Course Substitutions

This page address the procedure when a current iSchool student wishes to take a course that is not officially designated as meeting a graduation requirement for the degree program in the School of Information Sciences in which the student is enrolled. The course could be within the School, within the University, or outside of the University (though if outside the University, the student would also have to transfer the course to Pitt).

Note: this process is intended for current students and is not the process where faculty evaluate previous courses taken elsewhere as part of the admissions process. Furthermore, the proposed course must NOT have been used to fulfill the requirements for any other degree.

1. The student contacts her/his advisor about the out-of-program course they wish to have applied towards graduation requirements.

2. The advisor has the student write a letter (addressed to Program Chair) that

a. makes the request to have the course applied towards graduation requirements

b. includes a rationale for why this particular course addresses their program of study

c. includes a copy of the course description and course syllabus

3. The advisor reviews the materials and makes the assessment.

4. The advisor reports to the Program Chair and states whether they think the student has made their case.

5. The Program Chair makes the final decision based on the advisor's input and notifies the advisor of that decision.

6. The advisor emails the final decision to the student and CC's the appropriate Student Services contact person.

7. The Student Services contact person prints copy of the advisor's email and puts it in the student's file.

8. If the substitution is approved and the course is not a Pitt course or not covered by PCHE cross-registration policies, the student must send an official transcript that reports the grade for course to:

Ninette Kay
505 Information Sciences Building
135 North Bellefield Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

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This site was created by:
The Office of Student Services
The School of Information Sciences
The University of Pittsburgh
Last update: 3/21/12