Petition Letter
I have a dilemma that I have been trying to sort out since the start of Winter 2020. I am registered as an Arts and Science student, and am planning to change my major this May to Applied Economics, the course requirements for which I have been fulfilling over the past 3 years. I am also registered in the Certificate of Business program. Before realizing that I could only use, or double count two specific Comm courses (Comm 211 and Comm 221) towards both my APEC degree and my CIB, I had already taken one of them, Comm221/621 at the 600 hundred level. I was unaware until several weeks after the end of the Fall 2020 semester, when I saw my unofficial transcript that the course had been counted at the 600-level and not the 200-level (it had been listed on SOLUS and the Smith Learning website as COMM 221/621, and I had been led to believe that the course credit I would receive would be at the 200-level).
I understand the 600 level triggers a tuition payment at the Commerce course fee level, and that I can only take 2 courses at the 200 level for the CIB. However, the course content and expectations are identical whether taken at the 200 or 600 level. I have COMM 251 which, in retrospect, I should have taken as COMM 651.
My greatest concern is that I have taken the APEC options that I need, but that they will not be counted towards my APEC degree and that I will have to take another APEC option (CISC 121), even though I have fulfilled the requirements already. I spoke to an academic advisor in January who ended our conversation by telling me that I would be 3 units short of graduating. This was very confusing and stressful information to receive; I have been reaching out to the CIB office and the registrar's office since that time to see if there is any way to sort all of this out so that I don't have to take an extra course of 3 units to get my degree, and thus far have had limited results. I am reaching out to you to hopefully come up with a solution to all of this.
I know that it says that once a course is completed at the 600 level it cannot be switched to a 200 level, but I am hoping that there may be some exceptions or leniency given in certain circumstances, or an explanation as to why such a situation exists (i.e. why the 600-level version of the same class doesn't contribute toward my degree) and further steps I could take to resolve it. This has been an extraordinary and stressful year in which students and staff are being asked to learn and work in a virtual environment which brings its own challenges. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your consideration,
Callum Asselstine
I understand the 600 level triggers a tuition payment at the Commerce course fee level, and that I can only take 2 courses at the 200 level for the CIB. However, the course content and expectations are identical whether taken at the 200 or 600 level. I have COMM 251 which, in retrospect, I should have taken as COMM 651.
My greatest concern is that I have taken the APEC options that I need, but that they will not be counted towards my APEC degree and that I will have to take another APEC option (CISC 121), even though I have fulfilled the requirements already. I spoke to an academic advisor in January who ended our conversation by telling me that I would be 3 units short of graduating. This was very confusing and stressful information to receive; I have been reaching out to the CIB office and the registrar's office since that time to see if there is any way to sort all of this out so that I don't have to take an extra course of 3 units to get my degree, and thus far have had limited results. I am reaching out to you to hopefully come up with a solution to all of this.
I know that it says that once a course is completed at the 600 level it cannot be switched to a 200 level, but I am hoping that there may be some exceptions or leniency given in certain circumstances, or an explanation as to why such a situation exists (i.e. why the 600-level version of the same class doesn't contribute toward my degree) and further steps I could take to resolve it. This has been an extraordinary and stressful year in which students and staff are being asked to learn and work in a virtual environment which brings its own challenges. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your consideration,
Callum Asselstine