Elimination of Provisional Admission

I would like to notify departments of a change in admit/registration types which will be implemented this month.  We will be eliminating the “Provisional” admit and registration types for all graduate students, while still allowing graduate programs to recommend the admission of students with deficiencies or subject to the completion of their prior degree.

The provisional admit/registration type was implemented for tracking purposes for students who were admitted with some reservation on the part of the Department or the Graduate College.  The down side of this procedure has been that in order to change the student into regular status later required manual entries and forms.  As we continue to streamline under the economic cuts, we can no longer afford these manual entries.

Departments may still recommend students who fall short of the admission requirements in the same manner as before.  Students will continue to be admitted only with a waiver request from the department approved by the Graduate College.  We will track these “exceptions” in SIS and COSMOS without the use of the provisional admit/registration type.  Students admitted with an exception will only need to comply with the same GPA requirements as all other graduate students.   They will no longer be held by the Graduate College to a 3.25 GPA in the first 12 units of their graduate program.

By February 15, 2009 the “provisional status” will no longer be available in COSMOS on the department evaluation page as a recommendation option.  By the end of March 2009 all actively enrolled students in SIS with a provisional admit or registration type will be converted to regular status.  Again, this does not change the “subject to” admit requirements such as deficiencies and final transcripts.  If a student was admitted provisionally with deficiencies or final document requirements, they will be changed to a regular admission status with those same deficiencies or final document requirements in place.  

This change should reduce paperwork, time, and frustration for departments and students alike.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes please do not hesitate to contact one of the admissions staff.  Our Graduate College front counter telephone number is 621-3471 and you can also email us at:  gradadm@grad.arizona.edu.

Maria Teresa Velez, Ph.D.
Associate Dean, Graduate College