Simpson College senior and cross-country runner Kacie Eisentrager finished last semester with a 4.0 GPA but was noticeably left off the President’s List. Eisentrager asked the question most would have: “Why?”
In Simpson’s catalogue section on SC Connect, section 7.1 mentions students who are regularly enrolled in the college, and complete at least 12 credits in the semester with a grade point average of 3.70 or better will be on the Dean’s List. In the event one of the courses is taken on the Honors or pass/non-pass basis, an Honors grade must be achieved.
Eisentrager took 14 credits worth of classes, one being an internship, which is listed as a pass/fail course. Esientrager stated she and many others were not aware of the Honor grade requirement..
“So I talked to my advisor for that internship, which is also one of my academic advisors and she had no clue,” she said. “She described to me all the letters you could get awarded and she goes ‘I didn’t even know what an H was on this list.’”
Registrar Jody Ragan discussed what an Honors grade is and how to earn it.
“It’s on the professors when they’re grading the course to give an ‘H’ or a ‘P’ or a ‘NP’ for no pass,” Ragan said. “In the catalogue is the policy for the Dean’s List.”
No form is required when awarding an Honor grade compared to a pass, it is all up to the professor’s discretion. It is supposed to reward ‘exemplary’ work within a pass/fail class.
“I was genuinely pissed off because my schedule was overworked last semester, I was doing classes, I’m in a sport, I had an internship, I was very busy,” Eisentrager said. “You could probably ask anyone that knows me well, that I was probably stressed out. So working towards the 4.0 and actually getting it, then not getting recognition is annoying, especially since I have it on my resume.”
Ragan spoke about how little this actually happens.
“I usually hear maybe one person a year, maybe one person every other year asks about it so I know that it impacts them,” Ragan said. “It was right in the policy, I mean if students are worried about it they should know the policy and it is right in the catalogue which is available everywhere.”
Eisentrager spoke about how the registrar responded to her concern of being left off the President’s List.
“I kind of felt just put off like they were just kind of saying ‘well this is our rule, sorry about that,” Eisentrager said. “I don’t even think I got a ‘sorry’ about it. It’s very disheartening because I do have very good things to say about the institution in many different aspects.”
“There’s not really a big explanation behind it, and it’s still this weird gray area it seems like,” Eisentrager said. “That even professors or advisors don’t know, and other students don’t know about it.”
