Academic Standing

Academic policy is summarized below and can be reviewed in its entirety at The Graduate School Grading and Academic Standing.

Graduate students may be terminated at any time if, in the judgment of the program and the Graduate School, a student fails to make satisfactory progress towards the completion of the degree (regardless of grades). Examples of unsatisfactory progress may include, but are not limited to, inadequate grade point average (GPA), inadequate research and/or research skills, failure to obtain satisfactory grades in required courses for the program, or failing the candidacy, comprehensive, or final oral examination.

A GPA of at least 3.00 for all graduate course work at NC State is required for graduation.

A. Academic Warning

Graduate students are given a notice of academic warning if they have accumulated 18 or fewer hours at the 400 level or above and have less than a 3.00 GPA. Students on academic warning may continue to hold an assistantship or fellowship and receive financial aid.

B. Academic Probation

Graduate students will be placed on academic probation if they have accumulated more than 18 hours at the 400 level or above and have a GPA in the range of 2.667 to 2.999. Students placed on academic probation will be ineligible for financial aid or appointment or reappointment to an assistantship or fellowship.

C. Termination

Graduate students will be terminated from their program of study if they have accumulated more than 18 hours at the 400 level or above and have a GPA below 2.667, or if they have accumulated 30 or more hours and have less than a 3.00 GPA. A student may also be terminated for violation of the NC State Code of Student Conduct or upon recommendation by the department if the student is not making satisfactory progress toward the degree as determined by departmental guidelines. In cases of program termination, no further registration in a graduate classification will be permitted. (Please see the policies on Official Withdrawal in Section 3.16 for more information on program termination.)

If a student’s graduate degree program is terminated, he/she cannot use courses taken in PBS status after termination for credit toward the same graduate degree program.

D. Reinstatement

Under extenuating circumstances, the Director of Graduate Programs (DGP) may recommend and provide justification to the Dean of the Graduate School to reinstate a student’s graduate classification. This recommendation must be in writing and must be signed and approved by the advisory committee and the DGP or the Department Head before the Graduate Dean will consider it. It should include a reasonable schedule for achieving the 3.00 average.

If approved, the Graduate School will execute a ‘Matriculation’ action in SIS, accompanied by a confirmation letter to the DGP and a request to Registration and Records to update academic standing appropriately. In order for the student to be able to register, the ‘advising service indicator’ must be removed by either the Graduate School or the program the following day.

E. Transcript Notation on Academic Standing

Programs have the prerogative of recommending the termination of a student’s graduate admission at any time.

The notation “Academic Warning,” “Academic Probation,” “Graduate Admission Terminated,” or “Graduate Admission Reinstated” will appear as appropriate on both internal and off-campus transcripts. In addition, the academic status of a student at the beginning of the first summer session will remain the same for the second summer session, i.e., if graduate admission is terminated at the end of the spring semester and the student is reinstated, the reinstatement is for both sessions of the summer.