Attendance

EMBA students are expected to attend all classes and colloquium sessions, be on time, and be prepared to contribute. Students who receive one or more unexcused absences may, at the discretion of the faculty, receive a final course grade of Pass or Fail. We recognize that there are times when circumstances may cause a student to occasionally miss class or a colloquium. Excused absences include: religious observance, unplanned hospitalization, or an illness that directly affects the student or an immediate family member. Students with excused absences should tend to the reason for the absence, watch class recordings available immediately after class, and be in communication with faculty. In the case of an extended medical absence due to illness, the student must provide the program director with written confirmation of the disabling condition from a healthcare professional providing treatment. Whenever students are unable to attend class or a colloquium, they are required to notify a program administrator and the course instructors. If the circumstances make advance notice impossible, an email as soon as possible after the missed class is the next best alternative. At the discretion of the faculty, absence can negatively impact academic performance if a student misses more than one class session of a course, regardless of whether the absence is excused or unexcused. Several absences, regardless of whether the absence is excused or unexcused, can lead to a failing grade.

Examinations

Students are expected to take all examinations at the scheduled time and submit all take-home exams on the assigned due date. Exams may be rescheduled only in exceptional circumstances such as a religious observance, incapacitating illness, or serious family emergency. Travel arrangements, mild illness, recruiting activity, case competitions, conferences, and any other avoidable conflicts are not acceptable reasons to change an exam time or miss a deadline.

If there is a need to change the date or time of an exam, written approval must be obtained from the instructor prior to the date and time of the exam, unless the nature of the emergency is such that advance notice is impossible. In the case of delay due to illness, the student must provide a program director with written confirmation of the disabling condition from a healthcare professional providing treatment.

Deadlines for Deliverables

Students are expected to adhere to all deadlines set by faculty. A student who is not able to meet a deadline for an assignment or exam must request an extension from the instructor. If an extension is granted, the student will submit the assignment by the extension date or risk receiving a grade of Fail for the assignment/exam. The instructor will determine if a late assignment/exam will affect a student’s grade. If a student fails to meet a deadline without notifying the instructor, the student will be in jeopardy of receiving a failing grade for that particular assignment/exam.

Incomplete CourseWork

Students are expected to complete all assignments by the deadlines established by the instructor. Marks of Incomplete are rarely approved, and only in cases where incapacitating illness or serious family emergency prevents the student from completing class work on time. A student who anticipates a problem should contact the instructor and the program director before the last day of class. If the Incomplete is approved, the mark must be converted to a grade no later than sixty days after the date on which grades for the class are due. If no grade has been received by that date, a grade of Fail will be recorded automatically. Grades of Incomplete in the second year of the program may delay the awarding of a student’s degree.

Grades

There are five grades at Yale SOM: High Honors, Honors, Proficient, Pass, and Fail. The grade distribution that instructors use and the policy with respect to the reporting of grades on official transcripts are described below.

• HH: High Honors Up to top 10 percent of class. Reported on transcript.
• H: Honors Next 25 percent. Reported on transcript.
• PR: Proficient Next 55 percent. Not reported on transcript.
• P: Pass Lowest 10 percent in core courses; guideline of 5 percent in electives. Not reported on transcript.
• F: Fail An absolute standard; no minimum requirement. To the extent it is used, the F grade counts toward the 10 or 5 percent Pass category. Not reported on transcript.¹

Once grades are officially recorded, they may not be changed except in cases in which a mathematical error has been made in computing the grade or a clerical error has been made in recording it. Students seeking correction to a grading error must contact the instructor within two weeks (ten working days) from the receipt of the grade.

If a student takes a course in another school at Yale, the SOM registrar will ask the instructor to submit the grade according to the SOM grade scale.

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F grades in core courses require remediation. The failed core course is not reflected on the official transcript until remediated. Elective courses with F grades are not reflected on the official transcript. Students must replace failed electives with other electives to meet total credit requirements for graduation.

Academic Grounds for Dismissal

Failure to meet the Quality Standard for each degree program results in dismissal from the respective program. The Quality Standard for each program is described in the Quality Standard section of the M.B.A. for Executives chapter. The decision of dismissal is subject to appeal before the Faculty Review Board. A student who has been dismissed and has exhausted the appeal process cannot be readmitted except through the normal admission process.

A full description of the appeal process can be found in the chapter Rights and Responsibilities of Students.

Area of Focus Designation

The EMBA program combines the rigor of our integrated core curriculum with the option for advanced study in three chosen areas at the nexus of business and society: asset management, healthcare, or sustainability. Students who choose to focus on an area of study will have to declare their area towards the end of their first year. 

To receive that designation on one’s transcript, a student must complete all area of focus requirements, both colloquia and coursework.

Auditing

After the first term, students may, with the permission of the instructor, audit Yale SOM elective courses or courses at another Yale professional school. The normal expectation for auditors is attending all class meetings in person; instructors may set additional conditions. Audited classes will appear on the transcript only if the instructor certifies that the conditions for auditing have been met. Auditing of SOM core courses is not permitted. No student may take for credit a course that the student has previously audited.

Any person who is not a degree candidate at Yale University and who wishes to audit an EMBA course must obtain written permission from the SOM faculty member teaching the course and the assistant dean. SOM does not issue transcripts for courses audited under this arrangement. The charge for non-Yale students to audit a course is one-ninth of the SOM EMBA tuition for the year.

Course Evaluations

At the end of each course, students are asked to evaluate the course and instructor. Course evaluation dates are chosen by the instructor and must close prior to the release of the course’s exam per SOM policy. The course evaluation results are given to the instructor, relevant department chairs, assistant dean for EMBA, deputy dean, and dean of the School, and the aggregate results are available for review on the SOM internal website after the grades have been submitted.

Extended Classroom

The Extended Classroom allows students to attend some class weekends remotely to participate in classes and team breakout sessions. While the Extended Classroom provides some degree of flexibility, students should not expect the learning experience to be the same as being in-person. At the request of faculty, some class weekends are not available for the Extended Classroom. These dates will be shared as soon as they are identified.

Students should familiarize themselves with the Extended Classroom guidelines and requirements (including supported operating systems, browsers, and bandwidth) before signing up for the Extended Classroom. Detailed information is available on Campus Groups. Questions may also be directed to the EMBA program office, emba@yale.edu.