Petitions
An Undergraduate Student Petition must be completed for various issues which may arise during a student's academic career. Pre-approval requests no longer require a petition and are made by submitting a request through EASy.
Examples of student petitions:
- Course Substitutions:
- Requesting to take an upper-division course as a Technical Elective in place of courses listed in the pre-approved lists
- Requesting to substitute a UC San Diego course with another course taken at UC San Diego
- Requesting to substitute a UC San Diego course with another course taken at another institution (Not necessary if the course is listed on assist.org as equivalent). General Education courses (Math, Chemistry, Physics, etc.) should be routed directly to the corresponding department
- Requesting to substitute a course with courses taken abroad
- Please note that core courses cannot be substituted. All NANO or CENG courses listed as part of the major curriculum, with the exception of technical electives, are designated as core courses and cannot be substituted with an alternate course.
- Major Requirement Waiver
- Requesting to graduate with “D” in any course that is a major requirement except CENG or NANO core courses
- Requesting to take graduate courses as part of CENG or NANO degree (Only students with junior or senior standing and a minimum 3.0 gpa can enroll in graduate level courses with permission)
How Do I Submit a Petition?
- Have your UC San Diego student PID# and password ready.
- Log in via Undergraduate Petition portal.
- Complete the petition request with course information and the reason for the petition.
- Attach any supporting documents such as course syllabus, homework assignments, exam questions, project reports, etc., anything that will provide further information on the courses being petitioned. Only PDF files will be accepted.
What is the Process of Submitting a Petition?
Once the petition has been submitted it will first be reviewed by an advisor, then the teaching faculty, and finally the Undergraduate Affairs Committee (UAC) Chair. Once processed, the student will be notified of the decision via Virtual Advising Center (VAC) - an email will be sent to the student's UC San Diego email account alerting them that a VAC message is awaiting their review. Note: It may take 5-7 business days for petitions to be fully processed.
Enrollment Authorization System (EASy requests)
Students are expected to complete all prerequisites and meet all course restrictions prior to enrolling in any undergraduate course offered through the Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at UC San Diego. Prerequisites and restrictions are enforced in all courses. Prerequisites/restrictions may, under exceptional circumstance, be waived with instructor consent.
- Prerequisites are courses which must be completed prior to enrollment in the subsequent course to ensure adequate preparation. To request pre-approval for enrollment in a course where a pre-requisite is not yet completed, students must complete the justification section of the EASy request as to why they are requesting to waive a prerequisite.
- Restrictions are enrollment limitations put upon a course. Most commonly, courses are restricted to certain class levels (junior/senior only, for example) or to certain majors. Restrictions may also be put in place to manage seat capacity.
An undergraduate student will submit a Course Pre-authorization request for the following reasons:
- Pre-approval for enrollment to a class that has restrictions (major, class level, etc)
- When a course requires department approval
- Pre-approval to waive a course prerequisite under special circumstances (must be outlined by the student in the justification section)
- When an undergraduate student wishes to enroll in a graduate level course. (Only students with junior or senior standing and a minimum 3.0 gpa can enroll in graduate level courses with permission.)
How to request a Course Pre-authorization
- Have your Student User ID/PID and Password/PAC ready
- Submit a request via the UC San Diego Course Pre-authorization System. (Be sure to include the Section ID number of the course for which you seek approval in the justification area. Requests without a Section ID included will not be considered).
- A submission confirmation email will be sent to the student's @ucsd.edu account.
- Once a final decision is made on the request, an email will be sent to the student's @ucsd.edu account. Note: It may take 5-7 business days for EASy requests to be fully processed.
- If the Course Pre-authorization (EASy) request is approved, it is the student's responsibility to add (or waitlist, if full) the course via WebReg. All standard add/drop deadlines apply.
Important Notes
- Submit as early as possible! With busy schedules, travelling faculty and faculty who go on sabbatical, petitions and pre-approval requests may require a longer review period than expected. The sooner a petition or request is submitted, the sooner it will be reviewed. Final decision time will vary and is dependent on instructor response time.
- System availability coincides with the release of the Schedule of Classes for the given quarter and is available until 4:00 pm on Friday of the second week of classes
- Any petitions or approvals for non-engineering courses (i.e. Chemistry, Math, Physics, etc) must be submitted directly to their respective department.
Visiting Non-UC San Diego students
Individuals with visiting student status who are taking the course(s) at UC San Diego (e.g. in Summer Session, via an exchange program, student-employee program, etc.) may have prerequisites/restrictions waived for any undergraduate course. Visiting students should utilize the UC San Diego Enrollment Authorization System to request such waivers.
Note: Students enrolling via UC San Diego Extension's Concurrent Enrollment program or the Cross-Enrollment program should NOT use the UC San Diego Course Pre-Authorization System. Enrollment is processed via the respective paper form/card.