Forms and Petitions
Do one of these situations apply to you?
Add/drop period is the length of time that a student can make changes to their schedule without any notation on their final transcripts. Add/drop period lasts into the middle of the second week (10th day) of the semester.
A withdrawal can be notated on your transcript with either 'W' or 'WX':
- "W": The student withdrew from the class. Units attempted are not included in the GPA. Students are limited to 18 units of "W".
- Deadline: Fourth week of the semester (20th day)
- "WX": The student withdrew from the class for serious and compelling reasons. Units attempted are not included in the GPA. Students are required to provide documentation of serious and compelling reasons. There is no limit to the number of "WX" units.
- Deadline: Finals week of the semester
Click here to learn more about withdrawals. Make an appointment with your faculty advisor or go to office hours if you are confused.
Click here for the Withdrawal Petition
If you have had an exceptionally poor semester of grades, you have the opportunity to withdraw from all classes within that term, even after that term has ended. This is called the retroactive withdrawal. Students must apply for retroactive withdrawal within one calendar year of that semester.
A good number of our students transfer from community or junior colleges, sometimes outside of the state of California. Courses from other universities have to be manually coded into the Degree Progress Report. The course substitution petition allows students to claim credit for relevant GE or major courses from other institutions.
How do you begin this process? Students cannot initiate a course substitution petition on their own. They have to do it through a faculty advisor or department chair. Before speaking to a faculty member, it is a good idea to: 1) check the course on ASSIST.org; and 2) have a copy of the course description or syllabus.
- ASSIST.org: This external website records and lists agreements between colleges for course substitutions. You can look up courses by university. Make sure to see if your course is listed here. If not, it may eligible for a petition.
Most commonly, this happens in two ways:
- An upper-division class might be incorrectly listed as "Additional Political Science Electives" in the Degree Progress Report. Although the class can be counted as an elective, you might want to use these classes to finish the upper-division subfield work in:
- American Politics & Public Administration
- International Relations & Comparative Politics
- Public Law & Political Theory
- An upper-division class might be incorrectly listed as "Elective Credit" at the bottom of the Degree Progress Report. This "Elective Credit" field is otherwise known as unrestricted electives. Although these classes could be counted as unrestricted electives, you might want to use these classes to finish the upper-division work as:
- American Politics & Public Administration
- International Relations & Comparative Politics
- Public Law & Political Theory
- Additional Political Science Electives
How do you begin this process? We use the General Academic Petition to request these changes. Students cannot initiate a course substitution petition on their own. They have to do it through a faculty advisor or department chair.
How do you take a semester off? Students may take off one fall or spring semester (winter or summer are not counted), with no questions asked. No permission or submission of a form is required, you simply do not register for courses in the semester you stop out. However, it is strongly recommended that you speak to an academic advisor before stopping out.
How do you take more than one consecutive semester off? If you wish to take consecutive semesters off (up to four), you are required to file a leave of absence form. Failure to file a formal leave of absence will result in withdrawal from the university. Click here to read more about the academic leave of absence.
In other rare circumstances, there are other petition processes that you might seek out:
- Formal Grade Appeals: For a semester after grades are posted, students can officially challenge a grade. A committee reviews the complaint and grade. For more information about the grades appeal process, click here.
Click here for the Grade Appeal Petition
- Minor Request Form: For political science minors, if a course does not correctly appear in your minor on your Degree Progress Report, use BroncoDirect to request substitutions. You can also use this same function to drop a minor.
Click here for the Minor Request Instructions (PDF)
- Petition to Exceed Unit Cap: For students wishing to enroll in more than 18 units in one semester, this petition will allow students to add more courses.
Click here for the Petition to Exceed Unit Cap
- Schedule Conflict Override: For students who wish to enroll in two courses that are scheduled at the same time, students can submit a request directly through BroncoDirect. Requires instructor (of both courses) and department chair approval. Typically, this is only used for students who want to enroll in an independent study or experience course.
- Waive Restrictions on Course Repeats: Students can freely repeat a course where they receive a grade of C- or lower. Students also have three attempts to repeat any course. If students wish to retake a course where they received a grade of C or better or make a fourth attempt at a course, they should fill out this petition.
Click here for the Petition to Waive Restrictions on Course Repeats