Course Waivers

There are 4 types of Course Waivers in the EDP Department: 1) Department Foundation Courses, 2) Program Courses, 3) Out-of-Specialization Courses, and 4) Coursework Older than Six Years.

For all types of waivers:

Complete and submit the Waiver Form
Include as much supporting documentation as possible (required documentation is listed on the form)
Submit to the appropriate parties for approval, as indicated on the form.

Department Foundation Course Waivers

EDP students may apply for waivers from one or more Department Foundation courses required by their program. The goal is to allow students who have had prior graduate courses that are the equivalent of existing foundation courses to be excused from taking these again if possible.

IMPORTANT: Foundation course waivers should be submitted no later than the 1st semester of a student's program (for Summer-start students, waivers may take place in the Fall). EDP strongly recommends students submit waivers before Orientation, as advising takes place during Orientation.

Waiving EDP 380C.2 Fundamental Statistics:

Beginning Fall 2020, waiver requests will be allowed for EDP 380C.2 Fundamental Statistics (replacing the prior Proficiency Exam process). EDP 380C.2 Fundamental Statistics is the prerequisite course for all Quantitative Methods courses. Waivers for Fundamental Statistics should be submitted to the Quantitative Methods Area Chair. To submit a waiver for this course:

Student must have a minimum of 1 advanced graduate-level statistics course completed with a B or higher within the last 3 years. The only undergraduate course that may be counted is EDP 371 Introduction to Statistics, competed within the last 3 years with a B or higher.
The course must have covered all of the following topics at minimum:
- Scales of measurement
- Statistical notation
- Frequency distribution of scores
- Measures of Central Tendency
- Measures of Variability
- Z scores
- Sampling distributions of sample means
- One-sample hypothesis testing
- The t-statistic
- Confidence intervals
- Two-sample hypothesis testing
- Related samples t test
- Analysis of Variance
- Correlation
- Simple Linear Regression
- Chi-square test of goodness of fit
- Chi-square test of independence

Program and Out-of-Specialiation Waivers

Program or Out-of-Specialization course waiver requests should be submitted as soon as possible in order to ensure approval for the program of work.
For Out-of-Specialization course waivers: Cross-listed courses taught by EDP faculty cannot be counted as out-of-specialization courses.

Coursework Older than 6 Years

If you want a course to fulfill an out-of-specialization requirement for an en-route master’s degree, that course cannot be older than 6 years, and cannot have been used to fulfill degree requirements at your previous university. The Graduate School currently has a waiver process for courses older than 6 years.

Steps for Completing a Waiver

The procedure for all course waivers is:
1. Complete the Waiver Form.
2. The coursework must:
  - Substantially duplicate the content of the core area course for which you seek a waiver,
  - Be graduate-level coursework
  - Have been completed with a grade of B or better.
  - Note: if the content of the EDP course you are requesting to waive was covered across multiple courses, you may use those in your waiver request.
3. Submit the materials requested on the waiver form. Organize the materials carefully, with an index, and be sure identifying information and a page number is on each item. Any missing items should be summarized as best you can.
4. Follow the submission instructions on the waiver form.
5. Students will be notified in writing by the Graduate Coordinator of the waiver decision status.
6. Completed waivers will be filed by the Graduate Coordinator in your Program of Work folder in UT Box.
  Note: it is recommended you keep a copy of all approved waiver forms in case you need them for in the future (particularly for students planning on obtaining licensure, e.g. as a licensed psychologist.