A pass/fail option for first-semester engineering students: A critical evaluation

The first semester of a collegiate engineering program can be quite stressful for a student, resulting in anxiety and decreased academic performance. While there are various factors leading to these outcomes, the pressure of grades early in an engineering program can be a significant contributor. GPA is typically used to determine a student´s academic success, but the reality is that the student often needs time to learn how to earn and keep good grades in college before they accurately reflect the student´s performance and potential. Considering this, Colorado State University recently offered an option for incoming engineering students to take all of their first-semester classes as pass/fail. For the fall semester of 2010, 138 of 448 first-year students enrolled in the pass/fail option. In this first semester of the program, success was determined from a few measures by comparing performance of students in the pass/fail option to those in traditional A-F grading. In the first analysis described herein, GPA was reviewed for both groups of students, which revealed that students who selected the option received lower grades than those who did not. Authors review the program critically, often holding opposing viewpoints on whether outcomes have been and will be positive.