Cornell University Office of the University Registrar

• Home
• For Students
• For Faculty & Departments

About Median Grades

(Adopted by the Faculty Senate, April 10, 1996)

WHEREAS, the Committee on Academic Programs and Policies, has determined that it is desirable for Cornell University to provide more information to the reader of a transcript and produce more meaningful letter grades,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Faculty senate adopts the following policies on grade reporting:

1. Transcripts and grade reports for undergraduate students shall indicate, along with the grade earned, the median grade given in the course and the course enrollment. Independent study, honors courses, and individual research may be exempted upon recommendation by the department (or program) and appropriate college committee. Courses with enrollments of fewer than ten students will also be exempt from this policy. This policy shall become effective as soon as technically feasible, but will apply only to classes entering after the effective date.
2. The Office of the University Registrar shall publish at the end of each semester, a list of median grades and enrollments of all undergraduate courses with ten or more students. This policy shall become effective in Spring 1997.

Technical Details

The record of a course on an undergraduate's transcript now reads, for example:

Hyperspace Travel PHYS 999 3.00 B-
This indicates the course title and number, credits received, and grade. Under the new proposal the record would read:

Hyperspace Travel PHYS 999 3.00 B- (110) (B-)
This indicates, in addition, that the course had an enrollment of 110 and that the median grade was B-.

This procedure will be introduced so that each undergraduate class will have a uniform transcript. For example, if the procedure goes into effect in Fall, 1998, it will affect only students who begin their first year in 1998 or later years.

The letter grades of all students registered in a course, whether regular Cornell undergraduates or not, will be used in calculating the median grade for the class. The median grade is the grade below and above which there is an equal number of grades.

The enrollment indicates the total number of students who took the course for a letter grade. In the case of cross-listed courses this enrollment will indicate the aggregate number of students in the course (not the number of students who signed up under a particular number).

If there is an exact tie for the median grade in a class, the median grade will be rounded down to the lower grade. For example, if half the grades in a course are B or below and half are B+ and above, so that the median would therefore be B or B+, the median will be rounded down to the lower of the two grades: in this example B would appear as the median grade.

The calculation of the median course grade will be made when all grades for the course have been submitted at the end of the semester. The median course grade will not be recalculated to take account of grade changes, resolution of incomplete, etc. that are made at a later date.

Rationale

Students will get a more accurate idea of their performance, and they will be assured that users of the transcript will also have this knowledge. A grade of B- in a course of substantial enrollment in which the median was C+ will often indicate a stronger performance than, e.g., a B+ in a large course in which the median is A. More accurate recognition of performance may encourage students to take courses in which the median grade is relatively low.

Outside users of the transcript will have more information on which to base their assessment of a student's performance in his or her courses.