Academic Standards

The faculty of the Wheelock College of Education & Human Development has empowered the associate dean for student affairs to review the records of all undergraduate students in the Wheelock College of Education & Human Development at the close of each semester. Using the criteria outlined below, the School may warn a student of failure to make satisfactory progress, place a student on probation, suspend a student, or withdraw the student from the University.

Good Academic Standing
Full-time undergraduate students maintain good academic standing when they achieve all three of the following: (1) earn at least 12 academic credits in the semester just completed; (2) earn a semester GPI of at least 2.00; and (3) maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.00.

Good Academic Standing
Graduate students must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 to be in good academic standing, and they must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 in courses counted toward the degree to graduate from the Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

Admission to Student Teaching
No graduate student may enter the practicum or clinical experience until all courses required to reach that level in the professional sequence have been completed with a minimum 3.0 grade point average (GPA). When a student fails to meet this criterion, the student has the option of repeating course(s) in the professional sequence in order to reach the required GPA. (For the purposes of internal Wheelock grade calculations, the second grade will be used. However, the first grade will remain on the transcript and will be calculated into the official Boston University GPA). In all cases, the faculty reserves the right to be selective in admitting students and in permitting them to continue in the professional programs and practicum experiences.

Graduation
Graduate students must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 in courses counted toward the degree in order to graduate.

Academic Probation and Removal from Academic Probation
The Faculty Assembly of Wheelock College of Education & Human Development has empowered the associate dean for student affairs to review the records of all graduate students enrolled in Wheelock College of Education & Human Development degree/licensure programs at the close of each fall and spring semester. Using the criteria outlined below, the College shall place a graduate student on academic probation or remove them from probation under the conditions described below.

Academic Probation
A graduate student shall be placed on academic probation when the student’s grade point average at the end of either fall or spring semester falls below 3.0. The student will receive written notification of probationary status.

Removal from Academic Probation
To be removed from probation, a graduate student must achieve a GPA of 3.0 or above by the close of the next semester in which the student is registered.

Calculation of GPI and GPA for Academic Standards
All coursework taken at Boston University or through the Boston University Consortium to fulfill degree requirements will be used to determine the official Boston University GPA.

Definitions

Grade point index (GPI)
Total honor points divided by total semester credits for any one academic semester.

Grade point average (GPA)
Total honor points divided by total semester credits. In computing grade point average for academic status (i.e., Probation and Required to Withdraw), graduation, and academic honors (i.e., Dean’s List, Graduation with Honors), only courses completed at Boston University will be included.

Honor points
Honor points will be computed following the Boston University four-point system, i.e., one semester credit of an “A” grade equals 4 honor points; one semester credit of an “A-” grade equals 3.7 honor points, etc.

Academic semester
An academic semester consists of either Semester I or II of the official academic year, which runs from September through May of each year. Boston University Summer Term will also be defined as an academic semester if 12 or more semester credits are taken over the course of the two summer sessions. (EdD and PhD candidates must register for a total of 12 semester credits—four semester credits in one Summer Term and eight in the other—if they intend to use a Summer Term in conjunction with a regular academic semester to meet residency requirements.)

Academic Affairs Committee
A Faculty Assembly committee elected by clusters to act on behalf of the Faculty Assembly in matters concerning academic standards.

*Please note that summer sessions do not count as a semester for Academic Standing purposes, unless the student has completed 12 or more credits over the two summer sessions.