A “Waiver of Pass/Fail Deadline” petition is a request to waive the deadline to submit your Pass/Fail application to the Registrar’s Office. Normally, the University sets a deadline, before the last day to drop the course without receiving a grade, by which you are required to formally request a Pass/Fail from the Registrar’s Office.
At a Glance
If you do not submit this request by the deadline, you may opt to submit a petition to waive this deadline. The petition will be processed and reviewed by the Committee on Student Academic Petitions (the Committee).
When the Committee considers a petition to Waive the Pass/Fail Deadline, one of two decisions will result:
- Granted, the final grades will not be counted toward the overall GPA and the credits are retained.
- Refused.
Guidelines
Responsibility
It is your responsibility It is your responsibility to take your circumstances into consideration, and to assess your progress in each course, during the term of study. You must apply for a Pass/Fail through the Registrar’s Office before the last day of classes.
You also may consider dropping the course, where you will both not receive a final grade or retain credits, either by:
- Dropping it by the deadline to withdraw without academic penalty to have it removed from their transcript; or
- Opting to use the Withdrawn from Course Option to be withdrawn from a course up to the final day of classes with the course remaining on the transcript showing as “W” (Withdrawn).
Statement of Grounds
This is your personal letter and must provide a detailed, date-specific account of the extenuating circumstances that you believe justify a waiver of the Pass/Fail deadline.
Documentation
Evidence to support your statement of grounds is essential. You will be required to have original documentation to support the grounds of your petition. Students are not required to submit an Attending Physician’s Statement in support of requests for deferred standing or petitions. If you would like to submit an APS form to help support your petition, please include a completed Attending Physician Statement form (PDF) in your petitions submission.
Selectivity
This is the term we use when you are selectively asking to drop only one, or a select few, of the total number of courses you completed in a term or session of study. Your explanation and evidence must be compelling for the committee to "selectively" alter your academic record – to let you Pass/Fail your poorer grades, and keep your better ones.
Some grounds that typically will not be considered and how to avoid these situations
- I did not know I was enrolled - Always check your enrolment record each term.
- I had a computer error - Always follow up when having computer issues. If you unsuccessfully tried to drop a course, we will have records of this attempt.
- I am unhappy with a grade, or the impact of a grade - All grades impact your academic record, for better or worse. If you did not want a course to impact your record, then you would have had to drop it by the withdrawal deadline.
