A friend of mine had a not so impressive first few years due to being in the wrong program. She was able to switch into a 3-year BA program due to her low CA but has been doing a LOT better in the last year and a half. Her CA is close but not quite at the honors cut off for our program; she wants to shadow it for another year and then apply for the honors at the end of next year, when she'd only have a few more classes to finish up before graduating. Last summer, SOLAR said she was not eligible to graduate but she just got an email telling her she is set to graduate after this semester.

Short of dropping a required class, is there anything she can do? Are there any circumstances where the soc sci faculty would drop failing grades from years ago? If she does drop a required class in order to stay and, say, finishes it up in the summer, would she be able to enroll for the fall/winter?

Originally Posted by Kudos

A friend of mine had a not so impressive first few years due to being in the wrong program. She was able to switch into a 3-year BA program due to her low CA but has been doing a LOT better in the last year and a half. Her CA is close but not quite at the honors cut off for our program; she wants to shadow it for another year and then apply for the honors at the end of next year, when she'd only have a few more classes to finish up before graduating. Last summer, SOLAR said she was not eligible to graduate but she just got an email telling her she is set to graduate after this semester.

Short of dropping a required class, is there anything she can do? Are there any circumstances where the soc sci faculty would drop failing grades from years ago? If she does drop a required class in order to stay and, say, finishes it up in the summer, would she be able to enroll for the fall/winter?

She should talk to an advisor and see if they can conditionally transfer her into the honours program.
The next convocation is spring, so taking summer courses and then trying to transfer in for fall will probably be too late. I don't think the faculty would "drop" the failing grades, but they may choose to grant her admission into the honours program based on her performance in the non-honours stream of the same program.

I am under the impression that yes, you need to graduate once all your requirements are completed, but I don't know what happens if you don't fill out the graduand information card that tells the registrar's office of your intention to graduate.

She should definitely see an advisor ASAP and they can tell her what her options are.

I was in the same situation. forced me to graduate. i was just below the cut off and had to take summer classes to get my CA over it. when they force you to graduate, your considered a continuing student and no longer eligible for osap! brutal. if theres no other options, id say drop the required course and take it next year

Thanks - she's going to see an advisor in the morning, just trying to give her some peace of mind for tonight if that's possible.

So if she is forced to graduate, she can still take classes as a continuing student? Can you upgrade your degree to an honours BA that way? It just seems like such a bummer when her most recent grades are a huge improvement. Sometimes it just takes awhile to find a program that's a fit... I went through it too.

Thanks to everyone that's responded!

depends on the program, but if your not in honours you might have to have certain grades in prerequisites to take those classes. but you can take most classes as a continuing student. which program is it? i dont know why they force students to graduate. probably something to do with $$$$

she'll be considered in the honours program once her average is about the cutoff. wont be official until the end of the year though

It's econ, and most required classes are open without grade cutoffs even for non-honours students. I don't know why they force you to graduate either, you'd think they'd probably want the extra year of tuition from us lol

im also in econ. 3f03 and 4a04 are for honours students, but if your not in the honours program you need at least a 7 in both 2hh3 and 2gg3 to take them.

In commerce (prob similar with other programs), if you have all the course requirements needed to graduate, which by the way your friend should check their degree audit to see if all courses required are fulfilled, then they will definitely force you to graduate the following convocation period. Your friend's best bet is to drop one of her courses, so she isn't eligible to graduate yet. Therefore she can return as a non-continuing student.

Your friend should definitely talk to the academic advisor I know there is this form that you need to fill if you do not want to graduate yet so like if you want to transfer to honors program from BA program even though you meet the requirements of your BA degree then you can fill a form that will hold you from graduating