Brown University’s enrollment requirement and advanced standing policy, as set by the Corporation, stipulate that all undergraduates must enroll for eight semesters of full-time study or the equivalent in order to receive a degree from the University, and students may not graduate with more than one semester of advanced standing or the equivalent without obtaining prior approval for an exception from the Committee on Academic Standing. Students who wish to graduate with seven semesters of full-time study or the equivalent may use one of the two available pathways in place of one semester of required enrollment by submitting a petition no later than the fifth semester of enrollment. These pathways are:

1. One semester of effective standing based on successful completion of four Brown Summer and/or Brown Winter Session credits; 
   or
2. One semester advancement from approved domestic (or home country) study away at another institution during a regular fall/spring term post-matriculation (not Brown abroad) full-time (or the equivalent).

Petition for (Early) Completion of Degree Requirements Under Exceptional Circumstances

Students (including transfer and Resumed Undergraduate Education students) who wish to advance their standing or complete requirements early and who do not meet the Advanced Standing criteria, or who miss the fifth semester application deadline, may petition for an exception from the Committee on Academic Standing. Petitions will only be approved under exceptional circumstances, and it is anticipated that most petitions will not be approved. The Committee on Academic Standing may consider an exception to Brown’s standing/enrollment requirements when:

• A student faces an extraordinary personal or family circumstance, emergency, or call to duty to which they must attend, and the emergency would unreasonably delay the  student’s ability to meet the ordinary enrollment unit requirement; or
• There is a significant, rare, and time-sensitive opportunity for the student and delaying graduation would have significant negative consequences for taking up the opportunity;

In all cases, the student would have to meet all other graduation requirements except the enrollment unit requirement and be actively enrolled. Petitioning students also must be without existing or pending academic or behavioral code of conduct violations. In no case will an approval of exception provide for graduation with less than 4 semesters of full-time enrollment at Brown. (Brown study abroad semesters do not count toward the required four semesters.)

Student letters of petition should delineate:

1. How a student has or will have completed all other requirements for graduation;
2. What exceptional circumstances the student faces, and documentation that the circumstance requires immediate attention.

Petitions must be received via ASK no later than the first Monday of the month for consideration by the Committee on Academic Standing’s monthly meeting.