COVID-19 Credit/No Credit Policy Statements of Michigan Professional Schools
Below you will find the statements from the Michigan professional schools related to COVID-19 CR/NC grades in admission. Please visit the National Advisors for Health Professions clearinghouse website for other Health Professions COVID-19 Related Links and Information, which includes information that is especially important for future applicants. Visit the Temporary COVID-19 Course Policies for more details on GVSU’s temporary CR/NC option.
Students should closely monitor professional school admission websites for any additional COVID-19 updates throughout the application cycle
Please view the US Dental Schools Pass/No Pass Pandemic Policy Google Doc that dental schools around the nation are currently updating on a continuous basis.
University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry
Schools are offering students the choice to move to a pass/fail or keep the letter grade earned for their courses. Given that students still have a choice, applicants are advised to retain the option of a letter grade for all prerequisites and all science courses. All non-science, non-prerequisite classes can be pass/fail. But if any school goes blanket pass/fail for Spring 2020, we won't penalize a student for that and will accept those courses as is.
University of Michigan School of Dentistry
Pass/Fail grading – Winter 2020 term
With the current COVID-19 pandemic affecting colleges and universities nationwide, many schools have elected to change the grading system for the Winter 2020 term (some schools call it Spring 2020) to Pass/Fail grades. The Office of Admissions at the School of Dentistry has decided to accept any/all courses graded this term on a Pass/Fail basis – with these caveats:
- If your school has made this change and a Pass grade includes a C- and above, we will accept this grade, for any course in the term of Winter 2020.
- If your school has made this change and a Pass grade includes a grade below a C-, we will not accept the grade. You would be required to retake the course later for a letter grade under our standard policy of a C or better for any prerequisite course.
- If your school has made the P/F grade change for this term AND allows you to later request the letter grade, we would encourage you to take this step. However, it would not be required.
This statement is concerning the Winter 2020 term only. If changes are made to this statement for future terms (ie. Spring or Summer 2020), we will post updated information here.
Please view the US Medical School Pass/No Pass Pandemic Policy Google Doc that medical schools around the nation are currently updating on a continuous basis.
Michigan Medical Schools Statement – Pass/Fail/No Credit
grades for January-May 2020
Collected on 3/26/20
Central
Michigan University College of Medicine
From Chris
Austin, Director of Admissions
CMU College of Medicine’s recommendation for coursework taken
during the Winter/Spring 2020 time frame:
As a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges and universities have offered
students a pass/fail or credit/no credit option. We want all future
Central Michigan University College of Medicine applicants to know
that we will allow pass/fail or credit/no credit grades for any
coursework taken during the impacted time frame, including
prerequisite coursework. While we believe that academic coursework is
an important component of your preparation for medical school, we
don’t believe that an applicant’s total body of academic preparation
should be negatively impacted by the disruptions caused by the
COVID-19 outbreak.
Michigan
State University College of Human Medicine
From Joel
Mauer, Assistant Dean for Admissions
CHM Admissions statement pertaining COVID-19 and winter/spring
coursework for current and future applicants: These continue to be
very unusual times. As such, we recognize that the COVID-19 crisis is
life-disrupting for everyone and that colleges and universities are
navigating this crisis in varying ways. Many of our current and
future applicants are facing uncertainty about how 2020 winter and
spring courses will continue and be graded, including coursework that
is traditionally considered prerequisite or recommended for many
medical school admissions processes.
The challenge for medical
school admissions committees is that accurate and specific information
is always preferred. When committees are faced with ambiguity, their
bias may factor a pass as a “C/D” or 2.0/1.0 rather than a higher
grade. So, if you have an option to proceed with a letter grade for
prerequisite coursework, many schools (including CHM) would prefer
this option.
We would be remiss if we didn’t recognize that
there may be several advantages and disadvantages when considering
your grading options. We also recognize that every applicant has
his/her/their own set of strengths and areas for growth. Maintaining
a healthy mentoring/coaching relationship with your pre-health adviser
will be key as you proceed with decisions about your Winter/Spring
2020 coursework.
Michigan
State University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Directed
to MSUCOM website by Katie Ruger, Associate Dean of Admissions and
Student Life
We understand that, due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19
pandemic, many students will receive pass/fail grades for
winter/spring 2020 courses. We assure future applicants that we will
accept pass/fail coursework for any courses impacted by this
situation. This holds both in cases where pass/fail is mandated by
your institution and also in cases of individual choice.
Oakland
University William Beaumont School of Medicine
From Dan Kallenberger, Director of Admissions
We
recommend and prefer that all prerequisite courses are taken as graded
courses because grades give the admissions committee a better idea of
mastery of the subject matter and comparative performance. I think
OUWB requirements are usually a little broader to allow applicants to
show breadth and depth in the math and sciences.
I'd recommend
applicants who are invited for an interview, to contact us if they do
not receive letter grades for the specific prerequisite courses listed
below, and we can review these on a case-by-case basis. I'd expect the
committee will be understanding about the COVID-19 situation and how
it's impacted OUWB applicants and admitted students for many years to
come.
Requirements
Applicants should take a minimum of 24 college credits (excluding
AP courses) with breadth and depth of science and math disciplines.
Of those 24 credit hours, coursework must include:
- 1 course in biochemistry
- 1 course in statistics (math or social science-based)
- 1 lab in either biology, chemistry or physics
In addition to the 24 science/math credits, applicants must complete:
- 1 course in social or behavioral sciences
University
of Michigan Medical School
Directed to UMMS website by
Carol Teener, Director of Admissions
We understand that due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19
pandemic, many students will be receiving pass/fail grades for
Winter/Spring 2020 courses. We would like to assure any future
Michigan Medical School applicants that we will accept pass/fail
coursework for any courses impacted by this outbreak, whether mandated
by your school or personal decision.
Wayne State
University School of Medicine
From Dawn Yargeau
Regarding coursework taken during the January – April/May 2020
time frame:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges and
universities are offering a pass/fail or credit/no credit option. For
any prerequisite coursework, Wayne State University School of Medicine
strongly recommends that you do not select this option.
P/F,
CR/NC can be selected for non- prerequisite coursework.
Western Michigan
University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine
From Jean Shelton
We’re also fine with P/F during this time. WMed doesn’t have any
pre-requisite courses – we have recommendations. Our goal is for
students to be as prepared as possible to begin medical school and
encourage applicants to look for upper division hard science courses
that will challenge them and prepare them for medical school. Under
normal circumstances, I do encourage taking the course for a grade.
The EMU OT program will not be accepting Pass/Fail, Cr/NC, or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grades for any of the 9 pre-admission courses for application to the EMU program.
GVSU requires all prerequisite courses to be completed with LETTER (A, B, C) or NUMERICAL (4.0, 3.0, 2.0) grades. Prerequisite courses completed with Pass/Fail or Credit/No credit will not fulfill the program’s admissions requirements.
Saginaw Valley State University
SVSU MSOT program -accepting P/F for this spring semester
Due to the unique situation created by COVID-19, many institutions are allowing students to choose a Pass/No Pass option in lieu of a letter grade in the Winter 2020 semester. The program encourages applicants to receive letter grades in their prerequisite courses. P/N will be accepted if the grading institution's policy is a C or better to receive a Pass. If the school accepts C- or below as a Pass, students will be required to submit a letter from the instructor documenting what the grade earned would have been (in the case of WSU courses, since we can view that grade in Banner, such a letter will not be required).
WMU OT is accepting Credit/No Credit for pre-requisites a s long as "credit" is granted for courses passed with a C or better.
Please view the US Optometry Schools Pass/No Pass Pandemic Policy Google Doc that Optometry schools around the nation are currently updating on a continuous basis.
Ferris State University,
Michigan College of Optometry
James R. Miller, O.D.,
F.A.A.O.
Professor/Coordinator of Student Recruitment
“Pass/Fail/No Credit Grades: A “pass” grade in a required
pre-optometry course meets MCO’s admissions requirements, while “fail”
and “no credit” grades do not. An applicant’s GPA will be evaluated
according to all relevant influences, including “pass”, “fail”, and
“no credit” grades.”
Ferris
State University, College of Pharmacy
Tara M. Lee, MS |
Director of Admissions
Ferris will likely accept Pass/Fail courses if we can decipher
that the student would have received a C or higher (pass) grade. If
the student has the choice to receive a grade or Pass/Fail, we would
encourage them to pick a grade for the course. Online courses will
not be an issue what so ever, under the circumstances.
University
of Michigan, College of Pharmacy
Mark S. Nelson, Assistant
Dean for Student Services and Admissions, College of Pharmacy
The UM College of Pharmacy will follow our standard approach for
prerequisites that are graded P/F (or the equivalent). When a
prerequisite course is graded P/F, we reach out to the instructor of
that course to ensure that the candidate received a grade of C or
higher; email verification from the instructor is just fine and we
typically work with the applicant to get the instructor contact info.
Many institutions allow a C- grade for assigning a “P” and we require
that prerequisite grades be a grade of “C” or higher.
In the
event an instructor is unable to provide a grade, we will most likely
give the benefit to the student for Winter 2020 P/F grades and treat
the P as a C or higher grade.
Regarding online courses, we will
not have any issues with this for the Winter/Spring 2020 semesters.
Wayne State
University, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health
Sciences
Jozy Hayek, MPA, Academic Services Officer II,
Division of Pharmacy
This is the decision of the WSU PharmD Admissions Committee
specifically:
For WSU PharmD admissions, we will accept:
- CR/NC or P/F grades, as long as the minimum grade required for credit or a pass grade is a solid C (2.0) or higher.
- Online courses and labs
We highly recommend that students earn a grade for their course or
postpone lab coursework to a later semester,
if possible.
This policy only applies
as an exception for Winter 2020 and Spring/Summer 2020 courses.
Please note that this policy may not apply to other programs offered
at Wayne State or the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences.
Central
Michigan University
From: Debbie Silkwood-Sherer,
Director of Physical Therapy Program
Accept Pass/Fail/No Credit Grade: No
Comments: Again, the take a grade was echoed by all
the MI PT Schools. Tuesday, we also discussed GREs and at this point,
no one is deferring that. I know Oakland and Wayne have cut off scores.
Grand Valley University
From: Darlene Zwart, Director of Student Services"
Accept Pass/Fail/No Credit Grade: No
Comments: GVSU requires all prerequisite courses to
be completed with LETTER (A, B, C) or NUMERICAL (4.0, 3.0, 2.0)
grades. Prerequisite courses completed with Pass/Fail or Credit/No
credit will not fulfill the program’s admissions requirements.
University
of Michigan-Flint
From: Ryan Bean, Clinical Associate Professor
Accept Pass/Fail/No Credit Grade: Depends on the situation
Comments: If they have an option, keep the letter
grade and don't opt for the pass/fail if they do not have a choice and
the school automatically gives then the P (or credit), then we will
have to look at it in relation to other similar classes on an
individual basis.
Wayne State
University
From: Moira Fracassa, Academic Services Officer
Accept Pass/Fail/No Credit Grade: Yes
Comments:
Due to the unique situation created by COVID-19, many institutions
are allowing students to choose a Pass/No Pass option in lieu of a
letter grade in the Winter 2020 semester.
The program encourages applicants to receive letter grades
in their prerequisites courses.
P/N will be accepted if the grading institution's policy is a C
or better to receive a Pass. If the school accepts C- or below as a
Pass, students will be required to submit a letter from the
instructor documenting what the grade earned would have been (in the
case of WSU courses, since we can view that grade in the system,
such a letter will not be required).
Please view the US Physician Assistant School Pass/No Pass Pandemic Policy Google Doc that Physician Assistant schools around the nation are currently updating on a continuous basis.
The PA program at this point is maintaining our current grading system.
Update 3/28/2020:
For the applicants in the upcoming cycle, accepting a credit/nc is an option. The admissions team is to meet on 3/31.
The Detroit Mercy PA program will not accept pass/fail grades for the prerequisite coursework.
Thank you for reaching out to us about this. At this time there's still a lot that is unknown that we are working to figure out. A decision hasn't been made just yet regarding the acceptance of pass/fail grading, but we will definitely take into consideration the circumstances we're all facing at this time and will do what's best for all involved. I will get back to you as soon as possible with more information.
Our plan at this time is to not adjust any specific policy/requirement as a result of the closure but we do plan to update the website with a form that students may complete if they think that their ability to complete one or more of the application requirements was directly affected by the Coronavirus closures. We may allow individual exceptions to one or more of the requirements if students attended a university where they were required to transition to credit/no credit or pass/fail or where they think their grade was directly impacted by the closures. We will require them to submit specific documentation and will evaluate on a case by case basis. We discussed the issue and think it is impossible at this time to make a policy that will address all possible scenarios that applicants may be facing. If we end up encountering several similar requests, then we may adjust a policy based on that scenario.
Due to the unique situation created by COVID-19, many institutions are allowing students to choose a Pass/No Pass option in lieu of a letter grade in the Winter 2020 semester. The program encourages applicants to receive letter grades in their prerequisites courses. P/N will be accepted if the grading institution's policy is a C or better to receive a Pass. If the school accepts C- or below as a Pass, students will be required to submit a letter from the instructor documenting what the grade earned would have been (in the case of WSU courses, since we can view that grade in Banner, such a letter will not be required).
As of now, we do not have an answer on this question from the Physician Assistant Studies program (which is a bit more complicated, as they require a B grade) or Nurse Anesthesia. I will update you when we know about them.
Considering the recent decision of many Universities which allows students to change the grading of courses to Credit/No Credit for Spring 2020, the WMU Physician Assistant Admissions Committee has approved the following for Spring 2020 (January start date) ONLY:
- Credit/No Credit or Pass/Fail grades, as long as the minimum grade required for credit or a pass grade is a C or higher.
- We highly recommend that students earn a grade for their course if possible.
Please note that this policy DOES NOT apply to other programs offered at Western Michigan University. Please note that although a Credit or Pass course does not have a negative impact on your GPA, it does not have a positive impact either.
WMU's Physician Assistant Program requires prerequisite coursework be assessed at a “C or 2.0” grade or higher, we would kindly ask that your home institution (registrar or course instructor) provide written verification that the Passing, Satisfactory or Credit grade meets this standard.
Please view the US Veterinary Schools Pass/No Pass Pandemic Policy Google Doc that veterinary schools around the nation are currently updating on a continuous basis.
Michigan State University Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program
- Michigan State University Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program will accept grades of Pass, Credit, and Satisfactory for prerequisite coursework impacted by COVID-19 in spring 2020.
- Courses without a letter or numerical grade will not be used in GPA calculations for the Science Prerequisite GPA or the Last 3 Semesters GPA.
- They continue to recommend 150 hours of experience a veterinarian however, this is not a requirement.
- They continue to accept online courses and labs from accredited institutions. Visit our course guides page for information.
- They do not require or consider the GRE.
- They do not have a supplemental application or fee.