Retaking Courses/Forgiveness Policy

Retaking a Course

A student may retake a course in which he or she has earned a grade of D+, D, D- or F.  For courses retaken after a first grade of F, both the original F and the grade earned when the course is retaken are calculated in the GPA. Credits are awarded for the second course enrollment, assuming the student earns a passing grade.

For courses retaken after a first grade of D+, D or D-, both the original and the subsequent grade are calculated in the GPA, but credits for the course are only awarded once. Courses transferred from other institutions are not covered by this policy.

Requesting Forgiveness of an Earlier Grade 

Students who earned a grade of D+, D, D-, or F in a course may request permission to retake the course to exclude the original grade from their GPA and exclude the original credits from their earned hours through the grade forgiveness policy. In exceptional cases, students who earned a C- may petition the Academic Standing Committee for permission to retake the course for grade forgiveness. 

Students will not be permitted forgiveness for a low or failing grade in a course in which they were found guilty of an Academic Integrity violation. The Drew Seminar is not repeatable but students who earned a grade of D+, D, D-, or F may use WRTG 120/ Academic Writing for DSEM grade forgiveness. Grade forgiveness is not needed for DREW 110 as an unsatisfactory (U) grade is not included in a student’s GPA. Students may retake Drew 110 until a grade of P is achieved. Students may not request to use the forgiveness policy when enrolling in a course at another institution.

The later grade will be counted in the GPA, even if the student earns a lower grade on the second attempt. Each student is limited to a collective total of three grade forgiveness attempts during their entire undergraduate career. Students may not invoke the grade forgiveness policy more than one time for any given course. Withdrawing from a class after requesting forgiveness in that course will be considered a forgiveness attempt.

Although the earlier grade will still be listed on the transcript, it will be marked with an “E” indicating that the grade has been excluded from the student’s GPA.

The grade forgiveness policy will not be applied automatically. Students must make a formal request for grade forgiveness through the online form found in TreeHouse under the Student tab. The request to retake a course must be made at the time of registering to retake the course but before the registration has occurred. Approval to retake a course under the grade forgiveness policy is not automatic and must be approved by the department chair of the requested course. If grade forgiveness is approved, the student will need to register themselves for the class section in TreeHouse. Grade forgiveness approval does not guarantee seat availability in the class section, nor does it grant approval for any other registration restrictions.