Georgia Tech is among the top schools in the country. As you might expect, then, it takes academic performance very seriously. Fail to earn enough credits in a semester, or fail to keep your GPA high enough, and you could find yourself on probation or even dismissed from the school entirely.
Here's the thing: none of us is perfect. You're obviously smart and capable, or you wouldn't have gotten into Georgia Tech in the first place. That doesn't mean you won't lose your way along the path to your diploma. Maybe a bad breakup sends you into an emotional tailspin, and you wind up missing a lot of class. Maybe you just can't wrap your head around differential equations. Whatever the issue, you shouldn't let it keep you from graduating.
If you're facing academic progression issues, National Student attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento may be able to help. He's no better at differential equations than you are, but he's spent years working with students at schools across the country, and he knows how all the processes and procedures at Georgia Tech work. Whether you're looking to negotiate with a professor for a higher grade or file an appeal to prevent dismissal, you owe it to yourself to find out what Joseph D. Lento can do for you.
Academic Progression Requirements at Georgia Tech
As a student at Georgia Tech, you are subject to the school's Academic Standing policy. There are five standing classifications:
- Good: If you're in good academic standing, you are meeting all academic requirements and making sufficient progress toward completing your degree.
- Warning: Technically, you remain in good standing when you are in “Warning” status, but it signifies that your most recent academic performance was unsatisfactory and/ or your overall GPA has fallen below standards.
- Probation: If your most recent academic performance was extremely unsatisfactory, or your term or cumulative GPA remains low, you are placed in “Probation” status. Should you continue to struggle while on probation, you can be dismissed from the school.
- Review: “Review” is a special status for students who would ordinarily be dismissed but who don't seem to have completed the current semester. It's a chance to communicate directly with officials from your school or college and explain your situation. You have not been officially dismissed, but you cannot register for classes while you are in Review status.
- Dismissal: Dismissals are usually given out to students who fail to improve while on probationary status. Dismissal means separation from Georgia Tech for at least a semester. You can return to the school, but you must go through the readmission application process to do so.
Your academic standing is primarily based on your term and overall GPA. Georgia Tech uses a sliding scale to determine minimum requirements.
- Freshmen must maintain a 1.7 term and overall GPA.
- Sophomores must maintain a 1.8 GPA.
- Juniors must maintain a 1.95 GPA.
- Seniors must maintain a 2.0 GPA.
Fighting Dismissal
Most students assume that if they aren't meeting GPA standards, they must simply accept their punishment, whether that's a change in status or dismissal from the school. That's true to a certain extent. There are no formal processes at Georgia Tech for challenging an academic status decision since these are based on objective facts.
However, there are things you can do if you are facing probation or dismissal.
- If you have extenuating circumstances that have led to your poor performance, you can appeal your status to the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.
- If you feel you are being mistreated by an instructor, you have the right to protest this treatment to the department chair or the dean of the school that houses the course.
- If you feel you have been graded unfairly, you can talk with the department chair or dean, or you can file an official grievance with the Associate Vice Provost for Advocacy and Conflict Resolution.
- Sometimes a low course grade can simply be the result of an error. Faculty can and do make mistakes, and if you believe your grade should be higher, you have the right to ask them to recalculate your scores or reconsider the quality of your work.
- Some professors are open to the possibility of extra credit or makeup work. You may be able to get an Incomplete grade in a course until you've had time to complete these assignments, and this could keep your GPA from dipping too low.
Georgia Tech may not explain all these options to you. Joseph D. Lento will. More importantly, he can help you to pursue them. He can, for instance, coach you in negotiation tactics, help you gather evidence to demonstrate your academic progress, or work with you to create a formal appeal.
SAP Standards
If you receive federal financial aid at Georgia Tech, including Pell Grants, Federal Direct Student Loans, or Federal Work Study funds, there's another set of academic standards you need to know about. The federal government requires all schools to maintain a Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy in order to limit the distribution of funds to those students who are actually making progress toward their degrees.
Georgia Tech's review process uses three criteria.
- First, you must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA based on your class standing.
- First-year students: 1.7
- Second-year students: 1.9
- Third and fourth-year students: 2.0
- In addition, you must complete at least 75 percent of all the courses you enroll in. Fs obviously count against this total. So, too, do withdrawals and incompletes that are never resolved.
- Finally, you must complete your degree within 133 percent of the published minimum hours for that degree.
Georgia Tech performs SAP reviews annually, at the end of the Spring semester. If you are not meeting standards at that time, you are placed in Financial Aid Warning status. This allows you an additional semester in which to improve. If you remain deficient at the end of this semester, your aid is suspended until such time as you are again meeting standards.
You can appeal aid suspension if mitigating factors led to your deficiencies. However, such appeals involve submitting proof of these mitigating factors as well as a detailed explanation of how the situation developed. Successful appeals result in one additional semester aid under warning status.
You may have noticed that SAP requirements are more rigorous than those for academic standing. In other words, even if you are meeting the expectations to remain a student at the school, you can still lose your financial aid. It's important, then, that you keep up with SAP standards, and that you contact Joseph D. Lento if you have any concerns at all.
Premier Education Attorney-Advisor
You're a college student now, and that comes with certain responsibilities. You're learning this whole adulting thing, and that means taking control of your own education and doing what's necessary to succeed. No one else can make sure you're studying every night. No one else can do your work for you.
You aren't entirely alone, though. Joseph D. Lento is on your side.
There are many ways to deal with academic issues, and Joseph D. Lento can guide you through all of them. Joseph D. Lento knows how the Georgia Tech system operates, and he can offer suggestions for how to use that system to your advantage. Whether you are facing probation, dismissal, or loss of financial aid, Joseph D. Lento may be able to help. To find out more, contact the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team today, at 888-555-3686, or use our automated online form.
