A petition is a request to make changes to your academic record that are either non-standard actions or are outside of stated deadlines. Graduate student petitions are evaluated and approved by the graduate administrator or graduate officer in the student’s home department, the instructor of a subject (if appropriate for the particular request), and the OGE. The Office of Graduate Education acts with authority on behalf of the Committee on Graduate Programs with regard to all petition requests.
Please note that it may take 7 to 10 business days to review and process a petition once received by OGE. To check on the status of a petition that has already been submitted, please log into DocuSign.
Add/Drop/Change petitions
Submit an online Add/Drop/Change petition to make a late Add, Drop, or Change of Grading Status in their academic record after a deadline has passed. A processing fee of $25 will be charged to your student account for each petition approved.
To learn more about the online Graduate Late Drop/Add/Change of Grading Status petition, see the following resources in the Help section of the graduate online petition application:
- A one page Quick Card instructions for students or for approvers
- The Graduate Online Petition FAQ Page
For cross-registration at Harvard
If you are an MIT student and the deadline has passed for adding a Harvard class, you must first receive approval from the Harvard Instructor and the appropriate Harvard Registrar’s office before submitting a late add/drop petition. Each Harvard school has its own Registrar’s Office, but this process is the same for each school. A list of each of the Harvard’s Registrar’s Offices can be found here.
If you are an MIT student submitting a late drop petition for a Harvard subject, please use the General Petition Form in DocuSign (see below).
General petitions
Submit a General Petition Form in DocuSign to (the link to the form is below this list of options):
- Register after the term deadline (incurs a $100 late fee) Please include a list of classes and credits for each that you wish to register for.
- Choose a thesis field not currently on the list of departmental thesis fields
- Change a grade of “O” (missing final exam/project) to “OX” (excused)
- Appoint an ad hoc interdisciplinary degree thesis committee
- Request approval for retroactive actions in unusual circumstances
- Request graduate credit for an undergraduate class. Must be submitted before the class starts or within the first 2 weeks of class. Requires instructor comments of extra work to be done to earn graduate level credit. Requires instructor signature.
- Graduate departments may use a general petition to request individual special tuition rates in unusual circumstances.
- Request approval to take more than 50 percent of your courses at Harvard or Wellesley in a single semester.
Submit the General Petition Form through DocuSign.
Joint Master Degree Thesis petition
Students who wish to embark on a joint master’s thesis project should consult first with their individual advisors, and also with the graduate officer or the chair of the graduate committee of the department in which they are registered. More information about Joint Master degree thesis, and the petition form, can be found online.
Dual Master’s degree petition
To establish or amend a dual Master’s degree: Read the description, and then submit the petition through DocuSign (the link to the form is on the description page). (Attach a list of subjects and credit units for each degree: see an example).
Special changes to student status
Submit a special petition to oge-petitions@mit.edu to change your student status:
Do NOT use a petition to:
- Request delayed thesis publication (a “thesis hold”). Instead, follow these instructions for a thesis hold.
- Request a Childbirth Accommodation (CBA) or Parental Accommodation (PA). Instead, follow these instructions for CBA or PA.
- Apply for a waiver of summer tuition for a subject linked to an unpaid internship; please contact the Registrar’s office with this request: registrar-www@mit.edu
- Request a Medical Leave. Instead read this webpage for information.
More information for departments
Please find additional information for departments in this OGE & Registrar’s Office Cheat Sheet.
