We recognize that everyone is at a different stage in research, and want this to be a place where you can focus on learning and contributing rather than being stressed about a grade. With this, we encourage all students to sign up for courses P/NP to reduce this anxiety.
On the flip side, we expect all members to be fully committed to their research teams, contributing to the community at large, and taking full advantage of the opportunities for growing. You won’t thrive if you’re coming in with the common course mindset of just putting in the minimal required to get a grade or if you haven’t carefully thought through your overall time commitments.
A passing grade is over a 70%. We highly encourage all students to take either CMPM 118 and/or independent studies for P/NP to reduce grading anxiety. If you take a course for a letter, grading scores will translate to a letter grade through a normal grading curve (e.g. 100 A+, 93-99 A, 90-92 A-, 87-89 B+, 83-86 B, 80-82 B-, etc.) and is based on the following breakdown:
As you can see, 50% is based on attendance, participation, submitting weekly status forms, and documentation, so getting an A is fully in your control if you put in the effort. If you receive an average of 43/50 on “accomplishments and quality of contributions” (nearly at expectations completion), that will earn you an A.
Anonymous feedback. As we evolve our processes, we would love your feedback on the grading policy which you can provide in the Anonymous feedback survey. As you respond, keep in mind our goals and values of supporting learning rather than a stressful working-for-a-grade environment, but also wanting to make sure that people in the lab are those who can be fully engaged in their team and the lab community.
If you miss a deliverable (e.g., you do not submit it before the weekly deadline), you can make-up up to 50% of the original score (+ an additional point for submitting 2 deliverables the next week). If the deliverable is submitted more than a week late they do not receive the extra point.
So for example: if you get a 5 on a late deliverable, you will get a 2.5 and an additional point for submitting 2 deliverables in the next week, so that you would get a 3.5. Note: the extra point is only valid if it is submitted during the immediate next week.
For auditors only (those taking CMPM 118 onboarding for the first time), you are able to resubmit deliverables if you (1) completed the task incorrectly or (2) did not follow the instructions. This will typically result in a score of a 3/5 or lower.
The grader will provide feedback on the task and you can resubmit the deliverable with changes. The grader will re-evaluate the task for up to full credit within a week.
If a pattern emerges where expectations are not being met (e.g., repeated minimal/missing deliverables, lack of engagement, missed meetings), we will shift into a Growth Support Plan (our version of a Performance Improvement Plan or PIP).
This is not punitive. It is a structured way to help you succeed and get you back on track.