Dropping Courses

Dropping a course is also referred to as withdrawing from a course. Every term, there is a deadline by which you can drop courses without any academic penalty. Please refer to the Academic Dates and Deadlines page to find out the drop deadlines for the current term. It’s up to you to be aware of this date!

Before the course drop deadline, you can drop courses yourself on ACORN. You don’t need permission from Student Services to do so. Review detailed instructions about how to drop courses on ACORN.

After the course drop deadline, you’ll need to request permission to withdraw from a course. This will involve submitting a petition and justifying the reason for the late withdrawal. The type of withdrawal you’ll need to request depends on the date. Please see the information below.

Note: Students who drop all courses in which they are enrolled must also withdraw or take a Leave of Absence from their program.

Withdrawal Without Academic Penalty

Retroactive Withdrawal (WDR)

After the official deadline to drop a course without academic penalty has passed, students wishing to drop a course must petition to the Committee on Standing for a late withdrawal from the course. It is important for students in such a situation to meet with your academic advisor.

Withdrawals approved under this procedure will be noted on the academic record with the  status WDR (retroactive withdrawal). This course status will have no effect on the GPA.

It is important that students in this situation meet with their academic advisor as a first step.

The Committee on Standing convenes at the following time periods to consider each term’s petitions:

  • Fall Term Petitions: Beginning of January
  • Winter Term Petitions: Late May
  • Summer Term Petitions: Beginning of September

Required documents for a WDR petition

  • Complete the Drop section of the Add / Drop Course Form (PDF)
  • Provide a statement regarding the extenuating circumstances that were beyond your control, that negatively impacted your ability to complete the course, and what prevented you from dropping the course by the course drop deadline.

Provide any supporting documents:

  • If you were negatively impacted by a medical situation, you must provide documentation: Verification of Illness (PDF).
  • If you are registered with Accessibility Services, provide a letter from your accessibility advisor.

Submit the above documents to Student Services through your academic advisor.

Please note that the Committee may or may not support the request based on the reasons submitted. Generally, the Committee will only consider documented, extraordinary, unexpected circumstances as valid reasons for dropping a course after the official drop deadline. This could be a personal or medical situation, but the situation must be one that was unforeseeable and that was sufficiently serious that it prevented you from completing the course.

Petition results

The Committee on Standing will communicate with students who have requested a retroactive withdrawal from a course. There are only two possible outcomes: Approved or Denied.

  • Approved petitions carry no academic penalty. The course will still appear on your transcript, but a WDR (retroactive withdrawal) will be entered instead of a numeric grade. This notation does not affect your GPA.
  • Denied petitions will result in a final numeric grade being assigned, calculated with a zero on any incomplete work.