What Is an N
Grade?
(Advice for PhD students)
After a year, an outstanding grade of incomplete
changes to an N
grade. Officially, you have at that point lost your chance to complete the class: an N grade is a permanent incomplete.
You might think, then, that if one of your grades converts to an N, you should find another class to take to make up for it. But now you will run into a problem. You need 72 credits of classes to finish the PhD. The Graduate School (the body that administers all graduate courses in the arts and sciences) will only pay for 72 credits of classes. But they count a class with an N grade as paid for. For each N grade, then, you need to take a class for an equivalent number of credits over and above the paid-for 72 credits. Who will pay for that?
You might pay for it yourself, of course. But the Graduate School recognizes that this is not an attractive option. They will therefore allow you to complete a class with an N grade after all. If you don't want to pay, this is the only way to get your 72 credits. So, an N grade is for practical purposes very far from being a permanent incomplete: you must complete your classes with N grades if you want to finish the PhD without chipping in some tuition yourself.