A "late withdrawal" petition is a request to waive the deadline for removing a course (“dropping a course”) from your transcript. Normally, the University sets a deadline, usually around two-thirds of the way through the term of study of the course in question, by which you are required to formally withdraw from a course (“drop” a course) if you do not want the course on your transcript.
At a Glance
If you do not drop a course by the withdrawal deadline you may opt to use the Withdrawn from Course Option to be withdrawn from a course up to the final day of classes; those courses will remain on your transcript showing as “W” (Withdrawn). No credit will be retained and they will not be included in the student’s grade point average.
With the exception of a first year late withdrawal petition (see the special note below) a Course Performance Summary CPS (PDF) form is required for each petitioned course.
When the Committee on Student Academic Petitions considers a petition for late withdrawal, one of three decisions will result:
- Granted, with removal of the course from the transcript;
- Granted, with the course remaining on the transcript designated by a “W” and excluded from credits and grade point averages.
NOTE: If you are granted a "W" for a course, you may NOT appeal to have the original grade reinstated. - Refused.
Guidelines
General 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 drop a course 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- Opting to use the Withdrawn from Course Option to be withdrawn from a course up to the final day of classes with the course remaining on the transcript showing as “W” (Withdrawn).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
Your personal letter - and must provide a detailed, date-specific account of the extenuating circumstances that you believe justify a waiver of the withdrawal 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. The University requires the completion of an Attending Physician's Statement (APS) form to document medical grounds.
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 drop your poorer grades, and keep your better ones.
Graded Feedback
For most courses (Grading Scheme and Feedback Policy) course directors are required to provide graded feedback (15% for a fall, winter or summer term course; 30% for a full year course) by the withdrawal deadline. You must complete work on time, as originally scheduled, to be eligible for this graded feedback.
You are not entitled to an extension of the withdrawal deadline because you had work deferred or waived. You will assume responsibility for the academic risks of proceeding in a course without the benefit of graded feedback which would have been available to you if you had completed work on time.
At the same time, if the course director fails to provide the class with the graded feedback required by the withdrawal deadline, you must petition for late withdrawal immediately after the class receives the required graded feedback. You are not entitled to wait for additional feedback, or in any way to delay submission of your petition beyond the point when the class is issued the required feedback. In all cases, it is your responsibility to obtain the graded feedback when it is made available to the class.
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.
First Year Late Withdrawal
A Special Note on Courses Completed in a Student's First Year of Study
The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies is sensitive to the transitional issues faced by students in their first year of university studies. The Faculty exercises leniency in its consideration of petitions for late withdrawal where:
- the student was attending York University for the first time.
- the courses were completed in the 12 months consecutive to when the student first began a course at York University.
- the petition is submitted within one year from the end of classes of the course in question.
Petitions which meet these conditions will be considered on an expedited basis and do not require the submission of the Course Performance Summary forms. If granted, the qualifying courses will remain on a student’s transcript with a “W” (Withdrawn from Course) notation, and be excluded from credits and grade point averages.
If your petition does NOT meet the one year submission deadline, or you are asking to have the course(s) removed from your transcript, your petition must be submitted as a regular Late Withdrawal petition.
- Any petition submitted as "First Year Late Withdrawal" that is beyond one year or requests to have the course(s) dropped from the transcript will be converted to a regular Late Withdrawal petition.
- Regular Late Withdrawal petitions require the student to submit a Course Performance Summary (CPS) form for each petitioned course.
- Failure to provide the mandatory CPS forms will result in the cancellation of the petition. Regular Late Withdrawal petitions also require a detailed personal letter, and supporting documentation.
- Your petition letter must address the missed submission and withdrawal deadlines, and your grounds must be fully documented.
- The Committee will evaluate your academic performance and the requirements of the course, both before and after the withdrawal deadline; scrutinize timelines; consider the relevance of prior academic or petition warnings; and look at how promptly you submitted the petition relative to the published submission deadline.
- In short, your circumstances, and your decisions and actions, and the timing of those decisions and actions, will be thoroughly considered in advance of a decision.