Telfer appeal committee

The Telfer Appeal Committee evaluates appeal requests submitted by students seeking exceptions. The exceptions can be related to different items, such as deadlines, program requirements, academic regulations, readmission, graduation, etc.

The Committee is composed of three members from the Undergraduate Leadership Team and meets on a weekly basis during the Fall and Winter terms, and bi-weekly during the Summer term. The Committee appreciates the time sensitive nature of some requests and looks to respond to requests within one week. While the committee does not meet with students, it does review all documents that are provided with the appeal request.

The role of the Committee is to determine whether:

  • the circumstances described and documentation attached in the submission are extraordinary enough to qualify for an exception;
  • the exception can be made regardless of the circumstances, as this will set a precedent.

While the Telfer Appeal Committee understands that students can be faced with academic and/or personal challenges, it will never approve any of the following exceptions, regardless of the circumstances and justifications provided. If a student submits an appeal request for any of these exceptions, their request will not be reviewed and they will receive a response accordingly. The exceptions are:

Special accommodation requests: all academic accommodations must be submitted to the Academic Accommodations Team (formerly known as SASS). The Telfer Appeal Committee does not have the required expertise to assess students’ accommodation needs. More information on the process is available here: Accommodations overview, services and hours | Study.

  • Repeating a course for a 4th time. If a student fails a mandatory common core course 3 times, they will not be able to graduate from the BCom. If they fail a mandatory course in an option, they will not be able to graduate from that option and will need to change to a different option if they still wish to graduate from the BCom. Please note that students need to seek a special permission to repeat a course for a third time. The Telfer School regulations only allow students to repeat courses twice. Third attempts require going through an upgrading process (exceptions to this requirement may be granted for 4th year students);
  • Enrolling in 7 courses per term;
  • Enrolling in 6 courses per term for 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students, to the exception of language certifications and ESL courses;
  • Taking any course without having completed its prerequisite/s unless it is already clearly indicated on the Telfer website, like for ADM 4311/4711 (wherein the case of ADM 4311/4711 there is permission with one exception to 1000, 2000, 3000 core courses. The exception cannot be ADM 2381/2781).

Changing a grade: the Undergraduate Studies Office does not have the authority to interfere with grading. Any changes to a grade must be discussed with the Professor. If the student still disapproves the grade after speaking to their Professor, they can submit a grade re-evaluation request by completing the following form: Grade re-evaluation.

Taking the courses ADM 4311/ADM 4711, ADM 4317/ADM 4717, ADM 4325/ADM 4725, ADM 4339/ADM 4739, ADM 4340/ADM 4740, ADM 4350/ADM 4750, ADM 4377/ADM 4777 by letter of permission. These are capstone courses which include a real-life business challenge simulation that must be taken at Telfer. ADM 3318/ADM 3718 cannot be taken by letter of permission either as it includes a high intensity experiential learning component as well. ADM 2381/ADM 2781 also cannot be taken by letter of permission.

  • Exceptions to Senate approved program requirements, such as: counting an ADM elective as an out-of-faculty elective or the opposite, counting a 1000-level course as a higher level course, graduating without having completed all required units (120 or more for certain programs), graduating without having completed your admission conditions (make-up courses, ESL, etc.), graduating without having completed 4 ADM courses at the 4000-level, graduating with a CGPA below 5.00;
  • Receiving all units for courses that cannot be combined: ADM 3313/ADM 3315, ADM 3358/ADM 4354, MAT 1300+MAT 1302/ADM 1305;
  • Admission to Telfer with a CGPA lower than the required 6.00;
  • Graduating with a minor from Telfer with a CGPA lower than the required 6.00.

If the request relates to a retroactive withdrawal from a course/courses, the following should be considered before submitting a request to the Telfer Appeal Committee:

  • Retroactive withdrawal with financial credit after the deadline: the student will need to prove that they did not participate/attend class (with supporting emails from Professors), and/or use University services after the deadline;
  • Retroactive withdrawal without financial credit after the deadline: they will need to provide solid documentation justifying the validity of their request, especially if the request relates to failed courses only while others have been completed successfully in the same term. They need to be able to clearly explain why their circumstances only impacted the failed courses specifically and not all others. The documentation provided needs to clearly demonstrate this as well.

If the student’s exception falls under one of the above listed categories and they still wish to address their situation, they should reach out to one of our Academic Advisors to discuss.

Please use the following Appeal Request Form to submit a request to the Telfer Appeal Committee. As indicated in the form, your justification letter should not exceed two pages. Please also make sure to attach all relevant documentation to support your request.