Petition for Modification or Waiver of Regulation
The regulations governing the Graduate School are approved by the Executive Board of the Graduate School and appear in the Graduate School Academic Policies. All Graduate School policies have been formulated by the Executive Board with one objective: the pursuit of academic quality. This goal requires that the polices be equitably and uniformly applied to everyone. However, the Graduate School does recognize the infrequent occurrence of extenuating circumstances that warrant individual consideration. Rackham Graduate students may petition the Graduate School for a waiver of any Rackham policy.
To do so, you should obtain a Petition for Modification or Waiver of Regulation form; or write a letter or memo to Rackham using the guidelines below.
In completing this form, state in writing all facts that have a bearing on the case you wish to present.
In all instances, the request must be reviewed and endorsed by your department or program graduate chair.
If the petition involves a course, it must also be endorsed by the instructor.
Following the appropriate approval, the petition should be forwarded (along with any additional materials request) for final action to Academic Records & Dissertations.
The student and the department/program will be informed of the final action.
Please note that submission of petition does not guarantee approval.
Procedures for Specific Requests
1. Request to retroactively add/drop or modify a course for a previous term
When adding/dropping or modifying a course for a past term, a drop/add form (signed by the course instructor and the graduate chair) must be attached.
2. Request for extension of time to degree
A new deadline (month/year) should be specified along with an explanation of why the extension is needed. A timeline must be included. An additional memo from the department chair supporting this request and stating that the degree will still be “state-of-the-art” is also required.
3. Request for graduate credit for an undergraduate course:
This petition must include information about what additional work the student will do to be considered for graduate credit, and the course must be at least 400 level.
Please note: this is only a portion of the information on petitions and policies that is available on the Rackham website.
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