Dean’s Exemption Committee Petitions

Please use this link to submit petitions to Dean’s Exemption Committee. See below for details.

It is extremely important that you provide the Committee with full and complete information about your request — depending on the nature of the request, this could include course number and section, number of credits, semester, etc. If your request does not include full and complete information, it may be rejected or may take additional time to consider.

Petitions for exemption from academic requirements, e.g., the Add deadline or the residency requirement, are considered by the Dean’s Exemption Committee. The Committee is made up of faculty from the Academic Standards and Awards Committee; the Dean of Students; and a representative of the Provost and Dean of the College. The decisions of the committee are individual and are not considered as establishing precedent.

Please be aware that this process is not “automatic” – some requests are denied. The Committee considers each petition on a case-by-case basis.

Two types of waivers will be automatically granted upon completion of the form.

  1. Students who wish to take more than 4 credits per semester on the Credit/No Credit grading scheme will be approved so long as one of the 2 classes is required by the College to be taken Credit/No Credit. Students are still not permitted to take more than 16 total credits on the Credit/No Credit basis.
  2. Students who wish to add a semester internship after the add deadline will be approved so long as they make the request by October 1st for the Fall term and February 15 for the Spring term.

Petitions for a waiver of regulations are generally not approved if the request can be met via an already established mechanism. Petitions are also generally not approved without evidence of extenuating circumstances.

Common requests to the Committee include requests for a waiver of deadlines or for a waiver of the residency requirement. You should educate yourself about the appropriate deadlines (e.g., the Add/Drop deadline and the deadline for a Student-Initiated Withdrawal) and not miss them. You should also be aware that Allegheny College requires that the final 16 credits towards a student’s graduation requirements be taken “in residence,” i.e., through enrollment at Allegheny (students need not be physically present on campus to be “in residence” in terms of enrollment). If you hope to transfer in credits to complete your degree requirements, you will need the permission of the Dean’s Exemption Committee.

To request an exemption:

  1. Complete the form linked above. You will need to explain:
    • The requirement or policy you are asking to be exempted from;
    • The reason you did not or will not meet the requirement (e.g., why you missed the Add deadline);
    • Any other pertinent information that will help the Committee to understand the circumstances of your request.
  1. Alert your academic advisor that they will be asked to write a letter supporting or commenting on your request. The Committee cannot consider requests without advisor approval.
  1. Alert your course instructor that they will be asked to write a letter of support if you are requesting to Add or Drop a course after the deadline. The Committee cannot approve requests to Add a class without permission from the instructor.

Submission of the student request will trigger a request to the academic advisor (and course instructor if appropriate) to provide a letter of support.

If you have questions, please e-mail registrar@allegheny.edu or call 814-332-2357.