Evaluation & Grading

Class Ranks

UNC School of Law no longer provides class ranks for individual students, with the exception of the top 10 students in each class. Students and employers will receive information about the grade-point-average cutoffs for the top 10 percent, top third and top half of each class, however.

Dean's List

The top 50% of the class in any semester is eligible for the Dean's List provided he or she has no grades of Incomplete or Absent from Final Exam (AB). Dean's List for first-year students are also awarded, but is not announced for the fall semester until the end of the first year along with the spring semester awards.

Grading Policy

Grading Scale

The grading scale ranges from a high grade of A (4.0), A- (3.7), B+ (3.3), B (3.0), B- (2.7), C+ (2.3), C (2.0), C- (1.7), D+ (1.3), to a low passing grade of D (1.0).

An A+ (4.3) may be awarded in exceptional situations (e.g., an A+ should not be awarded as a matter of course to the top student in each class, but only if the top student's performance is exceptional compared to the next student in the class). There is no D-; a failing grade is F (0.0).

Faculty members will report letter grades (with pluses and minuses, as appropriate) to the registrar. Some designated courses are graded on a pass-fail basis.

First-Year Curve

First-year classes (other than first-year research and writing classes) are subject to a mandatory curve. The curve has two aspects: a distributional requirement and a mean requirement. The distributional requirement does not apply to small first-year sections, although grading in small sections must still meet the mean requirement.

Distributional requirement

• A deviation of 4 percent is permitted in each letter grade category.
• A grade of A+ is considered part of the 35 percent of grades to be awarded in the A to A- range.
• Grades below C will be considered part of the 10 percent of grades to be awarded in the C+ to C range.

Mean requirement

The class grade mean is 3.25 (with a permissible range of 3.2 to 3.3).

• A grade below a C is considered a 2.0 for purposes of determining the required mean.
• An A+ is counted based on its actual value (4.3) for determining the required mean.

Upper-Class Mean

In upper-class courses, the mean GPA should ordinarily fall within a relatively narrow target band, varying by no more than .1 in order to ensure fair treatment of all students. In small-enrollment upper-class courses (fifteen or fewer students), a variance of .3 is permitted. In upper-class writing courses (WE or RWE), the mean GPA is somewhat higher, and a variance of .2 is permitted. The bands for upper-level offerings are as follows:

Faculty members are permitted to deviate from these bands by ratcheting upwards or downwards if the mean GPA of students in the course is higher or lower than the overall mean GPA for upper-class students. For example, if the average GPA of upper-class students is 3.305, but the average GPA of the students in a Federal Jurisdiction class is 3.390 (.085 above the overall mean), the professor MAY but is NOT required to raise the class mean by .085-awarding grades in Federal Jurisdiction pursuant to a mean of 3.200-3.385, rather than 3.2-3.3. Similarly, if a Corporate Tax course draws a class with a mean GPA that is .085 lower than the overall upper-class mean, the professor MAY but is NOT required to ratchet the mean for that course downwards by .085 (3.115-3.300).

Retention and Graduation

An annual cumulative grade point average of 2.2 is required to continue in the law school at the end of the first year, and a cumulative GPA of 2.25 is required to continue after the second year and to graduate.

Incompletes

Faculty members may award a grade of "Incomplete" (designated "IN" on a transcript) in instances in which they believe the award of such a grade is warranted. Incompletes should generally be cleared by the end of the semester following the semester in which a grade of Incomplete is awarded. Determinations that a longer period is to be made available to clear the Incomplete may be made justified by special circumstances, and in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Incompletes that are not cleared within one year are converted to 0.0, although in extraordinary circumstances the faculty member, in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, may authorize a student to withdraw with a grade of IN. The designation "IN" followed by the grade ultimately awarded, will appear on student's transcript unless the instructor indicates that the original designation "IN" was made based on instructor error.

Pass/Fail Courses

Some courses are designated as pass/fail courses. Students may not change a graded course to a pass/fail course. The 65-hour requirement is not affected by whether a case is graded on a pass/fail course or not.

Grade Appeals

A student may appeal a grade of 1.7 or below to the dean. Review is limited to determinations of:

1. A plain error in computation.
2. The use of clearly unacceptable standards of professional judgment in grading.
3. Personal bias or prejudice that manifestly influenced the grading process to the student's detriment.

The University's policy on Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of an individual's race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Appendix B of this policy provides specific information for students who believe that they have been discriminated against or harassed on the basis of one or more of these protected classifications.

Students who want additional information regarding the University's process for investigating allegations of discrimination or harassment should contact the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office for assistance:

Equal Opportunity/ADA Office
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 E. Franklin St., Unit 110
Campus Box 9160
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
Telephone: 919.966.3576
Fax: 919.962-2562
Email: equalopportunity@unc.edu

Any administrator or supervisor, including a department chair, associate dean or other administrator, who receives a student's complaint about prohibited harassment or discrimination must notify the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office within five (5) calendar days of receiving the complaint. If a student raises a claim of prohibited harassment or discrimination during an academic appeal, an investigation of the student's claim must be performed under the direction of the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office. The school or department must await the results of the harassment or discrimination investigation before deciding the student's academic appeal.

All grade appeals must be filed in writing within 60 days of the student's receipt of the grade. A copy of the grade appeals procedure may be requested from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.