Readmission Procedures for Previously Enrolled Students of the University of Massachusetts Lowell
The university does not grant leaves of absence to students who wish to interrupt their baccalaureate studies. For more information about withdrawal options, please contact the Office of the Registrar. Accordingly, students who have withdrawn from the university and who seek readmission must file an application for readmission with the Registrar's Office. Your options for readmission, including qualified, unqualified, and probationary readmission are explained below. When resources of a college or program render it necessary to limit enrollments, the Registrar's Office will establish a waiting list of applicants for transfer and reinstatement. Different admission and/or enrollment criteria, above and beyond minimum program requirements, may be applied to these individuals to ensure the admission and readmission of the most qualified applicants for the limited openings.
Upper division students in the College of Health Sciences who have withdrawn must make individual arrangements with appropriate chairpersons to reserve their spaces in courses for the semester of the anticipated return to the university. Unless such special arrangements have been made, reinstatement by the Office of the Registrar cannot ensure full resumption of a student’s course of study. Please note that other departments may also have additional requirements for reinstatement.
In the event that readmission applicants wish to change their programs and/or to seek readmission to the university in a college other than that which they previously attended, their reinstatement must be approved by the chairperson of the program to which they seek admission and the appropriate college dean or his/her designee. If program enrollments permit, approval for such readmission will be granted to students who satisfy all program admission requirements. Individuals who seek re-admission to the university in a college other than that which they previously attended will be subject to re-evaluation procedures that are specified for enrolled students who seek an intercollegiate transfer (cf. policies governing intercollegiate transfers which appear elsewhere in this publication under the heading “Academic Policies: Change of Major with Intercollegiate Transfer”). Individuals who apply for intercollegiate transfers must submit their applications no later than November 1 for Spring semester reinstatement and April 1 for Fall semester reinstatement.
Unqualified Reinstatement
Individuals who were students in satisfactory academic standing prior to their withdrawal and who have not been absent from the university for more than one semester are automatically reinstated to the programs in which they were previously enrolled and are subject to curriculum requirements that are in effect for the classes to which they previously belonged. Application for readmission must be filed with the Office of the Registrar.
Qualified Reinstatement
Students who have been absent from the university for four or more continuous semesters are subject to the rules and regulations of the university which are in effect at the time of their readmission rather than at the time of their original admission. If program enrollments permit, individuals who were students in satisfactory academic standing prior to their withdrawal ordinarily are reinstated to the programs in which they were previously enrolled. However, during an individual’s absence some programs may have established higher entrance and retention requirements and he or she may be denied reinstatement for failure to satisfy these requirements.
Individuals are not automatically reinstated to the programs in which they were previously enrolled when they have been absent from the university for periods exceeding ten years. Course work that has been completed prior to ten years of the date of readmission is generally recognized only through those examination procedures described in the policy statements for course equivalency. Such course work may also be evaluated on an individual basis by the academic standards committee of the college in which an applicant desires to re-establish his or her matriculation. Students who wish to have such course work evaluated by the committee must present their cases in writing to the committee.
Individuals who have been suspended from the university for unsatisfactory academic standing may apply for readmission only within policies that govern probationary readmission.
Probationary Readmission
A student who has been suspended from the university is entitled to apply for readmission as a full-time probationary student but may not initiate his or her probationary studies before an absence from the university for one semester. Application for readmission to all programs is made through the Office of the Registrar.
Upon the receipt of an application, the Office of the Registrar will forward all readmission papers to the department of the college to which the student applies. Except as prohibited by the academic policies of professional colleges, suspended students may petition for readmission to the university with probationary status. All suspended students may petition for readmission to the college in which they were previously enrolled and may request re-enrollment in the former major or readmission with a change of major.
Students who are readmitted to colleges from which they were previously suspended must achieve satisfactory academic standing for all course hours completed by the end of their probationary semester. Students who are permitted to make an intercollegiate transfer will be required to attain a probation average of 2.000 in order to achieve satisfactory academic standing.
After securing recommendations from appropriate departments and studying the previous academic record of the student, the department will outline the requirements which the student must satisfy as a condition for his or her probation (specific courses to be taken, conference schedules with faculty advisors, and any other special or general academic condition which may be construed as necessary for the student’s successful completion of his or her probationary studies). In determining such requirements for probation, the department shall prescribe a sufficient number of courses for a student who has been readmitted to the college from which he or she has been suspended, which shall make the achievement of satisfactory academic standing reasonably possible during a full-time semester of probation.
A student who has been dismissed from the university needs to review the Academic Standing policy for Academic Dismissal.