Term Change Policy

The Graduate School considers requests for term changes on a case by case basis. Term changes are granted for extraordinary circumstances outside the students control. Examples include:

• Unable to enroll in the academic term due to medical reasons, natural disasters, or other unforeseen, unpredictable circumstances 
• Unable to obtain visa documents to successfully make it to the United States before the admitted term begins

Term change requests are not granted for voluntary or preference based reasons, such as taking a gap year or starting a full time job.

Requirements for requesting a term change

• Term changes must be requested before the term for which the student was originally admitted begins.
• Term changes can be requested for adjacent terms only.* Spring term is considered adjacent to fall or adjacent to summer.
• Only one term change will be approved per application.

Approved term change restrictions

• Once a term change is approved and processed, the student forfeits the option to begin in their originally admitted term.
• If the student does not begin in the new term, a second term change will not be approved.
• International students must comply with full-time enrollment requirements applicable to their new term of entry.
• International students who term change into a summer term must enroll in courses that begin in either the DHH or HEE session and are not allowed to enroll in courses in any other summer session.

Term Change Process in Slate

Term change requests can only be completed for admitted applicants (students) and must be completed before their initial term is scheduled to start. The process is initiated by the applicant or student via written communication to the program. If the program approves the term change, follow the instructions below.

1. Search for the applicant in Slate and click into the appropriate application tab
   
   
2. Select the Request Term Change link, shown in the screenshot below. If the link is not clickable, that means that the student is not yet admitted to the Graduate School for the original application term, and therefore a term change request cannot be completed. (In this scenario, the student is likely either missing official transcripts or English proficiency test scores.)
   
   
   
3. Fill out the Term Change Request form, which is shown in screenshot below. You will be required to provide the new requested term, the program reason for a term change, and also upload proof that the applicant has requested this term change (typically a PDF of an email exchange).
   
   
   
   
4. Select Submit button to enter your term change request.
   
   
5. On the application tab, you will see that a term change request will be submitted for this applicant, as shown in the screenshot below. The "Approve/Deny" line will show the status of the Graduate School review. If it is blank, the term change request has yet to be reviewed.
   
   
   
   

What happens after a term change request is submitted?

• The term change request is added to the Graduate School Admissions team's processing tasks. We try to get through these tasks every couple of days.
• If the Graduate School Admissions team denies the request, the Graduate Coordinator who filled out the request will receive a denial notice email. The application status will not change as a result; the student will remain admitted to the original term.
• If the Graduate School Admissions team approves the request, the Graduate Coordinator who filled out the request will receive an approval notice email. The term change will cause several important updates to the applicant's applications:
  • The application to the original program will be withdrawn. It will have the status of "Withdrawn - Term Change."
  • A new application to the same program for the new term will be created, containing the same admit codes from the previous (now withdrawn) application. 
  • The applicant will receive status updates about both of these applications.
• The Graduate School sends an automated email to the Office of the Registrar's Residency Team. The applicant may be requested to fill out another residency application.