We get it, things don’t always go your way. Maybe you’ve been sick for the past few days, or you have two midterms and an assignment this week, or personal matters have got you too stressed to prepare well for that exam tomorrow. Don’t worry, everyone has been there before. You can thankfully seek accommodations for certain situations, and petitions are one of the primary ways of doing so.
“A petition is your formal request for an exception to a Faculty or University rule, regulation or deadline. The University of Toronto acknowledges that students sometimes encounter unforeseen or uncontrollable circumstances that can severely interfere with their ability to fulfill their academic obligations.”
Types of Petitions
There are three types of petitions. For the most up-to-date information about petitions at U of T Engineering, visit this site – About Petitions.
Term-Work Petition is applicable for term-work such as graded homework, midterms, quizzes, assignments, and labs. If you missed term-work due to illness, personal or family crisis or other extenuating circumstances, you should discuss the matter with your instructor and academic advisor immediately. If necessary, submit a term-work petition through the Engineering Portal. The deadline to submit a term-work petition and the accompanying supporting documentation, if needed, is seven days after the missed or affected term-work.
Any final exam petitions and accompanying documentation should be submitted within seven days of the missed exam.
When deciding to submit a final exam petition, you should consider how well you feel at the time of the exam, whether you can obtain supporting documentation for the petition, and how prepared you may feel for a possible later examination date. If you’re having difficulties with a course, always speak with your professor/instructor. If they’re unable to answer your questions, you should consult with your academic advisor.
Special Consideration petitions can be submitted to request exemption from a faculty regulation. If you need clarification on any rules or regulations in the Academic Calendar, you should reach out to your academic advisor. Since you have to provide sufficient reasoning for the exemption, it’s also highly recommended that you discuss with your advisor before submitting a petition for special consideration.
Some of the reasons for submitting a petition are personal illness, illness or death of a close family member, personal or family emergency, and other extenuating circumstances. However, note that these are extenuating circumstances; petitions will not be granted due to personal carelessness. Note that U of T Engineering students may file one term-work petition per term without documentation (i.e. self-declare their own illness) for term-work valued at less than 15% through the Engineering Portal. The petition may not cover term-work worth 15% or greater and cannot span a period longer than three calendar days.
Upper-Year Insights
Some of you might feel like you don’t need petitions or that petitions give you an unfair advantage. Of course, petitions should only be submitted when absolutely necessary, and by the end of the term, you’d have still submitted the same assignments and completed the same exams as everyone else (so a petition would leave theoretically leave more work for you in the future). However, you should never avoid petitions out of principle. Even if you have a 4.00 GPA, you can submit a petition; petitions don’t relate to your academic abilities. Your health and wellbeing always come first. If you have any questions about petitions, be sure to book an appointment with your academic advisor.