Petitions and Record Requests

There are varying deadlines to add/drop courses within any term, please refer to the Graduate College Academic Calendar. However, Graduate students should attempt to finalize their schedule by the 10th day of instruction. University reporting is done based on 10th-day registration reports, this may impact your financial aid, appointment status with the University, visa status, loan deferment, etc.

Graduate College does not have a minimum number of hours a student must register for. However, the student’s department may have a minimum requirement, or the student may be expected to meet a minimum registration requirement for other purposes (financial aid, visa status, fellowship, loan deferment, etc.)

If you are in a classroom, or in order to be given access to online course materials, you must register appropriately. You are also required to register if it is your first term of enrollment, the term you are taking your preliminary or final exam for your doctoral dissertation, or if you hold a waiver-generating appointment (applicable to Fall and Spring terms). Please see the Chapter 2 of the Graduate College Handbook for further information on registration.

There is no way to register for an “empty” course simply to maintain your student email and to avoid having to apply for re-entry. Students may want to look into our Registration Options Brochure to compare alternative registration options.

Petitions are used to request an exception to a deadline or published Graduate College policy, or to change something on their academic record, e.g. changing your major curriculum or adding a minor to your student record. The form to make this request is called the Graduate Student Request Form, commonly known as the petition form.

Contact your major department. They will be able to give you the status of your request.

Your graduate level cumulative GPA consists of all courses taken while enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Illinois (i.e. taken at the 1G level).

The Credit for Repeated Courses policy is located in Chapter 3 of the Graduate Handbook. Previous grades are not replaced if the course is repeated. All grades will be used to calculate your cumulative GPA.

Your instructor must submit the grade change through the appropriate methods to the Office of the Registrar. Please be aware if grades are not turned in by the posted deadlines, your “I” grade may result in an F by Rule. Please refer to policy on Incomplete grades in Chapter 3 of the Graduate Handbook.