Students should note the following policies regarding taking courses pass/fail:
- Wharton students may not choose to take a course pass/fail in their first semester at Penn.1
- Students may take a maximum of three courses on a pass/fail basis.1, 2
- Students may take no more than one course pass/fail in a given semester, with the exception of seniors in their final semester, who may take two courses pass/fail if they have only used one pass/fail option to date.
- Courses taken pass/fail can only count toward the Humanities, NSME, Social Science, Flex General Education, and Unrestricted Electives requirements.
- All three Cross-Cultural Perspectives courses and second-concentration courses counting as Unrestricted Electives must be taken for a grade.
It is the student’s responsibility to confirm the grade type in Path@Penn. The grade type of a course may not be changed after the designated deadline (see Changing Grade Mode and University calendar).³
A grade of D or better in a course taken pass/fail will appear on the transcript as a P, denoting a pass. F will appear on the transcript for a failing grade. Ps do not figure into the GPA; however, Fs are included in the GPA. Instructors are not made aware of the grade type of a course.
1 This policy does not include courses that are graded pass/fail by default.
2 P/F elections made during the pandemic (spring 2020, summer 2020, fall 2020, spring 2021) do not count towards the three P/F total.
3 The deadlines for half-credit Wharton courses can be found here.