<p>For first semester frosh classes, what is required to pass? Is a D a pass? What happens if you fail a class? Does it count in your GPA? How much does it mess you up?</p>
<p>Can’t answer the “what is required to pass,” but as to the rest – It’s not really pass/fail, it’s pass/NC (no credit). There is no GPA for first semester frosh. If you fail a core class, you must retake it the following semester (and then you’ll be taking it for a grade).</p>
<p>Also, the Mudd Merit scholarship requires maintaining a 3.0 GPA, <em>but</em> it’s auto-renewed for sophomore year. So the Mudders have until the end of sophomore year to hit that mark.</p>
<p>For more information, read the catalogue. Here: [url=<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/catalogue1/catalogue08091/regulations.html]Regulations[/url”>http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/catalogue1/catalogue08091/regulations.html]Regulations[/url</a>]</p>
<p>The saying at HMC is that “D is for done.” So, I assume you pass with a D. I don’t know if a D- does it, but probably. There is no GPA from the first semester. The pass/no credit system takes the pressure off and gives all these high achieving kids time to get used to grades that are not As. Many who would have been appalled at the prospect of a B in high school, do happy dances when they get them at HMC.</p>
<p>Not certain it’s the same for first semester frosh classes, but you’re allowed to pass/fail a few other courses and a C- or higher is a pass, lower is a fail. For frosh classes though I don’t know if the profs even really assign grades, for Hum1 at least they don’t. If you don’t pass you just have to take it again later, doesn’t count towards gpa. </p>
<p>It may result in having to overload for a semester though, since you are losing out on the units. You have to average 16 a semester to get 128 to graduate (if you don’t take summer math) so if you have to retake a class you may have to overload (over 18 units).</p>
<p>Realistically, how many freshman fail a class and retake it and then go on to graduate from HMC and get jobs? Is it reasonable to stay at HMC if you fail something or should you just get out before you become ITR (illegible to register) as a second semester sophmore or junior? Does anyone know someone who failed one or more classes as a freshman and actually graduated?</p>
<p>I would assume it’s a lack of eligibility rather than legibility ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. Can anyone confirm if a D is still a pass? </p>
<p>Also, if you knew the materials and did ok in the class prior to the final, but just blew the final, is there ever any chance to retake the final (or rather thake another final) as opposed to having to repeat the whole class? Does it matter if there was a reason for the poor performance? </p>
<p>Glad to hear it doesn’t count in your GPA, but I assume it still doesn’t look to good to have NC’s on your transcript. </p>
<p>BicoastalMom, I am assuming there are plenty of Mudd students who have failed a frosh class and gone on to success, but it sure would be good to get some confirmation of that.</p>
<p>just wonderin. I heard HMC gives pass+. Are these shown at the transcript at all?</p>
<p>High pass is shown as a HP versus a P for pass, but I doubt anyone really cares ultimately. Not passing 1 frosh class is not going to set you back very far, several people I know have recovered from that. One thing to keep in mind is that the drop date for HMC students (the last day by which you can drop a class and not have it appear on your transcript at all) is about 3 weeks before the end of the semester, so there’s plenty of time to see how you’re doing and decide what to do. It does set you back on credits though, so if you don’t take summer math you may have to overload on classes one semester.</p>
<p>Suin – Are you a student or an alumni? Do you know anything about the relative merits of summer math, underloading, the 5 semester core plan/5 year plan, or taking a summer school classes other than summer math at a state school? For example, physics or bio instead of math? Do the other students/faculty look down on a kid who is taking it slow? It seems that a lot of the stress at Mudd is workload, but you can do the 5 year plan. Lots of other tech schools have a five year plan because the students can’t get their course or fail a lot of classes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A D is not a pass. You will fail the class if you are on pass/fail and you get a D. Like Suin said, C- or C.</p>
<p>If you’re asking about first-year classes though, those are different in their pass/fail-ness. It’s just some arbitrary standard, like 40% to pass. They’re not compared to letter grades on a scale.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>First semester, yes. I know some people who failed the Math 12 (Linear Algebra 1) final and go to retake the exam. I don’t know about finals for other classes. I would imagine that they wouldn’t let you, because it’s not like you’ll fail if you were doing ok before and bombed the final. In order to pass Math 12 you need a certain grade on the final though, so those people who didn’t get that retook the test. For other graded tests you can fail the final and still pass the class.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Summer math is a b*tch, subjecting yourself to 10+ hours of math a day for 6 weeks is really the least fun thing you could ever do. They’re cutting down the math core, so eventually summer math will either be phased out or it will just cover 1 semester instead of a year like they used to. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re an engineering major or a biochem major or something with a horrible number of requirements like that.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure what you mean by 5 semester core PLAN, but some people do take core classes in their 5th semester because a) they either failed or dropped a core class (typically E&M or STEMS if they’re taking it 5th semester) or b) they’re physics majors and due to scheduling difficulties are unable to take Bio 52 until 5th semester.</p>
<p>5 year plan means you don’t get financial aid in your 5th year.</p>
<p>People don’t look down at you for doing a 5 year plan/taking it slow, I don’t know why they would. There are quite a few people who don’t graduate within 4 years, although they typically finish at 4.5 years, they don’t take the full extra year.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m talking about first semester. So are you saying that you don’t need a 70% to pass a first semseter class? That you can pass with as low as 40% overall? That sounds pretty low.</p>
<p>I am a current senior. I agree with everything apathy said. Summer math is quite intense (it really is 10+ hours of math a day, 6 days a week, for 5-6 weeks) but if you can get through it, you do have a bit more leniency in how many credits you have to take each semester.</p>
<p>About a 5 year plan, there are several students each year who are “super seniors” for various reasons. Some people take a semester off and then come back, some just need more time. No one looks down on them at all, everyone knows how much work we have to do and how stressful it can be. I don’t know if it’s an actual 5-year plan though, to graduate you have to fulfill core, Humanities, your major requirements, and get 128 units and as soon as you finish that I think you can graduate, however long it takes (provided you don’t ITR). Financial aid might change as apathy says though.</p>
<p>For first semester classes you definitely don’t need 70% to pass. The whole 10% grade tier system is pretty uncommon at HMC, test averages are generally around 75% for core classes and I think they set that at B-. 40% seems a bit low, but I wouldn’t say much more than 50% (especially for the harder classes).</p>
<p>“Realistically, how many freshman fail a class and retake it and then go on to graduate from HMC and get jobs? Is it reasonable to stay at HMC if you fail something or should you just get out before you become ITR (illegible to register) as a second semester sophmore or junior? Does anyone know someone who failed one or more classes as a freshman and actually graduated?”</p>
<p>Probably 25% of students fail one class or another freshman year and go on to graduate. I failed Hum 1 and I still graduated on time…</p>
<p>It’s good to know that HMC does not go strictly by the percentage curve. I would have thought 75% was a C. Do the prof’s tell you in advance so you can tell what you need to get a certain grade?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In some classes the breakdown is given ahead of time, although that’s only happened to me in math classes so far. For other classes, the professors tell me when I am afraid of being on the verge of failing. I don’t think they say much when students are asking about what an A is though, at least this is what I hear from my friends. I’ve never asked myself, I feel like it’s in bad taste, just do the best you can and don’t worry (unless you are failing) about the numbers.</p>
<p>Also, quite a few classes, more than I thought there would be, have normalized grades. It doesn’t really generate competition though.</p>
<p>I did summer math this past summer and am so so sooo glad I did it. My grades were much better than I imagine they would have been had I taken math along with all my other courses during the usual semesters.</p>
<p>As for a 5-year plan, I am actually planning on doing it, or possible just one extra semester. Since that is my plan, I took a lighter course load this past semester, and I couldn’t have been happier. I was able to be involved in more off campus events and groups, and I even ventured into LA a few times. It essentially allowed me to have a life away from Mudd, and that’s something that I really value and need to be sane. I would rather graduate in 5 years (even if money is going to be a potential problem) with my sanity, than in 4 years with a bitter final impression of Mudd. I can’t tell you how much more better I felt, both emotionally, mentally, <em>and</em> physically than I had last year.</p>
<p>I’m not at Mudd to sacrifice my life and freedoms to be an engineer. I’m at Mudd to have a good time with an unbeatable community, get an engineering degree that fits what I’m looking for best, and to grow as someone other than an engineer. And for me, that means getting away from Mudd, and that means slowing things down a little.</p>
<p>A five year plan could get expensive, especially if scholarships are only for 4 years. On the other hand, transferring students often loose credits (and perhaps the new school won’t have tranfer scholarships). It probably comes down to whether the student is anxious to stay at Mudd or leave. Just don’t judge it by the attitude the first few days home from break… most engineering students at every school are burned out by Christmas.</p>
<p>
According to the 2008-2009 catalog, no Mudder is allowed to enroll for more than 10 semesters. So “however long it takes” < 5 years, not counting time off or study abroad.
Yikes, that’s kind of scary. I hope those are majors classes, not Core.</p>