A student has one (1) month from the date of receiving a course grade to make an appeal. The student must realize that following a review, the grade could be amended in either direction. Course grade appeals are first made to the course director. If the discrepancy remains, the student can then submit a written appeal to the Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs in the Graduate School. The appeal should include a detailed description of the basis for an appeal and any available supporting materials. The Senior Associate Dean will empanel an ad hoc review committee of up to 3 people that will review the student’s appeal together with documentation from the course justifying the assigned grade. A final decision from the committee will be communicated to the course director, student, and, if needed, the registrar. Every effort will be made to complete the appeal by the end of the next semester.
If the student wishes to appeal a decision made by the ad hoc committee, he/she/they must submit a letter of appeal to the Dean of the Graduate School within 15 days of receiving the ad hoc committee’s decision. The Graduate School Dean’s decision is final.
This section covers grading policies for the ISMMS Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Students can find the following information in this chapter.
Course Directors have the option of awarding letter grades or grading the course on a Pass/Fail (P/F) basis, with the exception of the Neuroscience and Biomedical Sciences core courses and Biostatistics courses, which are only offered for letter grades. However, MSHCDL grading will occur on a Pass with Distinction/Pass/Fail basis. Clinical rotations for MS programs, laboratory rotations, departmental seminars, and journal clubs are graded as P/F. Optional internship courses for MHA students are also graded P/F. For students in the PhD or MD/PhD programs in Biomedical Science or Neuroscience, elective courses outside of the student’s training area may be taken P/F, even if it is an established graded course.
Under extraordinary circumstances (such as medical emergency), a temporary grade of Incomplete (I) may be recorded for a student who is unable to complete course requirements by the end of the term. To receive an incomplete grade, the student must be passing the course up to the time of the request and make a formal request using the Incomplete Grade Request Form available on the Registrar’s site. The request must include the reason for the incomplete, the work to be completed, and the final due date for that work. Students ordinarily have one semester to satisfy an Incomplete. Failure to complete the required work within this timeframe will result in the Incomplete automatically converting to a failing grade (F). Students failing to meet the course requirements by the end of the term, and not provide with an approved temporary grade of Incomplete, will be given a failing (F) course grade.
A student who is not in good academic standing in a course is not eligible for an Incomplete grade.
Students who fail a course have three options: 1) Retake the course (see Retaking Courses below); 2). Request a remediation plan from the Course Director. Granting a remediation plan is at the sole discretion of the Course Director and there is no path for appealing such a decision. In the case that a student successfully remediates the course, the student’s transcript will reflect the remediation by indicating a grade of F/P (for pass/fail courses) or F/A, F/B, or F/C, depending on the grade earned through remediation. The student’s GPA will be calculated using only the remediation grade. Students who fail the remediation process will have an F recorded on their transcript; 3) Allow the F to remain on the transcript (with the exception of core requirements) – Note that students with a cumulative GPA below 3.0 will automatically be placed on Academic Probation.
Students who fail a core course or have multiple remediation grades will be placed on academic probation by the Program and be required to meet with their respective review committee (e.g., CAR for PhD in Neuroscience or Biomedical Sciences). Students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 at all times.
Students should be aware that proper citation practices are required on all course take-home exams and papers as well as in proposals, dissertations and publications. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
If a student will miss an exam or quiz due to illness or other emergency, the student must notify the course director(s) and program director(s) on or before the day of the examination (or as soon thereafter as possible). Once able, the student should see student health or their doctor and obtain documentation of illness. The documentation should be submitted to the Course Director and an exam or quiz will be scheduled at the earliest possible date.
If an exam or quiz is missed without illness or extenuating circumstance, a score of zero will be recorded for that assessment.
A student who has missed an exam should sign a statement certifying that they have not discussed the exam with any other class member who may have taken the exam earlier.
Course Directors are required to submit all grades within one week of the end of the term.
Credit for graduate courses taken at other institutions may be awarded under certain conditions and subject to approval by the Program Director (excluding the MGC program where transfer credits are not accepted). Program Directors reserve the right to denied transfer credit and/or course exemption requests. Courses being considered for transfer credit must be at the graduate level, relevant to the program, deemed to be equivalent in content to ISMMS’s course, and have been completed with a grade of B or better at a regionally accredited institution within the last five years. Determinations of credit transferability are at the discretion of the Program Director.
The number of credits transferred can be no more than the number of credits given by ISMMS for the equivalent course. All transfer credits will be assigned a grade of P. Courses approved for transfer may reduce the number of total credits taken at ISMMS. Students who receive a Master's Degree from ISMMS may transfer all credits with a B or higher into the corresponding PhD program.
If a student successfully completes a course that is required by the Graduate School, the student may be granted an exemption from having to take the equivalent course at ISMMS. In such cases the student will not receive credit towards the ISMMS degree but instead, will take an additional elective course to complete the necessary number of credits.
The maximum allowable transfer credit for each program is as follows:
| Program | Maximum # of Transfer Credits |
|---|---|
*Unique cases may be further evaluated for additional credit
The course exchange programs with CUNY Graduate Center and Cooper Union is designed to encourage graduate students from each College/University to experience academic courses, not offered at their home institutions.
If a student successfully completes a course that is required by the Graduate School (even if that course was used towards the attainment of another degree at ISMMS or at another academic institution) the student may be granted an exemption from having to take the equivalent course at ISMMS. In such cases the student will not receive credit towards the ISMMS degree but instead, will take an additional elective course to complete the necessary number of credits.
Students seeking exemption from required courses, based on prior course work, must meet with the Course Director to ensure appropriate content overlap and rigor. Exemption from certain courses may require an exemption exam or other assessment. If approved by the course director, student will need to complete a course exemption form and return it to the Office of the Registrar. The course will appear on the student’s transcript as “EX”.
On occasion a program may grant a course/credit waiver. A petition for such consideration should be made by the student to the Program Director and the Dean of the Graduate School. Students who receive course waivers must still meet the total credit requirement for their degree program.
In calculating the GPA, all credits with the following grades are counted in the total used to compute the grade point average/cumulative index: A (-), B (+/-), C (+/-), and F.
| Grade | Quality Point Value |
|---|---|
Earned credits with grades of Pass (P), Satisfactory Progress (SP), or Satisfactorily Completed (SC) do not figure into the computation of the grade point average but do count toward the degree. Transfer credits also count toward the degree, but are not included in the GPA calculation.
PhD and MD/PhD
40
PhD CR
14
MHA
9*
MSBDS
6*
MSBS
9*
MSBiostats
3*
MSCR
9*
MSEpi
6*
MSGC
0
MSHCDL
6*
MPH
9*
A
4.00
A-
3.70
B+
3.30
B
3.00
B-
2.70
C+
2.30
C
2.00
C-
1.70
F
0.00
Students seeking to improve their GPA may retake a course with Program Director approval. Approval must be granted prior to the start of the repeated course. Documentation of the approved request must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office prior to the end of the term. If a course is retaken, both grades will be listed on the transcript and the higher of the two grades will be used in the determination of the student’s GPA. A student who has earned credit for a course may repeat it once, but will not receive additional credit. Master’s Degree and PhD in Clinical Research students will be charged at the per-credit rate for all retake courses.
Students cannot receive financial aid to cover the tuition cost for retaking a course.