Students in the College of Engineering and Applied Science must abide by all college policies and procedures as outlined at engineering.colorado.edu/students/advising.htm. Students should refer to this website often since policies, advising guides, and forms may be updated throughout the academic year.
As members of the academic community, students have a responsibility to conduct themselves with the highest standards of honesty and integrity. These qualities are vital to the profession of engineering.
Academic sanctions (which can affect a course grade) and non-academic sanctions (which may include suspension or expulsion) are imposed for the following acts, or intent to engage in such acts: plagiarism; illegal possession and distribution of examinations or answers to specific questions; the presentation of another student’s work as one’s own; performing work or taking an examination for another student; or the alteration, forging, or falsification of official records. This listing is not complete and includes only some types of academic dishonesty. Any student accused by a course instructor of academic dishonesty will be allowed to remain in the course until such time the student acknowledges an act of academic dishonesty or until a hearing has determined that an act of academic dishonesty has been committed. For additional information, see engineering.colorado.edu/students/advising.htm (Academic Honesty) and the Student Honor Code Policy at www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode. See also Academic Integrity and Student Conduct under Campus Policies in the General Information section.
To remain in good academic standing in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, a student must maintain satisfactory academic performance as measured by GPA criteria, and satisfactory academic progress toward completion of a bachelor of science degree in the college. For students matriculating in the college fall 2011 semester or later, CU cumulative, semester, and major GPAs should all be at or greater than 2.250 (2.000 for students matriculating in the college prior to fall 2011). Failure to meet these requirements results in the student being placed on academic probation and, if not corrected, on academic suspension. A student may be directly placed on academic suspension if retroactive grade changes lower their cumulative or prior semester GPA, or if their cumulative CU GPA falls below 1.000. Academic progress in this college is determined by grades and averages as reported and calculated by the Office of the Registrar.
Academic probation is normally the first step taken by the college to express concern that a student is not maintaining satisfactory academic performance. Academic probation is an official warning that the student’s academic performance must improve or the student will be subject to academic suspension from the college. Once placed on academic probation, a student remains in that status the following two semesters (summer term not included) of enrollment as an undergraduate student in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Probation by the cumulative grade point average rule occurs if the student’s cumulative University of Colorado grade point average is less than 2.000 but above 1.000. The student must raise his or her cumulative grade point average to at least 2.000 by the end of the next semester of enrollment and maintain that level for two consecutive semesters. Summer term is not included.
Probation by the consecutive semester grade point average rule occurs if the student has two consecutive semesters (summer term not included) at the University of Colorado with semester grade point averages less than 2.000. The student must also raise his/her cumulative grade point average to at least a 2.000 by the end of the next semester of enrollment and maintain that level for two consecutive semesters. Summer term is not included.
If probation is due to both cumulative and consecutive semester grade point average rules, the student will be placed under the cumulative grade point average rule requirements.
While on academic probation, the student is required to enroll in and complete at least 12 credit hours per fall or spring semester in approved course work that meets engineering degree requirements. Course work taken beyond degree requirements in humanities, social sciences, and ROTC does not count toward this minimum course load requirement, and no courses may be elected with the pass/fail grade option. This requirement may be petitioned for exceptional circumstances; approval will lengthen the period of academic probation.
Students will be placed on academic suspension if, while on probation, they fail to meet the academic requirements associated with academic probation. A student will be placed directly on academic suspension if: (1) retroactive grade changes lower the cumulative or prior semester grade point averages, or if (2) the cumulative grade point average is below a 1.000. The College of Engineering and Applied Science takes the action of academic suspension on the premise that the student is currently unable to make academic progress toward a bachelor of science degree. Academic suspension occurs when the college withdraws the student for failing to maintain satisfactory academic progress.
Note: If a new student at CU-Boulder achieves a cumulative GPA below 1.000 following his or her first semester of enrollment at the Boulder campus, this student will be placed on academic probation rather than directly on academic suspension. This exemption is only available to students following their first semester at CU-Boulder. A cumulative GPA below 1.000 at any other time will be cause for immediate academic suspension without a period of academic probation.
The conditions of academic suspension are:
Note: Course work completed at institutions other than the University of Colorado will NOT affect the CU GPA.
A student seeking to return to the college from academic suspension must have attained a cumulative University of Colorado grade point average of at least 2.250 (2.000 for students matriculating in the college prior to fall 2011). (Note: Students may elect to complete course work at institutions other than the University of Colorado, but these grades will NOT be used in computing a student’s GPA.) Once the required CU GPA has been obtained, the student then needs to contact the college’s Assistant Dean for Students by e-mail or letter, requesting to return from academic suspension. The student must present convincing evidence of his or her ability to continue successfully and complete an engineering undergraduate degree program. The student also needs to let the college know the semester he or she wishes to return.
A suspended student, upon return to the College of Engineering and Applied Science, returns on academic probation for two semesters (summer term not included). If the student fails to fulfill the terms of that academic probation (cumulative GPA rule or the consecutive semester GPA rule), the student will be suspended once again. While a student may be suspended more than once, a third academic suspension is permanent. A student who has been permanently suspended may not return to the CU-Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science.
If a student, while on academic probation or suspension, is considering transferring to another CU-Boulder college or school, he or she should follow that college’s Intra-University Transfer (IUT) policy and procedures (typically detailed on that college’s advising website). If the student elects to leave engineering, this college considers that the student has permanently changed his or her choice of academic major to one offered by the other school or college. Therefore, the student is not permitted to enroll in any courses taught by this college that apply only toward engineering degree requirements. If, at a later date, the student attempts to transfer back to engineering, the current college policy governing Intra-University Transfer (IUT) admission will apply. If an academically suspended engineering student is also a double degree student with another school or college at CU-Boulder, the student must drop engineering as a degree program if he or she will be enrolling in the other degree program while on academic suspension. The student may attempt to return to engineering in the future if desired; the current college policy governing Intra-University Transfer (IUT) admission will apply.