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Freshman Grading and Credit Limits
The information provided below explains the uses of and release of fall term internal "hidden" grades.
Freshmen are graded differently from upperclassmen, and your grades are also reported differently, both within MIT and on your outside official transcript. These policies areintended to help you adjust to MIT's teaching and grading methods and the workload without having to worry about accumulating a grade point average (GPA). Many students use the freedom of hidden grades in the first year to adjust to the demands of MIT and to take some educational risks.
Special Features of First-Year Grading
In your first semester and Independent Activities Period, you will receive grades of Pass or No Record:
- C or better is passing for freshmen. Any subject you pass at the C or better level is noted as P on both your external and internal transcripts.
- Non-passing grades of D or F only show up on internal transcripts; With the exception of certain very specific circumstances (see below), unofficial grades do not show up on any external transcript. The external transcript will show no record of failed subjects, i.e., those graded D or F).
- You will receive internal "hidden" grades of A, B, or C. Hidden grades are neither figured into a GPA nor usable for any purpose other than advising. See Official versus Unofficial Grades, below.
In your second semester, you will receive A, B, or C grades.
- These are recorded both internally and on your official transcript; D and F grades continue to be noted only internally.
- You will not begin to accumulate a grade point average until second term, when only passing grades are used to figure your GPA.
Beginning in sophomore year, A-F grades will be reported, with D considered a passing grade.
See the Registrar's site for complete grading information.
Official versus Unofficial Grades
At the end of your first term at MIT you will receive both your official Pass/No Record grades and your unofficial or "hidden" grades.
- You may check your Pass/No Record grades on WebSIS in late December.
- Your advisor will receive a hard copy of your unofficial letter grades after January 14. You will need to be in touch with your advisor to find out his/her availabilty to pick up your copy of your hidden grades.
- You cannot use your hidden grades for any purpose other than advising. In fact, your copy of the hidden grade report does not even have your name on it.
Policy on Release of Freshman Internal Grades
MIT’s educational policy is to provide “hidden” grades to students for educational and advising purposes only. In almost all circumstances, hidden grades will stay hidden and not included on an external transcript. MIT will not communicate your internal grades to your parents or any other third party outside of MIT without your specific written permission.
- However, students should be aware that some medical schools and some Federal grant programs (currently ACG/SMART grants) require a GPA to be calculated using all grades that are available to the student, including hidden grades.
- Under these specific circumstances, the hidden grades can be released by MIT only with the explicit written permission of a student.
If you are receiving certain Federal grants or plan eventually to appy to medical school, you should carefully weigh your choices in light of the fact that the actual grades will be taken into account for eligibility for the Federal grants and possibly for medical school admission. If you want discuss your choices, you should speak with
Please visit the Student Financial Services webiste for more information on the review of hidden grades for eligibility for federal ACG and SMART grants.
For information on use of hidden grades for other circumstances, e.g., applying for scholarships or other purposes, see Use of Freshman Grades for Scholarships or Other Purposes.
Freshman Credit Limits
Freshmen are subject to a credit limit by faculty rule. The limit aims to help you adjust to MIT's workload while learning to live a balanced life with more autonomy than you may be used to.
First term = 54 units
January IAP = 12 units
Second term = 57 units
As a first-semester freshman, you may take no more than 54 units. Since most MIT subjects are worth 12 units of credit, this works out to 4 full subjects (48 units), plus an additional 6 units that you may or may not use.
- Popular options for using the extra 6 units in the fall are a Freshman Advising Seminar , one of the music performance groups like MIT Symphony or Concert Choir, or Mission 2013.
- You do not have to take the full 54 units of credit. Many freshmen choose to forgo the units to spend non-academic time on varisty sports or student activities.
- Note that Physical Education classes are based on a point system and do not count toward the credit limit.
- ROTC subjects, while they do carry academic credit, do not count toward the freshman credit limit.
The only two exceptions to the freshman credit limit:
1) Mission 2013 is a 9-unit subject that allows freshmen who participate in Terrascope/Mission 2013 to exceed the credit limit by 3 units, up to 57 units.
2) Seminar XL participants may exceed the freshman credit limit up for either 3 or 6 units, i.e.,up to 57 or 60 units
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