Undergraduate Programs
Grade Forgiveness Rule

 

The Grade Forgiveness Rule allows undergraduate students to petition to repeat up to three courses during their undergraduate career. If the petition is approved, the original grade in the course is removed in the calculation of the student’s cumulative GPA. All course attempts and grades remain on the student’s permanent academic record.

  • Open/Close Eligibility For Grade Forgiveness
    1. Students may repeat up to three (3) courses, regardless of the number of credit hours of each course.
    2. The same course may be repeated only once under this rule.
    3. Once students have invoked the rule, the second grade will be used to replace the first, even if the second grade earned is lower. Students who passed the course the first time and fail it the second, will lose credit for the course.
    4. Students repeating a course in a sequence or a course that is a prerequisite to another course should complete the repetition before advancing to the next course.
    5. Coursework taken outside of Ohio State, including course credit earned via credit by examination (EM), transfer credit (K) earned at another institution, and dual enrollment credit, is not considered a first attempt.
    6. The second attempt must be completed at OSU. Students who complete a second attempt at another institution are not eligible for the grade forgiveness rule, even if they return and complete another attempt of the course at OSU.
    7. Students who complete a degree at OSU are not eligible to use grade forgiveness for any courses taken prior to graduating.
  • Open/Close Guidelines For Grade Forgiveness in Business/Accounting Courses
    1. Grade forgiveness is never approved for repeating business or accounting courses that a student has earned a grade of C or better.
    2. If a student has completed or is currently enrolled in specialization level courses, then they are not permitted to use grade forgiveness to repeat the core class for that specialization area. The student must repeat the core course before moving on to the specialization level courses if they wish to utilize the grade forgiveness rule. They cannot be taking the courses concurrently and still utilize the grade forgiveness rule.
    3. ACCTMIS 2200 and ACCTMIS 2300 are different content areas in accounting and therefore not considered a content sequence. The student is allowed to repeat ACCTMIS 2200 for grade forgiveness even if they are currently enrolled in or have completed ACCTMIS 2300. (Note: Taking these courses concurrently is not recommended)
    4. Grade forgiveness will not be approved for a student to repeat a course in which they have already studied (or are currently studying) the next course in the content sequence. Content sequences for business and accounting specialization courses are outlined here:

     

    • ACCTMIS 3200 -> 3201 -> 4200
    • ACCTMIS 3400 -> ACCTMIS 4410
    • ACCTMIS 3300 -> ACCTMIS 4310
    • BUSFIN 4211 -> BUSFIN 4219
    • BUSFIN 4221 -> BUSFIN 4229
    • BUSFIN 3400 -> All Real Estate Specialization classes
    • BUSFIN 3300 -> All Insurance Specialization classes
    • BUSOBA 4250 -> BUSOBA 4251
    • BUSML 4202 -> BUSML 4210
    • Core course -> Any specialization course in that area

     

  • Open/Close Grade Forgiveness Application Process and Policies

    To apply to use the Grade Forgiveness Rule or check the status of their petition, visit OSU's Grade Forgiveness page.

    The deadline to submit a grade forgiveness petition will be strictly enforced. The petition must be submitted by the indicated week below during the term the repeated course is taken.

    Course Term Or Session Deadline
    Autumn/Spring Full Term Course 10th Friday
    Autumn/Spring First or Second Session Course 5th Friday
    Summer Full Term Course 10th Friday
    8-week Summer Session Course 6th Friday
    6-week Summer Session Course 4th Friday
    4-week Summer Session Course 3rd Friday
    1. Forgiveness only impacts the OSU cumulative GPA calculation. All grades remain on the transcript.
    2. Approved requests will not be processed – forgiveness will not be applied to the record – until after the tenth Friday of the term in which students are repeating the course.
    3. If students withdraw from their second attempt, the grade forgiveness petition is canceled and forgiveness is not applied. The withdrawn attempt does not count toward the three course limit for forgiveness.