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The School of Engineering periodically reviews everyone’s transcripts, typically in early January and in early June, once all of the grades for the previous semester are in. The goal is to identify students who have not been making adequate progress towards graduation; these students will then be discussed in a meeting of the Academic Performance Committee.

The committee considers primarily students who are not in good academic standing. Lacking good academic standing is determined by a number of factors, primarily:

  • Low cumulative GPA: If your cumulative GPA is below 2.0, your case will likely be discussed by the committee.

  • Low major GPA: If your in-major GPA (your GPA calculated across only math, science and engineering courses) is below 2.0, your case will likely be discussed by the committee.

  • Too few CUs: Normally, you should complete at least 4 CUs per semester. If you have been completing fewer, e.g., because you originally registered for 4 CUs but then had to drop or withdraw from one, your case might be discussed by the committee. The same is true if you complete fewer than 8 CUs in a year.

  • Too many F/I/W/GR grades: If you fail a class, withdraw from more than one class, have more than one incomplete, or you have a GR grade (which is typically given when you enroll in a class and never show up), your case will likely be discussed by the committee.

  • Not following your major: If you have declared, say, CSCI as your major, but you have been mostly taking classes in philosophy or economics, the committee will be concerned that you are not making enough progress towards your declared major.

If your case is discussed, the committee will gather information from various sources, such as your academic advisor, your undergraduate chair, and the RAS office, and it will then decide whether to take an action. The committee can give you a warning, it can put you on academic probation, or it can drop you from the program. These actions are discussed in more detail below.

If an action is taken, you will be notified by email.

If you get such a notification, don’t panic. In many cases, the email sounds worse than the situation actually is. The important thing is to talk with the CIS Advising staff and/or your academic advisor as soon as possible! The worst thing you can do is ignore the email. The problem will not go away on its own!

Academic warning

The action with the smallest impact that the committee can take is to send you a warning. This has no immediate consequences for you; the email will say what the issue was (e.g., you failed a class, or you completed too few CUs), and it will state that your record will be reviewed again at the next meeting of the committee, which will probably happen after the grades for the following Fall or Spring semester have been posted.

The warning will not appear on your transcript, and it will not be visible to anyone other than RAS, advising staff, and your academic advisor. All you need to do in this case is to promptly fix whatever the issue was. This can be as easy as declaring your actual major (if you have been following a different one than the one you originally declared), or taking more CUs the next semester (if you had taken too few). If your GPA was dangerously low, you can pick some easier classes the next semester. The advising staff and your academic advisor can help you decide what the best course of action is.

Academic probation

Academic probation has a larger impact than a warning, and is given only when there are additional signs of academic difficulty. While you are on probation, you can take at most 4.5 CUs per semester; the idea is to give you some time to improve your performance. If this results in severe hardship, you can petition for a higher limit.

Probation does not appear on your transcript, and if you convincingly fix the academic issues that the committee points out, you will likely be taken off probation again after a few semesters. Typically the committee will want to see at least two semesters of good progress. However, if your difficulties continue during the following semesters, the committee might eventually decide to drop you from the program (see below).

As with a warning, you will be notified via email; the email will state specific difficulties that the committee noted, and you should discuss them with the advising staff and your academic advisor as soon as possible.

If the issues are very serious, the email will include a drop warning and/or some conditions, such as developing a detailed academic plan, or specific deadlines. This indicates that you are in danger of being dropped from the university (discussed next).

Academic drop

In very serious circumstances, the committee can decide to issue an academic drop. This means that you cannot continue your studies at Penn, and that you must leave the university. If you feel that the decision is wrong, or if there is a significant hardship that the committee may not have considered, you can still appeal the decision, so your very first step in this situation should be to contact the CIS Advising staff as soon as possible, to see what your options are.

If an appeal fails or is not likely to succeed, you can apply to return to the university after one year, assuming that this was the first time you were dropped. A second drop is usually final. Please review the undergraduate handbook carefully; for instance, one important rule is that, if you take courses elsewhere while on drop status, you cannot transfer these courses to Penn once you return.

What should I do?

Please talk to somebody! The CIS Advising staff have lots of appointment slots and drop-in hours. We can explain what the decision means, help you develop a plan for moving forward successfully, and help you be more proactive in the future. We can also help connect you to resources across the university to help get your degree back on track.