Petitions and Exceptions

Thurgood Marshall College accepts coursework petitions for students who wish to utilize courses from other institutions, or courses not listed on the General Education page, toward the satisfaction of College GE requirements. If the student has completed a transfer course, an official transcript will need to be submitted to the UCSD Office of Admissions via Parchment.

Note: Petitions to apply AP or IB credit toward GE requirements that are not listed on the appropriate AP or IB chart will not be reviewed. If credit is not applying on your degree audit as described on the AP or IB chart, please send a VAC message to Marshall College for assistance with your inquiry.

Please review the information below regarding the process for applying coursework toward your General Education Requirements: 

Step 1: Determine if the course has a UCSD Approximation on ASSIST.org.

If the course is listed with an approximation on ASSIST.org, no petition is required. Your degree audit will be automatically updated once the course appears on your record.

If the course is not listed with an approximation on ASSIST.org, please proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Review the Course Exceptions List to see if your course is listed

Course Exceptions for College GE Requirements

Step 3: Complete the following, based on how the course appears on the Approved Exceptions List

• If the status is Approved, no petition is required. Once the course appears on your record, please send a VAC message to Marshall College to request an update to your degree audit for the noted requirement.
• If the status is Disapproved, the course cannot be petitioned or used toward the stated requirement.
• If the course does not appear on this list, and it does not have an approximation on ASSIST.org, please submit an undergraduate petition following the instructions below: 
  • Please submit an Undergraduate Student Petition and a course syllabus to Marshall Advising via the Marshall College Petition and Document Submission Form.  Please enter your UCSD email on the sign-in screen to access the form. Please make sure to note the following:
    • For College GE petitions, please select the ‘College Exceptions’ box.
    • Under request, please outline the requirement you hope to satisfy (Example: To use ART 1 toward the Fine Arts Requirement).
    • Under reason for request, please share why you are petitioning the course.
    • Please sign and date your petition before submission.

Note: Please do not submit petitions for major-related exceptions through the Marshall College Petition and Document Submission Form. Please contact your major department through the Virtual Advising Center to learn how you can submit petitions to your department.

If you have questions regarding the Marshall College Petition and Document Submission Form, or questions regarding petitioning GE requirements, please let us know.

Study Abroad Coursework

All coursework taken abroad must be petitioned in order to utilize the course for Marshall GE requirements. 

Students petitioning Study Abroad Coursework must submit an undergraduate student petition [PDF] and the Course Syllabus (course descriptions will not be accepted). 

If the course being petitioned is for a Significant Writing requirement, students must submit their course papers in addition to the information listed above.

The Academic Senate at UC San Diego requires students to petition of university policies, including, but not limited to:

• Retroactive withdrawals (with and without a ‘W’) from a course, or from a Quarter
• Retroactive or Extension of Incomplete
• Retroactive Add Course
• Exception to Graduation Requirements

Students in good academic standing may request to repeat a course in which they have received a non-passing grade (D, F or NP) two times.

A message must be submitted to the Virtual Advising Center (VAC) with the following information:

• The course and quarter during which a student wishes to repeat it
• The student’s proposed course schedule for the quarter
• Obstacles that prevented success in previous attempts
• Steps student will take to pass the courses

Completion Plans

Students will receive a notification that they are approaching their final permitted enrollment quarter through their Virtual Advising Center contact record. In the event that a student needs additional time to complete the degree, they can submit a Completion Plan upon receipt of the VAC notifciation. To assist students with submitting an accurate plan, we recommend the following: 

• Review your Academic History: Your Academic History serves as a comprehensive listing of transfer units awarded, all courses completed at UC San Diego, as well as the units and grades earned for UC courses.
• Run a new Degree Audit: Your degree audit outlines the status of your undergraduate degree requirements. It is important to understand the difference between major, minor, college, and university requirements before completing the Completion Plan.
• Select ‘Load Academic History’ or manually enter your academic history into the degree planner: Providing your full academic history allows for a more comprehensive review of your academic plan.
• Correctly label your coursework: Please refer to your degree audit to see if coursework is applying to your Major or College GE requirements. For lower-division courses that are fulfilling requirements in both areas, please select ‘Major/General Education’ as the category. 
• Correctly label your units: Confirm the number of units you earned for each completed course. If you received a grade of NP, or F, please make sure to assign zero (0) units to the course. Likewise, please enter the number of units you anticipate earning for future courses.
• Explain your plan: Share why you are seeking to extend your graduation timeline, as well as feedback on unique elements of your plan, including if you plan to repeat any courses, completed coursework outside of UC San Diego, or completed a transfer agreement prior to attending UC San Diego. If all academic requirements are complete, please indicate why you are seeking to continue enrollment at UC San Diego (examples: satisfying graduate school prerequisites, studying abroad, etc.). 

We strongly encourage you to submit your plan as soon as possible to allow enough time for your major department(s) and Marshall College to review before a hold is applied to your academic record. 

 For questions regarding the Completion Plan process, please contact Marshall College Academic Advising through the VAC or during our Drop-In Advising Hours.

Senior Residency

Students who will not be completing 35 of their final 45 units at UC San Diego (due to studying abroad or taking courses at another institution) must petition the Senior Residency requirement prior to Graduation. 

To learn more, please contact TMC Academic Advising via the Virtual Advising Center.

Double Major Petitions

Students who wish to declare a second major must submit a Double Major Petition. Petitions must be approved by both academic departments before being submitted to TMC Academic Advising.