Incompletes at the graduate level?

Question

Has anyone ever heard of incompletes being given at the graduate level? My institution does it, and I really don't understand why. I thought at most graduate schools, if you got a grade below a B-, you had to retake the course.
I work in my academic dept, and I can't believe how many forms go through for this...some students would have a D for many courses if it weren't for this option.
Obviously, I am very annoyed since I am an A student.

Answer 1

Incompletes should not be a plan B for a grade F. Incompletes should be given to students who due to extenuating circumstances need to finish their work after the last day of class. I got my Masters in December, and one thing I know is that even in graduate school, unpredictable life events happen. In my case, I had chronic sinusitis that could only be corrected by surgery, and I was dealing with this for four consecutive months. If it were not for the option of taking incompletes, I would not have graduated. I still had to complete the courses, and because it was not a self-directed program, I had to deal with my incompletes in addition to my other classes. It definitely was not the easy way out. I wanted to apply for a full medical withdrawal and take the classes over again (this would have been easier), but I was discouraged from doing so by my advisor and my instructors.

That said, incompletes should not be given to students who deserve a D. That sounds like an abuse of the grade.

Answer 2

There is no reason for you to be annoyed. You are simply misunderstanding the nature of graduate-level study. Incompletes are regularly extended at the graduate level, in both the sciences and in the humanities. At my university, incompletes must be completed within six weeks, or the grade becomes an F.

Most graduate programs require maintenance of a B average at the lowest (not B minus), and students will lose their assistantships or fellowships if they do not maintain their grades. Retaking courses is most often not an option at the graduate level. A failure (B- or lower) results in the student being dismissed from the program.

In the humanities, incompletes are often given because graduate students often have responsibilities well above and beyond their own coursework. For example, most of my graduate students hold teaching assistantships, and spend the last two weeks of the semester grading hundreds of undergraduate exams. This often puts them in a position of needing an extra week or two to finish their own research.

In other situations, research papers may be unready for submission until students are able to arrange a trip to a particular archive or library, which could be located anywhere in the world, and students are simply unable to travel any distance until the semester is over. Once they consult the archive in question, they are then able to complete their research.

In the sciences, incompletes are sometimes necessary, as experiments and data do not always go as expected, and until the experiment is successful, and final data is collected, results cannot be responsibly interpreted.

Finally, grades in graduate courses are most often calculated SOLELY on the basis of that one major research paper or laboratory report. Thus, until a final research project is ready for submission, a student might not have earned any grade at all. It's not like study at the undergraduate level where grades are earned throughout the semester.

Answer 3

Most schools force you to eventually convert an "I" into a real grade by doing the work within one semester or year.

Personally, I find the practice distasteful unless there is a good medical reason. Most profs I know don't give incompletes unless the student is in the hospital for a extended period of time.

Answer 4

Yes, incompletes can be given. It is left to the discretion of the professor and the school. Try not to be so judgmental. It really does not effect you or your future.