Online Grade Submission Guide

Log in to Polaris using your Bowdoin username and password. Polaris can be accessed from anywhere you have an internet connection. It is recommended that you delete your internet cache and cookies (instructions vary depending on which web browser you use) before logging in to Polaris. If you have already deleted your cache and cookies and are still having difficulties logging-in then please contact the Service Desk at 207-725-3030 or servicedesk@bowdoin.edu. 

After logging into Polaris you will be brought to the main Faculty portal. Select "Grade Entry" from the top left menu. 

At the top of the "Grade Entry" portal is a list of all courses for which you are an instructor (or co-instructor). Independent Study courses, labs and discussion sections are included.

You can only submit grades for courses where students receive grades. To begin entering grades for a course click on the title of the course you would like to grade.

The list of students in the class you selected will appear in the lower half of the portal. For a course with more than 25 students, students may appear on separate screens. Move between the screens by clicking on gray navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen, or reset the list to include more students by choosing a different number of students to display per page.

Select the "Final Grade" drop down menu next to a student to display the grading options. Select the grade for that student. The grading options depend on the nature of the course and whether a student chose to take a class with the Elective Credit/D/Fail grading mode. The options displayed in a student’s grade drop down list include:

• Standard letter grades (A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, and F)
• Elective Credit/D/Fail (CR, D, and F)
• Credit/D/Fail ONLY (CR#, D#, and F#)
• The "S" grade is a temporary option for the first semester of a two semester independent study or honors project only. It indicates that the student's work to date is satisfactory (at least C- level).
  • The final grade will be assigned retroactively once the project is completed the following semester via an "S" Grade Conversion Form sent directly to the project director.
  • The S grade is located between the C- and D in the drop down in Polaris.
• See the Guide to Grades for more details

A completed "Failure Form" is required for all F grades and the form is available online.

When you are finished click on the Save button to submit the grades for your students (One at a time or all at once). Once all grades are saved, the grading status button will appear green and say "Completed". If some entries are still blank, the button will appear yellow and say "In Progress". Please see the example below: