Procedures After Failing Comprehensive Exams

1. Department chairs report student name(s) and grade(s) of students failing comps to the Associate Registrar in a separate email from the other comps grades reported from the department. 

  • Include in this message which parts of the exam (oral, written, or both) the student will need to retake.
  • Also include next steps for students regarding retakes, such as the resources available to the student(s) in preparing for retakes, who in the department has been designated to mentor the student, or any special instructions that may apply. Note: retakes of the oral portion of the exam are scheduled by the Dean’s Office; retakes of the written portion are scheduled by the department.
  • Also copied on this email are the Dean of the College and Associate Dean of the College/Registrar.

2. The Senior Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the College will schedule an appointment with the student(s) who failed the exam to come to Center 115 to meet with the Dean of the College and/or the Associate Dean of the College/Registrar, at which time the student will receive his exam results.

  • The Dean of the College and/or the Associate Dean of the College/Registrar will communicate to the student which parts of the exam will need to be retaken, and the next steps conveyed to them by the department chair in preparing for and scheduling retakes.
  • Students will be referred to the department chair or other member of the department as specified by the department chair if they have specific questions regarding their individual exam responses and departmental expectations.     
  • The Dean of Students or Department Chair may also be invited to join this meeting if deemed appropriate in an individual case.

3. The Associate Registrar will not release comps grades for any student until there has been a reasonable attempt to have every student who failed meet with the Dean of the College and/or the Associate Dean of the College/Registrar. Grades may be released if a failing student is unresponsive to efforts to arrange a meeting.

4. Unless permission is given by the Dean of the College for an alternate schedule, retakes will be scheduled to take place no later than two weeks after spring break. In the 2025-2026 academic year, that is March 27.

  • The Senior Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the College will schedule retakes of the oral portion of comps, with a different board of faculty from the student’s first attempt.
  • The timeline for retakes of the written portion of comps will be determined and scheduled by the department chair.
  • Results of retakes must be communicated by the department chair to the Associate Registrar (with cc to the Dean of the College and Associate Dean of the College/Registrar) by the Monday three weeks after classes resume following Spring Break. In the 2025-2026 academic year that is April 6. A student who successfully retakes comps receives a grade of “Pass” (i.e. he is not eligible for High Pass or Distinction).

5. The Senior Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the College will schedule another appointment with the student(s) who failed the first exam to come to Center 115 to meet with the Dean of the College and/or Associate Dean of the College/Registrar, at which time the student will receive the results from his retaken exam.

  • In the event of a student failing comps for a second time, the Dean of Students or a designee from the Dean of Students office will be invited to join this meeting, out of concern for informing a student that he will not graduate that May.
  • Students failing their retake of comps will be informed that they are permitted to retake their comps the following January.

Failure for Missed Oral Exams

If a student fails to arrive at the regularly scheduled time of his senior oral examination, the committee chairperson will inform the Office of the Dean of the College. The missed exam will be treated as a failure and the student will be scheduled for an exam retake pending review of a potential petition to the Curriculum Appeals Committee. If the committee’s review of a student appeal finds that the absence was not within the student’s control, then the student’s examination will be rescheduled and the student will not be deemed to have failed the senior oral examination.