First-Year Grading
The information provided below explains the uses of and release of fall term internal "hidden" grades.
Freshmen are graded differently from upperclassmen, and their grades are also reported differently, both within MIT and on their outside official transcript. The freshman grading system is intended to help freshmen adjust to MIT's teaching and grading methods and to the demands of a rigorous workload. It also allows freshmen to take some educational risks without the consequences of accumulating a grade point average (GPA).
Special Features of First-Year Grading
In the first semester and Independent Activities Period, freshmen will receive grades of Pass or No Record:
C or better is passing for freshmen. Any subject passed at the C or better level is noted as P on both the student’s external and internal transcripts.
Non-passing grades of D or F only show up on internal transcripts. Except in 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).
All freshmen 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 the second semester, students will receive official A, B, or C grades.
These are recorded both internally and on the official transcript; D and F grades continue to be noted only internally.
Students do not begin to accumulate a grade point average until second term, when only passing grades (A,B, or C) are figured into a 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
While freshman grades are officially “hidden,” at the end of the first term at MIT, you and they will receive both the official Pass/No Record grades and their unofficial or "hidden" grades. WebSIS will display the student’s Pass/No Record grades in late December.
- You, as the freshman advisor, will receive a hard copy of each of your advisee’s unofficial letter grades after January 14. You will need to be in touch with the student to arrange to discuss these grades and to give the student his/her copy of the hidden grades.
Please note that the copy with the student’s name on it goes into the student’s Advisor Folder. You hand the student his/her copy, the part without the student’s name on it.
- These hidden grades cannot be used for any purpose other than advising.
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 never communicate the internal grades to the parents or to any other third party outside of MIT without the student's specific written permission.
However, advisors and freshmen need to 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 student’s explicit written permission.
- It is important for all students to do the best they can academically. However, this is especially important for freshmen who are receiving these Federal grants or plan eventually to apply to medical school.
- Students in this position need to be aware that there are consequences for poor performance because their actual grades will be taken into account for eligibility for the Federal grants and possibly for medical school admission.
- The biggest challenge for most first-term freshmen is poor time management. Your advisees may need you help them to balance their academic choices with extracurricular activities. You and they can find helpful tips on the Learning to Learn site.
- If an advisee has questions, refer the student to one of the following:
Interaction with Parents
Because of MIT's student privacy policy, it can be awkward when an advisor is questioned by a parent about an advisee's academic performance or status. Often the student has already shared some of this information with his or her parents, or occasionally a parent may have opened a grade report or Committee on Academic Performance (CAP) letter even though these are always addressed to the student.
- As the advisor, you cannot confirm, deny, or disclose personal or academic information to parents or others without your advisee's specific written consent. However, you may provide more general information about the meaning of MIT grades, academic policy and performance, and so forth.
- Be cautious when students telephone you for advising from their permanent home; their parents or guardians should not also be on the line. Email, too, is not always secure; be careful when emailing a non-MIT address.
In general, you should encourage advisees and parents to communicate directly with each other about academic or personal issues. Refer difficult situations to the deans in the Office of Student Support Services at 617-253-4861, or to Deans Julie Norman or Donna Friedman in the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programs, 617-253-6771.
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