Undergraduates enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs are eligible to withdraw from a limited number of classes without the dean’s approval and at the student’s own discretion. Students may process a maximum of three such selective withdrawals during their entire undergraduate career at Mason. The three classes may have any number of credits. Application for Selective Withdrawal is available only during designated period. This period will be posted on the Academic Calendar in each semester.
Due to the limited number of selective withdrawals available to students throughout the entire undergraduate career, students are highly recommended to think carefully before selectively withdrawing from a class. Before doing so, please make sure you talk to the professor and academic advisor. If a student still chooses to do so, the Selective Withdrawal Form can be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs via email at mkaa@gmu.edu. Forms submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.
For undergraduate students, course withdrawal after the selective withdrawal period or after a student has used all three selective withdrawals requires approval by the student's academic dean. This approval is typically given for all courses at once and permitted only for nonacademic reasons that prevent course completion.
For graduate students, withdrawal after the last day to drop a course requires approval by the student's academic dean and is typically permitted only for nonacademic reasons that prevent course completion.
Students who want to withdraw from all courses for a semester after the end of the withdrawal period may do so only for nonacademic reasons with the approval of the academic dean. Undergraduates taking three or fewer classes may use the selective withdrawal for all courses for a semester without dean approval; see AP 1.5.1 Course Withdrawal for Undergraduates. Students who stop attending all classes without the dean's approval and without processing selective withdrawals, if eligible, will receive a grade of F in all courses.
All withdrawals result in a notation of W on the student's transcript for the withdrawn course(s). While a W does not affect the GPA, withdrawn courses are counted as "attempted credit hours,". Course withdrawals are not included in the course repeat count (see AP.1.3.4 Repeating a Course). Once processed, a withdrawal cannot be rescinded.
Course withdrawal will result in a recalculation of student time status based only on enrolled courses remaining after withdrawal. A reduction in time status could have a negative effect in such areas as Financial Aid, access to certain campus facilities, health insurance, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, on-campus housing, and/or financial responsibility for withdrawn courses paid by a third party.
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