therefore, the number of credits that you take at a foreign university may be different from you what you finally receive at UConn.

Pass/Fail Option

As a study abroad student, you can use the PASS/FAIL option that allows you to take one course on pass/fail per semester for a total of three before graduation.  The advantage of taking a course pass/fail is that the grade does not affect your grade point average.   

For Students Participating on all Study Abroad Programs (except UConn in Florence):

Complete a Study Abroad Pass/Fail Request Form and fax or mail it to the Office of Study Abroad within two weeks of the start of a semester class abroad or within the first week of a summer class abroad.  Please know that a grade still needs to be recorded on your program's final grade report.  The course will be converted to pass/fail by the Office of Study Abroad. Make sure to retain a copy of the pass/fail request form in your files. Consult your study abroad application home page materials check-boxes to verify receipt of the form. 

If for any reason you decide to take this course off pass/fail, you must check the appropriate box on the form and resend it to the Office of Study Abroad by the mid-point of your program.

Please note: If a foreign course worth 4 credits is approved as two separate UConn courses only one of those two courses can be put on Pass/Fail.

For Students Participating on UConn in Florence programs:  

Please submit a Study Abroad Pass/Fail Request Form to Serena Giorgi at the Palazzo Ruccelai within the first two weeks of the start of a semester class or within the first week of a summer class abroad.  These forms are available at Palazzo Ruccelai.  If you decide to take this course off pass/fail, you must check the appropriate box on the form and resubmit it to Serena by the mid-point of your program.

After You Return From Your Study Abroad Program

After the completion of your study abroad program, please follow the steps below to ensure that your study abroad grades are recorded on your UConn transcript.   

For participants on all UConn-Led Programs (Uconn in London, UConn in Florence, UConn in Granada, UConn in Cape Town, UConn in Paris, and all summer or winter session Uconn faculty-led programs):

Your study abroad transcript will automatically be sent to the Office of Study Abroad.  Once the transcript has been received, the Office of Study Abroad will review it to make sure all courses have been accredited.  If all your courses are accredited (and have received a UConn course number), the grade report will be forwarded to the Registrar where the grades will be entered on your UConn transcript.  You can then check the grades on People Soft.        

In most cases, courses offered on UConn-Led Programs have been pre-approved for accreditation.  If for any reason, a course has not been accredited, The Office of Study Abroad will notify you regarding the status of this course.  It is your responsibility to follow the guidelines for the course accreditation process. Please review the guidelines found under Getting Academic Credit.  After all your courses are accredited, the Office of Study Abroad will forward your grade report to the Registrar where the grades will be entered on your UConn transcript. 

For Participants on Exchange, Direct Enrollment and Third Party Programs (such as CIEE, IFSA-BUTLER, AUSTRALEARN, IES, CET, and Boston University):

Although in many cases, your transcript will automatically be sent to the Office of Study Abroad, it is your responsibility to ask your study abroad provider or host institution to forward an official transcript to the UConn Office of Study Abroad (Unit-2207, 368 Fairfield Way, Storrs, CT 06269-2207) after completion of the program.   

Once your transcript is received, the Office of Study Abroad will review it to make sure all your courses have been accredited.  If all your courses are accredited (and received a UConn course number), the grades will be forwarded to the Registrar where they will be recorded on your UConn transcript.  You can check the grades on People Soft.        

If one or more of your study abroad courses have not been accredited, The Office of Study Abroad will notify you regarding the specific courses that need course accreditation, and it is your responsibility to follow the guidelines for the course accreditation process found under Getting Academic Credit. 

Once the Office of Study Abroad has received all your course accreditation approvals, we will forward your grades on to the Registrar. In most cases, they will then appear on your transcript within a week.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

It can take up to 2 months after the end of your program for your grades to arrive at the Office of Study Abroad and be posted to your UConn transcript because universities in other countries do not necessarily operate on the same schedule as UConn. Once the grades reach our office, we will forward them to the Registrar quickly, but unfortunately we cannot predict when our overseas partners will send them.

The Office of Study Abroad can only post your study abroad grades to the Registrar. If you need to review your audit, you must request an updated audit on People Soft and you must then work out your course audit with your departmental or academic adviser.  All students should keep copies of course accreditations for this reason.