Rescheduling and Deferring Final Exams
A final examination is an important part of the evaluation of each student’s work and is expected in all courses except seminars, colloquia, studio, or writing courses where final examinations may be unnecessary or inappropriate. The final examination schedule is provided on the left column menu of this page. Except in narrowly defined circumstances, changes in the examination schedule are not allowed.
Rescheduling Examinations
Requests to reschedule a final examination within the examination period should be filed electronically with the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. No changes to the scheduled exam will be permitted to individual students except under the following circumstances:
- If a student is taking a course in which there are two sections taught by the same professor with different final examination periods, the student will have the option of taking the exam in either period (with the consent of the instructor).
- If a student has three scheduled examinations in four consecutive examination periods on consecutive days, one exam may be rescheduled.
- If a student has a conflict between scheduled examinations, one exam may be rescheduled.
Such cases should be discovered as early as possible and proper arrangements made to resolve them by 5:00 p.m. on the last day of classes. The request to change a scheduled exam is managed by the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. In cases involving all business courses, the Director of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Business will make arrangements to resolve the conflict.
All other requests for exceptions to the examination schedule are considered as requests to defer a final examination.
Deferred Examinations
The Office of the Dean of Students handles requests from students unable to take their examinations at the time scheduled on account of documented illness or other extenuating circumstances (such as a death or other family emergency, conflict with a religious holiday, or participation in activities by a student representing the university). Final examinations that are deferred will be scheduled for the beginning of the following regular semester. Students with deferred examinations will typically receive an initial grade of “I”—incomplete.
Final examinations are rescheduled or deferred only for extraordinary and compelling reasons. Students should not assume that a request is approved until they receive written approval from the appropriate dean. Individual faculty members may not grant permission to reschedule or defer a final examination.
At times, unpredictable circumstances present themselves, such as a car breakdown or an accident on the way to a final examination. In such cases, a student should contact the Office of the Dean of Students at the earliest available time to determine possible options.
Students needing to defer their examinations through the Office of the Dean of Students must complete the Final Exam Schedule Adjustment Request that can be found on the Dean of Students Office site.
