Dropping a Course
If you registered to earn UW credit and find you’re unable to complete your UW course or aren't doing well in the course, you can choose to be dropped from the UW course. Dropping a course means you are no longer enrolled in the UW course and will not receive a UW grade or credit. You are, however, still enrolled in your high school course and will receive a high school grade and credit, unless you also withdraw from the class at the high school.
Whether you are enrolled in a single UW course or more, you can request to be dropped from one course, some courses, or all courses up until the last day of instruction for each course. This date is listed on the syllabus for each course.
There is also a Former Quarter Drop process for those who experienced extenuating circumstances that did not allow them to drop the course before it ended.
How to Drop a Course
To officially request to be dropped from a course, you must email the Continuum College Registration Office at c2reg@uw.edu with your full name, UW Student ID number (if known), course name, six-digit registration number and a statement indicating you wish to be dropped from the course.
You can also mail this request to:
Continuum College
Registration Services
Box 45010
Seattle, WA 98145-0010
Only students can make a drop request. Requests made by parents/guardians or instructors are not accepted unless the student is no longer attending the high school and did not drop the course before leaving; in those cases, a teacher or other representative of the school can submit the drop request to the UWHS office on behalf of the student.
Once a drop request is processed, you will receive a transaction summary via email. On your UW transcript, you will now see an “RD” for Registrar Drop next to the course and quarter. You will not receive a grade for the course. The course drop is a permanent action and cannot be changed once processed.
If you paid a course fee at the time you registered for UW credit, the fee will not be refunded unless you are no longer attending the high school where you registered.
Deadline
The deadline for you to request to be dropped from your course is the last day of instruction of the UW course. This date might not be the same as the last day of the semester or school year in your high school calendar. The course end date is noted on the UW course syllabus, which your teacher distributed at the beginning of the course. Ask your teacher if you did not save a copy of the UW syllabus.
If you do not request to be dropped from a course by the last day of instruction, your teacher will still have to submit a final UW grade for you, and that grade may be a failing grade. This grade is recorded on your permanent UW transcript.
Former Quarter Drop
The University of Washington understands that, as a student, you may face a variety of challenges and obstacles while taking a UW course. The Former Quarter Drop (FQD) process enables you to request to drop a UW course or courses that have already ended if you were unable to complete or drop your course(s) because of extenuating circumstances beyond your control. If the petition is approved, the course will appear on your UW transcript as an RD, and there will be no UW grade or credits.
Note: Requests made solely to improve GPA and/or improve opportunity for university admissions will be denied.
This process requires a UW NetID; see Creating a UW Net ID if you need help with creating or retrieving your UW NetID. On the FQD form, select the campus as “Continuum College,” select the quarter (Autumn or Winter) in which the UW course started (or if not one of the options, select any quarter), and provide the name of your high school and year you took the UW course(s) in the comment box where you provide information on the reason for your request.
Please review the full policy, including the eligibility requirements, petition process, and deadlines on the Office of the University Registrar website.