Grading Guidelines

Grading Guidelines

(Adopted by the Faculty 11/87; Last Revised April 7, 2022)

  • Limited enrollment courses are clinics, seminars, the first-year Legal Analysis and Writing course, and all courses in which the Dean has permitted an enrollment limit.
  • Large courses are all courses taught by full-time faculty members that are not limited enrollment courses and all courses taught by adjunct faculty members with an enrollment of at least 15 students.
  • Full-time faculty members teaching first-year large courses and adjunct faculty members teaching large courses are required to utilize a mean grade of 3.1 to 3.2.
  • Full-time faculty members teaching large upper-level courses are encouraged to utilize a mean grade of 3.1 to 3.2.
  • Full-time faculty members teaching limited enrollment courses and adjunct faculty members teaching courses with enrollments of 14 or fewer students are encouraged to utilize a median “B+” grade.
  • Faculty members teaching seminars and clinics may elect whether to grade the course on the current letter grade basis (in which case the B+ median guideline would apply) or on an Honors/Pass/Fail basis.  For those electing the Honors/Pass/Fail option, a guideline of approximately 33% of Honors grades is recommended.
  • Full-time faculty members and adjunct faculty members teaching 1L courses and upper-level courses taught in multiple sections are encouraged to consult in order to ensure that grades and grade distribution are reasonably uniform in courses in the same subject taught in the same semester.