Grading Policy

Notre Dame Law School’s system judges its students against a high Notre Dame standard rather than against student performance at other institutions. Grades are issued based on the following scale:

Notre Dame Law School does not rank students. The University computes law school means for term and cumulative grade point averages.

Grades for law students shall comply with the following means and distributions:

Effective academic year 2011-2012, the law school implemented a grade normalization policy, with mandatory mean ranges (for any course with 10 or more students) and mandatory distribution ranges (for any course with 25 or more students). The mean ranges are as follows:

1L Required Courses

Mean: 3.25 to 3.30
Distribution:
A   8-14%
A-  15-25%
B+  25-35%
B   25-35%
B-  7-13%
≤C+  0-10%

Large Upper-Level Courses (> 25 students)
Mean: 3.25 to 3.35
Distribution:
A   8-18%
A-   15-25%
B+   20-35%
B   20-35%
B-   5-15%
≤C+   0-10%

Small Upper-Level Courses (10 to 24 students), including seminars
Mean: 3.15 to 3.45
Distribution: none

Previous Grading Practices

Prior to 1969-70 the passing grade in all courses as well as the then existing comprehensive examination was 70%. In computing the course average, the courses were weighted by credit hour. This weighted average and the comprehensive examination grade were then added together and divided by two to determine the semester average. The cumulative average was determined by adding the semester averages and dividing by the number of semesters.

Beginning with the 1969-70 academic year, the Law School discontinued averages, class ranks, and the comprehensive examination. The grading system for courses was converted to Honors (H), High Pass (HP), Pass (P), and Fail (F). Where courses were taken overseas, the appropriate grade legends are explained in the semester data.

Beginning with students admitted for the 1972-73 academic year, the grading system was changed to the following: A, B, C, D and F with no numeric equivalences.

Beginning with students admitted for the 1981-1982 academic year, the grading system was changed to the following: A (4.0), A- (3.67), B+ (3.25), B (3.0), B- (2.75), C+ (2.25), C (2.0), C- (1.75), D (1.0), F (0.0).

Effective in the Fall of 1986, the grading system was changed to the following: A (4.0), A- (3.67), B+ (3.33), B (3.0), B- (2.67), C+ (2.33), C (2.0), C- (1.67, D (1.0), F (0.0).

Effective in the Fall of 1988, the grading system was changed to the following: A (4.000), A- (3.667), B+ (3.333), B (3.000), B- (2.667), C+ (2.333), C (2.000), C- (1.667), D (1.000), and F (0.000). As noted above, this grading scale is the one currently in place.

Beginning in the Fall of 1995, the grade of U was assigned a numeric value of 0.000. This assignment is currently still in place.