For a variety of reasons, there are some individuals whose overall college GPA is adversely affected by a period of poor academic performance, such that their overall GPA is not an accurate indication of their true academic abilities. Many of these same students have subsequently demonstrated the ability to achieve academic success. The bankruptcy policy allows individuals to exclude an earlier portion of their academic record while still receiving credit for having passed prerequisite courses so that the GPA considered by the program faculty more accurately reflects the student’s true academic abilities. The policy does not allow individuals to pick and choose poor classes or semesters, but instead allows an individual to convey, “that was me then, but this is what I am capable of now.” If you feel that this policy would benefit you, we encourage you to submit your appeal.

Academic bankruptcy permits the faculty to not consider some of an applicant’s post-secondary grades if certain conditions are met. Criteria for consideration include the following. 
• The applicant’s academic record following the academic bankruptcy must be at least 3.0 GPA. 
• The applicant must have completed 2 semesters of full-time enrollment (12 credits each semester) following the date of bankruptcy. 

To be considered for an academic bankruptcy, applicants must make the request using the program’s Academic Bankruptcy request form. The request must be received by the program director by the January 31 application deadline. The Academic Bankruptcy request form will be available on the website August 1. 

The program faculty will review each bankruptcy request and render a decision based on the merits of each request individually. Official transcripts of all post-secondary academic work must still be submitted as indicated earlier. Faculty reserve the right to deny an academic bankruptcy request as the faculty deem appropriate.

If approved, all academic grades prior to the bankruptcy date will not be considered toward the calculated GPA for admission purposes. However, bankrupted grades from courses passed with a letter grade of “C” or higher will still be credited toward meeting the program’s general education requirements if the course would otherwise meet the requirement.