Former Quarter Drop FAQs

Your campus registrar will review the FQD and supporting materials. If they can approve your request based on the statement and supporting materials that you have provided with your petition, they will let you know that it was approved and the previous grade earned will be changed to “RD” for Registrar Drop, the grade points and credits will be taken out of your quarterly and cumulative GPA. The course, course number, and RD will remain on your academic transcript.

If the campus registrar is not able to initially approve the petition, it will be referred to the Former Quarter Drop Review Committee. A member of the Committee will contact you to discuss your petition and will recommend a decision to the campus registrar. This process is over a sixty-day (60) period.

If your petition directly indicates that you are seeking a Former Quarter Drop for grade point average (GPA) modification reasons and/or you do not provide information as to why you are only requesting to drop one or more courses and not all of your enrolled courses for the quarter, with adequate supporting statements and materials, your petition is likely to be denied by your campus registration team without being sent to the Former Quarter Drop Review Committee.

Petitions may not be approved if the Former Quarter Drop Review Committee finds that your situation does not meet the criteria outlined for granting a Former Quarter Drop (FQD).

There is no appeal process for Former Quarter Drop petitions that are not able to be approved.

Examples include:

Supporting Materials Issues

• Supporting materials detailing how the course under petition was specifically affected by the situation (for partial FQDs) is not provided
• Supporting materials such as death certificate were not provided or the familial relationship to the deceased was not clearly substantiated
• Third-party professional supporting materials were not provided
• Supporting materials have not been translated into English by an accredited translator or third-party professional, or their contact information is not provided
• Supporting materials were provided by family members or friends, as opposed to UW or external professionals not related or personally connected to the petitioner

Other Issues

• The situation is considered an academic issue, and therefore not under the jurisdiction of the FQD Review Committee.
  • For academic issues, please review the Grade Appeal Procedure
• Request was made to improve GPA and/or improve opportunity for internal UW admissions application reasons.
  • The Former Quarter Drop process is not intended for grade renewal on individual courses or for grade forgiveness purposes.
• The situation is not considered beyond the student’s control
• A Former Quarter Drop was already granted for the same/similar reason(s) in the preceding quarter
• The student’s degree has already been conferred.
  Note: Petitions for students who have already earned their University of Washington degree will not be forwarded to the FQD Review Committee since we cannot make changes to academic history after a student’s degree has been posted.