Academic Notice

Academic Notice (AP)

To be in good academic standing, Graduate students must maintain a term GPA and cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher and have less than 9 units of I, U, or F grades. If those conditions are not met, students are considered not in good academic standing and are issued an Academic Notice. This status is assigned to students automatically in the campus student information system. This status will continue until the student meets the requirements for good standing.

Three Types of Status Notation

There are three status notations that can be assigned to students who are not in good standing: Academic Notice (AP), Notice Continued (PC), and Subject to Disqualification. 

• Academic Notice - see section above for criteria - Assigned for the initial quarter in which the student is not in good standing, and in non-consecutive subsequent quarters in which the student is not in good standing.
• Notice Continued - After the initial quarter on academic notice, Notice Continued status is assigned to consecutive quarters in which the student is not in good standing.  
• Subject to Disqualification - Assigned when 1) term GPA is below a 2.0, 2) after completing two consecutive quarters on academic notice, and 3) when the student received an I or U in the only course in a term or when all other courses were graded S/U or P/NP. 
  • Status is assigned automatically by the campus system. Graduate Studies does not consider students who received an I grade in their only term course to be subject to disqualification or on academic notice status if the student isn't otherwise eligible.  

Being assigned Subject to Disqualification status does not mean you are going to be disqualified, but it shows there are serious concerns in your academic work.  Meet with your Graduate Advisor right away to discuss program expectations and what you can do to meet them.

Reaching Good Standing

Students on academic notice will reach or return to good standing when they have both a term and cumulative GPA of 3.0+, and no more than 8 cumulative units of U, I, or F grades. 

Enrolling in only S/U or P/NP graded coursework

Students who are not in good standing due to their GPA must take letter graded courses to change their academic standing. Taking only S/U coursework will not impact their GPA and their academic standing will remain unchanged.  If eligible, students may opt to take some courses S/U to help increase their term or cumulative GPA.

Repeat Coursework

Graduate students may repeat up to three courses in which they received a C (including C+), D, F or U.

• Variable unit courses (e.g. 299, 298, 396) may not be repeated to replace a grade in the same course.
• Variable topic courses may sometimes be repeated for new credit, but it will not replace a previous grade in the same course.
• Letter graded courses may not be repeated as S/U.  

Retroactive Actions

Retroactive actions, including grade changes, adds/drops, withdrawals, and grade mode changes, are changes to the student record following the last day of instruction for any quarter.  The Office of the University Registrar (OUR) Grade Change Deputies and the UC Davis Grade Change Committee, are responsible for reviewing request for retroactive action.   A request for retroactive action may be appropriate if the student was incorrectly registered, a clerical or procedural error was made in grading, or if the student experienced circumstances (e.g. health/mental health problems, personal or family emergency, etc.) that significantly disrupted their academic work.  More information about retroactive actions is available on the OUR Retroactive Actions & General Appeals webpage and the Grade Change Committee Guidelines webpage. 

Academic Notices & Next Steps

At the beginning of each quarter, Graduate Studies Senior Academic Advisors (SAA's) will email you a notice if you are not in good academic standing. This email will notify you about your status, why you were assigned that status, and whether you have a registration hold due to your academic standing.

Registration Holds

If you were assigned a registration hold, you must meet with a faculty graduate advisor in your program to complete the Recommendation for Release of Academic Hold form. The completed form must be submitted via GradSphere.

Continuous Academic Notice for U Grades

Unsatisfactory (U) grades in variable unit courses (e.g. 299, 298) can only be adjusted through a retroactive drop/withdrawal or retroactive grade change.  Students who accumulate 9 or more units of U grades in variable unit courses will have academic notice status noted on their record continuously until they graduate.  Academic notice status is assigned automatically through a campus wide system, and continuous academic notice doesn't necessarily reflect a graduate student's actual academic performance or progress.  

• Continuous Academic notice for Single Term GPA - Students who receive a term GPA below 3.0, and do not enroll in additional letter graded courses (e.g. enrolling in only 299), will remain on academic notice unless they enroll in and receive a B grade or better in an additional letter graded course (upper-division undergrad or graduate level).  

Other Academic Standing Considerations

Employment as an ASE or GSR

Students must be in good academic standing to be employed in a graduate student title. Students who have been issued an academic notice status should work with their hiring contact or graduate program coordinator to submit a Petition for Exception to Policy in order to be eligible.

Fellowships

Students on certain fellowships must be in good standing to maintain eligibility. If you are on a fellowship and receive an academic notice, please contact the fellowship analyst for your program.