Academic Performance
For English graduate students at Cal Poly, two 500-level courses per quarter constitute a normal course load. Some students might add an additional language course or gain instructor permission to audit an undergraduate course, but only the daring few take three literature courses in a single quarter. Other students, whose academic progress vies with time-consuming jobs and/or family responsibilities, may choose to take only one course per quarter, thereby extending their stay at Cal Poly beyond the customary two years.
Please note that all twelve courses required for a Master of Arts must be taken for a grade.
Grade Point Average
The graduate student’s G.P.A. incorporates letter grades from all required and elective courses contributing to your degree. This includes any undergraduate, prerequisite English courses you take if “conditionally” admitted to the program due to a background in a different discipline.
You must maintain a G.P.A. of at least 3.0 to avoid being placed on academic probation ("A.P.”). If you do not, the Graduate Director will send you a contract with a grace period allowing you to bring your G.P.A. back to 3.0. You must have a cumulative G.P.A. of at least 3.0 to receive your M.A. degree. Those students who attain a GPA of 3.75 or higher and who also pass the M.A. exam with a “High Pass” may be recommended by the Graduate Committee to "Graduate with Distinction." This honor will appear on the student’s transcript.
You may take a course “credit / no credit” only if it does not count towards your degree. Supplementary foreign language courses (101, 102, 103, 121) can be taken “credit / no credit” since they will not appear on your Formal Study Plan, but if you take a 122-level course “credit / no credit” to fulfill the foreign language requirement, remember that graduate students must receive a B (not B-) in order to pass a “credit / no credit” course.
Incompletes
To avoid receiving an "incomplete" ("I") in a course, finish the work by the due date. If you do receive an “I” at the end of a given quarter, inform the Graduate Director that you have taken an incomplete, and finish the work within four weeks. Note that some professors will not give you the option of receiving an "incomplete," and will instead assign you a failing grade. An "incomplete" changes to an "F" after one year, a score impossible to remove from your record. If an F pulls your G.P.A. below 3.0 and you cannot raise it before graduation time, you will not graduate.
Continuous Enrollment
Graduate students must now (as of fall ’09) be continuously enrolled from the time they first enroll in the graduate program to the quarter in which they complete their M.A. degree (excluding summer quarters). If a student is not regularly enrolled in a given quarter s/he must enroll in GS S597, a variable-unit course offered through Continuing Education which is graded credit/no-credit. Students cannot graduate, despite fulfilling all other obligations for the degree, if they have not paid for all quarters of non-enrollment. Exceptions may be made for students who have received approved university leaves of absence. To enroll in GS S597, peruse the formal guidelines guidelines (link opens in new window) and complete the Continuous Enrollment Form. To view or print this file, you must install the free Adobe Reader or another PDF reader program. Get Adobe Reader (link opens new window).
Educational Leave
You may discontinue taking classes for three consecutive quarters and still return to the program without any fee or paperwork (e.g., you could choose not to take classes in winter, spring and summer quarters and start up again in fall quarter with no problem). However, if you take more than three consecutive quarters off, you will need to re-apply to the program through Admissions. This is basically a formality, but it does involve filing an abbreviated application and paying the admissions fee again.
Unauthorized Withdrawal
If you enroll in a course and then choose to drop it, officially withdraw from the course to avoid being awarded a “WU.” For purposes of configuring G.P.A., a “WU” is equivalent to an “F.”