Graduate Restart

The Graduate Restart procedure is designed to allow returning students who performed poorly in their initial attempt at graduate studies to have a fresh start toward meeting graduation requirements for a degree or credit-granting certificate.

A graduate student who has not been enrolled at UT Tyler for at least 12 months prior to readmission may petition the Dean of the Graduate School to remove from his/her graduate cumulative grade point average all grades earned during the student's prior enrollment at the University. Thus, the student who re-enrolls under Graduate Restart automatically forfeits the right to use any of the previous graduate course work, including transfer work, toward the current degree requirements. Only courses attempted following readmission will be applied to the degree requirements.

Restart petitions may be filed for readmission to a program in which a student was not previously successful or for admission to a different graduate program. Restart petitions must be approved by the graduate program advisor, the dean of the college and the Dean of The Graduate School.

If readmission is granted under Graduate Restart, the following will apply:

  1. Enroll within one year (12 months) of the granting of the petition.
  2. Earn no grade lower than a "C" in any course attempted.
  3. Maintain a graduate grade point average of 3.0 or better each semester regardless of the number of hours attempted.
  4. Failure to meet grade requirements will result in dismissal from the University. In other words, the policies on probation and suspension do not apply to Graduate Restart students.

All hours attempted and all grades earned before and after Graduate Restart will remain on the student's official, permanent academic record (transcript). Graduate Restart affects only the cumulative graduate grade point average. It will not remove evidence/documentation of the student's overall academic history at the university.

A student may exercise the Graduate Restart option only once, regardless of the number of times the student enters/attends a graduate degree program at UT Tyler.

To be considered for Graduate Restart, students must submit a petition for reinstatement to the advisor of the graduate program and provide a compelling justification for reinstatement. Students should explain how circumstances that impeded one's success in graduate school have improved. Petition forms are available at http://uttyler.edu/graduate/forms/restart.pdf.

Students must submit all materials required for full admission to the program (GRE scores, recommendation letters, statement of purpose, etc.) Students must be fully admitted to a program to participate in Graduate Restart; no provisional or conditional admission is allowed.

A student should carefully review this information to make sure that the terms of the program are understood. If the student agrees to the provisions of Graduate Restart, s/he should sign the petition form and submit it to the advisor for the graduate program. All required documents to support the application for admission must be submitted as well. For the Graduate Restart applicant, the catalog in effect at the time of the Graduate Restart application is effective. The Graduate Restart option is tied to the admission process and may only be requested at the time of readmission.