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GSAD-930
Exceptions to Graduate Council Academic Requirements

GSAD-930

Exceptions to Graduate Council Academic Requirements

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Purpose

To provide appropriate mechanisms for exceptions to academic requirements defined in Graduate Council policies.

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Academic Goal

To ensure that exceptions to academic requirements defined in Graduate Council policies are provided in a fair and equitable manner.

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Scope

All graduate degree programs.

Every graduate degree program must adhere to the minimum academic requirements established in Graduate Council academic policies. Graduate programs may establish program-specific admission and degree requirements that exceed or are in addition to the minimum Graduate Council requirements. In some cases, there may be a legitimate educational reason to provide an exception to a specific requirement.

Policy Statement

  1. As stated in the Graduate Council Bylaws, the Dean of the Graduate School has the authority to provide exceptions to Graduate Council academic policies. This includes exceptions to:
    1. policy provisions stated in Graduate Council academic policies.
    2. policy provisions that require graduate programs to define how a Graduate Council requirement will be implemented by the program that are approved through the Graduate Council curricular review process.
  2. The Dean of the Graduate School delegates authority to graduate program heads to provide exceptions to program-specific requirements that have been approved through the Graduate Council curricular process that exceed or are in addition to Graduate Council minimum requirements. This includes exceptions to:
    1. Admission requirements set by the program that exceed Graduate Council policy requirements, including:
      1. requirements for submission of GRE scores or other standardized test scores and minimum test score requirements.
      2. a minimum TOEFL score that exceeds the minimum set by Graduate Council.
      3. minimum GPA requirements and other required undergraduate preparation.
      4. requirements for letters of recommendation, statements of purpose/writing samples, resumes/CV.
    2. Degree requirements set by the program that exceed or are in addition to Graduate Council policy requirements, including:
      1. Required courses, including both approving substitutions for a required course and waiving the requirement for specific courses.
      2. Internship requirements.
      3. Residency requirements.
      4. Foreign language requirements.
    3. In all cases, the minimum requirements stated in Graduate Council academic policies must be met unless an exception is provided by the Dean of the Graduate School.

Procedure

P1 - Requesting Exceptions to Graduate Council Academic Requirements

Revision History

  • Approved by the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of The Graduate School, March 2, 2021. Effective immediately.
    • New policy.
This page was generated on April 23, 2024 at 9:51 AM local time. This may not be the most recent version of this page. Check the Penn State Graduate School website for updates.