Description
Bracketing is the practice of excluding a course in the calculation of a student’s GPA and not counting the course as satisfying any degree requirements, including electives.

Policy Statement

1. A student may repeat a course once. When a student repeats a course, (a) both grades for the course shall appear on the official transcript, (b) the course credits may not be counted more than once toward degree and program requirements, and (c) only the last enrollment for the course shall count in the student’s grade point average. The preceding sentence of this policy shall not apply to courses using the same number but where students study different content each term of enrollment; all such courses falling under this provision must be approved by the college. (Uniform Grading and Transcript Policy, as amended April 19, 2001)

2. No department or college may bracket the courses of other departments or colleges. University of Minnesota credits must be transferred to all University departments and colleges, as an elective at minimum, including all transfer course work accepted upon admission.

Interpretation
Bracketing is the practice of excluding a course in the calculation of a student’s GPA and not counting the course as satisfying any degree requirements, including electives. A notation, “Exclude from GPA,” is put on the transcript underneath the bracketed course. (Formerly, brackets were placed around the course, hence the name.)

Effective in fall 2000, the Office of the Registrar (OTR) counts only the last grade toward GPA no matter how many times students repeat a course. Once a student repeats a course, all the previous grade(s), including those earned when CLA did not bracket any courses (fall 1986 through summer 1997), will be bracketed regardless of what grade the student received in each attempt.

Currently, unsuccessful grades from quarter courses may be bracketed once the semester “equivalent” course has been completed. To determine whether a quarter and a semester courses are equivalent, advisers can use the Supplement to the Semester Transition Course Catalog issued in spring 1998.

University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMTC) grades can only be bracketed by UMTC grades. Neither UMTC grades transferred from other institutions nor those from coordinated campuses can be used to bracket UMTC grades and vice versa.

Procedures

CLASS staff responsibilities:

1. To bracket a course, fill out and send a Request for Record Change to the Office of the Registrar (130 Coffey Hall).

2. Currently, OTR automatically brackets semester courses. However, advisers will still need to fill out the form for semester courses missed by OTR and for quarter courses.

Forms/Instructions
Request for Record Change

Quarter/Semester “Equivalent” Sequences

General
For three-quarter sequences replaced by two-semester sequences, if a student repeated the following quarter course and later took the following semester course “equivalent”:

Exceptions
• For Spanish, French and German:

Note: The Student Scholastic Standing Committee may consider other sequence situations on an individual basis. Under no circumstances will two quarter courses be bracketed on the basis of one semester course.

Related Information

Academic Probation and Suspension

Note: Bracketing does not affect students’ probation status in their previous semesters/quarters.

History of the Bracketing Policy

Fall 1999 to Summer 2000 repeats:
During this period, CLA’s bracketing policy fell under the current Uniform Grading and Transcript Policy stated above. CLA followed “the second grade counts” interpretation since “a student may repeat a course once,” according to the policy statement. For instance, if a student took a course three times, only the second attempt counted regardless of what grade the student earned in each attempt and the other two grades were bracketed. Since current policy supersedes this, a Record Correction would need to be done making the last taking count.

Fall 1997 to Summer 1999 repeats:
Concerning any courses taken and repeated during this period, only the first successful attempt (grade [C-] or higher or [S]) counted. All the previous unsuccessful attempts - or all attempts prior to the last attempt if all are unsuccessful - could be bracketed. If a student received a successful grade in the first attempt, only the first grade counted toward GPA even if the student earned better grades in the subsequent attempts.

Courses taken during this period, whether successfully or unsuccessfully, may be bracketed by the equivalent semester course under the current “last grades count” policy (fall 2000 or thereafter), in which all previous attempts may be bracketed. However, students who repeated courses more than once with unsuccessful grades should be discouraged from additional attempts and other alternatives should be explored.

Fall 1986 to Summer 1997 repeats:
CLA did not bracket grades during this period. Every attempt which appeared on the transcript was calculated into the GPA. However, credit was counted only once for degree credit. If a student repeats an equivalent semester class under current policy, all previous attempts made by the student during this period can be bracketed.

Fall 1972 to Summer 1986 repeats:
CLA permitted students to repeat courses in which they received grades of D.

• Fall 1977 to Summer 1986

During this period, all the attempts appeared on the transcript. However, once a grade of A, B, C, or S was earned, the D grade(s) was (were) bracketed to indicate that it would not count toward graduation or the GPA.

• Fall 1972 to Summer 1977

If a student retook a course because of the D grade received in the previous attempt(s), the later (latest) grade appeared on the official (external) transcript though all the grades remained on the internal transcripts (operational record). Prior to Fall 1977, the University had the dual (internal and external) transcript system.

Before Fall 1972:
A D grade earned before fall 1972 was considered as a passing grade and automatically counted toward CLA graduation. Officially, students were not supposed to retake D-graded courses for credit and all subsequent attempts were bracketed. In practice, however, students petitioned to retake D-graded courses for a variety of reasons.

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